Chapter Thirteen
As soon as the Halliwell sisters had reached their home, Prue, being the oldest, had taken charge. She sent Phoebe for the clothes and was about to tell Piper what to get when she noticed that both Piper and Paige were missing. Before she could speak, Joxer asked, "Hey, where'd they go?"
Prue smiled as she thought of her sisters' favorite past times. "Piper probably went for the kitchen things, and Paige went for her artwork. I need to get something from my Mother's room. I'll only be gone a moment. Wait here," she instructed, but as soon as she moved, Joxer followed. "What part of wait here don't you understand?" she asked him.
"Gabrielle told me to come with you," he answered.
"She didn't mean right on top of me, just to come to my house. Wait here," Prue repeated. She ran into her mother's room only to be followed closely by Joxer. She turned swiftly, her mouth open to warn him, but before she could get as much as one syllable out, he had pushed the door. Joxer thought the door shut because of his push, but Prue knew that it had slammed shut of its own accord. "You shouldn't have done that," she said. "We can't get out of here."
"What do you mean? All I have to do is open the door," Joxer said. The first thing he noticed was that there was no handle on the door. "Where's the handle?" he asked, glancing nervously around.
"There isn't one. I told you not to follow me. We keep a very special Book here, and one of the protections is that any one who is not a Halliwell who comes into this room will be trapped. So guess what? You just trapped us in here!" Her eyes blazed at him. "Why can't you follow a simple order!"
"Why couldn't you just tell me why you didn't want me to follow you instead of telling me not to follow you? Gabrielle said to follow you."
"Well, Gabrielle can't get us out of here!" Prue said. "I think . . . My family doesn't even know we're in here, and they won't be able to get me out either!"
Elsewhere in the house, Prue's sisters had gathered up what they needed and were looking for Prue. They couldn't find her. "The Book," Piper finally said. "She must have gone for the Book."
Only then did Phoebe notice the door to their mother's and grandmother's room was shut. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers as she stared at it. "Uh-oh!"
"Uh-oh what?" Paige's arms were full of her art and supplies, and they made a great bustling sound as she turned to look in the direction Piper and Phoebe were already looking in. Seeing that the door was shut, she spoke for all of them. "Crap!"
Meanwhile, back at the auction, Brendan had been watching everything from the shadows of an alley he had chosen to hide in. He had never been too far from Jack and Faith and could have easily ran to their aid at any time. He had continued to keep checking on Jack as they both waited for Will to be released to the block even while watching Faith retrieve Dawson. She was about to walk past his alley when he stepped just out of the shadows and whispered her name, "Faith." He jerked his head urgently toward the alley.
Faith had actually been scanning the alleys for Brendan, knowing that they needed to be together when the fight started and also realizing that she could use his help to free the boy from his chains, when Brendan had shown himself. She nodded and began to follow him into the alley even as he ducked quickly back into the shadows.
Despite the chains, Dawson smiled. He finally had a name for his beloved! Faith! It's such a beautiful name! he thought. Faith Leery sounds good to me. I hope she likes it. He almost stumbled over the chains which were way too big for his small body in his efforts to keep up with her. He was glad for a chance to sit down in the alley. He had been standing forever as they had had him tied up against the wall so that every one could see him. He was exhausted but still smiling as he kept thinking to himself, Faith, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman, and she's all mine!
Faith still had not spoken to the boy, and even now, as she released his chain and let him sit, she turned her attention to Brendan instead. "Want the hands or the feet, Wolfboy?" she asked him as one hand slipped between the tight, black leather of her bodice and her breasts.
The sound Brendan made in the depths of his throat was akin to a wounded pup, and Faith looked at him in questioning surprise. Seeing the look in his eyes, she was quick to reassure him. "Hell no, not that!" It was then that she slipped out a pick from between her breasts. She twirled it in her fingers, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Shaking his head, Brendan told her, "You could have said that to begin with."
"How was I supposed to know you were gonna jump to eatin' the kid?"
"WHAT!" Dawson screeched out loud. "You're gonna eat me! Please don't! I'm bony! I don't have any meat! I won't be any trouble! I promise!" he said in a high-pitched voice, almost screaming his words. He had never expected the girl of his dreams to eat humans! What was she -- a Vampire! He prayed that she wasn't and that she wouldn't eat him, not that way any way. To be eaten while still alive would be a horrid way to go! He struggled to rise to his feet, but he couldn't get up for the chains.
When Dawson had first began screeching so fearfully, Faith had thrown back her head in laughter. Brendan had looked at her, stunned and loudly clearing his throat until she'd finally looked again. Only then did she see the true fear shining in the boy's panicked blue eyes. "Easy, kid," she told him, placing her hands on his shoulders and gently pushing him back down. "We're not going to eat any one. Wolfboy could," she said with a toss of her head in Brendan's direction, "but never does, and I'm just a bitch, not a Vamp, Were, or anything like that."
Dawson almost collapsed upon himself as he sat back down. Today had been the most horrible day of his life yet the most exciting at the same time. Had it really only been earlier that morning that he had been laid for the first time by the same beautiful woman who now owned him? He couldn't get over it. He sat quietly, waiting for her to get the chains off. His arms ached to hold her, and his body craved her touch. He desperately wanted her to ride him again but not in front of the Wolfboy. He would have to bide his time. They'd be alone soon enough, and maybe he'd be recovered enough that he could interest her again. At least, he hoped so.
"Didn't mean to make ya wet yourself," Faith told him as he seemed to relax again under her touch. She could feel his muscles under her fingertips and found that she could not resist slowly running her hands down his arms. She decided she'd deal with the chains that bound his hands.
The touch of her hands sent thrills racing up and down his body, but her words angered him. "I didn't wet myself, Faith," he spat out, "and my name is Dawson, not kid. But you did scare the Hell out of me. Too much has happened today. I can't believe today started out so wonderfully only to end up turning into my worst nightmare and then turning up good again because you saved me. Thank you, Faith." He tried to smile at her, but he was so exhausted that he barely managed it.
"Don't thank me," she was quick to tell him. "I only did it 'cause I couldn't stand the way that bitch was measuring you. An animal doesn't even deserve that kinda treatment, but once we get outta here, you're on yer own again, kid."
Brendan shook his head on that note. "I don't think you can do that, Faith. The Captain's got a share on this, and I don't think he's going to be so quick to turn the kid a loose. He likes to get his money's worth."
"Jack's after Will, Virgin Boy," she snapped up at Brendan, her dark eyes cutting through him, "not after Daw -- " She stopped herself quickly, realizing she'd almost spoken his name. "Not after the boy here," she quickly amended, "an' he already knew I was gonna set him free."
"Yes, but wasn't that before he gave you money? Who knows? He might want him to take care of Will, so you can't just let him go till you talk to him."
"He doesn't need the kid for Will. He wants Will himself, if ya haven't figured that out yet, and he's got the Lewis's for the healing."
"Yes. He doesn't have a servant for Will, though, and I'm sure he will want Will to have one." Brendan continued, desperately scratching at any ideal that might keep Faith from releasing Dawson before the kid was in a safe place. "If you turn the kid a loose, he's going to be mad."
"I'm shaking," Faith bit back, sarcasm dripping heavily on her tongue, "but I'll tell ya what, Wolfie. Much as I hate it and as much as I don't give a damn, you've got a point. So here." She tossed the chain's lead at him. "Have a field day, but if I find out he's bein' used for slavery or that any of you bastards have hurt him, there's gonna be some throat cutting," she promised. "I don't care if it is the Captain's ass I have to kill; I'm not lettin' anybody hurt that kid as long as I'm around him."
She had just finished opening the lock on the chains that bound Dawson's hands. Letting them drop, Faith stood again and slipped the pick back into its hiding place. She looked from Brendan to Dawson before turning back to Brendan. "And don't get him killed." With that said, she turned to walk out of the alley.
"Where are you going, Faith?" Brendan called after her.
"To kill something," she snapped, her brown eyes blazing black, "but don't worry. I'll be around if you get that mangy fur of yours in a wrangle." With that, she left the alley, leaving the two alone.
Meanwhile, Prue was pacing the floor and glaring angrily at Joxer. "You know they're going to leave us! We'll never get out of here!"
"Sure we will," Joxer said. "Gabrielle wouldn't leave me." He looked around for a window or another door but saw that there were neither. "Did you say your mother did a spell on this? Well, why don't you just undo it?"
"I can't. I -- I don't know how to do spells!"
"But you're a Witch!" he yelped.
"Yes, but I don't have any powers. Mother didn't want us knowing. She thought it would protect us."
"Your mother and your grandmother were Witches yet they never told you anything. Gee, some women you can never get to shut up, and some women never say anything! HELP!" he screamed, hoping some one would hear him.
"SHUT UP!" Prue screamed back at him. "Nobody can hear you, and that means NOBODY!"
"You can!" Joxer retorted instantly. Prue pushed him. She had had too much of the little man. Would somebody please come and rescue her!
Brendan shook his head as he watched Faith go. "You're going to have to learn to overlook her, Dawson," he told the kid as he knelt beside him to free his feet. "Believe me, that's the only way any of us get through the day without battling her."
"She's beautiful," Dawson sighed. "Why's she so angry?" he asked the wolfman.
"Who knows?" Brendan asked with a roll of his shoulders. He'd often tried to figure Faith out but never gotten anywhere close to doing so. "Believe it or not, she actually prides herself on that bit -- attitude of hers."
Dawson didn't know how to answer that, so instead he said, "Thanks for helping me and for not eating me. It was such a relief when she bought me, but she doesn't want me. Why?"
Brendan could smell the kid's emotions and knew he had it bad. "I hate to be the one to break it to you, Dawson, but she's never wanted any one twice."
"But I intend to marry her!" It slipped out of his mouth before Dawson could stop himself. "I'll make her happier than she's ever been! Then she won't be so bitchy! She won't need that attitude any more."
Brendan reached a hand up to pat Dawson's shoulder reassuringly. "Keep telling yourself that."
"You'll see. It might take a long time, but I'll win her heart. No matter how long it takes, I won't stop until I do."
Brendan didn't want to be the one to tell the kid that Hell would permanently freeze over before any one managed to melt Faith's ice, so instead he changed the subject. "Tell me," he spoke quietly. "Have you ever been in a fight?"
"No. Not really. My Father beat the Hell out of me, but that's not really a fight. I tried to fight back against him, but I'm just not any good at it and he was my Father. Why?"Brendan breathed a silent sigh of relief that Dawson had not seen him wince when he'd spoken of the beatings he endured at his father's hands. "Because by the time that auction's over," he answered, "all Hell's going to break loose. You'd best stick close to me and the others. We'll protect you, but don't trust any one unless you can tell they're with us." He still hoped more of the crew would come for he knew that there was no way that Jack, Faith, and he could take on every one in the place and live through the battle. Although his own life was not important to him, Jack's and even Faith's lives were. He straightened and pocketed his pick as the rest of the chains fell away from Dawson. "Can you stand?" he asked him, knowing he was exhausted but would have to force himself at least a little further.
After a moment's struggling, Dawson managed to get to his feet. "Thank you, mister. I'll stay close to you."
"My name's Brendan," he replied. Remembering Faith's constant taunts, he added, "Not Wolfboy."
"Well, she calls me kid. My name's Dawson." He extended his hand to Brendan.
Brendan took the boy's outstretched hand and shook it in his own, much larger hand. He was careful not to use too much strength. Releasing him, he walked to the mouth of the alley. "Come here, Dawson, and look out. Do you see Faith?"
Dawson walked to the edge of the alley and looked out but shook his head when he could not spot Faith. Brendan did see Faith, but as she was already picking a fight, he decided it would be best not to point her out to the kid after all. "What about that man with the parrot on his shoulder?" he tried again.
Dawson could see a man with a parrot on his shoulder. "I see him."
"Now look a couple places to his right. See the man dressed in all the lace?"
"Yes, I see him. He's a dandy, isn't he?"
Laughter broke from Brendan's throat at first, but he quickly hid it in coughing. "Not highly likely," he told the boy after clearing his throat. "That's only a disguise," he whispered to him. "That man's our Captain, Jack Sparrow."
"That's Jack Sparrow?" Dawson whispered in awe. "I heard he was the meanest, baddest Pirate that ever walked the Earth!" he said eagerly. "That means you're a Pirate!" His voice got a little bit higher as he turned to look at Brendan.
Quickly placing a hand over the boy's mouth, Brendan ducked back into the alley with Dawson trapped in one arm. "We're Pirates," he whispered to him, "but not the kind you've always heard about. Some of those tales you've heard about Jack are true, but most are spread by his own tellings. He's not as bad as he makes himself out to be. He saved my life." He looked down at Dawson but could see nothing of the boy's face except for his blonde hair. "You're not going to go squealing at the top of your lungs now, are you?" he asked rather nervously.
A muffled sound came from behind Brendan's hand, and Dawson shook his head, his eyes shining. When Brendan lifted his hand, Dawson answered, "No way! Wow! A real live Pirate, especially Captain Jack Sparrow! I can't believe my luck! I always wanted to run away to sea; now I'll be a Pirate too!" He grinned from ear to ear.
Brendan released Dawson but touched a hand to his forehead as he shook his head. Faith was not going to like this, and he wasn't sure at all how Jack would take to the boy's case of hero worship. "You have to be quiet," Brendan warned Dawson, "and I have to keep a watch on the Captain for when Will comes out and he signals us."
Dawson's eyes were glued on Jack. There was no way he was going to take his eyes away! He was looking forward to the adventure to come.
Lorne did not know how long he had stood outside the Halliwells' house, waiting for them to return. He knew they were losing precious time that they could not afford to lose, so he opened the door and walked in after knocking. He was just in time to hear Paige's sharp exclamation of, "Crap!"
"Crap what?" Lorne asked, his red eyes taking in the looks on three of the sisters' faces. He wondered why they were all staring at a closed door with such fear on their faces.
The instant Phoebe and Paige saw Lorne, they started screaming. "DEMON! DEMON! DEMON!"
"Yeah," Lorne said, "I am. What's the problem?"
"CALM DOWN, THE BOTH OF YOU!" Piper had to yell to be heard over her sisters' terrified shouts. "Yes, he's a Demon, but he's a good man! His name is Lorne, and he's one of those who helped to rescue us!"
Both girls appeared to calm down. "Crap, Prue's locked in the room," Paige explained. She did not apologize for her screaming, however. She thought Piper had taken leave of her senses but didn't say so.
Phoebe got close enough to Lorne that she could reach out and poke him with one finger. As she did so, Piper exclaimed scoldingly, "Phoebe!"
"Well, I had to see if he was real! Wow! A real Demon! Don't we need to do something with him?"
"Like what, Phoebe? Feed him?"
"No! You know, get rid of him? A spell or something?"
"Phoebe, you know we're not allowed to use spells! We don't know what they'll do! Mother would be very upset!" Paige protested.
"Well, Mother isn't here any more, and we have to do something about him!"
"That is ENOUGH!" Piper thundered, her brown eyes blazing angrily at her sisters. She continued to exclaim as she stalked across the room to where Phoebe stood with Lorne. "We are not vanquishing anybody!"
"Vanquishing?" Phoebe asked innocently.
"That's how you get rid of evil things?" Paige added.
"He's not evil!" Piper snapped. Looking apologetically at Lorne, she shook her head as she told him sincerely, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I get it all the time," Lorne reassured her. "What can we do to get your sister out of the room? And don't tell me Joxer's in there with her."
"Huh . . . Yes? And we don't know," Phoebe answered quickly.
"I don't know any magic spells that open doors. At least," Lorne amended, "not any doors that we want to get into. Would your mother have told any one else about this room?"
"Our Grandmother knew," Paige answered.
"Anybody still living?" Lorne asked.
"There's only one that might," Piper told him, relieved that her sisters finally appeared to be calming down again. "Ororo and our mother were very close; she might know."
"Well, I'll watch for her. As soon as I see her coming, I'll get her to come in," Lorne said. He stepped outside the door just in time to see a cat looking directly at him. The cat stared, then spit and hissed at him. "Nice kitty," Lorne spoke to the cat. "Here, kitty." He knelt down and held his hand out. "Kitty, kitty? Kitty, kitty?" With a loud meow, the cat came to him and began to rub against his hand. "Nice kitty. Do you belong here?" Lorne asked. "I bet you're hungry." With very little effort, Lorne picked the cat up.
Lorne had no sooner gone outside than the three sisters heard a familiar, feline voice spitting and hissing just outside their door. Phoebe and Paige, jumping up and down, exclaimed, "See, Piper? We told you he was evil! Kit wants him!"
Piper sighed and shook her head. Had her little sisters always been this aggravating to their mother? "You two, stay here," she commanded them, "and for the record, I'm telling you again, Lorne is good. Skin color does not make a man." Walking across the room, she opened the door and had to smile at what she saw as Lorne stood, cuddling Kit.
"Look what I found!" Lorne said, beaming like a little boy who had just discovered the greatest treasure imaginable. "I think he's very hungry. Is he yours?"
"Ours," Piper said in reference to her entire family, "but keep him a minute at least." Though her heart was still heavy with grief, the scene had brought a smile to her lips. Turning back inside the room, she called to her sisters, "You two get over here."
Phoebe and Paige raced over to the door and looked out. They could not believe that Kit was letting the Demon hold him! "But -- But -- But -- " Paige stuttered. "Kit never lets anything evil hold him!"
"That's because Lorne's not evil!" Piper repeated yet again.
"Sorry, Mister Lorne," Phoebe apologized sheepishly. "Thank you for finding Kit."
"No problem, Phoebe. Do you have something Kit can eat? I think he's hungry."
"We sure do," Phoebe answered. "Come inside, Mister Lorne, and we'll feed Kit."
"No, I need to stay out here and wait for Ororo, so you feed Kit," he said with a smile and handed her the cat. Kit seemed reluctant to leave his arms but was still glad to get something to eat. Piper, standing beside Lorne, breathed a sigh of relief. "Hang in there, Piper; it gets better," Lorne assured her with a smile. "Have you got everything you need except for your sister?"
Piper nodded but added, "And what she went in to get." Her arms were still loaded with a couple of pots and books.
Lorne glanced eagerly at the books. "Do you think, when you're finished with them, that maybe I could read them? We never have enough books aboard ship."
"I'm not sure you'd want to," Piper replied honestly, looking up at him in surprise. "They're cookbooks."
"Cookbooks? Do they teach you how to cook? I'd like that. At least, enough to make Jack a surprise cake for his birthday. The cook never gets it right. It always comes out lumpy. Jack never complains, but none of us want to eat it."
Piper made a face. "Doesn't your cook know how to cook?" she asked him.
"Not really. He just sort of got put into the job. We don't have a real cook. The one who complains gets to cook, so none of us complain, but I wouldn't mind if I knew how." He smiled at her.
"We have a lot of other cookbooks," Piper told him, "but none of them really teach you how to cook -- we didn't need that sort of thing --, but I could teach you."
"That would be great! We can run Joxer out of the kitchen! He's the cook right now. Do you have a barrel or anything that we can pack this in?"
"Every barrel we have is already full. Flour, sugar, you name it."
"Then we'll take them all with us. It might come in handy. We haven't been able to take on supplies yet."
"We'd planned to donate what we could and throw away the rest but didn't have enough warning this morning to do so, so we have plenty left. Are you sure there's room on the ship for all the books, though?" she asked him.
"How many do you have?" he asked.
"Let me put it this way," she answered with a grin. "My Grandmother loved to cook; my Mother loved to cook; and I love to cook. That give you any ideal?"
His mouth fell open. He could not imagine having so many books to read! "If you put them in a bag or something, I can start carrying them to the wagon. It should not be long before Ororo returns."
Piper nodded. "I'll do so," she told him, slipping back inside. "You know," she called back, "I could put Paige on guard duty instead if you'd like to come look."
"Okay," Lorne replied.
"Paige?" Piper spoke her sister's name meaningfully.
"Yes?" Paige asked.
"You heard me," Piper told her.
"What? Are we ready to go?"
Piper rolled her eyes. It was just like her sister to pretend she hadn't been eavesdropping, even when Piper knew she had. Anything to get out of work, she thought.
"I'm going," Paige said, "but I don't want to miss anything. Be sure you tell me everything!"
Piper raised a single eyebrow as she looked questioningly at her youngest sister. "And just what do you think there will be to tell?"
"You know, whatever you and Mister Green are up to . . . " Paige trailed off with a mischievous look.
Piper blushed as red as Lorne was green. "Paige Halliwell!" she exclaimed. "You know very well that ladies do not consort in such a manner!"
"Yeah, right."
"Paige . . . " Piper ground out."
"Going, going, gone!" she exclaimed as she rushed out the door. "But," Piper could hear her calling back, "I still expect full details!"
Piper shut her eyes and shook her head. "This is not my life," she muttered under her breath. "This is not my life." Though her eyes were closed, her feet still carried her to the kitchen.
Lorne followed her into the kitchen but stopped in his tracks when he saw their kitchen cupboard. He could not believe how many books were on the top shelf, and he made a mad grab for each of them. "We're taking all of these!" he said excitedly. "Captain Jack won't mind. He likes books. He has quite a few, and I've read all of them, some of them even twice."
Piper opened her eyes and had to smile at the eagerness on Lorne's face. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to any of our books, Mister Lorne, except for one."
"Thank you, Miss Piper, and please call me Lorne."
"Only if you call me Piper," she returned with a gentle smile.
He nodded and then said, "I shall enjoy them and take care of them." He gathered them up as though they were the best treasures in the world. "Do you have a sack for them?"
Piper walked over to a pile of gunny sacks that lay next to the fireplace. Picking them up, she turned to him, "If you don't mind cat hairs?"
"Cat hairs have never been known to bother me, ma'am."
"Good, because we've got plenty and we're not leaving Kit. We didn't want to, but we thought he was gone," she explained. "We sort of had to throw him out of the house to protect him."
As Piper began filling the bags and Lorne started carrying them out to the waiting wagon, he wondered how Jack was coping. Had he managed to rescue Will? Had he even found him yet? As soon as he reached the wagon, he told Gabrielle about the supplies and that he would start to bring them out.
"Wait," she told him, "and I'll move the wagon over closer and help you." Lorne jumped up to the seat and sat down beside her as she drove just a little space past the front door. "Hold it there, guys!" she called to the dragons. Dropping the reins, she jumped down and was about to head in with Lorne when she noticed Morph and Tom demorphing. "No," she told them, shaking her head. "We can handle it, and you two need to rest up for the trip back to the ship."
"Are you sure?" Morph asked as his mouth was the first to return to normal. His head was now human with brown hair and eyes, but the rest of his body was still the dragon's.
"Yes. Besides, you can spend this time with your wives, but keep an eye on Meesy and Gonk too. We don't need those two tieing up." Seeing Tom nod, Gabrielle turned and headed inside with Lorne.
Jack had watched the entire scene as Faith had paid for Dawson and walked away with him. He had smiled with satisfaction, knowing that Faith had the boy. He had yet to think of a way to convince her to keep him but knew that she was not stupid enough to turn him a loose here. Just before turning back around to the block, Jack caught sight of Faith alone near to the back of the crowd. He saw a man reach out and touch her, and just as swiftly, he saw her slash his hand off with her knife and knock him out before he could even get one yell out. Jack smiled to himself, knowing that Faith could take care of herself, but wondered where she had dumped the kid.
He turned back just as he heard the auctioneer begin to do a sales-pitch on the latest stock. "You've seen him in the blacksmith shop; now you can play with him in your own bedroom! What am I bid for this bulging specimen of male?"
Again, the crowd went wild, both men and women bidding. Jack did not say anything but simply bided his time and kept his eyes on Will. The price kept going higher and higher, but he knew he had more than enough to cover it. When the crowd began to lose their steam, the price had gone up to five hundred thousand.
Will stood on the auction block, his head lowered and his face paled. His heart thundered so loudly in his ears that he had to struggle to hear the bidders as they called out prices on his very life. He trembled inside but kept his body still on the outside. Where was Jack! Why had he not heard his beloved's voice! Had something happened to him? Had he came to his senses and decided that he would not waste his life by endangering it to save him? His heart cried out, and he had to fight to keep the tears from his tightly closed eyes.
It grew quiet, and the auctioneer looked around the crowd. "Come on now. I know you've got more money out there! He's worth every bit of that, and then some! Am I bid anything else?"
Jack sniffed his handkerchief before calling out in his aristocratic voice, "Seven hundred and fifty thousand."
Though the voice that called out was not the one that Will was accustomed to hearing come from Jack's lips, his heart still told him that it was indeed the man he loved. Jack was there, and that meant everything was going to be okay. His heart leapt, soaring skyward despite the chains that bound him to the block. His eyes, longing to look at Jack, flew open, but Will knew better than to raise his head. He knew he could not let the others know that Jack was not there to buy him but to save him, and one glance at Jack at that time, when such emotion filled his heart, would surely give them away. Therefore, Will kept his head down even as he prayed that Jack would be able to buy him.
No sooner had Jack called out his bid than he heard an echoing voice full of icy bitchiness that grated on his every nerve respond. "Eight hundred thousand."
The auctioneer looked at Jack. "Eight hundred and fifty thousand."
No sooner had he spoken than Helvira bid again. "Nine hundred thousand."
"One million!" Jack called out loud enough that every one in the crowd could hear him. Shocked gasps rang amongst the rest of the audience as they parted before him, making a circle around him and clearing the path straight to the auction block. Jack had actually started forward, holding the bag in his hand, when none other than Helvira stepped before him. Her snake looked directly into his eyes, and Jack realized that she knew it was him. His hand went instantly to his sword, but he did not make a move yet. "Out of my way, wench."
Helvira kept one eye on him as she shot a look back at the auction block. She smiled icily at Jack even while calling out, "One million . . ." Her eyes moved back to the man in front of her as she teased, " . . . and one."
Jack, remembering the other bag, did not move but stared her straight in the eyes. "One million and two."
"And three."
"Four."
"Five!"
Jack forced a calm smile over his lips as he called out, "One million, seventy-four thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-nine."
Helvira and her snake hissed as one. Her black fingernails gleamed as she laid a casual hand on the hilt of her sword. "To the best bidder go the spoils," she responded smoothly, stepping out of his way.
Jack thought he was keeping an eye on her, but as he stepped eagerly forward to go to the collecting table, even as the auctioneer was hollering "Going, going, gone!", the bitch jumped toward him. From somewhere in the crowd, he heard Faith yell his name and whirled, whipping his sword out, just in time to meet her blade . . .
It had not taken Xena's group long to reach the skirts of Port Royal, but she didn't have a clue where Jack was. "Carl, do your thing."
"Which one?" the Gnome asked.
"Sniff. Find Jack."
Carl knew Jack's scent almost as well as he did his own. He followed it closely, almost stepping where Jack had stepped before him. "He went in here," Carl said and lifted the tent flap. It barely made a rustle as he went in but was opened wide when the others followed him. They passed through and found themselves in an open marketplace just in time to see Jack buying Will. In a blur, they saw a strange woman in a slinky, black outfit attack Jack, and then all Hell broke loose. They had made it just in time for the big fight!
