Chapter 3 – New arrivals.
Commotions within the market place were not rare occurrences, a fact for which a certain Joey Wheeler was thanking his lucky stars. Not a person was surprised to see his small body darting through the crowds, followed close behind by a cluster of guards that the general population did not deign to part for, or to stop their day to day business to assist.
Joey slipped into an alley way off to one side, easily scaling the rough, mud-brick walls of the houses, and disappeared off onto one of the rooftops that he knew would not rat him out. Looking down at his hand he smiled at the size of the jewel he had managed to snag, he knew for a fact that the jewel had been stolen by the shop owner in the first place he felt no guilt in relieving the rich merchant of his tidy profit. Nor did he care too much for the jewels' original owner – a wealthy noble or something of the like who had abundances of jewels just like this one.
With an expert eye he tried to guess the value of the jewel from its size, turning it this way and that he realised it was purer than he had thought. A jewel of this calibre had to have come from either one of the temples or the palace itself.
He cursed, that meant that he had to get rid of the jewel soon, or he was a marked man. Marked for death that is.
Joey thought quickly, if it was from a temple then if it made its own way back there many would be none the wiser, and any trace that could lead back to him would be light, however the probability of getting caught was far higher.
He sighed, before peering over the roof to check that the coast was clear. His best bet would be to slip it back to the merchant and let nature take its course. Important jewels like this were marked, and would probably be found quickly, but he needed to move soon. If he were found with the jewel he wouldn't be alive very long. Probably just long enough for the guards to take him up to the palace for sentencing – maybe not even that. He wasn't very well liked by the guards of the city they would probably just not bother and kill him there.
A wry smile worked its way over his face at this new challenge, his unfailing good humour making itself known. He could do this, he'd lived through worse before.
Slipping from the roof he made his way back to the market place, careful not to be seen and keeping an eye out for any guards that might still be on the prowl. He managed to make it to the street opposite the stand without incident, carefully slipping through the crowd his eyes widened when he saw a small patrol rounding the corner not far from him. But he knew that to change direction now would be a mistake. Continuing on he made it to the table, and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the jewel leave contact with his skin. It was gone.
As he did so, he made eye contact with the merchant at the stand. Between their eyes they shared a silent conversation; that Joey knew where the jewel had come from. The merchant nodded accepting the silent impasse, he could not call the attention of the guards for fear of revealing himself, and Joey in his own right could not expose him because he in turn had stolen the jewel.
Of course fate tends to ignore such complicated anomalies, choosing instead to act bluntly and with its usual lack of bias as to who accepts the blame.
A shout came from behind him and Joey wheeled around, to see the guards from before heading straight towards him, he dived behind the cart of a nearby stall in a vain attempt to hide, but it was to no avail. The cart flew off to the side as the young lad continued to try to evade capture, but it was too late and he found himself in the iron grip of the captain.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A thieving little rat, eyeing those pretty jewels there I see." The guard sneered.
Joey just glared in response, not trusting himself to lie convincingly to the guard, running dodging, heck even fighting his way out he could do. But Joey's tongue was anything but silver, he was blunt and coarse in his speech, which was not the best approach to get out of trouble.
More of the guards had gathered now, and one of them turned to the merchant still standing behind his stall, his face pale with fear. A thin sheen of sweat covered his brow, and it was obvious he wanted nothing to do with the guards. Joey was surprised to see that the look of fear was not directed at the guards around him, but at Joey himself. It was only then that he realised the bargaining chip he held with the knowledge he had gained.
He flashed his eyebrows briefly at the merchant in a look that said if you want me to keep quiet, do something.
Getting the message the merchant stepped smoothly forward, placing his hand on the guards arm.
"Now, now sir, this young lad was doing nothing wrong, he was returning to me one of my items that had...fallen from my possession." The man smiled convincingly sweeping his hand across the table.
If Joey had had an arm free he would have smacked himself in the face. Of all the people in this town, all the people, he had to have help from the only one who didn't know how to deal with the guards. Seriously was this guy a certified idiot? He had pointed directly to the jewel that Joey had returned, that is, directly to the stolen from the temple jewel that was the whole reason for this mess in the first place.
Of course what happened next could have been predicted by the village idiot: one of the guards recognised the jewel.
"Sir! It's the missing jewel that the high priest ordered found." One of them exclaimed, Joey groaned, the High Priest? seriously? This day just kept on getting better and better.
"Arrest him!" the captain exclaimed, Joey realising his chance tried to twist out of his grip, but the captain was ready for that, "oh no you don't son. You're gonna come with us as well, you've been a thorn in my side for far too long." The smirk on the captain's face was unmistakeable and Joey felt a slip of ice cold dread run down his spine.
He'd just escaped a life of slavery; he didn't want to go back.
A/N: And the plot thickens... Please review O.O