CHAPTER 2
Dawn was breaking when they finally arrived in town. It was nothing like Clover Town of the 18th century and not even close to Clover Town of the 21st century. It was so ….dirty and dusty and crowded. Some kids were playing in a puddle of mud hitting some sticks in it while a few girls were running around trying to avoid the splashes. But they seemed to have fun and Sam thought that was what really mattered.
They went through a market and people were putting up their market stalls with vegetables and cheese and milk and whatever else they were selling. That was when she realized how hungry she was. She was ashamed that she had to ask him for money to buy her food but she promised she would pay him back as soon as she found a job. Because she knew there was no way she could return to her own time too soon. He got off the horse and left her on and then he pushed his horse a bit. That was enough for the horse to start galloping down the street until it finally stopped. Sam was all alone on Jeff's horse in a remote alley. Good thing that at least it was day already. Then she heard the familiar whistle and the horse started neighing happily. The next minute Jeff was standing next to her with a bag of goodies in his left hand and a beautiful blue scarf in his right hand.
“This is for you, Sam…” he said and handed her the scarf.
“Thank you…”she said rather embarrassed. Then added jokingly: “hope there is food in there too….”
“Come” he said and helped her off the horse. He took her a few more steps in front of a shady old building. Now Sam was afraid ….of him, of the building, of what could be inside, she wasn’t sure what exactly she was afraid of, but she was afraid. For a moment she thought that maybe the priest wasn’t all that bad, maybe she could try to reason with him….
He was holding her hand tightly when they got in front of the door. It was made of iron and looked creepy. She looked at him and tried to pull her hand from his grip. He let go of her hand and looked at her. Well, she looked closer at him too. At least she had been right last night, he was indeed very handsome. Tall, well built, dark hair and blue eyes. He couldn’t be a bad man with those looks, could he? Then she remembered what had happened with her former employer at the bar during the 21st century and cold chills went down her spine. No, she was sure this wasn’t the case now. She blushed at her own thoughts and took his hand.
He seemed content. He knocked on the door in a certain manner and there was movement behind it. She heard a click and the door opened.
A huge man was standing behind the door as they entered. He had knives in both hands and he looked dangerous as any armed man could look. Sam was sorry she had followed Jeff here. How could she be so dumb to trust a complete stranger? A handsome one nonetheless. Had he kidnapped her?
All sorts of scary thoughts crossed her mind as fast as lightning. Everything pointed to her being in peril, I mean everything, from the huge man at the entrance with knives in his hands, to the desolate looking alley where the house was situated and finally to the stranger she had entrusted her life to… Then she looked at Jeff again to see the grin on his face at having trapped her. Weird enough, there was no grin.
“Hey Bob, how are you!? Did you guys have a busy night?” Jeff addressed the huge man who looked like a bear.
“Not as busy as yours it seems” The man whom Jeff called Bob answered winking at him and then at Sam.
“Ah, her, no, it's not what you think, silly! I found her in the forest. She needs our help to avoid the priest and the guards, that’s all”
“Oh why didn’t you say so? Anything for you, chief! ….uh then she is …??”
But he didn’t get to finish the sentence when Jeff answered: “Out of your league, boy! She is not to be touched, you hear me? No one touches her, she is my guest here. We will help her and let her go. She is not from around here, she needs help.”
“Ok boss” answered Bob disappointed. Sam on the other hand couldn’t believe anything she saw or heard. Was she dreaming? She pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t.
“Thank you…” she managed to utter in his ear.
He showed her the way through a long corridor that led to a huge noisy room. It was filled with man and women drinking and singing and dancing and …kissing and touching….it was more like a secret den rather than an inn as he had told her.
The moment they entered the room, the music stopped and the man bowed their heads at Jeff while the women stared at her, curious, intrigued, jealous?
They advanced towards the round table when another huge man greeted them, even scarier then the first as his body was covered with scars and he had a tattoo of a rattle snake on his right arm. Sam grabbed Jeff's arm tighter as the man before them gave her the creeps.
“Hey chief, hope you had a fruitful night besides that!” and he pointed at Sam with a grin.
“Nope, unfortunately, last night was a wreck. Didn’t get anything. But I found her, Steph, and decided to help her. She is not like our girls here, at least I don’t think she is. She is not to be touched, are we clear!?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say boss…” he said looking at Sam and then at Jeff, trying to guess if she had him under his spell or something. After that Jeff told him that Father Josh believed her to be a witch and he wanted to help her. Nah, Steph didn’t believe in that nonsense, he wasn’t like Father Josh. There were no such things as witches.
Sam on the other hand didn’t know what to make of all that was going on. At least it appeared that she was safe from everyone in that scary room. But was she safe from Jeff? He was clearly their leader. Now she understood what he meant when he told her that where he would take her, there would be no guards and she would be safe from them. But was she safe from him? Would he hurt her? The more she thought about it, the more sure she was that he wouldn’t hurt her. She knew it in her heart.
A cute skinny red headed girl approached them. She was wearing a red short sleeveless dress and a pair of beautiful sandals on her feet. A nice pearl necklace adorned her white neck.
She stopped before them, took a long look at Sam and then tried to kiss Jeff. “Ariana, what's gotten into you!?” He said while he gently pushed her away.
She seemed hurt and disappointed while she said in his ear: “I’ve been trying for so long to get you Jeff… I even started thinking that maybe you liked men and that was why you kept refusing me. But now I know. Hope she's worth it….” And Ariana left with her cup of wine in her hand and a sour heart. But it didn’t last long as she landed in a man's arms, singing and having fun.
“That was weird…” Sam managed to say when both Ariana and Steph had gone far enough not to hear their conversation.
“So who are you Jeff, really!?” she asked although she assumed she knew by now.
“I’m a smith…I forge our weapons, that part is true. But I didn’t tell you who we use them against or what we do with them… We are honest…thieves …one might say… we take from the ones who stole from us first with their huge taxes and who forced us to become this. And we give to…well, to ourselves. We are just trying to keep the balance. You see, the mayor is the biggest thief. And so are his men, putting huge taxes which people can't pay. We are just restoring the order. We are not murderers, not cutthroats, just….”
“Common thieves” Sam finished his sentence for him.
“Would you have followed me if you knew? I bet you would have stayed in the forest alone in the dark, which trust me, could have been more dangerous than we are. And you are in no danger here, no one will touch you. You are safe with me.”
“Am I?” she said more to herself than to him.