The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) by Heidi Willard Read Free Book Online

noticed the woman among the strangers. "Ti, you all right?" he shouted at her.
    Ti smiled. "I'm fine, Hugh. These people helped me out," she told him. Ti turned to the group and gestured to the swarthy gentleman. "My new friends, meet my old one. Mr. Hugh Land."
    Ned walked over and bowed to the man. "A pleasure to meet the owner of such a well-known establishment."
    The proprietor looked askance at the old, wizened man in the strange garb. "Um, the pleasure's all mine," Hugh replied. He glanced at Ti. "So those cheap men are gone, Ti?"
    "Yes, thanks to these folks, but I could have handled myself," Ti insisted. Sins scoffed behind her. She whirled around and put her hands on her hips. "I would have ducked that knife," she argued.
    "Don't be fighting with the customers, Ti," Hugh scolded. He paused and looked to Ned. "You are customers, aren't ya?"
    "Paying customers who want rooms for the tournament," Ned added.
    Hugh's face brightened. He stepped aside and swept his hand with the cleaver into the dark room. "Then welcome, paying customers, to Hugh's Tracts of Land!" Fred didn't think that was such a comforting greeting, but Ned again bowed.
    "A pleasure being here, good sir." Ned turned around to the rest of the group. "Let us enter and partake of Mr. Land's-"
    "Call me Hugh," Hugh insisted.
    "Hugh's hospitality," Ned rephrased. The old castor stepped inside and Hugh followed him. Pat, Fred, Ruth and Percy secured their steeds and hurried into the inn after the pair.
    Ti turned to her older brother and grabbed his gloves hand. "Come on, Sinny. I have a bottle of your favorite drink stashed in the cellar."
    Canto strolled up beside Sins and chuckled. "Ya have an interesting little sister there, Sinny," he snorted. Canto walked into the inn with Sins' narrowed eyes boring a hole into the back of the short dwarf's head.
    Then Sins was yanked forward by his persistent sister. "Don't let your friends wait for you," she scolded.
    Sins growled, but let himself be dragged into the dark inn.
    Fred, Pat, Percy and Ruth stuck close together as they entered the dark, shadowed inn. They stepped from the square street into a large, square room filled with smoke and round tables. The walls were made of a dark wood stained by a couple hundred years of smoke and grimy hands. The only natural light came from the holes in the wall caused by knife blades and punches. Seated at the round tables was a fine example of cutthroats, beggars, thieves, murders, and the occasional tax collector. Several one-eyed gentlemen sneered at them, and half of the customers slipped a hand beneath the table to clutch the handles of their knives hidden in their waists and boots.
    Candles flickered across their gaunt, scarred appearances, and many of them leered at Pat and Ruth. Along the dark-paneled walls were lit torches, and at the far back to the left was a door that swung on its hinges and led to the back rooms. Hugh guided them through the mess to the back wall.
    As Ti swept through the tables behind Sins one of the men leaned out to give her behind an appreciative whack. Sins swung around and grabbed the man by the wrist. The assassin pulled the man out of his chair, pinned him against his dark clothes, and pressed his dagger against the lecherous man's throat. "Don't do that," Sins warned the man.
    "N-no, sir," his captive squeaked.
    Ti stood off to the side with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. "Sinny, stop that!" she commanded her brother. Sins tossed the man aside and the stranger crashed head-first into his table.
    Hugh turned and scowled at the mess. "You make a big enough mess of this place and you buy it," he threatened Sins.
    Ti pressed her hands against Sins back and pushed him forward past the broken table and dazed man. "I'll make sure he doesn't do it again, Hugh," she assured him.
    While that mess happened Ned led the rest of the strange parade that was their group to the far back of the room where stood a long, narrow desk that was