The night, my one true companion, had collapsed over the earth once more, surrendering us light dwellers to the lustful shadows that had long anticipated their renewed era. I sauntered alone through the worn and abandoned streets of a dilapidated Earth Kingdom village, the population majority being composed of mainly escaped criminals and war prisoners, with my hands tucked into my pockets and a hood drawn over a mess of disheveled hair. The faint mist of an oncoming storm glimmered through the dimming light of a streetlamp overhead, kissing my shaded face with the sweet earthen tinge of an after rain aroma. I scanned the dampened wood structures about me when my attention was inquisitively drawn to a brightly lit window, dispatching multiple cries of glee whenever a lone man stumbled, his gait absent of sobriety, from the main door. IJust another cheap pub./i I told myself. My feet protested against the growing decision I constructed of continuing to travel, insisting that there must be at least one vacant room available for me to rest in for the night.
I reluctantly stalked into the bustling tavern, desperately searching for an empty stool or table that was—if possible—secluded from the entire clamor. I pushed past the loud, falsely cheered men, exclaiming chants for a certain individual whose name had escaped my ears through the mesh of variant voices calling it. Aside, every corner was occupied by unconscious males who had either fallen from exhaustion or the unknown amounts of poison they indigested, hence forcing me into one of the only empty tables residing along the fringe of a large cloud. For better comfort, I removed the bow and quiver of arrows slung across my back, resting them upon my lap, for my trust of these revolting men was little. Few moments passed before an explosion of joyous cries announcing their win burst from the cluster of people beside me.
Curiosity ebbed a small portion of the fatigue away as I brought myself up and weaved through the crowd to discover the source of the merriment. A tan boy, aged no more than I, sat blissfully before a large sum of copper, silver, and even some gold while across from him, tears bulged along the lids of a grown man, his portion of tabletop barren of currency. IA prince among thieves…/i I thought while silently gazing upon the congratulated, yet ridiculed male before me.
"Anyone else think they've got what it takes to beat me?" he questioned arrogantly of his subjects. A roar of angered and resentful voices replied, all speaking the same answer. "No one then?" he continued with a smile stretched over his lips.
I dug my hand through the satchel at my side, shoveling out whatever money I had remaining from my last purchase. Only a few mere discs of copper shined unappetizingly in my palm when they surfaced the folds. With little hesitation I pushed my way further to the beaming adolescent, replacing his prideful smirk with an expression of disgust when I arrived. "Let me play." I ordered monotonously.
"I might if you remove your cloak." he retorted. "For all I know you could be cheating, what with all those rags on you."
"Says one who wields many." I replied, for the boy was indeed garbed in a desert man's attire. Shouts of agreement burst over our audience at my analysis.
The boy simply glared at me through a pair of rusted eyes, realizing that I may possess the wits of which none these men had to strip away his crown. "Fine," he growled through clenched teeth, "you can keep your cloak, but you can't play with your face hidden like that. How am I supposed to tell you're bluffing if your expressions are absent?"
Grudgingly, I withdrew the fabric over my head to display my full face, what was not shielded through the curtains of dark hair draped over my skin for that matter.
A victorious smile caressed his lips slyly. "The name's Jiro," he introduced as I slid into the vacant seat opposite of him, "And you are…?"
"Kai." I answered.
"A pleasure to meet you, Kai." he lied. "Now, let us begin."
As the gamble continued, he being forced to forfeit some of his wealth to me, we began to talk. "So what's a Yu Yan Archer such as yourself doing in a place like this?" he inquired while drawing a new card.
"What makes you think I'm one of them?" I asked, my tone deprived of amusement.
"The feathers on your arrows," he nodded to the quiver I had tucked under my arm on the table, "That's their mark, is it not?"
"My father was once a Yu Yan Archer." I explained. "He resigned for personal reasons."
"Where is he now then?"
"In his grave." I replied. A momentary hush muffled the converse about us.
Jiro paused for a moment before continuing his turn. "And your mother…?"
"I was too young to remember what happened to her." In truth, age was not a factor of the absence of memory that accompanied my mother. A severe blow had been dealt to my head when I was but five years of age, or thus I was told, that caused me extreme amnesia. I forgot nearly everything, including how to speak and walk. Breathing was the only skill I was able to function.
"It's always the same story," he muttered, half to himself, "You don't have my pity."
"And yet I do," I contradicted, "For if I didn't, you wouldn't have said anything."
He refused to lift his eyes from the cards fanned in his hands, though I could decipher from the twitching on his brow that I had caused him humility. Only when one of the few women soliciting the tavern arched down to his level and spoke in his ear did a new expression form on his face. "I uh, have to go." He murmured, his eyes darting about him in paranoia as he arose from his chair.
"No," I denied somewhat angrily, "The game hasn't finished." I needed as much money as I could accumulate, and for him to depart with more winnings than he deserved irked me.
"Uh, listen, you can keep the money." his fretful gaze seemed to have latched onto a moving target as he spoke. "All of it." He shoved the lot of cash on his section of table in my direction. "Just-I mean- I've gotta go!" he broke into a frantic sprint immediately after his face adopted the look of guilty fear. A youthful woman chased after him almost the instant he left, dashing directly through the gap in the crowd Jiro had created during his escape.
"Jiro, get your butt back here!" she bellowed as she raced after the boy.
I could care less for his apparent dilemma; for I was much too busy calculating the sum of my prize as my lips twisted themselves to draw a victorious simper across my face. Hastily, I plowed the numerous coins into my hallow satchel, clasped the opening shut, and replaced the hood over my head before retreating into the night once more. Proper rest could wait; all I could be concerned about was evading whatever thieving hands may have populated the area. With both my bow and quiver strapped across the rear of my torso as before, my ears stumbled across a hoarse voice whose words cracked unhealthily at times the more they spoke.
"What the heck Jiro?" the female that had chased after my opponent demanded fiercely for an answer. "I gave you that money to buy food and medicine, not to play your stupid games!"
"Ah, let me go!" Jiro's voice whimpered. "The stores aren't even open, anyway!" another cry pierced his words momentarily.
I followed their debating voices around the back corner of the pub, finding that the generic woman who had stormed toward him had now paralyzed the male with his arm twisted abnormally against his back, her own hand holding the limb in place. "You know how easily I forget things!" she claimed. "I gave it to you before I forgot so you could spend it the Inext/i day!"
"I know, but—" Jiro's earthen eyes caught sight of me as a scuffled laugh escaped my breath. "She's the one that has it all!" he blamed, a single finger extended in my direction from his free arm.
The woman's eyes followed his gesture to meet what was possibly the flicker of my darkened clothing as I concealed myself beneath the cover the facilities wall served. "Well whose fault is that?" Their footsteps crunched lightly along the wetted dirt of the alleyway they had occupied, surfacing into my sight as the pair veered the squared edge of wall I hid behind. The woman's grasp had moved to the boy's ear, and as she dragged him along the trail she had previously set, a brooding glance shot from her smoldering eyes into mine. Jiro's social status collapsed as I watched him grovel vainly after me, only to be yanked back to his former position by what may have been his elder sister, or possibly even his mother. No longer did I perceive him as a prince, but a peasant who possessed no true skill, therefore must thieve from others who earned their wealth fairly.
I tossed my eyes to the enormous cloud hooding the jeweled sky, a single droplet of rain splashing against my nose as I did. Electricity appeared to be absent from the atmosphere, therefore presenting me with a sense of security in trekking the forest beyond this village. There was little chance that the people I searched for could reside here, for if they did, I would rather not be acquainted with them. IPerhaps elsewhere…/i I contemplated. My legs shifted beneath me, guiding my body into the shroud of foliage residing silently before me.