~ : : The Price of Venison : : ~

The first meeting of Matthew, a thief, and Guy, a Sacaean far from home.  (Couldn't resist.  Such an intriguing story.)

Don't own Fire Emblem, don't own Matthew or Guy.  (Wish I did.)

* * * * *

He fell to his knees just past the edge of the forest.  He could feel grass tickling his face, telling him that he'd broken out onto an unfamiliar plain.  He could barely see his own hands in front of him, planted in the dirt, vision obscured by strands of hair and hazy from hunger.

It would be easy, wouldn't it?  Just to...stop.  Lie down and go to sleep for the last time, face buried in the sweet smell of the plains so like home.  But for the pain in ever fiber of his being, the ache in his stomach, he would have been content.  But then...but then he noticed something...something else.

That smell...so unfamiliar...yet so welcome...

Smoke...something was...burning...

Not burning...not...burning...but...cooking.

... Meat.  Yes, that was what it was called.  He'd almost forgotten what it tasted like.  Suddenly the memories came rushing back, filling his mind with blessed visions of steaming venison...he'd only known hunger for the past ten days...please, gods...let him live a little longer...just to taste it...once again...

He breathed in deeply.  He could feel it upon his tongue.  Meat.  Food.  Please...just a few more steps...staggering steps...

* * * * *

Matthew hummed a tune he couldn't remember the name of and carefully turned the spit stuck through an almost-done slab of venison.  Life was good.  Very good.  He sighed, leaning back against the trunk of the tree that overshadowed his improvised camp, watching the sun slip beyond the edge of the seemingly endless plains.  No wars, no messing in politics.  Now it was just Matthew and a tree and his soon-to-be dinner - just him and his own little world.

Suddenly there was a loud rustle, somewhere to the left of the tree, nearer to the fringe of the forest.  Matthew silently rose from his reclining position and quickly swung himself up into the tree, drawing his sword, waiting for the cause of the noise to appear.

His keen eyes picked out a human form stumbling through the tall grass, strangely thin and clad in rags too faded to be any recognizable color.  A...boy?  Matthew leaned down and stared hard.  To judge by his filthy but obviously green hair and equally dirty facial features, he was a Sacaean, but what proud child of Sacae would ever be so far from their native land and willing to appear so utterly defenseless before another human being?

The boy swayed and finally lost his footing altogether, crumpling into a small heap.  "So close..." Matthew heard him whisper, voice hoarse from disuse.  "I can't...I can't..."  He moaned softly, turning his head back towards the fire.  His eyes were dark and despairing behind the matted green hair.  "So...hungry..."  It was at that point that Matthew smelled a whiff of char.  Dammit.  His dinner was burning!

He dropped down out of the tree, landing on his feet.  "Excuse me," he said with mock politeness, then scooped up some loose soil from the ground and smothered the fire.  Once his meal was safe, he turned back to the boy.  "So.  You were about to steal my venison, weren't you?"

Another moan.  "Can't..."

"Can't what?" Matthew said impatiently.  "Who are you?  Where are you from?  Why shouldn't I kill you?"

"I'm...hungry...please...please..."  The boy buried his face in his arms, hiding his dark eyes.  "Just a little..."

Matthew sighed.  Another sob story.  He knelt next to his unwanted guest and carefully brushed his matted hair away from his face. "Just hungry, huh?"

The dark eyes gravitated towards the steaming slab of meat.  His face, underneath the dirt, seemed almost hopeful.  "I haven't...eaten...for ten..."

Ten days?  Matthew let out a whistle.  "Well!  That's why you're so thin!"  He wrinkled his nose.  "Doesn't explain the filth, though."

"Please...I'll give you everything I have..."  Despair again.  But then...Sacaeans didn't lie.  Maybe sharing for once would have beneficial results sometime in the future.  Ooh, he felt evil today.

"All right, then!" the thief said, eyes glinting.  "Everything you have."  He pulled his knife out of the folds of his cloak.  "But you get the burnt parts."

* * * * *

He felt warm...full...safe.

Guy wrapped the stranger's thick brown cloak tighter around his shoulders, closing his eyes and breathing in the soothing, earthy smell of the night.  He was curled comfortably in a curve of the tree's roots, exhausted but no longer aching for food.  His savior, a man only a few years older than himself, was lying on his back in the branches above.  Guy didn't know if he was asleep or awake, or possibly planning to kill the person who'd eaten half of his venison, but found he didn't really care.

At least he could die with a full stomach.

* * * * *

Matthew hummed a lullaby under his breath, folding his arms behind his head.  He had never before imagined the possibilities of having a Sacaean in his debt.  "Everything I have," he repeated softly, grinning.

Life was good.

* * [End] * *

...so?  Like it?  Hate it?  Please tell me (and your reasons too - AKA if you want to flame me, you have to be intelligent about it)!  Should I leave this as a one-shot or continue?  *jumps up and down*  I await your comments!