Free The Fly Guild by Todd Shryock

out and Quinton could
see people beyond the doorway rolling with laughter and drinking toasts to each
other, all while topless women walked around filling mugs and sitting on laps.
    “Nice, ain’t it?” Huck said with a
smile as he stared into the doorway. “That’s the family’s pride and joy. Makes
us a ton of money. The girls are the best-looking creatures you’ll ever see.”
    Between the women in the windows and
those walking past the doorway, Quinton saw blondes, brunettes and redheads of
every shape and size, none of them dressed respectfully, some of them not
dressed at all. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
    “Can we go in?”
    Huck shook his head. “No. Sometimes
you might get to go in with your master on business, but that’s usually early
in the day when things are pretty quiet. You still get an eyeful of sleeping
lasses wearing nothing but their skin, but someone will cut your hand off if
you thought about touchin’ one of ’em.”
    The boys watched for a few minutes
longer, ogling everything they could see from the street, before Huck nudged
him. “Come on, we need to get movin’. Red eye will be wonderin’ where we are.
Lucky for us, we got a piglet, which will shut him up right quick.”
    Quinton was about to turn away from
the heavenly scene when a particular girl caught his eye. At first she was
obscured by some other people frolicking in the doorway, and all he could see
was her hair and part of her face. He was immediately enthralled with her.
Long, slightly curled red hair hung down below her shoulders, pulled back with
a white ribbon. A few tresses hung down the side of her face. As she turned
toward him, he could see she had beautiful eyes, a delicate nose and
unblemished pale skin. A green velvet dress was tied at her thin waist, and
ample cleavage was enticing many of the guests to flock around her, one even
dumping a girl off his lap to do so. She was much younger than most of the
other girls, though none of them were really that old. In this city, there were
only a privileged few who got to experience their youth.
    Huck had taken a few steps when he
noticed Quinton wasn’t following and turned back to see where he was. He saw
the other boy still staring through the doorway and glanced over to see what he
was looking at.
    “Ah, you’ve discovered Kate,” said
Huck. “Ain’t she beautiful?”
    Quinton didn’t even hear him. He
was too busy trying to get another glimpse of her through the crowd.
    “She’s probably the best-lookin’
one in there, though there’s so many sometimes it’s like choosing one stone
from a pile of jewels. She’s probably not much older than us, really, but
around here, who can really tell? This city has a way of aging people. Don’t
get too attached to her, though, because you’ll never be able to afford her.
Only the richies from the other side of the wall can afford her.”
    He turned away, this time grabbing
Quinton’s arm to make him follow. “Come on, lover boy, we got to go.”
    As he took one last glance, Kate
looked out the door, saw him staring at her and a smile crept onto the corner
of her mouth. Quinton smiled back, then tripped and almost fell flat on his
face. He looked back at the doorway, but there was a large number of people standing
on the steps now, and he could no longer see her. He smiled to himself and
followed Huck back through the maze of the city to return to the guild.
    When they got back to the door,
Huck pounded on it twice. A bar was pulled back on the other side and the door
swung open. Master Red eye was waiting for them.
    “You’re late,” he whispered, his
eyes seemingly more bloodshot than they had been that morning.
    Huck bowed slightly. “Forgive us,
Master Red eye, but I hope you will think that our delay was worth your
inconvenience.” Red eye’s expression was blank and he seemed to be staring
through them. “With my compliments, from two of your students, master.” Huck
handed him the