This is my first fanfiction written in English. I think I'm much better in Hungarian. Please, correct me, if you find any mistakes. Thank you, and thank you for reading it! :)
It was a usual day at the city of Atlantis. The sun rose, the market opened, men and women started their typical business in the morning. Even the royal court had a boring day.
It was special though one person, a blond, skinny young man who stood at the gates of the city and stared with big blue eyes at the mesmerizing whirlabout in the main square. He took a deep breath and stepped inside trailing a laden donkey.
"Come on Apollon" he said "We have a lot to do today."
The donkey slapped its tail, not really want to do anything else, but to get rid of the big pile of junk which it carried. It followed its owner nonetheless.
The man first road led to the tavern through the busy market. Vendors tried to stop him, to sell him fruits, vegetables, fabrics, jewelry, livestock, anything he looked at. He smiled and kept moving, wanted to reach his destination as fast as it is possible, feeling the exhaustion already causing headache.
He sighed in relief when he saw the sign of the tavern "The House of Xenia".
"Stay here, Apollon, I'll be back in a minute." He reached for the door when it suddenly opened and a bald, tall, old, muscular man appeared in the doorway.
"We're closed!" he barked "If you want to get drunk in the morning, go home!"
The young blond man took a step back for the sudden appearance of the innkeeper, but answered calmly.
"I would like to rent a room, please."
The innkeeper stared at him for a moment.
"Do you have money?"
The young one stared back.
"I do." said his face motionless.
"Come in then."
The innkeeper guided him to the taproom, where they finally shake hands.
"My name is Peleus, I own this building."
"Nice to meet you sir, I'm Pythagoras."
"Pythagoras..." Peleus poured a glass of water to his guest "I have three rooms for rent, but all of them are empty, so you can choose. How long do you want to stay?"
"I don't know yet. If I can get a job quickly then I'm going to rent my own apartment. So... How about I'll pay you three nights and we shall see?"
"Excellent! Zeno will take your bags to your room. Are they fragile?"
Pythagoras shook his head with water in his mouth. After swallowing he said.
"Not really, mostly books and scrolls."
Peleus stared at him with respect and growing curiosity.
"Oh... Are you some kind of... traveling polymath?"
Pythagoras suppressed a giggle.
"I'm merely a scribe, I'm afraid."
Peleus nodded and headed for the door.
"Well then... I'll feed your donkey, you can rest upstairs, make yourself at home."
"Thank you, sir."
The innkeeper turned back from the threshold smiling.
"And welcome to Atlantis, merely-a-scribe-Pythagoras."
Pythagoras chose an east facing room, which was simple, but bright enough to write and read in it till sundown. He lied down for a little, tried to regain some strength he lost during his travelling, then washed himself and looked at his face in a little piece of mirror from his bag which was fetched by Zeno earlier (Peleus' boy).
He tried to comb his rumpled, curly hair into an acceptable form, but failed miserably. Decided he was good as it is, packed a few things in his bag; some money, recommendation letters from his previous masters and teachers; and set off to the palace.
It was still early, the morning rush didn't subsided. There were dozens of people in the main square and vigorous shouting of young men echoed off the walls. By the time Pythagoras reached the square, a man from the middle of the crowd shouted.
"All right, we're full! No need for more workers today! Everyone is dismissed!"
There was an unhappy moaning erupting from the crowd and slowly the square started to cleared.
Realized what he had just missed, Pythagoras walked quickly to the shouting bearded man who held a piece of scroll in his hands.
"Excuse me, sir?"
The bearded man didn't look up from the scroll.
"What do you want?"
Pythagoras drew himself.
"I'm looking for a job, sir."
"I said we're full! And anyway..." he looked to the blond skinny man before him, watched him from head to toe "...what do YOU do? Cook?"
Pythagoras shook his head, and said with a puzzled face.
"No, I'm literate, actually."
Now the bearded man wondered.
"Really?" The blond man nodded. "Then what's written here?" He showed the scroll to Pythagoras. He peeked at it and said.
"It says 'Daily wages by activity'."
"Good... But you could guess that."
Pythagoras raised his eyebrows; how could he even guess this exact sentence?; but said nothing.
The bearded man grinned. "What's sixteen times three?"
Pythagoras answered in a split second.
"Forty-eight."
"Fifty-six divided by four?"
"Fourteen."
The bearded man frowned.
"Three hundred forty-eight minus one hundred twenty-nine?"
Pythagoras smiled.
"Two hundred nineteen."
The bearded man smiled back at him and nodded.
"All right. What's your name?"
"Pythagoras, sir."
"Pythagoras, come with me. I think I have a place for you."
Pythagoras' day was fortunate – he reached his ultimate goal. Got a job. He couldn't be happier. He decided to give a sacrifice to the god Hermes at the end of the day. Thanks to his amazing show of mental arithmetic he became a payroll administrator. It is a very responsible position; he and a dozen other literate have to check the payments every day and make sure there is no shortage in the treasury. Of course he's just a probationer yet, but the wage is really promising. And he'll has free days and sometimes could go home earlier, and this way he could work more about his theories. He'll be able to solve the problem of the right-angled triangle... Pythagoras smiled to himself as he walked back to the tavern after his very first workday.
The sun was setting and the orange light played across the entire city. Everything just seemed to be... so right in this place. Maybe it was really his destiny to come here. He'll get to know his workmates - they looked nice, and eventually he'll find love as well and start a family. There has to be a Mrs. Pythagoras in this city somewhere... Pythagoras smiled and nodded at an oncoming pretty girl. She had a jug in her hands and headed to the palace. When she saw Pythagoras she looked away and accelerated her steps. His smile faded. I must have scared her. I'm scary with this idiot smile on my idiot face!
The tavern was lighted, the sound of music and razzle could be heard through the closed door. Pythagoras wanted to see his donkey before he went to dinner, so he peeked into the stables first.
"Hello Apollon!" he let out a full smile and the donkey raised his head with expectantly to the familiar voice "I brought you an apple!"
Apollon growled with satisfaction when Pythagoras scratched the big hairy ears.
"At least I'm not totally alone... I mean I have you! You're my good friend Apollon. I can tell you anything." Pythagoras smile faded again. "I'm really a moron. Talking to a donkey..." He sighed and headed to the door. "Good night Apollon. Don't make too much noise. It'll be enough to listen the drunks in the tavern."
He stepped out the stables and froze.
The tavern door swung open and a man flew out, landed on his face. He was older, a bit paunchy, his hair was sparse. His clothes were torn and his face was bruised. When he tried to get up, three other men came out from the tavern instantly and dragged him up from the ground. The paunchy man started to scream and shout.
"Shut up, you coward!" shouted one of the three men and punched the tubby man in the face – he spit blood to the ground.
Pythagoras was shocked. He won't just stand by and watch this, will he?
"What are you doing?!" he stepped forward "Stop it!"
All the four men looked at him amazed. Though the paunchy man kneeling on the ground didn't quite hear it because of the ringing in his ears.
"Mind your own business, kid." came the answer from one of the three men.
A knife turned up and one of them said "Hold his right arm!"
The paunchy man whimpered and struggled against them. Pythagoras jumped and yelled.
"No!" He grabbed the arm of the man with knife. He was pushed away so violently that he almost fell onto his back.
"At least tell me what he did against you!" shouted Pythagoras and came closer once again.
The man with knife turned to the skinny blond. "He owes me a lot of money. And refuse to pay it."
The paunchy man whimpered "I pay you next week, I swear!" but he got another punch in the face.
Before he even thought of what he says Pythagoras shouted "I pay you!"
The three men froze. "What?!" yelled one of them.
Pythagoras face flushed, he was trembling and cold sweat flowed down his back. This was not going to end well...
"I said I pay you. Just let him go." he answered trying to stay calm "How much he owes you?"
"A hundred silver coins!"
Pythagoras gulped. That was all of his savings! What will he do? How will he pay the rent? His food? He looked at the three man, there was a knife in of their hand. There was no going back.
"All right, let me fetch it. Don't hurt him!"
He run into the hot, noisy tavern, a smell of alcohol struck him and suddenly made him nauseous. He run up to his room, grabbed his bag of money and run back. He saw in his mind's eye the mutilated paunchy man bled out on the street. He was horrified. When he opened the tavern door and saw all four of them just the way he left them, he sighed in relief. Money was more valuable to them than a few bloody fingers it seemed.
Pythagoras handed the bag with shaky hands. One of the three man took it, looked inside and smiled.
"Do you know this man?" asked still with a smile on his face.
"No..." said Pythagoras.
"This is Hercules!" they laughed "The biggest crook, impostor and thief living in the back of Atlas!"
They dropped the paunchy man onto the ground and walked away.
"Say goodbye to your money, kid! You'll never get it back!" yelled one of them laughing back to Pythagoras.
The skinny blond looked at the man before him. "Hello Hercules." he said with a weak smile "My name is Pythagoras."
"It's bloody nice to meet you." growled back the paunchy man.
Pythagoras frowned. "No need to be rude. Here, let me help you." He grabbed the man's arm and tried to lift him. He got pushed away. Again.
"I didn't ask your help!" Hercules shouted.
Pythagoras looked at his hands in horror. There was a dark red liquid on them. "You're bleeding... Did they cut you?"
"Mind your own business!"
"Let me help! I can treat you!" Pythagoras tried to support the dazed man "You're drunk! You're just going to hurt yourself more!"
"Go away!" Hercules shouted again and stumbled away from the tavern.
Pythagoras watched him go. He felt utterly miserable. What had he done? He gave all of his money for this stranger, Hercules, who doesn't even want his help.
At least I still have Apollon. And I already paid three nights for Peleus, and I have a job. That's something, right?
He headed to his room. He's surely going to cry tonight.