Gypsy in Black: The Romance of Gypsy Travelers (25 page)

Locke stood protectively in
front of Finny, facing Greggor
with a knife in his hand. 
Finny clung to Locke's arm, her
terrified eyes pleading with Greggor to leave them a
lone.  The
diklo had
Greggor’s
attention when he saw
Finny walk up the road, two st
eps behind Locke.  Only married
women wore the diklo and
only married women
wa
lked behind a man.  Furious
, Greggor had grabbed at Finny, ripping the diklo off
her
head and throwing it to the groun
d.  How dare she marry another,
he screamed
, cursing them both o
ut loud
, not caring who overheard him
.  Now, everyone watched
with silent breath as the blade of
Locke's knife caught a glimmer
of the sun.  Waving the knife slowly back and forth, Lock
e
beckoned to Greggor with his
free hand. 
“
Finny is my bori,
Greggor.  You have no say in the matter now.
”

Rage burned Greggor's insi
des as he faced the humiliating
situation.  For the
Rom Baro
to s
ecretly give his promised bride
away was an insult. 
“
She is ri
ghtfully mine.  From birth, she
was mine!
”
  He tried to step for
ward but Locke's skillful knife
flashed at his cheek, barely bru
shing his skin.  A thin trickle
of blood dripped to the groun
d.  The crowd gasped as Greggor
jumped back, ignoring the pain. 
“
This cannot happen.  It is against the gypsy way!  Again
st tradition!  Where is the
Rom Baro
?
”
  He looked around wil
dly, his eyes glazed over as he
sought the blank faces of the
shocked crowd.  Greggor's eyes
caught sight of Sahara, standing nearby w
ith a smug look on her
face.  Quickly, Greggor lunged
at Sahara, grabbing her by the
front of her black dress.
“
This is your d
oing!  You devious, lying gadjo
!  Breaking traditions, bringing in gadjo
ways!  You are
responsible!
”

Sahara tried to shove Gregg
or away, suddenly frightened by
the murderous glare
in his ey
es.  Aware of the other gypsies
waiting for her reaction, Sahara p
ressed her lips together. 
“
Get
your filthy hands off me, you stin
king Guniareshti!
”
  The crowd
murmured to each other, shocked by
Sahara's words.  To be accused
of associating with the Guni
areshti kumpanya, a dirty gypsy
tribe, was one of the lowest insults. 

Greggor began to shake, hi
s face turning red from further
humiliation.  The future
Rom Baro
's romni had called him a
garbage eater in front of his enti
re vista.  His people.  Greggor
could not let that go unpunished.
  Curling his hand into a tight
fist, Greggor raised his arm as if
to strike her.  She lifted her
chin defiantly, waiting for him to
retaliate to her verbal blow. 
But someone grabbed Greggor f
rom behind, throwing him to the
ground.  Sahara blinked, starin
g at the cloud of dust.  As the
dust cleared, she saw two men wrestling in the dirt.  The crowd drew away, mumbling among th
emselves about
Emilian
's surprise
appearance to defend Sahara.  

Sahara gathered her wits abou
t her. 
Emilian
was going to kill
Greggor if she didn't intercept. 
Jumping forward, Sahara grabbed
at
Emilian
's arm.  With all her strength,
she tried to hold him
back from punching the almost un
conscious Greggor in the face. 
“
Stop!  You'll kill him!
”

Emilian
tried to free his arm.
But he met Sahara's frightened
eyes.  He had placed fear into
her, something he had vowed he
would never do.  Ashamed,
Emilian
lowered his eyes and nodded his
head once. 
“
You are right.
He will never touch you again,
romni.
”
 
Emilian
rose above the lim
p body and spat on the ground. 
Greggor stared at
Emilian
through
his swollen eyes. 
Emilian
flared
his nostrils. 
“
You are dirt, Greggor. 
As u
ndeserving as I of a
wife!  Now that she has
married another, live with the
punishment.  I curse you with mahrime forever!
”

Sahara gasped as her heart fl
uttered inside her chest. 
“
You
can't do that!  Only the
Rom Baro
and
Nicolae
can!
”
  Wh
en
Nicolae
heard
how
Emilian
had cursed Greggor with
mahrime, he would be furious. 
Not even Waller had been cursed
for
his assault on
the town girl.
“
Take
it back!  Take it back now befo
re it's too late!
”
  She glanced
around, already noticing the other gypsies walking
away, shunning
the mahrimed Greggor.  O
nce i
t was said, Sahara realized, no
one could take it back.
Not even
Emilian
. 
“
My God,
”
she
whispered. 
“
Do you realize what you hav
e done?
”
  She stared at
Greggor.  His eyes were large and frightened.  In his l
ifetime,
only one other man had been cursed
with mahrime forever
…t
he man
standing before him. 

Emilian
ignored Greggor and re
ached out to tilt Sahara's chin
up.  When her eyes met his, he
nodded. 
“
No man will ever harm
you, S'hara.
”

Quickly, Sahara stepped
away from his touch.  Hadn't he
listened to her that night last w
eek?  Hadn't he understood?  Or
had her refusal sparked his inter
est even more?  Her eyes darted
back and forth, scared someone mi
ght overhear their words. 
“
But
it isn't your place to protect me,
Emilian
!  It's
Nicolae
's.
”

“
He does a good job, y
es?
”
  The tone in his voice was
sarcastic. 
“
Protects you well, S'hara, wouldn't you say?
”

“
He would never harm me,
Emilian
.  He loves me.
”

“
And I do not?
”

Had his simple emotions turned into an obses
sion?  Sahara
shut her eyes, shaking her head. 
“
Don't.
”

“
What about you?  Do you love
Nicolae
?
”
 

She didn’t respond to his question, too aware of the people staring at them.  She knew that everything would be reported back to Nicolae and Rom Baro.
The intensity of the situation hit her. 
Nicolae
mu
st not
find
Emilian
there when he learn
ed the news about the mahrime. 
“
You must leave.  If
Nicolae
com
es back and finds you lingering
around camp
, he'll kill you.
”
 

“
I would kill him first.
”
But he did not argue anymore. 
Without another word,
Emilian
turned around and walked away. 
Sahara watched his back as he d
isappeared around the side of a
tent.  Exhaling heavily, she walke
d toward the cooking fires, her
head hung low.  Certainly
Nicolae
woul
d blame her.  He blamed her for
everything
Emilian
did.  The enti
re kumpania had witnessed
Emilian
jump to her rescue. 
Nicolae
would accu
se her of
encouraging an inappropriate relationship
with
Emilian
.
Sahara shuddered, already
feeling the pain of his anger
.

Sitting down beside the fi
re, Sahara held her head in her
hands.  The other women wo
rked around her, mumbling amongst
themselves, not completely understanding the gadjo gypsy's anguish.  Duda hesitated
before gently touching Sahara's
shoulder, offering her a drin
k of spring water. 
Graciously
,
Sahara reached up to take the w
ooden ladle from the old woman.
Sahara let the cool water slide d
own her throat.  It soothed her
fear for the moment.  Handing it
back to Duda, Sahara smiled her
appreciation.  No one else bot
hered her, leaving her alone to
sort her thoughts.

An hour passed before Sahar
a heard the distant pounding of
horse hooves.  The other women
began to chatter to each other,
rushing around as they waited for the men to ride over the
grassy
knoll.  Sahara shut her eyes, c
lasping her sweaty hands in her
lap as she anticipated
Nicolae
's re
action.
She
rocked herself back and forth,
listening to the women run to greet the men.  She could hear t
hem
laughing, inspecting the new hor
ses the men had bargained for. 
Then there was silence.  Someone
must have told the
Rom Baro
and
Nicolae
.  Certainly he knew by now. 
Sahara held her breath, waiting
for what seemed an eternity.  No one spoke.  The warmth va
nished
from her face as a shadow block
ed the sun.  Quickly she opened
her eyes, half surprised to see
Nicolae
looming over her.  His legs
were spread apart, his hands c
urled into fist on his hips.  A
gentle summer breeze clung his open white blouse to his tann
ed
chest.  A leather thong held hi
s hair back from falling in his
face. 

“
What have we here, S'hara?  You do not come to greet your husband?  Perhaps you have something to say to me?
”

She could tell by the mock
ery in his voice that he knew. 
Her heart began to pound, causing
the vein in her neck to throb. 
“
I...
”
  She didn't know what to say
. 
“
I didn't do anything,
Nicolae
. 
I swear.
”
 

Before Sahara finished her
sentence,
Nicolae
reached down and
snatched Sahara to her feet. 
To her surprise, he wrapped his
arms around her.  Immediately
, Sahara tried to free herself,
struggling in his arms.
His a
rms tightened around her waist,
lifting her in the air.  Swinging
her around,
Nicolae
's laughter rang
throughout the camp.  When he fi
nally set her on the ground, he
nuzzled at her neck. 
“
My craz
y
S'hara!  So frightened
,
yes?
”
  He looked into her eyes.
Confusion stared back at him.
“
You always think I will be a
ngry with you?  Why is that, my
bori?
”