Chapter Four:
Bet
When Guy knew his master couldn't see or hear him he gave a jump and a yell of happiness. Then he ran all the way back to his tent, eager to tell the news to Matthew.
"Guess what!" he yelled ecstatically as he entered the tent, not even bothering to close the tent flap.
Matthew looked up from the book he was reading. "Ah, there you are, Guy. I've been looking all over for you," he said looking a bit cross.
"You have?" Guy said in surprise, forgetting all about his news.
"Yeah. Lord Hector caught me trying to make off with his purse. When he caught me I said he doesn't pay me enough, but that just caused him to give me a lecture on why times were hard and the whole army had to pull together and blah blah blah."
"Serves you right for trying to make off with his purse," Guy said, grinning at Matthew's blunder.
Matthew sighed. "It gets worse, now as a punishment he wants me to oil the entire armies' armor. The entire army! Can you believe that?" Matthew cried huffily.
"My heart bleeds for you," Guy said his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Actually Guy my heart bleeds for you."
Guy looked at Matthew suspiciously. "Why do you say that?" he asked cautiously.
Matthew gave him an evil grin, and Guys knew from his experience whoever Matthew grinned at was going to be very sad in a few moments.
"Why Guy, I'm going to let you do the job!"
Guy snorted. "Yeah right, why the heck would I do your dirty work?"
"Because you still owe me three favors!"
"What?!" Guy jumped up in indignation. "Hey I've joined this army; I've paid back what I ate! I don't owe you anything!"
"Now Guy, have you forgotten? We agreed that how many pieces of meat you ate, that's how much favors you owe me. You ate four so you still owe me three more!" Matthew said slowly, as if he was speaking to a dim child.
Guy was getting angry. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Matthew."
Matthew's grin widened. "Don't try to play dumb with me Guy. It's all on the oath paper!"
With an exaggerated flourish he pulled out from his cloak an old and tattered parchment.
Guy's heart sunk, "You still have that after all this time?" he asked unbelievably.
"Never take it off me. Now Guy tell me is this not your signature right here?" Matthew pointed to the bottom of the paper.
Guy looked at the paper and lo and behold it was.
"So Guy, the men of Sacae never lie right? You still owe me three favors!" Matthew said triumphantly.
Guy was shaking with rage. "Y-you… I-I…" he couldn't even get the words out.
Matthew just smiled smugly.
The smile caused him to snap. "Argh!!! Fine, let's have a duel. If you win I owe you one more favor, but if I win my debts are cancelled!"
Matthew continued to smile. "Now Guy, why would I agree to that? You're obviously a better fighter than I am. It's stupid. I would lose."
"Hah you're just afraid you'll be humiliated!" Guy cried, taunting him.
Matthew sighed. "Guy, that's the oldest trick in the book. If you want I could lend you mine. I might actually teach you something."
"Humph! If you're a man you'll fight me!"
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine you win. I'll take you on just this once. If you actually win I'll consider your debts nixed."
Guy was taken aback by Matthew's sudden change of heart. "R-really?" he asked warily.
"Yes, buuuuuut," he said dragging out the word.
"Oh great the but," Guy said sarcastically. "No I'm not letting you borrow Oswin's armor and I'm not going to let you try to poison me before the match."
"Relax, I just want to say that I get to choose the time of the match and I don't need to tell you when."
"Fine, not like that's going to help you. I can't beat off any attack you throw at me," Guy declared confidently.
"My, my somebody is brimming with over confidence. Remember my young friend 'Overconfidence is the greatest enemy,'" he said speaking in an old voice.
Now it was Guy's turn to roll his eyes. "Yes, Grandfather I won't forget."
"Good now that that's settled lets go get dinner!" and with that Matthew leapt off his cot and strode out of the tent.
Guy followed him with his eyes. When he was gone from sight, he muttered, "What a fool," and followed him.
Then a rather embarrassing problem presented itself.
"Where the hell is Merlinus?!" Guy yelled in exasperation. It had nearly been half an hour and he still couldn't find where the small, timid, man set up his tent. Merlinus gave out the armies rations every day. The problem was that he kept changing the location of his tent every few hours. The little man could never stay in one place.
Guy's stomach gave a tremendous rumble. This was embarrassing! He was just glad Matthew wasn't here to laugh at him.
"Um, excuse me are you lost, Guy?" said a feminine voice behind him.
Guy went red with mortification. He knew that voice. He turned around to see Priscilla looking rather bemused.
"O-oh, hi Priscilla, didn't hear you came behind me!" Guy said hurriedly. "N-no I'm not lost," he said answering her question. "We of Sacae are never lost!" he said with fake confidence.
"Then why were you yelling for Merlinus earlier then?" she asked, confusedly.
Guy swore under his breath. So much for his façade. And he had made a bigger loser of himself in front of Priscilla. How much lower could he get?
"Well actually I am lost. I can't find Merlinus, and I'm starving," he said shamefully.
She did something he thought was the last thing she would do. She giggled.
"That's okay. When I first joined this army I got lost really easily and I also couldn't find Merlinus," she said good-naturedly.
"Really?" Guy asked, his sprits lifting. Maybe he wasn't so much of a loser after all.
She nodded. "All the time, Rebecca or Fiora had to help me around for the first few days. If you want I could show you the way."
He nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks that would be a big help."
She smiled. "Follow me then," and with that she turned around and headed off in an eastern direction. Guy hurriedly followed after the slightly smaller girl.
"So Guy," she said as soon as he had caught up to her. "You're always talking about Sacae. I've never been there. What's it like?" she enquired.
Guy already had an answer at hand. He loved his homeland and could describe it in an instant. He started to picture it in his mind's eye.
"Well, the first thing in Sacae that strikes you is the plains. There practically unending in all directions. It's a beautiful sea of green. There aren't many trees or hills in Sacae but we don't need them. If we had lots of trees we would never be able to feel the warm dry winds. And you never feel lonely in Sacae. Even though the plains make you feel isolated, we Sacaen live in tribes, so it's never lonesome. It's a place of unbidden freedom!" he concluded dreamily.
He looked over at Priscilla who was enraptured by his description. "It sounds beautiful," she said after a few minutes of silence. "The wind, the plains, everything! And the way you described it makes it sound like a dream land."
"Thank you," Guy said simply. He was never good at receiving praise.
"Oh, I wish I could visit Sacae," she said longingly.
And before Guy knew what he was saying, his mouth blurted out, "If you want, when this war's over I could take you to visit the plains."
As soon as he said that, he cursed himself inside. 'Way to show your feelings, stupid' he thought. 'Why don't you stick a sign on your forehead that says "I like you?'
Priscilla's eyes widened in surprise. Guy thought she would start to laugh at him but he was surprised.
"Oh, could you really do that for me?" she asked.
Twice in the same day, Guy's spirits rose. "Sure, I'd like to show you all the wondrous sights!"
Priscilla smiled happily and before he knew what was happening she had put her arms around Guy and given him a warm hug. "Thank you so much, Guy," she said elatedly.
Guy's face had turned extremely red. "Uh s-sure, no p-problem," he stuttered.
Priscilla disengaged from him still smiling warmly. Then, she looked around. Guy also looked around and was surprised to see that they were already at the food tent. He could see Lowen dishing out food for the troops.
"Oh, that was unusually fast," exclaimed a rather bewildered Priscilla.
"Well anyway, thanks for helping me here Priscilla," Guy said, hoping his face had lost it's crimson tinge.
"What? Oh yes." Priscilla said as she came back to earth. "I enjoyed talking with you Guy." She said with complete sincerity in her eyes.
"Yeah, me too," Guy replied, also putting sincerity in his voice.
She smiled. "See you around later, Guy," she said turning around.
Guy smiled as she walked away. When she was out of sight, he sighed and slowly sat down on a bench savoring their talk. He felt like the luckiest man in the world!
That is until he noticed Matthew on the other side of the table grinning triumphantly at him. His smirk was so wide Guy could see his molars.
"So, Guy," he said smugly. "Hugged anyone lately?"
"MATHHEW, YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!!!"