Blood War

Chapter 1

"YAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

As my best friend rejoiced, I screamed in absolute terror when he drove the wagon off of a cliff. "ROGUE! CALM YOURSELF! YOU COMPLETE IDIOT!"

"Ah lighten up, mate!" Rogue looked over his shoulder at me, a fanatic grin plastered on his face, making me worry ten times more. He had his mouth open which only received the tastefulness of saltwater as we hit what felt like cement.

"Are you mad at me?" Rogue asked. Both of our clothes were soaked to the skin, and I probably smelled like fish. "Because If you are, it's totally not my fault."

I gave him the silent treatment. I found it stupid to answer pointless questions and Rogue happened to give a lot. From my years of being his best and only friend, I've found some ways to deal with this psychotic lunatic. Sometimes if you just ignore him he will stop bothering you, but if you give him love and appreciation he will stick with you like a loyal dog, which, believe me, isn't always a good thing.

I decided it was probably best to give him a scolding on this one. "Yes, I am mad, Rogue. Who the heck would help steal a cart full of food and then drive it off a cliff? What about the orphans? Rogue, the orphans."

"Ah well," Rogue shrugged, popping a soggy piece of bread in his mouth. He spit it out almost immediately and wiped the salt off his tongue. "I guess we'll just have to steal a new one for them."

"That was the last carriage of food they were bringing in today, remember?" I stated, hauling myself out of the water and back on dry land.

"Oh yeah," Rogue thought for about half a second, following suit and climbing out of the sea. "Tomorrow, then. Anyway, I'm hungry, let's go to the Early Bird."

My back straightened even the slightest bit, then my mood deflated as I remembered. "But we don't have any money."
"You sure about that bro?" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a brown sack. He tossed it toward me and it hit my nose before I caught it. It was hard and heavy. Rubbing my wound, I untied the knot. A thick piece of silver landed on my palm as I flipped the now empty bag over.

"Dude, you didn't steal this from the mines, did you?" my eyes widened knowing full well what he'd done. "When they find out they won't let us work there anymore."

"If they find out," Rogue joked, shooting me a wink. "And they haven't yet so we are freeee!" He spun around in a circle, his arms above him. "Plus I'm a smooth criminal, they ain't gonna catch me!"

I scoffed, avoiding eye contact. Apparently, he'd been doing this for a long time, which explained why he always got more money than I did. I always thought he had worked harder than me but I should have known, he was just a dirty low life. Actually, it was pretty easy to work harder than me because I try to do the bare minimum, I guess we're both just bad employees.

I sighed heavily, rubbing my temples. "Well, since we have the money, let's put it to use." I tried to ignore the little leap in my heart when I thought of the Early Bird again.

"HUZZAH!" Rogue shrieked, taking off down one end of the street.

"Wrong way," I called after him as I took the other path.

"I knew that!"

As I swung the doors open, the smell of freshly baked bread wafted into my nostrils. It was less crowded than usual, only about fifteen people were on the rickety chairs.

We took our seats at the table nearest to the door, a habit we'd learned from life on the streets. Rogue swung his feet on the surface in front of us as he relaxed, his hands behind his head and his chair tilted backward.