One Coin

"What's yer price?"

"One coin."

"One coin? Only one coin?"

"One coin, sir."

Even though he was clearly quite drunk, the hardened sailor was definitely baffled by my incredibly low price. The confusion was clearly inscribed upon his face. He wanted to take this unbelievable opportunity to fulfill his need with a beautiful young maiden, yet he clearly sensed a trick afoot.

"One coin?"

"Yes, sir. One coin. That is all I ever ask, paid in advance. If afterward you believe that my service is worth more to you, then it is your choice whether to grant me additional payment."

Despite the bustle of the late-night crowd, the noise of the tavern was barely heard as I patiently awaited his response. I needed to wait while he almost literally inhaled the last of his ale.

"Room sev'n," he practically spat with venom, his need topping his caution.

*****

I entered the small room, but found myself alone. Upon hearing the retching sounds coming from outside, I had a feeling that I would be alone in the room for a period of time.

I used the opportunity to my advantage, locating two mirrors and covering them each with a thin cloth, causing them to disappear from mundane sight. As I heard him finally enter the filthy room, I stood with my back to him, undressing.

I felt the small cool circle of metal upon my lower back before the coin fell to the floor. "Yer coin!" he snarled, the drink still prominently evident upon his breath.

I finished undressing, whispering a spell to keep him at bay, to keep him standing near the open door and lasciviously watching me undress.

I imagined, and he saw: a beautiful young maiden, tall yet thin, with firm buttocks and pronounced curves at the waist, her long silky hair flowing nearly to her lower back like a red waterfall. And as I finally stepped from the last of my clothing and set them aside, I turned and imagined, and he saw: a complete lack of hair at the junction of the long shapely legs, thin elegantly-tipped fingers, firm meaty breasts each adorned with a prominent pink nipple already standing firm and erect for him.

I slowly raised a hand toward him, beckoning him to me. He was so drunk, so sternly fixated upon the breasts before him, that he did not notice my lips moving, so that once he touched my hand, he slumped to the floor, instantly asleep.

With a little effort, I moved the sailor to the bed. After undressing him, I positioned him on his side so that I could sit behind him and not look at his face. Then, finally able to let down my guard, I pressed my fingertips to the back of his head, and sought his desire...

His desire was not at all hidden. After spending nearly three full months at sea with only a single landfall, and that for only a few hours, he was full of pent-up hostility toward his superiors, and toward women in general. Even as he slept in deep spell-induced slumber, his mind was filled with fantasies of hurting someone, anyone, by any means possible, even to the point of torture. Most of his fantasies, however, involved hurting beautiful young women -- hurting them long and hard, and then forcing himself into them, filling them with his essence and leaving them as he sailed toward another destination.

This was not my first time encountering a man with such desires. In my younger days, I had even been the unwilling recipient of such desires on more than a few occasions. I knew what dreams to plant in his mind and how to make those dreams seem real to him.

The dreams planted, I lay beside the sailor upon the bed, and slept, weary from having used so much magic in such a short period of time.

*****

My timing was perfect, for when the sailor awoke from the spell-induced dream, I had just finished dressing. I turned to look at him with sorrowful eyes, eyes full of pain and anguish, and the hardened sailor softened instantly.

"I really hurt you last night, didn't I?" I asked, his voice raw and ready to break. I could only nod, yet while I was as calm as if I had just awoken myself, he saw me with tears streaming down a beautiful, smooth, freckled face.

He seemed to hesitate, then reached underneath the lone well-crushed pillow. "Take it all. You d'serve it."

The sailor tossed me a small sack tied with a leather cord, and as it traversed the air, I could clearly hear the coins within clinking against each other. I caught the small sack and nodded slowly, keeping my expression somber and my eyes full of pain and anguish as I took my leave.

It is amazing what an old woman will sometimes do to survive, I thought sadly, especially knowing that when I returned to the small room in a few hours, after the sailor had returned to the docks, I would retrieve the thin cloths from the mirrors and once again see the weathered, wrinkled skin and the silver-gray hair which marked her age.