“We’re not thieves,” protested the short one. “We’re treasure hunters!”
“Whatever Chris,” grumbled Joey. “And you just happen to find your treasures in the pockets of people.”
“Have we ever stolen from you Joey?” asked the one with the shaved head., a huge grin forming on his face.
“People won’t drink here if they think they’re going to be robbed Justin,” shot back Joey, groaning as the two men sat down at the bar.
“We just want something to drink,” replied Chris calmly.
“Besides,” added Justin. “It’s not like we want to steal, but we go to do it to survive.”
“Maybe if you two got a real job-“
“There are no real jobs Joey!” cried Justin, startling Joey and Chris. “Even you aren’t hiring! If our own friend won’t give us a job, who will!”
“Take it easy Not-So-Curly,” joked Chris pulling Justin back down on the barstool. “You know Joey is just as hard done by as us so don’t go blaming him for not having a job.”
“Yeah J,” added Joey. “This place is in risk of going under all the time. Sometimes I think it would be better just to pack up and move somewhere else. It’s not like King Chasez is doing anything to fix the problem. He just sits in his castle all day, while we suffer.”
“Yeah well what about the prince?” asked Justin. “He could do something but he doesn’t even leave the castle! At least King Chasez ventures out every so often!”
“I know,” grumbled Joey. Years ago when he had been a child, Joey would often play with Prince Joshua and his older sister Taylor, as the young prince and princess had been allowed to freely play with children from the village. Then Taylor had disappeared and Joshua nor his younger brother Edgar had been allowed outside the palace since. Chris had been too old from them to play with and Justin was too young, but Joey had been just the right age and he and Prince Joshua had been best friends. “But-“ he was about to add when his attention was drawn to the open doorway where a man dressed all in black stood. The man hadn’t been seen in the village for months but everyone remembered who he was. He was Lance, the fame mercenary who would slit the throat of his own mother for a quick buck.
“Shit,” mumbled Joey watching as Lance slowly made his way over to a corner table and Joey quickly began preparing the young man’s favorite drink. Bad things happened when Lance was around. Lately there hadn’t been any money for the blond, spiky-haired mercenary to make in the village, so they all hoped he was merely passing through to the next town.
“Here you go sir,” said Joey quickly placing the drink carefully on the table where Lance sat and then retreating back to the safety of the bar. Lance meanwhile wordlessly began sipping the drink. That was one thing about Lance which was always consistent, he never spoke. No one knew whether Lance didn’t speak out of his own choosing or if something happened to the young man long ago. All they knew was that Lance never spoke and that he would get his message across by looks and glares.
Gradually people turned away their glazes from the young mercenary and returned to their drinks. Justin and Chris couldn’t help but glance around the bar searching for potential ‘jobs’. However everyone in the crowd knew enough to keep a careful eye on their money at all time. That is however until a new person entered the bar. The new person was dressed in rags, with a long cloak with the hood pulled up high on his face. They never seen the stranger before which met he was new to the area and that he might now know enough to keep a watch out on his money pouch.
Sure enough when the stranger sat down next to Chris, the short man caught a glimpse of fat money pouch in easy reach.
Not being able to help himself, Chris waited until the stranger was distracted by Joey, ordering his drink. Then, Chris carefully slipped his hand unnoticed into the man’s cloak and quickly grabbed the pouch all without the stranger knowing. Chris only hoped that he and Justin would be long gone before the stranger realized that the pouch was missing.
Unfortunately luck was not on Chris’ side.
“How much do I owe?” asked the man, his voice gentle and soft as he reached for his pouch, however he soon realized it wasn’t there. “My money it’s gone!”
“Chris!” hissed Joey under his breath, as the stranger spun around to face the short man.
“You stole it didn’t you?” he accused Chris.
“I did no such thing!” replied Chris.
“Give it back,” a deep, bass voice rumbled behind Chris and Chris was about to tell the man to mind his own business when a sword was placed against Chris’ throat. “Give it back now!”
Slowly Chris removed the pouch from beneath his own cloak and tossed it to the stranger. When he did so, the sword was removed allowing Chris to finally turn to see who the bass voice was. When he did, Chris knew he was lucky to escape with his life for the man turned out to be Lance, glaring at himself, Justin and Joey.
“Follow me,” he ordered turning his glaze to the stranger. The stranger not knowing what to do followed the mercenary out the door, allowing everyone in the bar to sigh in relief.
“Who are you?” asked the stranger as he tried to keep up with Lance as he followed him throughout the busy streets of the village.
But Lance merely ignored the stranger, never once looking back at him.
“In here,” he finally ordered stopping at the Inn. He then led the stranger up to the second floor where he had a room rented.
“You must be more careful Prince Joshua,” Lance finally spoke when the door was closed behind them.
“What?” asked the stranger startled. “I'm not Prince Joshua.”
“You say that with so much conviction,” replied Lance sarcastically. “If I see through you what makes you think someone else won’t, so don’t lie to me.”
“Alright I’m Joshua,” sighed the prince. “What are you going to do ransom me off to my father? When he finds out I snuck out of the palace, he’ll hang me himself. So I’m not going to be worth a lot to you.”
“Well I was going to help you but keep up that attitude and I’ll let you face the village alone. And trust me it’s a lot different place from when you last visited it.”
“I know I saw,” replied Joshua sadly. “People were living on the streets begging for money. Even the ones who had jobs weren't that much better off. How did things get his way? Father must know!”
“The king knows and he doesn’t care,” replied Lance bitterly. “He’s been nothing more than a puppet since Pearlman began working for him. Chances are that Pearlman already knows what you’ve done and has the village crawling with guards trying to find you. If you’re lucky the guards will find you before Pearlman’s lackeys the BackAlly Boys do.”
“BackAlly Boys?”
“That’s right, AJ, Nick, Howie, Kevin and Brian, a group of five dangerous men that works these parts. Normally they only come out at night but I saw two members AJ and Brian wandering the streets earlier. They weren’t up to their normal trouble though. They were looking for something, or someone.”
“Nick? Kevin? Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson? They’re Lou’s assistants.”
“They’re also members of the BackAlly Boys. There have been some reports that Lou is the leader of the BackAlly Boys but I’ve never stuck around long enough to find out the truth.”
“But who are you? The guys at the bar seemed afraid of you. Why are you helping me?”
“They are afraid of me,” laughed Lance before bowing before the prince. “I am Lance, the famous mercenary for hire. As for why I’m helping you, it’s payback for an old friend.”
“But-“
“Later Prince Joshua,” interrupted Lance. “I have things to do right now. Stay here, you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever, fine,” grumbled Joshua as Lance left the room. There was nothing else for Joshua to do, so he flopped down on the bed, closed his eyes, and was soon fast asleep.