Page 34 of The Concubine King
Ethyr stopped struggling, catching his breath and looking around.The third man watched from the side, arms crossed.Ethyr recognized them in the moonlight; they had been among the many tables staring at him in the tavern.He had no hope of besting one of them, let alone all three.
“F-fine,” he acquiesced.“Just… leave me one, please.One small jewel.You can have everything else.”
The man stood, dangling a belt off his finger.“I tell you what, brat,” he said with a smile.“You can earn one.”
“What?”Ethyr huffed.They were his in the first place!
The man stepped up to lay the silver belt over his shoulders.“If you’re good enough, maybe you can even earn two.”He gripped the back of Ethyr’s knees and pulled them open.Indignant fear turned to terror.
“Don’t!”he screamed, and twisted, trying to break free, but the crushing arms around him were immovable and the man’s fingers only dug more painfully into his knees to hold them in place.
“Faluut, grab his feet, why don’t you.”
“No!”Ethyr gasped.The third man grabbed hold of his ankles and yanked his feet into the air.No amount of writhing could get the man out from between his legs then.“Please!”Ethyr cried as the man lifted his tunic.“I’m the king!”That made them pause.
The assailant cocked his head and raised his eyes to the man holding Ethyr.
“Well,” that one said with a chuckle.“Good enough for the gods, good enough for us.”The other two laughed with him.
“Let me give you some advice,” a fourth voice called from farther away.The three all looked over in surprise.A dark figure stood in the marshes, holding the shawl of jewelry up to be clearly visible.“If you’re robbing someone, maybe don’t leave the valuables lying around.”
The two men in front of Ethyr looked at each other, then down at the ground.Only the loaf of bread was sitting there.They dropped Ethyr’s legs and sprinted towards the thief.He didn’t so much as blink, standing calm and waiting.
The men shouted and dropped out of view below the tall grass.
Time stood still for a second as the man holding Ethyr didn’t move.Then he shoved Ethyr to the ground and ran for the thief, skirting around whatever the others had fallen into.He had almost reached him when he screamed too, shriller than the others, and stumbled forward, clutching his leg.
“You three aren’t very bright, are you?”the thief said nonchalantly.
Ethyr scrambled to his feet and took off down the road.He ran as fast and far as he could, not stopping until exhaustion made him trip over himself and he collapsed, palms and knees jolting onto the packed dirt.
He sank to his heels, gasping for breath.When it didn’t feel like his lungs were choking him, he bent over his knees, pressing his fists to his face and fighting the well of tears.
A weight bumping his shoulder whipped his head back up.The thief stood over him, holding out the shawl-bag.Ethyr shuffled away from him in clumsy panic.“Don’t touch me!”
The man looked him over.“I wasn’t going to,” he said flatly.
Ethyr watched him, muscles tense as he tried to decide whether to jump up and run.
“Don’t you want your things back?”the man asked, still holding them out.
He eyed the bag.“You can keep it,” he muttered.
“I don’t want it.”
Ethyr looked back to his face, scared.“Then what do you want?”he asked, voice shivering.
“To continue on my way without running into any more naive dolts getting robbed.”
He didn’t know what to say to that.The man held the bag out further.When Ethyr didn’t take it, he sighed and dropped it to the ground.
“There are a lot more people like them than me out there,” he said.“You’d better smarten up.”He started down the road.
Ethyr stared at his retreating back, then the bag.He scooped it up and jogged after the man.“Where are you going?”he asked.
“Mahyria,” he said.Ethyr's heart squeezed.But he had no choice.Never mind other people, those three were still down the road he needed to go.
“How did you know there was a hole there?”he asked.
