Good gosh I had fun writing this… sorry for not updating very well. We're nearing the end of the year and I'm beginning to focus more on grades….
Thank you to Yabberli to reviewing… COME ON GUYS, I NEED MORE REVIEWS HERE. Ahem. Oh, and for anybody who's wondering, Jarrett is Leala's husband…. Remember my epilogue?
The journey passed in silence, save for the tense utterance of directions or the sparse attempts to begin companionable conversation by Farris. Each time, Dhiren replied in a terse, angry fashion.
Fin kept himself tightly curled in a ball, desperately trying to find a way in which he could brush away the hay scratching against his face and creating harsh, red sores. Slowly, light began to filter in through the hash of straw, creating a dappled light in Fin's hollow.
"What's the time?" Farris asked after almost an hour of complete silence.
"Read the sun," Dhiren grunted. Farris let out an exasperated sigh.
"I'm not trained to read the sun," he admitted. Dhiren snickered.
"The great Farris isn't as invincible as we thought, then?"
"I never received the amount of instruction you or any of your colleagues did. I received the training of life," Farris defended.
"Ha! But that isn't enough to keep you alive without today's technology and luxuries. Watches, messengers, swords and armor of all sorts – bah! In my time, we learned to live, fight and defend ourselves with nothing but the shirts on our backs. Now though," Dhiren chuckled. "Well, just look at yourself." Fin cringed, practically seeing the corners of Farris's mouth turn down as his face tightened.
"I'm sure a large percentage of your men are at the same level as me," Farris replied, fighting to control his frustration.
"No, no. They received proper training from the royal family, whereas you suddenly appeared, expecting complete trust from every soul who works for their Royal highnesses. Well not me. Suddenly appearing within the ranks of the elite doesn't make you worthy," Dhiren scoffed.
"Dhiren, I – " Farris stopped. "Why don't we stop for the day? Try and find some information on the whereabouts of Namir." He suggested.
"If you desire," Dhiren responded sarcastically, but all the same, at the next exit from the main road, the wagon turned and it wasn't long before the noises of the city reached Fin's ears.
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"It'll cost you six pence to park your cart," A stocky young boy with carrot orange hair and a grubby face told the pair of men. "To be paid now."
"Four pence, half now, half later," Farris bargained, wary of bogus cart parkers who, the moment the costumer turned his back, would disappear into the hustle and bustle of the city – along with the contraption and all of its contents.
From a small gap in the hay, Fin watched Dhiren step in front of his godfather, taking charge. "Money isn't an object. We only need a secure place to leave our cart."
"Dhiren…" Farris growled. "I need to talk to –"
"Who's in charge here?" Dhiren snarled back, his voice equally as venomous. Shaking his head, Farris quieted.
The boy looked on with a hint of a smile on his face. "Is that eight pence you'll be giving me then, sir?"
"I believe you proposed six," Dhiren responded.
"You must have misheard me, sir. I surely said eight," the boy replied, eyes narrowing.
"Fine," Dhiren agreed, reaching for his coin pouch. Fin observed the young scoundrel eye the purse greedily. "We'll be back by twilight."
As the pair of men turned away, speaking is hushed voices, the boy darted forward, a knife poised in his hand. Cutting Dhiren's purse away with one swift movement, the boy grinned, hefting the weight in his hand. Fin's blood boiled at the sight and he had to restrain himself from leaping from the cart then and there.
The two men disappeared around the corner and Fin carefully slid out of the cart and slunk around the corner where the boy had disappeared. The thief leaned against the wall, absorbed in riffling through his newfound treasure. A moment of preparation and Fin jumped, trapping the boy in a headlock.
"Drop it," Fin growled in the boy's ear, tightening his grip. The boy choked, nails groping frantically at Fin's arm, but the purse still stayed in his tight grip. "I said drop it," Fin ordered again, giving the scoundrel's neck an extra squeeze.
Suddenly pain shot up Fin's arm as the thief bit him hard on the arm. In the short instead that the teen's grip loosened, the boy bolted down the alley, the purse still in his arm. Letting loose a savage roar, Fin sprinted down the alley after his escapee.
As the boy turned a sharp corner, Fin thought all hope was lost, but he didn't give up his chase, instead rounding the corner, where he found the pale boy scrabbling against a wooden fence which stood at the end of the alley.
"I've got you now, you little devil," Fin snarled, slowly advancing towards his prey. The boy began to breathe heavily, eyes wide in terror. Eyes darting back and forth, he finally settled upon a high barrel.
With a tremendous leap, the boy pulled himself onto it, dropping the bag in the process. Breaking into a sprint, Fin ran for the boy, who clambered up the edge of the wall and falling over the edge with a small huff. Fin halted just in time not to go careening into the wall. Swearing under his breath, the teen snatched up the purse and trudged down the maze of alley ways until he once again reached the hustle and bustle of the city.
After snitching a few pence from the purse to buy himself a pastry, Finneus settled himself in a nook and waited.
OKAY. REVIEW. NOW. PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU. I want to surpass the number of hits AND reviews I got for AtT, so y'all should review me! grins widely