Disclaimer: Any names that are not on the show are ours, the rest is owned by rich men.
A/N: Tinuveil Undomiel: Sorry for the long update, but we just moved and our computer broke down. Now it's working again and here is the next chapter. I think you'll fall out of your seats from laughing.
A/N: Nerwen Aldarion: Interesting little tidbit about me and this story, whenever my sister and I come up with a great idea I think about it all day when ever I have time alone, the funny thing is that usually my best idea come to me while I'm in the shower covered with shampoo. Not joking it's true, the part about Shion Village came to me while I was in the shower, I almost fell I was laughing so hard. Well this is the beginning of the Teyla/Ronon stuff and it only gets better from here because sometimes the best relationships start off with the couple hating each other, these are also the funniest hehehe.
Chapter 2: Tavern Wenches and Royal Decrees
"A pleasure to meet you, your highness."
"You know!" Jack and Sam exclaimed at the same time.
"What's going on?" Ronon asked staring at the woman and John.
"Remember that princess I told you about," John explained, "Meet her royal highness, Princess Elizabeth."
Ronon stared at the princess who was not dressed in silk and decked with diamonds. Instead she wore a gray cloak and sturdy brown dress. It was obvious that this would be a long story.
"Would you please release my friends," Elizabeth said politely. Ronon lowered his sword.
"Now that the secret is out I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you the whole story," Jack said as he took a seat by the fire.
After taking a long look at John, Sam said, "You're Abolingean."
John nodded, "I'm rather interested in that story," his gaze still on the princess.
"When Abolingea fell, Count Hammond was able to smuggle the princess into Peruthna. I, two other soldiers and Sam here lived in Tryson with them. We've just received word that Rujjik is ill."
"Ill?" John asked, "How ill?"
"Last leg ill."
"That's ill."
"Yes," Sam said, "the Count is going to Palina to ask for the king's assistance."
"Fat chance of that happening," John said, "Hyunder is to chicken to fight and he's got that treaty with Rujjik."
"We know it's a long shot, but we might get some help from the court," Jack said, "Our job is to take the princess to Tilburn. The Duke of Vir has an army waiting for us there."
"How big of an army?" Ronon asked.
"Not very," Jack said, "but it's the most we'll ever get."
"That doesn't sound reassuring."
"I agree, but it's better than sitting back and letting Rujjik slaughter our people."
"What's your plan to get to Tilburn?" John asked.
"We were planning to cross the river at the base of Shion Lake…"
"That's a great way to get killed," he butted in, "Obviously Rujjik knows she's alive. He'll have the whole western side of river patrolled. You can't cross it."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Sam asked.
"Go around the lake," John said, "We can stop in Shion Village for supplies then follow the road to Rycel then Tilburn."
"Normally I'd jump at any chance to go see the ladies—ow!" Jack grunted when Sam elbowed him, "I mean shops in Shion Village, but it's too rowdy for the princess."
"She could be discovered," Sam agreed.
"No she won't," John explained, "Everyone will be either to busy, drunk, or dead to notice her. It's the only option."
"We'll do it," Elizabeth spoke up. Everyone turned to look at her, "He's right," she continued, "It's the safest way."
"Then we better get some sleep," Jack said, "Cause I doubt we'll get any there."
Shion Village has a history of fools. Fools lived there, fools died there and a foolish man created it.
William Shion was a foolish man with a foolish idea to set up a port in the now Shion Lake foolish because William did not know how to swim and in fact hated the water. Amazingly the idea worked traders from Abolingea and Tior sent goods by way of the Burmian Sea and the Truist River. The town near the lake was formed as workers from the port brought their families to live there.
William Shion became a very rich man and the king of Peruthna bestowed upon him much honor for the riches he brought naming the town and the lake after him. Shion Village became a lovely town where values were held high, families went to church, children played together. Anyone passing through remarked how lovely and safe the town was…for about twenty years or so.
William Shion might have been a rich man but he was still a foolish man and being foolish he decided to invest all his money in farmlands in Tior. Now any intelligent person would have known that Tior had virtually no natural resources and the only thing that the lands in Tior would grow is grass but since William was rich no one dared tell him he was wrong and William lost all of his money. After which he threw himself into the lake named after him and drowned (he never did learn how to swim).
After William's death everyone was certain that Shion Village would wither away faster than it had sprung up but fortunately (or should I say unfortunately) one thing saved the town, the introduction of alcohol.
Soon the beautiful shops and cozy inns closed up and turned into taverns and bars, men feasted themselves on tavern whores and mead while growling through headaches during the day, women traded their wares for trinkets and bore bastards to show for it, the children dreamed their whole lives of getting out but eventually became as valueless as their parents.
Now there was no crime in Shion Village because there were no laws, outlaws and bandits adored the town, cheap drinks and busty women to gorge themselves on and there was no higher authority there to turn them in. Fights and deaths were commonplace so much that you were lucky if you were buried in the cemetery at all instead of just dropped in the woods to let the buzzards pick you clean.
Yes the village was in shambles and no one cared, the town was rowdy and wild so much that if anyone told you that there was but one good soul there you would laugh for certain, but there is. A tavern girl with a heart full of hope, a dream and a mysterious past of her own…
Shion Village was beyond the word filthy. Normally John didn't mind so much but knowing that a certain princess was sitting on the bench of the wagon made him wish that the streets were paved with gold instead of blood.
Elizabeth's green eyes looked appalled as she took in the town. Taverns bore the scandalous names such as Horse Carcass and Bloody Baby. Jack stopped the wagon at the inn called Crooked Finger Inn, hardly tempting but the only one in town.
"Why are we stopping?" John asked.
"Hello, it's an inn; it was you're bright idea to stay in this town." Jack reminded him.
"We are not staying here," John told him.
"It's the only inn this town from hell has!"
"Exactly, in a town like this, inns are just traps for unsuspecting travelers like you," John explained.
Ronon continued, "They wait until you fall asleep then if you are lucky they'll just rob you blind, but more than likely they'll kill you and rape any women with you."
"Now do you want that to happen to the Princess?" John asked.
Jack grumbled, "Fine, but where are we supposed to stay?"
John motioned him to follow them, "There is a tavern here…"
"A tavern!"
"…called The Shallow Grave…"
"Shallow Grave!"
"… it has rooms you can rent for fair prices." John told him.
"We are not; I repeat NOT letting the princess stay in a tavern!" Jack yelled.
Ronon rolled his eyes, "Taverns are the safest place to be, there is only one entrance you have look out for and the men there are too busy getting drunk and eyeing the tavern girls to care about one more."
"Not that we're saying we shouldn't take precautions," John said, "Your wife and the Princess will want to keep the hoods of their cloaks up when we're inside and stay upstairs but if we do that everything will be fine."
Jack knew they were right and they seemed to have everything covered, but he still grumbled, "Hammond is going to kill me when he finds out about this."
Teyla Emmagen looked around at the mess the night before had made and sighed, stools and tables were overturned, beer and blood stained the floor, walls and ceilings, and the air smelled of stale beer and body odor. She looked down at her tattered apron and thread bare gown and realized she didn't look much better, but at least her clothes and hair were clean. She slowly began to set the room to rights.
She longed to have help with cleaning the mess but the other girls had left early that morning, staggering from the empty rooms upstairs the men who they had spent the night with raced behind them, throwing on various articles of clothing and praying their wives hadn't woken up yet. It was doubtful the other girls would have helped any ways, Alina and Joshalyn felt that such work was below them and they need to save their energy for the night ahead filled with trying to seduce more money from faithless husbands. Cardella would normally help her but she had been sick for the past couple of days, she tried the same tricks Alina and Joshalyn did but at least she would give a kind word to Teyla and help sometimes. And Talina hadn't been seen for a week, Teyla's employer Caden was spitting mad with her and had been asking where she was. Teyla didn't tell him that she had seen Talina ride off with the bandit Sly Sylus and they probably wouldn't see her again.
At least she left, Teyla thought as she began to scrub the floor vigorously, Teyla dreamed of the same thing. Not running off with some bandit but to leave this hell of a town and settle somewhere new. She used to think it was possible, but that was before Charin died.
A sad smile spread over her features as she thought about Charin, the kind old woman took care of her after her mother died a week after giving birth to her. Charin's husband had owned the Shallow Grave and was a terrible man beating Charin and many times Teyla as well. He hated having to take care of Teyla and constantly bellowed about leaving her out on the streets, he never did, not that it mattered he had died ten years before.
Charin had taken over the tavern then, hiring girls to help serve the drinks but they most often served the men. Teyla had helped at the tavern ever since she was strong enough to hold a tray full of drinks. Charin hated the town more than Teyla did but she never said a word, when Charin was alive living in Shion Village had been bearable and she had always had someone to talk to, someone to dry her tears and soothe her.
But Charin died six years before leaving the inn to her nephew Caden who was not as bad as his uncle but it wasn't from lack of trying. He ordered the help around and worked Teyla till her fingers bled but at least he paid her even if it was a meager amount and let her stay in the small room on the second floor of the Shallow Grave where she had lived all her life.
Even with all the changes the Shallow Grave was one of the most popular taverns to frequent and Teyla worked hard to keep it that way. She was saving up every pinsha she could in order to either buy the Tavern or buy her way to some other place but the truth was that there wasn't any other place to go. Most towns in Peruthna were like this one, the ones with work any way, Tior was filled with war and warriors and Abolingea well only a real idiot would go there.
Teyla heard the door to the tavern open she stood up to see five visitors, three men and two women. One of the men was older with gray hair and brown eyes that spoke of mischief, another had brown hair that was almost black he stood close to one of the women as if guarding her, the other was very tall with dark brown hair in dreadlocks with green eyes, the women had hoods covering there faces and she couldn't tell what they looked like.
"Is there something you want?" She asked setting her rag aside.
"Yes we would like to rent some rooms," The older man said.
"We only have two rooms available and the price is ten silver pinshas a piece, two more if you want clean blankets and five if you want water." She told them.
"We'll take them both with the blankets and water," He said handing her the money. The two women and the dark haired man quickly left to see the rooms, the man with dreadlocks went outside, probably to take care of the horses. The older man left to follow him but stopped and turned to Teyla, "Does it get really wild in here?" He asked.
She raised an eyebrow, "This is the busiest tavern in the devil's favorite town, what do you think?"
He groaned, "I was afraid of that."
Wild was an understatement, once the sun had set the taverns and bars filled with men ready to drink beer, leer at women and brawl with each other, sometimes to the death.Caden had just broken up a fight with three men who were arguing over who got Alina's favors that night. Alina had watched on glorifying in the action, but Caden threw the three of them out and Alina searched around for another man to toy with leaving Teyla to set the chairs up and mop up the spilled drinks as best she could. When she leaned over a very drunk man tried to grope her, she grabbed his hand and twisted, satisfied to hear the bones break…he didn't stick around after that. She then went behind to the bar to try to help Gorden with serving the drinks before setting out into the mob of drunken men.
Sitting in the middle of all this were Jack, John and Ronon, each had a mug of beer but they weren't drinking it seriously. Jack was a bit uncomfortable being down here with his wife and Elizabeth upstairs, John and Ronon looked right at home though. John was trying to catch Jack into a conversation while Ronon was busy watching the tavern girl with the long golden brown hair and the soft brown eyes.
He recognized her as the one who had given them the rooms, her bun that held her hair up was loose and a great deal of her hair spilled over her shoulders like waves of amber. Her old and patched gown couldn't hide the luscious figure and ripe curves and when she leaned over to pick up a fallen mug, well he nearly fell out of his chair.
It didn't take long for John and Jack to notice just who Ronon was watching. John rolled his eyes, "Ronon, we are helping the long last heir of Abolingea reclaim her throne and you're thinking about bedding down with a tavern maid."
Ronon looked at him, "She's pretty," was the only explanation he gave.
John turned to Jack, "And he says I think about women too much."
It didn't get past Teyla that the tall dangerous looking man that came in earlier was staring at her throughout the evening but she didn't think much about it beyond the fact that it was a nuisance. She was tired, her feet were killing her and she smelled of stale beer. She set the tray on the bar, rested her elbows on the table and covered her eyes with her hands. She dreaded the fact that the night was far from over.
Feeling his eyes still on her, she turned around and looked straight at him, "Do you want something?" She asked.
He raised an eyebrow suggestively and flipped a coin through the air; Teyla caught it and looked at him quizzically.
"For a tumble," He explained grinning.
Teyla looked at the coin in her palm and seemed to think about his suggestion. She smiled sweetly at him, walked over, and gently touched his cheek with her palm and…
Punched him out of his chair, knocking a table over with his large form, she threw the coin at him. "There's your tumble," She told him angrily and then stalked away.
John and Jack were laughing as were everyone else around them. John leaned over Ronon as if to help him up, "I just have one thing to ask you," John said, "Was she good?" Then Ronon knocked him to the ground.
After the incident with the tavern maid, Jack and John went up stairs to brings some food to the girls and tell them of Ronon's 'tumble'. Ronon stayed behind, he was still trying to figure out a way to woo the girl into his bed.
A new group of men entered the bar but Ronon barely noticed them, he sidled his way to the tavern maid who was now standing at the bar, her back to him.
Teyla saw him approach out of the corner of her eye but didn't acknowledge him, she hoped he was just coming to apologize, but that burst when he slid another coin to her.
"My offer still stands." He told her.
"Well I refuse it," She replied sliding the coin back to him.
Ronon smiled at her, "I haven't had any complaints so far."
"I'm sure you haven't and if you go over to any of the other girls here I'm sure they will praise you admirably when the night is through, but I'm not one to give compliments." She told him.
"I'm afraid you're the only one I want to hear praises from," He said, "You caught my eye from across the room and now I can't think of nothing else."
Teyla smiled, "I'm sure when you tried that with all the other girls they all but dragged you to the nearest bed, but I'm not one of them, now would you please leave."
He just grinned, "I'll give you more money if that's what you want." He rested a hand on her shoulder.
"No," She told him, "What I want is for you to leave me alone!" She then drew the knife she had hidden up her sleeve and placed the sharp point at his throat. He looked at her surprised, "Go," She said icily, "Before I cut off parts of you to ensure you never bother another woman again."
He thought about knocking the knife out of her hand, he could have done it easily enough, but he could take the hint that he was wanted. He backed off and went upstairs to his room.
Teyla breathed a sigh of relief, anger still burning through her veins; she slammed the knife on the table the point embedding in the wood. She rubbed her fingers on her temples fighting a head ache.
The new group of men that had just come in saw the entire thing, one of them approached Teyla. "The man you were talking to, did he come here with four others…two of them women?"
"Yes," She told him, "Are they wanted for something?"
He smiled cruelly, "You might be saying that. Are you acquainted with him?"
She turned her back to him, "If you can call it an acquaintance then yes." The man picked up the knife she had discarded, she continued speaking, "I'll help you apprehend him if you…" She was interrupted by the man grabbing her and placing the blade to her throat.
"You're coming with me," He told her.
Teyla tried to control her fear, "I'm not that kind of girl," She continued, "If you need someone to bed down with I know…"
"I don't want you that way you fool; we're going to have a chat about your friend and his companions."
"And then instead of throwing herself at him, she knocked him off the bench," John wound down the tale with a laugh.
Sam laughed at the story while Elizabeth merely smiled. Ronon slammed open the door and took a seat in the chair. He glared at all of them, "Not one word."
However, John wasn't one to follow advice, "Any luck?" he asked with a grin.
"She pulled a knife on me."
John doubled over with laughter, "Oh this gets better and better."
Since he had been given a proper warning, Ronon left his seat, kicked his legs our from under him and then returned to his chair, "Who has first watch?"
"You," Jack said, a wicked grin claimed his face, "but if you need any help I'm sure the barmaid will be glad to assist you."
Ronon considered giving him the same treatment he gave John, but decided not to since he was his employer.
After picking himself up off the floor, John had walked over to the window to see who was coming to the tavern. He lost interest in the arrivals when he saw three people leaving the tavern. "Hey Ronon, isn't that your girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend," he hissed as he left his chair to see, "Yeah, serves her right for not taking my perfectly good offer."
"Looks like those guys don't take no for an answer," John said.
"And you aren't going to do anything?" Sam asked in disbelief. She got up from the bed to see for herself what was going on. Blue eyes went wide as she saw the girl being forced on a horse by two men in a familiar uniform, "Jack, its Idrilkai!"
"What?" Jack said in surprise as he joined his wife at the window, "I thought you said they wouldn't be here?" he pointed accusingly at John.
"They must have followed us," John explained.
"What do they want with the barmaid?" Elizabeth asked.
"They must have assumed she's with us when Ronon talked to her."
"We should leave," Jack said.
"I agree, but not together," John said, "You two take the wagon and head for Palina, when you reach Faile, double back and head on for Tilburn. We'll take the princess on the original route."
Jack shook his head, "She's my responsibility and you haven't shown me anything for me to trust you."
"She's my princess too," John declared, "I'd die for her."
What scared Jack was the fact that he could tell he was speaking the truth, "I hope you don't have to go that far, but alright."
Sam and Jack gathered their things, gave Elizabeth one last hug and told her to be careful. "Listen to her," Jack told them before leaving. The princess put her cloak back on but left the hood down for now.
"You ready?" John asked.
"As soon as we rescue the girl we'll be on our way."
His dark brows rose, "What are you talking about?"
"It's not her fault she's in this mess," Elizabeth explained, "The least we can do is save her."
"I suppose your right, your highness, but that's not what we're going to do."
"And why not?"
"Because we've got our own skins to worry about, and going after those Idrilkai is something only an idiot would do."
"Idiotic or not it is what we will do," she stated.
"I'm sorry, princess" John said, "but the answer is no and that's final."
One brow arched on her pretty face as an idea occurred to her, "You are Abolingean, right?"
"Yes," John said, "What has that to do with anything?"
"Well I'm the princess of Abolingea, and will be queen if we succeed, correct?"
"What are you getting at, princess?"
"I'm royalty, so by royal decree we are going after the tavern girl," she tilted her head and gave him a smug smile, "and that's final."
John's jaw tightened and he clenched both hands into fists, "I'm really beginning to hate princesses."
A/N: So what did you think? Reviews will get the next chapter out sooner so please push the little button at the bottom of the screen.