The King

Chapter 2

"Gah!" Rey exclaimed suddenly. While he wasn't paying attention, he'd gotten a face full of tree branch and leaves.

Rey brushed his face and chest off from any remaining leaves before looking around. He had to have been really out of it; that was a pretty big branch, he remarked as he turned around to look at it a second time. And the forest "road" he'd been on was beginning to look less and less like a road than just another part of the forest.

The creature, asleep on his shoulders, awoke as he moved around and arched its neck backwards in a yawn. Rey turned his head to look at it, then took the reins in his hands, urging the horse on a little faster. Rey would keep riding until it was too dark to safely see. Then they'd all stop to eat and sleep.

The memories after that point were jumbled; the next day... well, first, Mother came in and told me to keep my new pet with him at all times. She even used the word pet; that made it official! She also said to keep it from making a commotion and drawing attention to itself, like it had done that morning.

So, I went to work when it was time to leave. Mr. Flaurmann eyed the creature, but said nothing. Luckily for me, I was going to be a delivery boy that day, so I didn't have to worry about it being around machinery. I also got a chance to clean off my sword and its scabbard in the river, then set it in the cart to dry. What luck! And I got paid pretty well, to boot! I was quite happy when I went home that day.

On my way home, I was met by Sahd yet again. I'd seen him on my runs, and he'd said hello, but he generally liked to pester me after a hard day's work. Something about tired people have interesting reactions. Or something.

"Hi, Rey! Still got that little animal following you around, I see." He said, bending down to scratch its head, of course after he gave it some jerky.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Sahd. Still nicking jerky off the butcher, I see." I was making fun of him, of course. Just like always. We always had a go at each other like this. It was by this time more habit than anything else. Besides that, it was always a little fun to make fun of him like that.

"Haha. You know it." He said with a toothy grin. "He has it coming.You know that. I mean, have you seen how much he charges for that second-rate meat?"

"Yeah, I know it. Any time Mother wants to make anything with meat in it, we have to practically go without the next day." I smiled bitterly. Sahd was poor, too; he knew about what it took to survive where we lived. "And yeah, Mother officially acknowledged it as my pet," I said with a certain degree of pride. "...As long as it feeds itself and I keep it out of trouble." I grinned to Sahd, and started on my way home.

"Hey Rey!" He called after me. I turned around to see what he wanted. "Can you join us tonight? Me'n Herthraw are going out."

I smiled. They did this every so often, and it was fun, sitting by the river and partying with them. They always said it'd be us three, but Sahd and especially Herthraw managed to pick up at least twice that many on the roads either during the course of the day or on the way there. Sometimes, someone got a little violent, but the rest of us took care of that. It was understood that we could swipe any amount of coins or drink, but no valuables. Also, anything causing more disturbance than a friendly fistfight was quickly taken care of. Part of the unspoken agreement. Nearly everyone there knew it; they were mostly regulars. "I'll see if I can convince Mother; I'll meet you at your place after dinner if I can."

"Don't bother! I'll be gone by that time. Just meet me over by the wall, you know, where the rats get in." Sahd called back. I knew where he was talking about. The city gates closed after everyone returned home; a little while after the sun set, and nobody was allowed in or out without permission or good reason. It was a lax rule, really; anyone with a half-decent excuse could get by, but they recognized Herthraw and stopped es from leaving every time. So we'd just found another convenient way out: a large hole in the wall. Really, it was where the river flowed into the city, but the grating had come off somehow, so any one of us could get through, but only one at a time. It wasn't too far from the gates; convenient enough, for our purposes.

I headed straight home, and asked Mother if I could go out with Sahd and Herthraw. She hesitated. Finally, with a sigh, she said, "I don't suppose I could do anything to stop you. Just be careful, with your pet, Rey. It'll follow you, and I don't want it hurting anyone." She said this with an intensity that let me know that I didn't have any choice.

"Don't worry, Mother. I won't let any harm come to anybody." She nodded and I grinned, getting up and setting off merrily. Tonight would be fun.

I met Sahd by the old torn-off grate. He had Jule and Reynalf with him, and told me Herthraw brought at least five more. This was looking like fun.

"Hey, what's that, Rey?" Jule asked, brushing her unruly black hair out of her face. I knew what she was talking about without even looking where she was pointing.

"It's my pet. I found it yesterday... you should have seen how much trouble it caused me. I don't know; it's just really attached to me, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess." Jule wasn't the brightest girl in the world, but she was nice and pretty. She was actually richer than most of the people that came to these things, and claimed it was because we were nicer than her other friends. Her other friends had probably had a real education, and made fun of her for being an airhead. "Hey, is that what caused all that noise this morning? I could hear something from down the street... from your area, Rey."

Rey was glad it was night. His facial expression would have given away everything. "...No. That was my mom. I... awoke her from a bad nightmare."

"Oh." She said, nodding, but Sahd smiled mysteriously. I threw him a warning look. You can't tell anyone. No one, Sahd! He looked about to crack up.

Never one to disappoint, Sahd let out a laugh. "Don't worry, Rey, it happens to everyone. But those are some pipes your mom has; I'd hate to be in your house when she gets angry." Reynalf started laughing at this too. He'd heard the noise; they both had. And he agreed. I didn't care. As long as it remained secret. I didn't know why Mother wanted to keep us, and especially my pet, from drawing attention, but as much as this perplexed me, I decided to let it rest for now and just go along with it. She'd probably tell me later, right? I was just thankful Sahd was such a loyal friend.

Soon, Herthraw arrived, with not five, but seven friends. It was looking to be a lively night indeed. I was third through the hole; first was Sahd, then Jule. I pushed my pet through before me; it would have a fit if it had to wait until last, which would doubtlessly happen, as the others would pile in.

Once we were all on the other side, we started away from the city, sticking along the river. Sahd carried most of the drink; he'd been working on robbing it piece by painstakingly little piece for well over two weeks now, according to him. How he handled that, and his so-called 'apprenticeship' with the butcher, I don't know, though he might have gotten a good portion of it from the butcher himself. It wouldn't surprise me.

Once we were a safe distance away, and already well into Errol's, a friend of Herthraw, joke supply, Sahd sat the drink down, and gave it out to the people that had 'earned' it. Herthraw and Thren took what they'd managed to get as well, distributing as they saw fit. Poor Neman, he didn't get any. Kindra actually mentioned this. At that comment, Errol burst out with, "Poor Neman? Hah! Poor nobody; he can get some if he can nick some!" Sahd looked irritated. He'd wanted to comment. Oh well, the one with the fastest hand, and fastest tongue...

I must have actually said this, because I received a slap in the face from him. "Hey!" I cried out, but only jokingly. It was all in good fun.

"That was for questioning my ability." Sahd said confidently. Time to give an ounce of oat for an ounce of wheat, I deemed, so I stomped on his foot. "What was that about?!" He said indignantly. Poor, bruised ego.

"That was for marring this blessedly handsome face." I said, mock-basking in my own extreme beauty. Everyone laughed. Except Sahd, who stole my drink from me. "He-ey! Sahd!"

"'Bruised ego'? No more for you, I think." He said, taking a swig out of what had so recently been my bottle. "...Besides, my ego is too big to be bruised by that."

Oh, now he'd started it. I dove for my bottle, knocking him over. The chorus of laughs behind us was eventually put back to Neman's antics, who apparently had tried to nick a bottle from Karolina while she was distracted by the little drama between Sahd and I. We didn't have time to look at this; we were too busy fighting over what was MY bottle!

"Give it back, Sahd!"

"Never!!" He was grinning, trying to provoke me.

I had to not smile. I had to not laugh. I had to not smile. I had to not laugh. But curse him, I was snickering! "Come on! Give. It. Back! It's mine!"

"Hahaha! You'll never get it back, Rey! I stole it, fair and square! And it's your fault for provoking me, stupid!"

"My fault? You provoked me, Sahd! It's your! Fault! And my bottle! Arrgh!!"

A startled scream made us pause. We'd almost knocked Jule over. She just laughed shrilly and moved to the river's edge. As if a switch had been turned, we both turned our attention back to one another. Now, though, instead of rolling around, we were fighting on our knees, soon rising to our feet. It was a contest of arm-strength. Who would win out? I was determined to beat him and get back my bottle. Neman was drinking one of Sahd's old bottles, that he'd dropped when we began fighting. The thought occurred to me to just give it up and take one of those, which was already more full than what we were fighting over, but it wasn't about drink. It was the principle of the thing. I couldn't let Sahd steal from me. Well, not this, and not now. I had a reputation to keep up with. If I became known as "Rey, who won't fight back if you steal from him," well... it would be bad. I needed, deserved respect! And I'd be tied to a tree before I'd give it up like this!

...Besides, a good friendly tussle was fun.

So, Sahd and I continued fighting. Occasionally, one of us would manage to pull the bottle to our lips and take a drink, but these were short, and more drink was spilled than actually went into our mouths. In the end, my pet ended up crawling on to me, and biting the hand with which Sahd was holding the bottle. He let go, of course, in pain, and so did I, out of shock and concern for my friend. And if I hadn't just promised Mother that it wouldn't hurt anyone!

"I'm sorry, Sahd, I'm really sorry!" I said, running to where he'd recoiled, nursing his wound. The bottle had broken. It was near-empty, anyways. Once again, a tie. I think I heard Hershaw saying something along these lines. Or maybe it was Reynalf. "I know it didn't mean to hurt you! It was probably just worried about me, and---"

"What in the three hells is that thing, Rey?!" Sahd burst, interrupting me. "'Didn't mean to hurt me'? It sunk its teeth into my hand!" He was irrational. I knew this. He was in pain. I had to calm him down.

"Sahd, please. I...I don't know what it is. It's just been following me around. It's...protective of me. It probably saw us fighting, and wanted to defend me." I tried to find a good explanation. There really wasn't one. The creature had made a nest for itself across my shoulder blades; I could feel its claws grasping the cloth of my shirt, even a little of my skin. It didn't hurt too bad.

"Then why didn't it bite me when we first started fighting?" He demanded.

I tried to think of a reason. "Maybe... it didn't concern him then, or something. And when we continued to fight, it thought maybe we were serious. Or it just wanted us to stop, already, because we were being ridiculous." I suggested. It sounded good, if my pet could think that well. I doubted it, though.

Sahd sighed. It seemed he realized there was nothing he could do. "In spite of this," he said, waving his hand in my face. I grimaced; those were pretty deep. "I won." I groaned. I should have known this was coming, when he looked up and I saw that twinkle in his eyes. "Or was winning, by any means."

"You were not. You're just upset because you were losing." And I play right into his hand again. What can I say? It's fun fighting with Sahd. And everyone expects it.

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" He said, getting up. "I can beat you even as an invalid!"

An invalid? That was exaggerating the wound a bit, wasn't it? I felt my pet jump off my back, and turned to see it loping towards Jule. Good. "Jule! Keep my pet company and out of trouble while I teach the invalid who's the better man!"

"Okay, boss!" She said cheerily. Oh yeah. She was halfway into her bottle. But that wasn't where I needed to be paying attention.

"Better man, huh?" Sahd said between gritted teeth taking a step forward. I challenged him with my eyes. "Don't you think that's a pretty big claim for one who's still susceptible to my all-powerful head scrub?!" He said, taking my head into his vice-like grip and giving me a full scalp-scrubbing with his knuckles.

"Aah! No fair! You caught me by surprise!" I said, fighting against his grip. Finally, I pushed my head out.

Sahd grinned at me. "All is fair in love and war." I grinned back as I prepared to ram him into the ground. Maybe then we'd see who was all-powerful. So we continued the night. I'd have to admit, it was the greatest party I can remember. But maybe it's just because it's the last party I'd ever gone to, or will ever go to.