Chapter 3: People That Actually Matter

Jessica Tedder sat underneath the tree outside her house watching the little people play. She would join them, but she decided that she was too lazy (the sad part is that this is actually true).

Tedder (this is what her friends call her) saw one of her good friends, Andy Yunker, riding towards her on his bike. He slowed, then stopped a few feet away.

"Hey, Tedder," he said.

"Hi, Andy."

"Why aren't you playing with the little people?"

"I'm too lazy today."

"You always say that."

"That's because it's true."

"Yeah, maybe," he conceded. "Hey, do you have anything to drink?"

"In the kitchen. You can go get it."

"Do you want me to get you something, too?"

"No. I'm too lazy."

"You're too lazy to lift a cup to your mouth!?"

"Yes, I am."

"Geez, you are lazy."

"Yep."

Andy went inside to get some water, then came back out and sat with Tedder, talking about some random stuff.

"Hey, Tedder, do you finally have the good bike over here at your mom's house?" Andy asked after a few minutes of pointless conversation.

"Yeah, why?"

"I just thought you might like to go do something, that's all."

"Umm, no."

"Why not?"

"I already told you. I'm too lazy."

"Really, Tedder, you have to get up and do something, unless of course you want to stay here and get fat." (I think it should be known that Tedder is even skinnier than I am, and that's saying something)

"You're really one to talk," she said. Then she hit him.

"Ow! God, what the hell was that for, you bitch?"

"What do you think, Andy?"

They glared at each other for a few moments. Then Andy broke the silence. "C'mon. Let's go see what Jill's doing."

"How do you know she's home?"

"When is Jill not home?"

"Good point."

Tedder got up and went inside. A few minutes later, she came back out with her bike. She looked just a bit unhappy.

"You better be right, Andy," she said. "If Jill's not home, I'm going to hit you again."

"Tedder, let's think about this for a minute. One: Jill hardly ever goes anywhere without one of us, two: it's the middle of summer and she doesn't have to work today, and three: her parents are working and she can't drive. Where could she possibly be except her house?" (I would like to take this opportunity to let you all know that when I wrote this I couldn't drive, but now I can)

"The woods."

"Even if she is in the woods, which I doubt because it rained earlier, I know exactly where she would be, so we can just go down and get her."

Tedder groaned. "Why do you people have to be so active?"

"It's called having fun, Tedder."

"So? Why can't you just have fun sitting under a tree like I do?"

"Unlike you, Tedder, some of us actually like to do things other than sitting around all day."

"You're all freaks of nature."

"Actually, that would be you, Tedder."

"Shut up."

"Let's just go. All we're doing right now is wasting time."

Tedder mumbled something to herself as she got on her bike.

"What was that?" Andy asked.

"Oh, nothing," Tedder replied in an innocent tone. "Well, we should go. After all, you said that we're just wasting time right now."

She started to ride up the street. Andy rolled his eyes and followed.

(The really sad thing is that everything in this section is really true and really did happen. I was there when it did, but I altered it a little so that I could use it in this story)

………………………………………………………………………………...

Stephanie Leger was mad. Maybe mad wasn't the right word. Maybe implosively angry would be closer. She really wasn't having a very good summer.

Billiam and Matt (two of her younger brothers) were driving her absolutely crazy (Billiam isn't really his name. That's just what he's called).

First, Matt had followed her around all morning, singing stupid songs, quoting Spongebob, and just being his annoying, idiotic self. Then Billiam had joined in. at first they were both fine with what Matt had originally been doing, but even that got old to them eventually. They started to tease her and call her names, which really didn't bother her too much. But then they started to hit her, throw things at her, and make fun of Legolas.

Stephi decided that she didn't want to deal with it anymore, so she went into her room and locked the door to get away. Unfortunately, the locked door didn't keep Billiam and Matt out for very long. They soon found a wire hanger and picked the lock.

"Get out of here!"Stephi yelled as soon as they had the door open.

"Get out of here," they repeated back to her.

"Oh, don't you even start that!" she said irritably.

"Oh, don't you even start that," they said in unison.

Stephanie had finally had enough. She pushed her brothers aside and stormed downstairs. She found her mom in the kitchen.

"Mom, make them leave me alone!"

Her mom instantly understood. "Boys!" she called. "Leave your sister alone! Now!"

Stephi sauntered back up to her room. She selected a book and sat down in her chair. As she began to read, she wondered how the summer was going for her friends…

………………………………………………………………………………...

Jill and Adrienne stood staring dumbstruck at the man who had just rolled out of the crate. Neither one moved as the man got up slowly and began to brush himself off.

The man was not very tall. In fact, he was barely taller than the two girls staring at him. However, one could tell by looking at him that he was quite strong and fast.

He had a face like a rat and a long, pointed nose. His hair was black and slightly messy (due to the fact that he had just rolled out of a crate) and his clothes didn't even look like they belonged anywhere, except maybe medieval times. Or possibly 15th century Russia. Anyhow, the man was just in the middle of straightening his hair and his clothes when he finally noticed his surroundings. His eyes went wide with astonishment and confusion as they looked around, finally coming to rest on the dumbfounded girls. The eyes went momentarily wider, then narrowed in a sudden, suspicious curiousness.

"Sorry about that," he said pleasantly. "Just another one of those unfortunate accidents; you know the kind I mean." He paused for a moment, then smacked his forehead with dramatic exaggeration. "Oh, how stupid of me! I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Ambar of Kotu, a humble yet wealthy spice merchant."

Ambar stopped and looked at the faces of the girls who were staring at him with their eyes wide and mouths slightly open. He fought down a momentary feeling of dismay. "Uh, you do understand me, don't you?"

He waited for a reply. It was Jill who spoke. "We understand you just fine, but… well, you see, it's just that…" she struggled with it.

After a moment, Ambar decided to help. "It's not everyday you find a strange man rolling out of a crate in your yard?"

Jill and Adie nodded.

Ambar smiled, feeling more relaxed. "Well," he started. "I suppose I do sort of owe you an explanation," he said, even as he began to fabricate the story in his head.

"I was in my warehouse supervising the loading of my spices into crates. It was all going quite well until one of my workers accidentally hit me in the head with the replacement support beam he was carrying."

"Replacement support beam?" Adie asked, puzzled.

"We're in the middle of renovating a section of the warehouse. Anyhow, when I was hit, I was also knocked off the edge of the catwalk I was on. I landed in this crate, and the force of my landing caused the top of the box to swing shut. There you have it. I gave you and explanation, now you need to give me one." He waited expectantly, and again Jill spoke.

"That was a lie. It wasn't even a very good lie. Honestly, if you're not going to tell us the truth, you can at least live up to your name and tell us something a bit more creative than that piece of crap story."

"I beg your pardon?" Ambar said indignantly. "How dare you accuse me of lying like-"

"Save it," Adie said. "We're really not that stupid. Jill's right. That whole story was just some elaborate lie that you probably made up just now. My guess is that you probably have multiple daggers hidden under your clothing and you are that you are skilled in fighting and acrobatics."

Ambar's mouth had dropped and his eyes bulged slightly. "But you… but I'm-"

Jill was the one who interrupted this time. "Your real name is Kheldar, not Ambar, and you're not from Kotu, you were born in Boktor instead. You aren't just some ordinary guy, you're a prince. Your uncle is King Rhodar of Drasnia, but you hate the fact that you're in line for the throne. You travel as much as you can and you usually go by the name Silk. And you're not a spice merchant. Aside from being a prince, you're also a liar, a thief, an assassin, an acrobat, and a spy for your uncle's government."

By this time the man had quite nearly collapsed from shock. It took him a while to regain his composure. "Alright," he said. "You seem to know just about everything about me, but I still know nothing about you. I think we should start with a fairly easy question."

He looked moe closely at the girls who were apparently not quite what they seemed. Then, in a soft, suspicious voice, he asked, "Who are you?"

End of Chapter 3