Part 36 (1/2)

Laughter and conversation drifted through the open door along with the sound of a flute and drums. The tavern owner's sons had been entertaining their father's guests for years, and their music accompanied the women when they danced. Sparrow and Opal removed their cloaks and followed Leah through the door. The tables and seats by the bar were filled. Several of the men cheered upon seeing the gypsies.

Opal and Sparrow danced together at first, the center of the floor becoming a whirlwind of lavender and blue silk. The silver and gold jewelry on the women's wrists and ankles chimed to the sound of the flute and drums as they spun and swayed their hips. For the next couple of hours, Sparrow and Opal took turns dancing and gathering the coins tossed on the floor.

Sparrow left the room for a moment to change into a costume of sheer black silk pantaloons and a beaded vest that just covered her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, leaving her curved arms and sleek abdomen bare. She draped a long, maroon veil over her head. The material hung to her sandal-clad feet. When she returned, Opal was just finis.h.i.+ng her dance. While her friend left to change her clothes, Sparrow stood in the center of the room, and to the sound of the flute, began a sensual dance she and Opal had been working on. She spun, the veil floating around her. She slipped it from her head, and opened her arms, parting the maroon silk and revealing the scanty costume beneath as she wiggled her hips. Men laughed and banged their mugs on the table. She jumped lightly onto one of the tables and swirled the veil over the heads of the wide-eyed patrons before she dropped it and s.h.i.+mmied, her arms moving like liquid. Sparrow smiled, genuinely enjoying herself, and knelt on the table. She bent backwards, her arms stretching sensually over her head. She nearly toppled over when she found herself staring into a pair of shocked, angry and terribly familiar blue eyes.

She righted herself, her heart pounding from more than just the dance. It had been months since she'd seen those soul-reading eyes, that shock of brown and white hair, that disgracefully sensual body...

”Lock!” She scrambled away, but he grasped her off the table and into his arms.

The patrons shouted. Across the tavern Leah screamed for help.

”Lock, let go of me!” Sparrow bellowed, struggling, but his arms tightened around her like warm bands of steel.

”What the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing?” he snarled. ”Dancing like some SothSea trollop!”

”As if you're one to talk!”

”Put her down!” Some of the men shouted. ”She ain't finished yet!”

”You're all finished!” Lock growled.

”Hey! Put that girl down!” The tavern owner approached, wiping his hands on a tattered towel, the lantern lights reflecting off his balding head. ”I've told you men a thousand times to keep your hands to yourselves!”

”Get away from her!” Opal leapt on Lock's shoulder, grasped a handful of his hair, and pulled hard.

”Let go, you crazy b.i.t.c.h!”

”Not until you put her down!”

Lock shoved Opal who fell onto a nearby chair, strands of his hair still caught in her fists.

”That's the second time I've lost part of my scalp over you, girl!” Lock's furious eyes focused on her. ”And I'm not putting you down!”

”Cris!” the tavern owner hollered, and a tall, thickly-built youth charged into the tavern, bits of straw caught in his lank blond hair, manure smeared on his trousers. He flew at Lock's back, screeching a war cry. Lock kicked backwards, Sparrow still in his arms. His foot landed in Cris's mid-section and knocked the youth halfway across the room.

One of the patrons, apparently itching for trouble, ran at Lock who lifted Sparrow above his head and lashed out with his foot, kicking his attacker into a chair, splintering it.

”Lock, stop it!” Sparrow hissed. ”What I do is none of your business!”

He lowered her so they were again eye to eye. ”Everything about you is my business!”

”Since when? All you care about is the Lady Fire...watch that guy to your left!”

In a fluid movement, Lock s.h.i.+fted Sparrow over one shoulder and used the back of his fist to belt Cris, who had recovered from the first blow. Blood spurted from Cris's nose, spraying the table and floor. The youth grasped his face in his hands.

Again, Sparrow found herself in Lock's arms. She blinked. ”I don't believe you! How dare you-”

”All right, put her down and get the h.e.l.l out of here!” The tavern owner approached Lock again, this time with a crossbow in his hand.

”No!” Sparrow shouted to her employer. ”Don't hurt him!”

”Don't hurt him?” Cris croaked, his eyes watering as he wiped his b.l.o.o.d.y nose on his sleeve.

The owner glared. ”He's d.a.m.n near destroyed my place!”

”I'm just here to get what's mine,” Lock stated.

”I am not yours!”

”She wants nothing to do with you!” Opal shook her fist at Lock. ”Haven't you done her enough damage!”

”Just put the wench down and get out of my tavern!”

”The wench is my fiancee!”

The owner looked startled. ”Is that true?”

”No!” Sparrow snapped. ”I mean, not anymore.”

”I've had about enough of this nonsense.” The owner lowered his weapon and pointed at Sparrow. ”You don't come back here until you've settled things with that walking typhoon. Opal, you keep the customers entertained. I've hired you girls until midnight, if you remember correctly.”

”Sparrow, you don't have to go with him.” Opal's dark eyes stared hard at Lock.

”Opal, just go ahead and dance. I'll be fine.”

Lock, Sparrow still in his arms, walked to the door.

”You can put me down,” she said.

”Don't wager on it. I've been looking for you for four long months, and I'm not about to let you go.”

Sparrow slipped her arms around his neck and smiled. ”Don't you wager on it.”

He walked behind the tavern to a short rock wall and sat on it. Sparrow slipped from his arms to perch beside him.

”Lock, what are you doing here?” she asked.

”I think that's more a question I should be asking you.” His eyes swept her bare stomach and the exposed tops of her plump b.r.e.a.s.t.s. ”Who do you think you are, doing half-naked s.h.i.+mmies? If that's what you wanted, why did you give me so much trouble about taking you back to the Archipelago?”

”Don't you dare!” She stuck her finger in his face, her blood pounding with rage. ”You promised we'd get married and you'd make an honest life for us. You lied! Where's that floating snake pit you call a s.h.i.+p?”

”Probably back in the SothSeas by now.”

Sparrow narrowed her eyes. ”What do you mean?”

”The night you disappeared, I left the Lady Fire. Ilias told me why you ran away. He didn't tell me where you were, though.”

”Did you hurt him? I swear, if you did anything to him, I'll never forgive you, Lock the White!”

”Why has he always meant so much to you? You'd never forgive me for hurting him, but I nearly got myself killed in the ring with Miska for your sake and you didn't give me so much as a kind word!”