Snippet #1757440

Her eyes sparkled like rubies in the night. She was beautiful to look at, beautiful and frightening like a storm in the middle of summer.

“Rowan!”

Jack welcomed the vampire with a smile, leaving his wine and roasted boar on the table. She looked more attractive than ever, the way she always looked after a hunt. He was a married man who loved his wife and dreamt about her almost every night, but even a faithful husband like himself couldn’t deny that Rowan Harper was one charming leader. Charming and deadly, as he often saw her many times before.
“Welcome home, my lady!” he said humorously and bowed. “Your humble servant brought gifts for his queen, very shiny gifts.”

Rowan’s grin revealed white pearly fangs between firey red lips. Jack wanted to tell her everything about that night in Vestern at the Trade Confederacy, but this was not the time. It either meant for him to tell the truth in front of everyone, that he wasn’t really the cunning hero everybody thought he was, or to lie to Rowan which was even worse. So he decided to change the subject instead and offered her a mug of wine.
“You know I always enjoy a good job.” He said drinking his share with thirst. “I told you that it’s no sweat, didn’t I?” he concluded as an answer to her question. Even he had doubts about getting back from there in one piece, but as it proved once again, luck was on his side. “Never thought I’t get this much gold though, I was only hoping for a chest or two actually.”

He pulled up his red leather pants, it was obvious he lost some weight over the last months before he came to join her group once more.
“Would’ve done it a lot better if I had them with me!” he bragged pointing to his group.

Karlile and Geko, the two brothers, grinned at the same time upon hearing his words. Karlile had a playful smile on his lips, while Geko’s was rather fierce. Linus, the former priest, was already asleep on the table while Jabba was teasing the young Nathaniel with jokes about dragons taking virgins from their homes, be them boys or girls. Everyone in the camp doubted Jack’s words. The others only took them in because Rowan allowed it. Jack’s men were undisciplined, poorly trained and they ate a lot. The only thing it seemed they were good at was keeping the fun alive, but the rebellion needed good fighters, not clowns.

Jack lowered his voice and took advantage of the chaos around them. He drew closer to his vampire leader as he spoke.
“Listen, I know I made a big fuss and now everyone is searching for me and I’m sorry, but you know very well I couldn’t have brought that dragon even if I wanted to. And the gods know I wanted...” he laughed. “I just got lucky, that’s all. There is one thing that is on my mind though..and you’re the only one I can speak to about it. Somebody must have sent that beast to the port, dragons don’t go to crowded places unless they’re forced to. “ He looked into her eyes hoping to see a sign of agreement.

“There are also rumors about a group of foreigners travelling with some of the Union’s soldiers. Do you think they ‘re on to us or somethin’? I mean, I can handle anyone or anything that I know , but foreigners? They might use unknown magic and we don’t have anyone to help us in that. “

He took a deep breath. Jack Seer was now being serious, a rare thing to see in a man such as him. One might think he was scared, a natural state after all that commotion in his life, but the truth was that for the first time in his life he was worried. He never got so much attention in one blow and things were getting wilder by the day. Much more than it already was. As if a storm was approaching...as if a new war was about to start.