Delivering My Love

Chapter 4

Zan Yu drank more ale than he had ever had before. The taste lingered on his tongue as everything got brighter and louder. The tables around him roared with laughter, the flames from the torches growing as the tavern filled with people. Waiters bustled throughout the room, their plain white aprons the only indicator of their role. Mugs clinked together in toasts, knives and forks clashed as patrons dug into their meals. Zan Yu breathed in deeply, savoring the scent of roast chicken that had wafted his way from the table beside them. They had taken the second darkest booth; the first one was already occupied. The nearest torch was three booths away, an ample amount of distance to cast muffling shadows on their faces, lest any onlookers peered closer.

Zan Yu and Tai Shi had pulled their hoods over their faces, Tai Shi next to Jingfei and Zan Yu seated across from them. The waitress had left with their orders quite a while ago but always returned to refill Zan Yu's glass. He had started drinking out of thirst, but he wasn't sure when he had started to drink just because he could. Jingfei and Tai Shi were talking under their breaths, the tavern too loud for him to catch what they were saying. Neither of them had bothered to cut him off, so he must not have drank too much. Yet.

Jingfei's tan skin reflected the few flickering flames that dared to reach this far, giving her face a beautiful sun-kissed glow. The shadows of her dark eyelashes danced across her face as she occasionally glanced to the side at Tai Shi. The man was a shadow incarnate, and while the flares accentuated Jingfei's alluring features, Tai Shi simply disappeared. Zan Yu blinked hard, then again. Blurry black tendrils smeared across his vision when he looked straight ahead. He squinted in Jingfei's direction. Her cheeks shone when she smiled, laughing quietly at something Tai Shi had said. Or maybe she was laughing to herself, she did that a lot. Whenever he'd ask what she had laughed at, she would always say nevermind and brush him off. She pressed her lips together to keep from snickering out loud when she caught him watching.

"We were just betting on which wench they would choose," she said, her lips barely moving. She pointed with her eyes over to a table where most of the patrons had crowded around. It was the table that would howl with laughter like clockwork. Men with clothes that appeared to be made of burlap material, all dyed a shabby, faded scarlet. Zan Yu could see some clutching blue coins in their hands, most with a mug of ale in the other. He grinned as another waitress came by and paused in front of their booth, blocking his vision of the table. She wore a washed out pink dress underneath her stained white apron.

"More ale?" she asked, not bothering for a response before pouring into his mug. Some ale dripped onto the table before she quickly wiped it away with a dirty rag. She stashed it in her front apron pocket before finally looking at their faces. "You want something to eat?" She spoke lazily, seemingly chewing on something.

"What are you eating and can I have some," stumbled out of Zan Yu's mouth as he slumped forward, pointing at her mouth. Jingfei shot him a look before lifting his mug over his half-raised arm and sniffing it. The wench ignored him and just walked away, her blond wispy hair escaping from her bun as an over eager man reached out from one table to tug at it. She swirled around and slapped him across the face, the resounding crack not even given a thought by other men. Zan Yu's eyes widened. "Wooow." His head slumped down onto the table. The cracking sound erupted near his ear this time, and the table shuddered with the blow. Zan Yu snapped up straight, his hood nearly flying off his head.

"Wake up. You may be drunk from a spiked drink," Jingfei said, her eyes darting across his face. "How do you feel?" He gave her a lazy grin.

"Great. I feel great. Tai Shi, you should have some," he said, his words slurring. He reached for the mug just as Jingfei did, but another hand grabbed away before either of them could. Smooth ivory fingers curled around the mug.