The Second Book of Lankhmar

night of Satyrs' full he got drunk and set out for Salthaven next morning under the influence. For this part of the story we have the evidence of the children Gale and Fingers, who followed him. They saw him set to swimming through the fog and then mount up into the sky in widening spirals.
           "Somewhere aloft above Salthaven he disrobed (to lighten ship, he tells me) and dropped his boots, belt, pouch, bracelet, and other gear, which fell on roofs and treetops, whence they were brought to me yesterday, forming a set of objects not unlike the items Captain Mouser left behind him as he traveled through the earth.
           "For the rest of my narrative I must depend chiefly on the testimony of its principal actor, given to me earlier today after he recovered from Captain Mouser's spell-breaking.
           "To summarize, a short time after lightening ship, Captain Fafhrd was picked up by a cloud-pinnace captained by Queen Frix of Arilia, his one-time paramour, and crewed by a company of her notorious ladies. Being still somewhat under the influence, he was easily enticed into an orgy, during the course of which he was completely shaven, upon the pretext of increasing his pleasure."
           "Half the civilized races of Nehwon believe that firmly and act accordingly," Fingers commented. "They regard all hair as a disfigurement, eyelashes being the one exception."
           "Don't come the old hooker on me! Or presume to instruct us in the sexual fashions of so-called civilized races, you cabin-girl princess!" Afreyt told her tartly, violet eyes flashing. "So far I've been inclined to forgive you all the evil you've innocently been mixed up with, but it wouldn't take much to make me change my mind and give you that shrewd spanking you have been asking for!"
           The girl drooped her eyes, gave her lips a reproving tap with her fingertips, covered her mouth with a palm and dropped a submissive curtsey. Gale poked her surreptitiously a little above the hips, where the side is soft.
           "But is this true, old friend?" the Mouser asked Fafhrd concernedly. "Pardon me, Lady Afreyt, but I'm somewhat shocked."
           "I am content with Afreyt's statement of my case," Fafhrd said stolidly, "and grateful to her for saving me embarrassment."
           "Well, then," the Mouser said, "since we're talking so freely, resolve us: does shaving augment carnal delight? In your case, at any rate?"
           "That's not a suitable question for public discussion," Fafhrd responded somewhat primly. "Ask me in private and I may give you an answer."
           Afreyt looked at the Mouser sweetly and gave a little nod before continuing her statement.
           "At some point during the night's licentious doings aboard the aerial whorehouse of Queen Frix, Fafhrd succumbed, but whether from an excess of carnal delight, or of brandy and poppy and other narcotic drugs that may have been administered to him, we have no way of knowing.
           "Just before dawn the abominable cloud-pinnace landed on Rime Isle on the headland between Salthaven and the Maelstrom and Fafhrd was given a mock funeral which was secretly observed by his long-lost daughter Fingers."
           The girl, her eyes still downcast, nodded twice, rapidly.
           "With derisive ceremony and soft music," Afreyt went on, "Fafhrd was laid to rest — abandoned — on a bed of new-sprung mushrooms wet with dew, naked in the dawn's chill save for some ribbons the color of the underclothes of Frix's whores tied in unsightly mockery around his limp member, his flaccid Wand of Eros."
           "Lovers' Mementos," Fingers explained, "a custom observed in — " she began, then broke off. "Oh pardon me, Lady Afreyt, I didn't mean to speak, I got carried away...."
           "I am glad to hear you say so," that one observed neutrally. " When the sinister funmakers had departed, Fingers's first action was to enrobe her father decently, then guide him still in a stupor to Cif's abode and make her hypnotically-enforced attempt upon his life, which was providentially foiled by Captain Mouser's most timely emergence, as I'm sure you've all heard by now."
           "Yes indeed, we've had quite enough of that," the Gray One said modestly. Then, bowing low, "Thank you, Lady Afreyt, for answering my questions as fully as was possible for you, I'm sure." Then turning to Fafhrd, "And now, old friend, could you