The Boy

"Leeds… are you sure this is the right place?" asked a long, white haired man.

"You! Were the one who told me that he's from here?!" Leeds fired back, his appearance still swimmer-like, though he was carrying fewer canteens than the night before.

The two stood in the middle of a crowded street, that opened up into a large, circular space. The entirety of the area was full of wooden stalls with worn down, tan clothes hanging over them. Each shop sold different items, though some overlapped. Mothers could be seen hustling from shop to shop, holding tightly onto the arms of their children so that they may not become lost in the human filled street. Every now and then there would be small alleyways, full of drunks recovering from the previous night, kids playing with whatever they had available and parents mothers drying laundry.

"But still… who would have thought such a place existed in Riner?" The man scratched his head as he took in the sights around him.

Leeds started walking forwards. "I don't want to hear that from you..." he grumbled.

***

"Alright… you can do this… if you put your hood up, no one will recognize you..." A small child said as he reached for the heavily worn and torn hood on his neck and pulled it up.

He looked no older than five, six at best and just reached the hips of a grown man. He had shaggy white hair, that was messily combed to his right and wavering red eyes. He had round cheeks that matched his round chin and wore a heavily worn pair of blue pants with a tattered white shirt, all hidden under a large, brown cloak, that dragged on the ground behind him.

He took a few deep breaths, calming himself down and stealing his resolve. "To survive, this is to survive." He told himself as he locked his gaze on the stall that stood in front of him.

The red apples gleamed and shined in the bright, mid-day sun. A large crowd of people suddenly appeared around the stand, trying to buy the healthy looking apples before they were sold off, cueing the start of the mission.

The boy moved swiftly and quickly through the crowd, barely touching anyone and very rarely brushing against their clothes. After he had made it to the stand he stretched his neck upwards, to get a good look at the prize in front of him, slowly dwindling. In a sharp and quick motion he jumped and swiped his small arm across the top of the table, clutching a chest full of five, red apples. Once he landed he bolted through the crowd, ignoring his previous attempt of avoiding contact.

"SKY!!!!!!" The shopkeeper yelled as a few guards ran past him.

They were wearing silver helmets, chest plates, shin guards, boots and bracers. The other areas of their outfit were filled in with dark fabric. Each carried a sword and a shield with only the lead guard having a red feather sticking out of his helmet and holding a silver longsword.

Sky ran through the crowd, bumping and bouncing off people as he tightly held onto the apples for dear life. Soon he made it into Cedric's Circle, the large circular area where all the expensive stalls and stands stood. The amount of people shopping increased as well, giving him the opportunity to blend in, if only the number of guards didn't increase as well.

"GET BACK HERE!!!!" They shouted as the number of pursuers increased.

The shoppers out of the way until eventually they began moving on their own. "MOVE!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" They shouted and shoved as the distance between them and Sky became almost minuscule.

Sky turned his head, seeing a large hand and imagining the consequences that would come with its grasp he pushed himself, running faster than he had on any of his previous run-ins with the guards.

SLAM!!!! Sky ran into some hard and big, sending him stumbling backwards. He felt his collar tightening as he could no longer feel the ground.

"FINALLY…." The guard huffed, "GOT..." He took in another deep inhale, "YOU!!!" He let out the last word in a deep growl.

Sky's lips quivered as he clutched the apples tightly, he knew what was going to come next, but still, even still he couldn't let go of them. Before anything had even happened, his eyes started to sting and his vision blurred.

The guards slowly formed a circle around him, their swords pointing forwards and their shields, creating a cold, isolated wall. Evil grins started to appear on their faces as they snickered and laughed, eagerly awaiting their turn in the private show that was about to start in the middle of the beggars district.