NexLord: Dark Prophecies (4 page)

That got a smile out of him; it was one of
the first she had seen since the tragic loss of his parents two
days ago.  "Like those priests of The Hand?"

"You stay clear of them, OK?” she cautioned,
fixing him with a hard gaze for a moment.

"I will, I promise," he answered.

"Good!” she exclaimed, tousling his hair
before getting down from the wagon.

Aerin noted two young boys about his age
sitting on the outer wall of the Inn and wondered what it was like
growing up with all these people around, he couldn't imagine
it.

As she climbed down from the wagon Mara
decided to test the young boy.  She fished out a Kingdom
Crown coin and pressed it into his palm.  "Tip the stable
hand for me," she
explained
and
then headed for the Inn's front door.  As
she passed
the approaching stable hand she
said.  "The boy has your tip; please give him ten pennies
in change."

After the horses had been detached from the
wagon and the two trailing mounts they had brought from Aerin's
wagon were all boarded in the stable, Aerin tipped the stable hand
the silver and received his ten pennies in change.  A few
minutes later Mara returned.

Aerin held out his hand.  "Here is
your change, Sen Mara."

And so you are an honest lad,
 she
mused silently in thought.  "Well thank you, Aerin, and
for your good work these two pennies are yours.  I noted
a sweets shop a half block away... why don't you go and see what
they have?  Perhaps you could buy something you
like."

Aerin looked at the two pennies in his hand;
he had never had money of his own before.

"Th-thank you," he stammered.

She smiled and pointed down the street the
way they had come in.  "It's right down
there.  I have some business to arrange, but when you get
back,
come to room three, that's
where we’re staying."

Two others had noted the coins changing hands
and as Aerin headed for the gate the two children who had been
perched on the wall jumped down to the street.  One boy
had short curly red hair while the second had
straight
black hair, cut like an upside-down
bowl.  The dark haired boy gave his partner a nudge with
an elbow and approached Aerin.

"Hello, and welcome to Strakhelm!” the street
urchin said, sweeping a low bow before Aerin.  "My name
is Lor, but you can call me... Lor," the youngster finished with a
sly smile.

"Hello, I'm Aerin.  How did you
know I was new here?” he asked, assessing the two as boys of about
his age.

Lor laughed and said, "It's written all over
you," then he pointed to Aerin's chest, "See, right here it says,
`Greenie'."

Aerin looked down and Lor's finger came up to
poke him in the nose. 

"Caught ya lookin'," Lor teased.

Aerin scowled a little.

"Now don't be cross
Merris
, after all, I'm your only friend!"  Lor
said, putting a friendly paw around his shoulders and leading him
out of the Inn courtyard and into the jungle.

"My name is Aerin," he corrected.

"And my name is Lor; didn't we go over this
already?  Or are you a little touched in the
head?  Maybe you need to be put over on Netter Street
with the other crazies?" Lor asked Aerin in a playful tone.

Aerin tried to regain his
ground.  "No you called me
Merr
... never mind."

"Well, Aerin, since you and I are buddies
now, and as buddies we need to share things, I was wondering, I
happen to be extremely hungry, but alas, I have no
money.  You wouldn't happen to have any so we can share a
meal and really put the glue to our new friendship?" Lor asked,
gesturing behind him, where Aerin couldn't see, for the red headed
boy to follow.

Aerin had never had occasion to lie to anyone
in his whole
life
and didn't even
consider not answering truthfully.  "Well yes, I have two
pennies."

"Two pennies, ‘
tis
not much," Lor began, but seeing the crestfallen look
on Aerin's face amended, "but it is two pennies more than I have,
and we can certainly get something to eat for both of us!"

"Mara told me to go to the sweets shop down
the street here," he explained.

Lor shook his head wildly, punctuating each
of four direction changes with a word.  "No, no, no,
no.  A bandit runs that shop; he'll
filch
you blind and laugh his way to the
bank.  I know a much better place where we'll get twice
as much... and better stuff!  And you'll get just as much
as you would have, even after you split it three ways."

"Three ways?" Aerin asked, now totally
confused.

"Dono, here," Lor explained, grabbing the
redhead
by the shirt front and
dragging him before Aerin, "is hungry too, doesn't he look
pitiful?"

 Dono had been smiling at his friend’s
antics, but at Lor’s
suggestion,
his face expertly dissolved into a pitiful and hungry look just as
Aerin turned to look at him.

"Well, I don't know," Aerin began
frowning.

Lor slapped him hard on the
back.  "That's the sport!  I knew you and I
were going to be good friends, and friends always share!"

Aerin sighed.  "All right, I
suppose."

Lor immediately stuck out his
hand.  "Ok, then give me the money, after
all,
I'm the one who knows this city, and there
are pickpockets everywhere!  We don't want anyone
stealing," and here he shuddered at the word, "our money from us,
now do we?"

Aerin looked at the open palm blankly for a
moment.

"Come, come, or don't you trust me?" Lor
asked in a hurt tone.

Aerin reached for his pocket.

The voice of another boy spoke from
nearby.  "I would keep hold of my own
coins
if I were you."

Lor whirled around to see whom it was that
had spoken.  His gaze landed on a well-dressed boy of
their age who was standing with crossed arms a few feet away. He
had long brown hair and light blue eyes and a devil may care grin
on his face.

"And what have you to do with a transaction
between my friend and me?" Lor asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Absolutely nothing, I just happened to
overhear the conversation."  Then he turned to
Aerin
and continued, "You'd best
keep your money in your own pocket if you wish it to still be
yours."

Lor gasped in theatrical surprise, eyes
blinking rapidly and hand touching the center of his
chest.  "You imply that I am a thief!"

Aerin glanced between the two sparring
children.

"Nothing of the sort, I am merely giving a
little advice for the future.  However, if it will please
you, to show I meant no offense, may I have the pleasure of buying
you all something to snack upon?"

Lor again noted the wealthy dress of the boy,
and suddenly his anger evaporated and he delivered a
smile.  "
Well,
that's
different!"

"But," the boy noted, "I will carry my own
coins."

Aerin was a little startled by the swift
changes and he felt like he was losing Lor's attention to the
well-dressed boy.  "I have my own money so you needn't
pay," he explained.

"Ah!” the new boy exclaimed.  "I'll
tell you what; the last person to the end of this block does NOT
get to pay!"

Aerin had to laugh.  "All right,
you're on!"

The other boy said, "By the way, my name is
Darel, and yours is?"

"Aerin."

"Well met Aerin… and… go!" Darel
exclaimed.

The two boys broke into a run, both headed
for the end of the block as though the Togroths were after
them.

Lor looked at Dono with a frustrated
sigh.  "Two
frippen
Greenies and they're running a race away from us… what are we,
amateurs?"

Dono shrugged.  "You win some, you
lose..."

Lor interrupted him, "I never lose
anything!" And with that proclamation Lor
leaped
onto the back running board of a swiftly moving
coach and soon passed the running competitors; he was waiting for
them with a smug look at the finish of their race.

Having purchased a bag of boiled hard
candies, the four children left the sweets shop and went further
down the street. They stopped where an old building had been
demolished and the framework of a new one was going up on the
lot.  The construction site was squeezed between two
other four-story buildings.  The children perched
themselves on a pile of rubble and dug into the bag of sweets like
starving horses with feed bags over their heads.

Darel looked over the other three children,
noting the
coarse
material and
loose fit of both Lor and Dono's clothing and the tidy, yet simple
and
well-fitting
clothes of
Aerin.  "So which part of the city do you two call home?”
he asked, addressing Lor and Dono.

Lor answered him, "Everywhere and
nowhere!"

"My that's a big house," Darel noted with a
grin.  "But where do your parents reside?"

"I have no parents," Lor proclaimed.

Dono looked at Darel
defiantly.  "And I know where my mother is, but she has
no use for me.  My mother doesn't fuss over me and make
nice clothes like Aerin's here must do."

At the mention of his mother a wave of pain
crested
over Aerin's
body.  The waves had been coming on and off ever since
his parents had died.  He tried to hold it in, but his
eyes misted over and he averted his face from the others.

Lor noted the sudden
emotion.  "What's the matter, Aerin?"

Aerin took a deep breath, trying to regain
some control.  "My parents were both killed two days
ago," he stated flatly, barely holding onto his voice control.

That silenced the other children for a
moment.

"Here," Dono said, holding out two pennies to
Aerin.

Aerin looked at the two coins
blankly.  "I have my own money still."

"I warned you there were pickpockets around,"
Lor said with a small smile.

Aerin reached into his pocket and found his
coins missing.

Dono looked sheepish as Aerin reclaimed his
two pennies.

Lor
leaped
to his feet.  "Here, you wanna see something great?"

Aerin smiled wanly and said, "Sure, I
guess."

Lor winked and replied, "Then follow me,
if you can."  Then he took two bounding steps and
leaped
toward the nearest metal
pole of the scaffolding.  He sailed the five feet head
first with his hands outstretched.  He grasped the pole
and let his momentum swing him around gracefully and when he
released his body doubled over and he flipped through the air and
landed on his feet on the next platform.  The move had
been so fluid and graceful that it had almost seemed easy, yet it
showed a control of balance and skill beyond Aerin’s belief.

Darel and Aerin were both gaping at Lor so he
placed his hands on his hips and laughed at them.  "Come
on, start climbing up here!  
Last
one to the roof is a horse's butt!"

Dono bounded up after Lor only slightly less
spectacularly.  Lor waited until Dono had passed his
level and until Darel and Aerin started climbing before
continuing.  Leaping, swinging and climbing without the
slightest pause or misstep, Lor reached the rooftop ahead of Dono,
and minutes before Darel and Aerin arrived.

"Hello, Horse Butt!" Lor greeted Darel, who
was slightly behind Aerin as they arrived.

Darel started to
scowl
but then shrugged and laughed.

Lor swept his hand horizontally, taking in
the sea of varied rooftops across the city.  "You asked
where I live, this is my home!"

Aerin looked out over the rooftops of
Strakhelm; from this
view,
the
city was a veritable maze of endless shapes and
textures.  There were high spiraling towers, churches
with fantastic statuary decorating the corners and plumes of smoke
rising like shifting shafts of dark billowing cotton.  In
the distance, to the west, the towering battlements of the Seat of
Stone overlooked all.  It was a sight he would never
forget.

"This is what we call the High Road, and here
I am King!  Come on." Lor encouraged, and with a running
start,
he
leaped
across the six-foot gap between the newly
constructed building and the edge of the next building's roof.

Aerin looked at the long drop below
dubiously, but Lor yelled across.  "Come on, Greenie, you
too scared?"

Aerin swallowed hard, and then took three
running steps before leaping for all he was worth. He landed far
past the edge.

"You'll need to work on that if you're going
to travel the High Road," Lor noted, then ran along the thin roof
edging. The long drop was to his left and the slope of the roof
went up on his right.

Dono and Darel
leaped
across, and then the three boys followed Lor.

Darel called from the back.  "Where
are we going?"

"To the ends of the earth, but today we’ll
just do the grand tour of Strakhelm!" Lor called back theatrically,
not realizing the prophecy of his words.

Aerin's heart was pounding in his chest from
the nearby drop to the far ground, but he wasn't about to let the
other three know, so he kept moving. 

Lor brought them to a corner ledge where they
could look down on a market square; the sales booths were in full
swing.  They could see all the multicolored tent tops
covering each seller's area. People were milling around in shifting
eddies and tides that were only evident to the boys watching them
from high above.  It was a strange feeling to travel
above the world; no one looked up or took any notice of the
kids.  Aerin suddenly had the impression of people going
through their lives without ever knowing what they missed; focusing
on their little world while events and opportunities they didn't
even notice passed them by.