Part 8 (1/2)
”And don't ever come back!” Sparrow bellowed after the dispersing crowd. She slammed the door shut and glared at Lock. ”Are you crazy?”
He shrugged. ”Looks like they accepted my invitation from the other day.”
”Who are you to extend any invitations to my house?”
”I can't believe you were fool enough to throw away that money. The pan was almost full to the top. Another hour or so, and you wouldn't have had to farm for the rest of the year.”
”What is wrong with you? Is profit all you care about, that you'll sell yourself even when you don't have to?”
”I'm a slave!”
Sparrow tossed her hands skyward and began preparing dinner. ”Put on your clothes!”
”It's a warm night and I'd rather have it blowin' in the breeze.”
”Well I wouldn't!”
”You're a liar.”
Sparrow's jaw tensed and she spun, pointing a wooden spoon at him. ”My life is not so pathetic that I get my pleasure from watching a filthy pig like you grabbing his own privates!”
He winked. ”I sailed around the wild blue sea looking for a woman of l.u.s.t. On one sunny sh.o.r.e I met with a wh.o.r.e, and devoured her golden tanned bust.”
”Stop saying those disgusting rhymes!” Sparrow hissed.
”Outside the brothel beneath the sky blue, I handed the madam a coin for a screw-”
”I said stop!”
Lock sat against the wall chuckling. ”Forgive me, Princess. I'm just a rotten sea-dog and have forgotten about your sweet virgin ears.”
”Why must you make everything so difficult?”
A broad smile flashed across his handsome face as he chimed, ”I heard about old Madeline, whose p.u.s.s.y and t.i.ts were so d.a.m.n fine...”
Sparrow clenched her teeth and tried her best to ignore him. She'd begun to realize that Lock, like a child, would continue pursuing the forbidden. He'd soon tire of taunting her-or run out of limericks. Either way, Sparrow would win.
Sparrow guided her wagon toward her barn as the sun set in the clear summer sky. The day had been uncomfortably hot, and the night would apparently be little better. After working around the farm, she'd hitched one of the horses to the wagon and driven to the village for some goods. Due to the heat, she kept her horse to a slow pace and enjoyed the peaceful landscape of rolling hills and distant woods.
At the barn, she unhitched the s.h.a.ggy-maned chestnut mare and unloaded her supplies. With a sack of wheat slung over her shoulder, she made her way to the house.
Sparrow dumped the sack in a corner of the room and brushed sweat from her forehead. ”It's hot out there.”
”You want hot? Go to the Archipelago,” Lock said.
Sparrow noticed he'd again discarded his tunic and wore only his loincloth, revealing the length of his steely legs. She gazed at the hard lines of his chest and abdomen. His hair dangled down his back in a thick braid, loose at the end since he had nothing to tie it with. She thought what a pity it was for such a fine-looking man to be stuck in a room. If she didn't devise a way to allow him some exercise, he'd loose that gorgeous body of his.
”Are you hungry?” Sparrow asked. ”I bought some loaves of bread in the village, and-”
She stopped mid-sentence as the door burst open and two men, both dressed in dirty, sweat-stained s.h.i.+rts and trousers and each armed with a dagger, stood in the doorway.
Lock glared at the two men who strode into the house. Both were tall and thickly built, one with lanky blond hair, the other with balding black. When the black-haired one leered in Sparrow's direction, Lock noted he was missing two front teeth.
The blond advanced on Sparrow who grasped the closest weapon-the broom- and rammed the wooden end into her attacker's gut. He gasped as the blow landed, but recouped quickly and jerked the broom from her hand, dragging her toward him.
”Saw you leaving the village alone, la.s.sie.” The blond licked Sparrow's ear and she flinched with disgust. Lock's heart pounded with rage. If he was free of his chains, he'd have ripped out the man's tongue!
”Looks like she ain't alone,” the black-haired man glanced in Lock's direction. ”That's one big man she's got chained to the wall. Maybe she ain't as sweet as she looks.”
”Let me go!” Sparrow rammed her elbow into her captor's gut and stomped on his foot with her booted heel.
He gasped in pain, loosening his hold. She reached for the broom again. The blond lunged at her, his dagger drawn, and grasped her even harder, one arm around her waist while his other hand pressed the blade to her throat.
”Move again, la.s.sie, and I'll cut your throat.”
Lock clenched his teeth and lunged, blind rage making him momentarily forget he was bound. He nearly fell as the chains tightened.
”Nice, doggie,” the black-haired man sneered in Lock's direction.
”See if she's got anything worth taking in this dung heap,” the blond called to his companion. ”I'm going to entertain myself before I go.”
He flung Sparrow so hard on the bed that Lock saw her teeth jar, still she kicked at her attacker as he approached. He raised his dagger. ”Keep it up, la.s.sie, and I'll cut you up from your toes to your ears!”
Sparrow's eyes met Lock's briefly, and the fear in her expression made his stomach twist in a manner he'd never experienced-not even during his torture. If only she could throw him the key! d.a.m.n the key, he thought, grasping the chains, curling them around his hands. He pulled with every bit of strength he could muster. The bounty hunters had done their job well, and the chains were firmly rooted in the ground. Lock continued pulling, every muscle in his body feeling as if it had burst into flames. Sweat ran into his eyes, and the chains cut into his palms, making them slick with blood. He felt the metal pulling loose.
”Hey! What the h.e.l.l are you doing?” The black-haired man shouted. He leapt on Lock's back, his dagger drawn. Lock jerked his arm backwards, and the man crashed into the wall, blacking out as the back of his head struck wood.
Across the room, the blond was too busy fighting with Sparrow to notice his friend's mishap. Lock grasped the chains again, and with one supreme effort, tore them from the ground. Without losing a second, he dove across the room, wrapped the chains still dangling from his manacles around the blond's throat, and squeezed.
The blond dropped his knife and clawed at Lock's hands in an attempt to free himself. The man's body flapped like a fish in Lock's deadly embrace, but he was unable to make a sound as his breath was completely cut off. Lock waited until the man lay limp in his grasp before snapping his neck to ensure death.
He picked up the fallen dagger, walked to the other unconscious thief, and rammed the blade through his heart.
Lock stood, panting, his hands b.l.o.o.d.y and stinging, and turned to Sparrow. She sat on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest, tears streaking her face, her eyes fixed on him with terror. He had the oddest urge to take her in his arms and soothe her. As he stepped closer, she leapt off the bed, backing away from him.
”G.o.ddess help me,” she whispered.
”There is no G.o.ddess!” Lock snapped, wondering why her fear of him affected him so much. He had to get away from her, away from this mad village ruled by women where men were kept chained like animals. He needed to get back to SothSea where no one cared about anyone but himself, and the women didn't have innocent eyes and a sense of honor. ”Now give me the key!”
Sparrow stood as if frozen. With a growl, Lock dragged her to him and reached into the waistband of her pants where he knew she kept the key. She punched him hard in the stomach, but he scarcely felt the blow. When she grasped handfuls of his hair and pulled, he gritted his teeth. That he felt.
He found the key and shoved her aside as he unlocked his bonds. He tugged the boots off one of the dead thieves and dragged them on, slipping the key into it before he pulled on his tunic. As he strode through the open door, he forced himself not to look back. He knew if he looked, if he saw the frantic expression in her beautiful blue eyes, he might do something stupid, like kiss her again. If he did that, then he'd have to make love with her, and if he made love with her, he knew he'd never, never let her go.
At a steady pace, Lock headed for the distant woods. The clear night and full moon made traveling easy. Though he wasn't quite sure where he was headed, he knew he could live in the forest until he made a decision about the best way to catch a s.h.i.+p back to the Archipelago.