Dealing with a nuisance

The boy tried to dash off in another direction, avoiding both us and the men pursuing him.

I was the closest to the boy. I chased him, easily grabbing him and pinning his arms behind him. He struggled, but I effortlessly dragged him back to where Hin and Cadmus Brutus stood. Hin gave me an angry look, he obviously disapproved of my actions.

The men emerged from the roadside bushes as well, and looked around for the boy, and then noticed him in my grip. There were five of them in total. Two on foot and three on horseback.

"Ah!" one of the men said, "You have caught the guttersnipe, I see."

"Thank you for your help with catching that thieving brat." Another man said.

A man made a move to grab the boy from me, and I blocked him and asked, "What exactly did the boy steal?"

"He stole my money." One of the men said from atop his horse.

"Hmm." I said thoughtfully. I had no idea what these men would do to this boy if I handed him over to them. The two on foot looked like rather rough, brutal characters.

"Do you deny the accusation?" I asked the boy.

He remained silent. 'He doesn't want to incriminate himself further?' I silently speculated.

"Hand it over!" I demanded of the boy. When he didn't move, I put pressure on his shoulder by twisting one of the arms I had pinned behind his back.

The boy let out a cry of pain and hurriedly displayed and held out to me the purse.

"Thank you." I said as I took it from him and lessened the grip on his arm. I held on to the boy now gently, but firmly; not causing pain, but not allowing freedom.

"Here!" I tossed it to the man who claimed it was his.

"Cadmus Brutus?" I asked.

Cadmus Brutus made a noise to indicate he had heard me.

"Find a length of rope," I instructed, "if we have an extra one. Let's tie this ones' hands behind his back." I nodded to the boy as I spoke.

Cadmus Brutus made his way to the tethered horses to search.

"Really, Cyrus?" Hin asked in exasperation.

"We can discuss it later Hin." I told him.

"This boy is going to accompany us onwards to Genua." I informed the strangers.

There were objections from them.

"We chased him for the better part of the day through the countryside!" one man on horseback complained.

"That is true!" agreed one of the men on foot.

"It is not enough for me that his repayment of his crime end at the mere return of my purse. My time is valuable, and so is that of my associates."

Cadmus Brutus walked up to me, and I turned the boy and held him still, so he could tie up the boy's wrists with a length of rope.

"I will not be satisfied until I give that piece of filth a proper beating; one that he will never forget." The man snarled.

"I see," I said my voice calm and level, "I suppose at this point you have each lost a day's work and thus a day's wages. It is only fair that you are compensated for that."

The strangers relaxed a little.

"But I refuse to hand the boy over to you." I told them. I turned to Cadmus Brutus, "Go get a days' wages worth of silver denarii for each of them out of your saddle bag."

"Yes, my Lord." Cadmus Brutus said, handing the bound boy to me, before heading in the direction of the horses.

"I will pay you back later." I called to his retreating form.

"I have no doubt about that!" Cadmus Brutus laughed.

I saw the men exchanging greedy glances with each other but didn't comment.

After Cadmus Brutus had given the men their money, they still complained, with the intention of getting more money off of us, on the pretext of the boy having injured their honour.

'I am not giving them another coin!' I thought.

"Cadmus Brutus, are the horses tethered securely?" I asked him.

"Of course, my Lord!" Cadmus Brutus stated with surprise that I had even asked.

"Good." I waved him to come closer to me. "You and Hin take this boy with you and go for a little stroll down the road to stretch your legs."

When Cadmus Brutus was close enough, I whispered in his ear, "The boy is too green to see or hear what is going to happen next."

Cadmus Brutus nodded, and took charge of him. He walked towards Hin and said, "Come along Sir, my Lord will handle things."

Hin frowned, but went with them, giving me a dark look before he left.

"Now, let's have this settled, once and for all." I said to the five men.

"Yes let's." Agreed the leader (who had his money stolen).

I glanced over my shoulder, the coast was clear.

"Get him!" He ordered to the two men on foot.

As they made a move to take me on, I smiled, and allowed my invisible bat wings to be seen. I flexed my wings and let my eyes turn blood red.

The two men suddenly stopped with a gasp.

"I am Cyrus Tredecim, a lesser-known, but quite powerful demon." I said. "If you really insist on fighting me, I assure you that you will lose, die and get a guaranteed pass straight to Hell." I made a fireball appear in my left hand. I threw it down to the ground at my feet, and it burst into a column four feet high. I effortlessly walked through it to the other side. "This is your only warning." I hissed coldly, "Stay away from me and MY associates. The boy belongs to ME now." I let out a loud demonic growl, that spooked all the horses.

While our horses, reared, and bucked, but couldn't go anywhere; their horses screamed, reared and took off at a full gallop; their riders unable to control them. The two men on foot, ran after them.

'Ha!" I thought with satisfaction. 'They shouldn't be a problem anymore.'

I let the fire dye down to a height of two feet, and my eyes resumed their previous colour. I made my wings invisible again and walked in the direction Cadmus Brutus and Hin had taken the boy.