well, what can you do?

Chapter 2

The sounds of laughing and yelling were getting smaller the farther we went from the townspeople. The night was a nice one, with no wind to get cold, and I was happily walking down the path. There were still torches to light the way since we had not yet to leave the initial town yet; in my peripheral I could see the shapes of a wanted sign, a much decorated wanted sigh at that, but I couldn’t make it out. I doubt that the king would put me on a wanted sign.

Though something was holding me back, and until I could figure out what I would have to lay low, this would only mean . . .

“Pone, do you wanna stay a little while longer?” I wouldn’t mind.”

He looked at me like something was wrong with me, and indeed it was, but that something would have to wait because I could see the gears turning inside his head.

“That depends; will I get a bed story this night?”

“Pony . . .”

“Yeah Dante?”

“Don’t grow up, whatever you do, don’t grow up, it’s a trap.”

That put a smile on his face, and with that we decided to go back to the village and take a good night’s rest at the tavern, at least until I figured out what I can do about my predicament, which I didn’t know I had until recently.

The room that we were given was comfortable, but not much furnished, it only had a desk and a chair, with a nightstand. But I couldn’t complain; it did have two beds, which meant I wouldn’t have to worry about the little one sleeping with me. I waited until I heard at last the even sounds of Pony’s breathing to let me know that he was asleep so that I could have a little time to myself to plan out the journey to my, as of yet, unknown destination. I hated the fact that I could never have permanency, at least not with the king down my hide. The thing that bothered me is that after all of these years he hasn’t done just that. My thoughts, however, were disrupted by the sound of stirring and moving. With a yawn I heard Pony starting to talk, starting with his well-known accusation.

“You tricked me, now I want my bed time story and I want it now.”

“Which one? I asked, already knowing what the answer would be. The one about the wolf riders, that’s the best one ever.

“The one about the wolf riders, that’s the best one ever.”

I chuckled to myself and asked him to come over so I wouldn’t have to talk. Unlike every other soul I know which would hurryingly walk away from me, he decided to not only do that but nudge his way between my arm and my side, so that I knew I had his utmost attention. I looked at him again, as though that would be my last night with him in my arms. He looked so innocent for someone tainted by me.

“The wolf riders were the guardians of all of the land. They were the most respected people from days around, though no one had any reason to fear them, do you know why?”

“Because the wolf riders stood for the good and the poor, there wasn’t any evil within their hearts.” He answered.

“Exactly,” I said, happy that this could be interactive “and that is what they did. Now what put the wolf riders apart from you and me is that instead of horses, they had wolves that were the size of them. These wolves were as smart as any gray-bearded scholar, were as fast as any of the birds in the sky and the animals on the land. These wolves understood, I kid you not. But most of all, these wolves were gentle.”

I received a laugh as I tickled him, a ritual whenever I got to that part, though I don’t remember who started it.

“The wolves were born once in a blue moon, and the way they would pick their riders were-“

“The run with the wolves.” He interrupted.

“Hey, I’m the one telling the story they would pick their riders because of the rider’s bloodline. These people could be noticed by the wolves by their smell. The ones that came from that specific bloodline, no matter how diluted that it had become, would be chosen to run with the wolves. One of the things that would help separate these people were they never cut their hair, that way they could tell each other apart from other people. These wolves thought, they weren’t like any animals that you and I have seen. These things were as fast as the fastest bird, smarter than any graybeard you’ll ever meet, and were poetic in the art of fighting; do you know what else was so cool about the wolves and their riders Pone?

I never received an answer because he fell asleep.

I carefully placed him in his bed and tucked him in; I could see his even breathing and knew that he was sleeping, though maybe the lack of warmth from my arm woke him up.

“Dante?”

“Yes Pony?” I asked, trying to keep the volume low because he was sleepy, the note obvious in his voice.

“You were raised by wolves, weren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I was.” I said, knowing that he wouldn’t sleep until I confirmed.

“Dante?”

“Yes?”

“It’s a blue moon tonight.”

I looked up and wondered what he was talking about. Out of the window I could see that indeed, it was the second full moon this month.

“Yep, now go to sleep or I won’t let you ride my wolf.”

“So if I do you’ll let me?”

“Promise.”                                     

He turned over, showing his determination to sleeping. When at last he went to deep sleep I climbed into my bed, though now I only had one problem: how the hell am I supposed to become a wolf rider?

***

I woke up by the smell of bacon, as though it was being dangled in my face. Opening my eyes showed me that I was right: Pony was dangling bacon, in front of my face. I thought about asking him why, but not before I bit the piece of bacon, barely missing his fingers. I laughed as he stepped back, that’s what he gets for trying to tease me.

“Where in the world did you get bacon?” I asked him, not knowing where of when, but I didn’t want to guess, even though I could already tell.

“You didn’t steal it? What did I tell you about stealing from the people who gave us hospitality!?”

I saw his bottom lip stick out and I knew that I had crossed a barrier.

“I didn’t even need to steal it Dante.” Tears started to fall, making me hate the fact that I had made him start to cry. “The lady gave it to me; she said that a growing boy needed his food. I swear Dante, I didn’t even steal it, I promise.”

The little guy always had a way of making me regret things. I decided to get up, hating the fact that I did so. I decided to get up and start the day, getting dressed while trying to coo the little boy from crying.

“Okay, but now this growing boy needs to get ready, we have some things to do, and by the way, why did the lady give you bacon?”

“Because, I know the little boy’s guardian. And he doesn’t do a good job doing it. Maybe if you weren’t worrying about damsels and jewels you could see that he needs a healthy meal for being good and strong.”

I knew that voice that voice was

“Patricia!” I said, acknowledging the presence of the elderly woman in front of me. I didn’t know that this was the tavern that Patricia owned. She was one of the spies in The Grapevine, the web of information that all thieves used. She had gained grayer hair than I had known, and she had a round figure, one that everyone saw when they thought of a warmhearted grandmother. Though the look on her face showed that she wasn’t in the mood to be warmhearted to any fact, and I could tell that it was I who would suffer.

“You will make sure that he has a few meals, every day. Now make sure you do it, or I will make sure you’re turned in.”

“Turned in?” I asked; a lump in my throat was making me regret my next question. “Am I a wanted man?”

She didn’t answer. She looked down at the ground as though the grains in the wood were more important than my question. For some reason, that was worse than if she would have answered my question. She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. The portrait showed a crude picture of me, and under it was a name that not many people knew: Durante Battaglia; wanted dead. Not alive. Dead.

Wanted by the Guardians of this land, people that I never heard of before, though they wanted me dead and me now had a price over my head. I couldn’t deal with this, more importantly; I couldn’t have Pony dealing with this sort of stress.

“It’s only in this country, so unless you wish to give Pony to me . . .”

I didn’t like the sound that was made, or the emphasis that she had put on me, as though she had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

“Not an option, I would die before I let someone take him from me.”

“Maybe he should be away while we talk about this. . . “She said, while guiding him away.

“No, he will stay here, if something happens I want him to know what’s going on. So he will stay with me, and I guess I have nothing to do except go to the sister country.”

The sister country, called Azlath, was more of a combination between beauty and war predation, most of the stories told about the wolf riders originate from this very place, and that is where they say that they stayed. The capitol was an island, a city on water as some old wives would call it. It was protected on the east by a piece of land that curved around from the mainland like a claw. This part was covered with dense woods, so any enemy that tried to fight from the east would be seen immediately, if they were able to get past the things that lurked inside.

“Yes, but how would you be able to get their on a boat owned by the king?” she asked.

I scowled, wondering if she was trying to help me get away or if she was trying to help me or is she was trying to keep Pony, I didn’t matter. You didn’t survive being a thief like me if you didn’t know a thing or two about the place you lived at.

I stood up, showing that I was ready to leave. For some reason she reached over at Pony, as though protecting him from me.

“There are many smugglers that can be persuaded into getting me across; all they need is a reason for it. I have enough money to get me and Pony across, and I could sell some things on The Grapevine, buy some land, and start an honest job. Pony could go to school and we would be fine.

“But-”

“No,” I interrupted “You are not taking Pony away from me. Now how much do I owe you for your hospitality?”

She looked defeated and told me that it would be free of charge, I decided to leave at that very moment, but not without making sure that Pony was on my heels.

“So why wouldn’t you let me go with her?”

I waited until we were out of earshot from the tavern before I replied.

“Would you have wanted to stay?”

Silence.

“Well would you?”

It hurt a little that he didn’t answer automatically.

“No, it’s just that maybe she was right about-“

“Pony, when I told you not to grow up, that did not mean that you should base all of your decisions about how much bacon a lady can give you. Some things you should think about for the long run and not just how much your belly can be filled.”

“Okay,” he said.

We decided to go north only after we received our horses.

“Dante?”

“Yes Pone?”

“Since you are leaving, would there be anything that would make you come back?”

I thought about that long and hard, knowing that these words would be weighted more than anything else I have said.

“For you Pony. I would comb every inch of this land if I needed to do so to get you.”

“Okay, when are we going to eat?”

I chuckled, a good feeling that I knew wouldn’t last very long.

“Soon. I need to make sure you have three square meals a day.”

***

The rhythm of the horses hooves were the only sounds that were being made at this moment. It was unsettling not to have someone talking a lot into my ear, asking a million question and such. I hated it, but for some reason I liked in a little. The more I didn’t have Pony talking a million miles a minute the lonelier I felt. It kept on for a little while longer until I decided that I couldn’t take it any longer.

“How’s the book?”

He finally looked up from the book of shadows he was reading. His eyes were a little glassy, which happened to everyone after reading for some time.

“Good, I’m just reading about wards, wanna know something?”

I smiled and slowed down the horse to a walk. When Pony’s pony was along side of me I gestured for him to go on.

“Well . . .” he started, going to the correct page “I was reading that you can make wards on jewelry and such, you can also find out if something already has a ward on it. You do that by searching for your mind, and if the ward is strong enough, it’s like mentally running into a stone wall.” He added in afterthought, already guessing my next question.

After a couple minutes of silence I decided to ask another question.

“Yes Dante,” Pony said, once again making it a habit to know what I wanted to say before I said it. The bone necklace, I mean claw necklace you were has wards on it. And that is the only thing.”

That silence me a little bit more than expected, my claw necklace, most likely the only thing on my person that I didn’t steal, was a gift from my father. It was a simple necklace one would say, until one saw the claws on them. It was tied together by something resembling string, but stronger than anything that I have ever felt. The claws were about the size of my index finger, and there were nine of them in all. The thing about them that made them different was the minor fact that they were black, a fact that wouldn’t be so minor if I had shown it to anyone besides Pony. The reason that this would make a difference is because the wolves that went with the legend of the wolf riders had claws that were this color.

The fact that these had wards (which I didn’t know what wards were, but I was guessing that they were protection) on this necklace didn’t give it anymore worth. Needless to say, the reason that I had kept it for these seven years since my father left was because he had given it to me, the day he left, when he just left . . .

“Dante!”

I was snapped back to reality by the shrill of Pony’s voice, and I looked up to see that we had reached a bridge. The bridge wasn’t the problem, the problem was the fact that there was a person standing in front of the bridge as though he owned it, and as much as a lie that it was, he wasn’t going to let us go before we paid, as if it was his.

“You must pay to come across m’ bridge!”

“I don’t believe that I would have to play you anything, but  . . .”

I figured my words would go to deaf ears. Our passage by was blocked by a man dressed in clothes so dirty that I wouldn’t doubt that he hasn’t washed in weeks. His accent and grammar made me believe he needed to take some education system to court. Though this wasn’t my first time that I have been in this position, and I wasn’t about to make the mistake of paying.

“What’s the fee my dear sir?”

The need to keep sarcasm away from my voice wasn’t the easiest thing I could handle. If I could make him believe that I was going to pay, then I may be able to give Pony a fat king’s meal tonight, but that thought was crushed when the man started to speak.

“The fee for all is one golden coin. That is the minimum, and I believe that you could spare a few of them.”

The words that had come out of his mouth took me off guard. There was one thing to charge people illegally, I myself wasn’t the most law abiding citizen, but it was another thing to charge everyone the same thing over something that wasn’t theirs. Most of the people would never have held a gold coin in their life, most people could have lived for a week off of a gold coin, and this person was taking advantage. That made me mad. I didn’t think or talk when I was mad. My dagger did it for me.

I hoped off of my horse and walked, more or less ran, to the man. At some point I believe he thought that I was paying, and was in a hurry to do so, but maybe the look on my face told him otherwise. He tried to move and pivot out of my line of charge, but he moved to late. I was able to grip him by his shirt, though taking him completely off of the ground wasn’t something that I thought I could do. I would have to thank Pony for all the times that I have had to carry him on my back and climb. The momentum of the leap in the air caused the purse, no, purses, to clink and jingle, showing that he had more than enough times to show that his fluke did work. But just because he was making a nice living didn’t mean that it made me feel any better.

“YOU CHARGE A GOLD COIN!? THIS ISN’T YOUR BRIDGE, IT BELONGS TO THE KING!” I started, wondering why I felt the need to protect the greater good at this moment. But after my anger had flared down a little I was able to speak more calmly, which doesn’t mean it made the situation any better for him. “But that means you work for the king, and I am not a friend of the king. So that means one thing, you must die.”

“That means what?” he said hysterically, hoping that something could happen to change my mind. To be honest that was an excuse to the reason I would choose to kill him, I didn’t like taking from the poor. The rich however, were not under my protection, and he seemed rich.

“That means that you must die.”

The sight in his eyes was the exact thing that I was feeling: pure fear. I didn’t know why I felt that way until I realized that it wasn’t me that had spoken. It came from my mouth, it came from my voice, but there was an edge that was not kin to me. It seemed cold, lonely, and dangerous, and it made me forgets the man and drops him, which caused him to drop not one, but two purses and run off with the smell of urine following him.

“Are you okay Dante? You didn’t sound like you.”

I looked at Pony and shrugged the question off; I didn’t want to give him an excuse to bring up things I had no answer to back up.

“I’m fine,” I lied, picking up the purses and opening them, seeing that they were filled with golden coins, nothing lower than that. I cursed under my breath, and glanced at the sky, seeing that there would be enough time to get to the next village and distribute the gold that I had picked up.

I hoped on my horse and started a gallop, knowing that I didn’t need to tell my little companion what I was planning. We reached the town in only a few minutes, and at that time I gave a purse to Pony, and told him that he should take two coins to each house, I would do the other half.

I was greeted with smiles and gestures of thanks that were until I came until my two gold coins, which would become my last house. There was no immediate danger as I knocked on the door. I waited a few minutes until I knocked again.

“Come in.”

I hesitated, it was a female voice, maybe about my age, but it wasn’t enough to let curiosity slow down. I opened the latch and walked in slowly, taking notice that there was no creaking as I opened the door, and walked in. there were many candles, so I could see without having to worry about the glare or the heat, but I couldn’t find the lady. It was a two story house, so I decided to take the stairs, unlike many, who would say hello and announce their presence to anyone that was an enemy, I stayed quite. I walked in the first room and saw no one, the second room, which was the only other room, was my last choice.

I opened the door and peered in. I first noticed bare shoulders, and let out a sound kin to a snarl as I turn around, losing whatever sense of surprise that I wasn’t looking for. After I heard that she had turned around and saw me there, I decided to wait more, feeling as my cheeks went red. She put on her robe and decided to tell me that it was okay to turn around, and the only sounds were her leading me to a place to speak, which I had to engage, since I was the intruder.

“Uh . . .” I started, trying to get the most recent image out of my mind and failing miserably, I began. “My name is Durante; may I ask what is yours?”

I never told people my real name, and I have her. But there was an aura around her that made me feel as though she could be trusted. She didn’t answer my question until we reached the end of the hall and sat down.

“My name is Raven.”

She brushed her white hair out from her eyes to get a better look at me, or maybe so that I could get a better look at her eyes. The color was seemed to be the sapphire blue, but a hue of red decided to burst out, leaving its explosion seen. Her snow white hair and eyes made me wish to stay longer, and for some reason that is what I had decided to do. But I had told her my real name. I never tell anyone my real name, and the life that I lived had proved it.

At that moment the realization that took over when everyone figured out who I was happened, and her eyes widened and her mouth let out a sigh.

“You are Dante? I never thought that I would be able to see you with my own eyes! Oh my, I have none other than the Prince of Thieves in my house!”

She said it as though she was happy that I was in this house, as though I was someone that was saying I could make all of her dreams come true.

“What did you call me?” I asked, never hearing that title before. I liked the way it sounded, but I cannot say that I was used to it.

“I called you the Prince of Thieves. That’s what everyone in the sister country calls you, them and about everyone that isn’t afraid of the king of this country. You’re like a legend in our country, people speak of you as though you were a household name, and that you were. People were so amazed about how you handled that sorcerer.”

The sorcerer that she was talking about was a complete accident. While traveling to the city of Pern I so happened to have stolen a book of shadows from someone, which would have a course of events that would mark him out as a bad magician, and this would cause me to get into a prolonged fight with this man. The result ended with him killing himself over a mistake in a spell, and giving me the ability to use both of my hands in equal use.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal. I just so happened to be at the wrong place at the right time,” I said, not wanting to give myself any reason to believe it was nothing more.

“Oh no,” the lady with white hair said. “He was an enemy of the crown in my country, and the fact that you had killed him caused you to become a hero. He had terrorized the crown for many a generation before you came to be.”

I waved the compliment away; it was starting to get dark, which would mean Pony would be looking for me at any time now. I needed to get away from this lady, but my biggest problem was I wouldn’t know where to go.

“And why did you call me into your house?” I asked.

“This isn’t my house, its just the tenants are not here, and I needed somewhere to stay until I could find you. When we heard that the king of yours was trying to get you for the rope, we figured we couldn’t let a hero die like that! So I decided to persuade my king into bringing you over. If you wish to.” She added in afterthought.

“What about Pony?”

She looked at me as though she was trying to remember something that she had forgotten a long time ago. When she finally realized that I was still waiting on an answer, she began again, only this time with batting her eyes.

“Well, I don’t think-“

She was interrupted by the sound of knocking. When no one decided to come to the door, the knocker decided to walk right in. None other than my little advocate soaked in water, which meant that it had begun to rain.

“I have been looking all over for you and I couldn’t find you. I thought you where gone until-“

He finally realized that there was someone else inside the room, and the fact that I had left him out in the rain was forgotten for a little while.

“Hi.” He said.

I smiled; at some points in my life with Pony he seemed to be a kind seven year old, one that needed to be disciplined at times and looked after; one who needed to be told what to do and given the next meal. The other times were when he was more than that, an intelligent magician who cared about others, no matter how ornery he was. This side of him was always the first to remember things, one to create wonders and just know things of some sort. It was as though he was my caretaker at these times. I chuckled a little when I thought of the possibility that he knew of this, and he chose which side of him to show.

“What’s your name?” he asked, trying to sound polite. If I hadn’t had known him for as long as I have I wouldn’t thought he was being sincere.

“My name is Raven.”

She in no way tried to hide the fact that she didn’t like to be interrupted. At first it was a frown, and then it was a pout. All of that erased when she remembered that she was trying to make me come to her country.

“So . . .” I said, trying to break the unbreakable awkwardness, “Like I said; will Pony have a ride to the country too? I won’t go anywhere without him.”

“Where’s your pony at?” she asked. It was quite obvious to even me that she did that out of spite, knowing that she knew who Pony was.

“As I was saying, he’s coming with. And if you have a problem with that, then I’m not coming. I have more things to worry about than a king’s wanted poster.”

“Okay, “she threw her arms up in a gesture of defeat, “I guess- I mean- it would be only right for your little brother to come with you. Family is forever I guess. But I wasn’t told about him, so the sleeping arrangements on the ship could be a little crowded.”

“I will meet you in Tirmin.” I said, and leaving out of that house.

The rain was still dropping, but not the pouring that was seen when Pony went into the house looking for me. It was dark, and I didn’t have anything left to do, so I decided to walk. Even though there wasn’t a dangerous pour it did not take long before my clothes were saturated and my hair was sticking to my face.

“I don’t trust her.”

It wasn’t a surprise that I would be the one to say it, but it did catch me off guard that Pony did. He was usually the people’s person, looking for everyone’s good characteristics than their faults, and I was his foil in the category.

     “I don’t either,” I admitted. “But I think we can let her take us to the sister country. There’s something wrong with this situation. Remember the sorcerer?”

There wasn’t a need to ask which one since the sorcerer’s dangers happened around the time Pony began to think my side was the best place for him to be. He nodded as I told him about how Raven had told me that this very person was someone who was an enemy to their crown.

“That would make no sense to me,” he said, acknowledging my own suspicions. “It took a breath of time to get rid of him, and by the way that things went forth I doubt that he knew what he was doing. It seemed, now in hindsight, that he just so happened to find a book of shadows, therefore thinking he was a master of magic. Nevertheless, I doubt that he was ever strong enough to be a threat to a whole nation. With that said, I would think that she is-“

“Lying.” I interrupted, confirming that we both weren’t ready to believe her.

“But . . . we have no choice. Unless the king dies in the next two days, which I think is unlikely; she is the best choice for our survival. I know that you would have impunity under the princess’s rule, but not her father.” Pony said.

I nodded, forgetting for a moment the rain that I had drizzling over my leather outfit. There were rumors, rumors that I had heard and believed, that the princess did not like the way her father did things. The rumors said that the king had tried many times for the princess to marry a noble, one that shared his thoughts on the rules and the way to rule an empire. The princess was a person looking out for the common man; the king was only worried about his inner circle of nobles.

This would mean until the king died I would have to leave. I didn’t think there was anything stopping him from trying to take Pony from me.

“We have to go with her.” I said.

Pony rolled his eyes and showed a sign of defeat.

“I knew you were going to say that.”

***

The day started off with nothing wrong, the ideal moment of waking up to the sunlight, and not remembering anything. It was pure bliss until I realized that I was a wanted thief of the kingdom, and I had to leave my home today. Even though it was ruled by a selfish fat king, it still was the only one I had.

“Are you ready?”

I never head the knocking of Raven coming into my sleeping quarters, but I don’t think she had put in the thought that I did like privacy.

“Where’s Pony?”

I asked that for numerous reasons: I was usually wakened by his talking into my ear and the fact that I wanted to see her reaction.

She pouted at the sound of his name, but quickly tried to cover it up with a smile. Her white hair was in a ponytail down her back, and her hypotonic eyes were looking at me, but they didn’t have the same affects that I assumed she wanted.

“Here I am Dante.”

I looked up to see him coming into the doorway dressed casually enough. He wore plain black trousers with leather boots, a plain white shirt with a black jacket which had a hood to cover his face if it were to rain and a scarf with its ends hanging loosely down his back.

I never dressed him, and I didn’t know anyone who could.

I myself wasn’t any better. Looking down I could see that my black leather outfit had its own crinkles in it, something that I didn’t like to see. Even if not many people knew what I looked like, I still had a reputation to uphold here.

“When are we leaving?” Raven asked.

I looked at her for a minute, I didn’t like the way how she had tried to come into my natural order of things, and even though I had agreed that I would go with her, I didn’t like the thought of her trying to do what she was trying to do.

“You can go ahead of us.” I said as I tried to stretch the sleepiness away “Me and Pony will go alone by ourselves. Ternim isn’t that far away, and I don’t like the idea of my lack of privacy. And I think Pony would like the idea too, wouldn’t you?”

I watched as his little brilliant mind put two and two together and agreed. With that we left Raven to her wishes, and I took Pony with me.

“So how do you feel about this?”

We had been walking for some time in silence, and the borders of the port Ternim were coming up. I knew that it had nothing to do with Raven anymore. I could tell as I looked down at Pony, eyes wide and tiny fists clenched for any need to fight. Out of all the things that I have seen in my time as a thief, I believe this would be the only thing that sent shivers down my spine. The place of Ternim had a history of burning and drowning people that they believed could do magic, even if most of the time the people were innocent. They would watch it as though it was a sport or some kind. That didn’t affect me any, it was something else that I worried about:

The people of Ternim had an even better memory, and I didn’t think that they were be too quick to forget about a certain thief rescuing a witch only two short years ago.