Chapter 10
Tats noticed he got a lot of hard stares from the other guards while Moustache checked on The Boss. Apparently, they had been less than impressed with Tats’ bold act of claiming to be her brother, and if their looks revealed what was in their heart, they were hoping to beat him silly.
Rose looked at Tats with a confused countenance. Part of her wanted to smother him with kisses for putting his life on the line to save her from those creeps who wanted to do Kasani knows what with her, but on the other hand if he hadn’t convinced her to signal The Boss’s house she wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place and, most importantly, wouldn’t now be in this situation.
Although the guards looked fiercely at Tats, they didn’t dare make any threats, much less physically mistreat him or his accomplice in mischief. As for Tats, he kept his trap shut. He was brimming with energy on the inside, and it was torture to stay passively in this situation, but his mind felt clear in spite of its abundant energy that demanded an outlet, and he realized that he had appropriately seized the moment for oratorical audacity with Moustache and that the most prudent thing would be for him to wait until Moustache or Becca came outside.
Suddenly, a dozen more guards came spilling out of the mansion, all holding torches. They pulled Rose to the side, and several of them grabbed Tats from behind, holding him wholly immobile. Their torches, held near, illumined his face brightly.
“Heads will roll if this is a prank!” Tats heard a voice say. The Sodorfian pronunciation was pretty good, but he could spot exactly four slight giveaways in this short sentence alone that marked the speaker as being from Sivingdel, notably the rolled “r.”
A frightening woman issued from the house, glasses on her face, her hair in complete disarray.
Then, she and Tats made eye contact.
“DAAAAVEY!!!!”
The woman went running towards Tats and gave him a bear hug.
“My little brother! I thought I’d never see you again!” she said, switching to Seleganian without even realizing it.
The malevolence in the guards’ expressions turned to deference with a touch of fear. They were glad they had shown restraint.
“Well, you picked a strange time to come and visit, little brother!” the woman said.
“I wasn’t exactly sure how to time the journey, Becca,” Tats said. “It’s my first time here. Heck, it’s my first time outside of Sivingdel.”
“Come, come inside. Who is your lady friend?”
“Oh, Rose is her name. We met tonight at a certain establishment, and I convinced her to allow me to escort her home. It turns out Rose has a bit of a sense of humor, so she decided to take me to what appears to be the finest neighborhood in the whole city, and one by one, she kept telling me, ‘That’s my house.’ I almost fell for it a few times, since I had a bit to drink tonight, but it didn’t take long for me to realize she was just having some innocent fun with a foreigner.
“She didn’t mean any disrespect by it, Becca. She had no idea we were related. Well, I thought I’d play a little joke on her and pretend to be leaving her, so I turned around and started to ride away. Just at that moment, I heard some shouting, and I realized some guys were trying to kidnap her. Things got a bit ugly,” Tats said, showing the blood covering his hands and shirt, “but we came through. That was where your men came outside, as there was quite a hullaballoo. I wish I could have made a smoother arrival.”
Becca cast a glance at Moustache that more than sufficed to ask her unstated question.
“There was quite a scrap, Boss. Mr. Havensford can handle himself real well. Those men aimed to do Miss Rose here some harm. They were taking her away. Mr. Havensford’s horse dealt with one of them. He took out another. The carriage took off though, so there must have been at least one of them left.”
Becca shot a quick glance at Tats that told him the lie would suffice for now, but that she would need the real story as soon as they could speak in private.
“Well, my house is your house, brother, plus that of your guest—for tonight,” she added, and Rose had no doubt whom the qualifying language was for. She also knew she had no prudent choice but to accept the offer.
“We’ll have much to talk about tomorrow morning, brother. You are invited to a sumptuous breakfast at 9 a.m. I suspect more than fondness has brought you such a long way,” she said with a shrewd smile.
“Frederick,” she said, addressing Moustache, “send a dozen men after that carriage. Whoever’s in it, take them alive if possible. Don’t let your men come back empty-handed.”
Moustache whistled sharply and began calling out names, all of whom then leapt on top of swift-looking horses and took off galloping.
The Boss then instructed Moustache to show David and his lady friend to the finest guest room.
As soon as the door was shut, Tats told Rose, “I’m sorry I got you into this, but everything’s going to be fine. I know my sister, and I know she didn’t believe the lie I told. That was just for the benefit of the guards because it didn’t make her lose face. I’ll tell her the real story, just as it happened, and I promise you no harm will come to you. I know my sister.”
He noticed Rose was sweating profusely. She seemed in fear for her life. Tats, like many men in an awkward situation with a female, felt he had two options, both of which were doomed to fail. He could offer her money for her troubles, but that would possibly insult her, given that he had already paid her for what she agreed to do, and it might make it look like there was no part of her being that could not be purchased.
Yet, if he offered her no compensation for her troubles, she would think him a thoughtless savage.
He decided he would go for some hybrid approach. “Look, Rose, I’m really sorry,” he began while casually going for his wallet. “This is way more of a mess than what you agreed to get into. Please let me make it right,” he said, extending her a few thousand falons.
“I agreed to do a task for a certain price, and you’ve already paid that price. I knew it had risks. That’s why it had a high price. If I accepted that money you have in your hand, you would turn me into your debtor.”
Tats noticed a few tears roll down her cheek.
“In fact, I’m already in your debt,” she said. “I’d be well on my way towards becoming a murdered, raped corpse if those men had taken me. Thank you.” Rose approached him and gave him a hug.
Electricity shot through Tats’ body. He felt sensations in some ways far powerful than what he had felt at the bordello, and yet here he was fully clothed hugging a clothed woman. But there is a world of difference between the affection of the heart and the affection of the coin, and Tats now knew he was getting a small taste of the former.
Rose then pulled away from him slightly. “I’m dead anyway. Your sister’s not going to like that I signaled her house.”
“I’ll take care of Becca,” Tats said authoritatively, looking her directly in the eye.
Rose felt more assured than she thought she could have, but the doubt was not entirely extinguished.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Tats proffered.
“There’s no need to be so chivalrous, David,” Rose said, unimpressed, and went to bed.
Tats, feeling very small, yet very much in love with this spirited woman, slinked into bed but stayed far to the opposite side. Not so much as a hair made contact.