Short Stories

Pieces of Eight

Alexander isn't the kind of person you would expect to find in the darkest parts of the kingdom, being the prince and all. But this was important enough to bring him out of the castle and into a place filled with crooks and criminals. Instead of his usual royal attire, he was wearing comfortable clothes that he had bought from one of the stores nearby. He had on a casual beige shirt and khaki pants, with a brown jacket and shoes. The only thing that made him look any different from the other people he had seen was his clear blue eyes, unique considering that most people in the kingdom had dull brown eyes, devoid of all hope.

He paused in front of a bar that looked like it would crumble at the slightest touch, inspected it for a moment, and walked in.

As he walked into the bar, he spotted two men making a deal. One of them passed the other some coins, and received a map with something written on it that Alexander couldn't see. He checked inside the bag and grunted, apparently pleased.

As soon as the man with the bag left, the other man turned and yelled, "Who wants to deal with Butch?"

Alexander began to make his way to him, but before he could even take a step, a figure in a black cloak appeared and said, "Don't. The man that just left is following a fake map."

He blinked and suddenly she was gone.

He shrugged and continued walking to Butch. He found himself standing in front of the giant man, and he began to wonder if he should have listened to the girl.

"What's yer name?" Butch growled.

"A-Alex," Alexander replied, choosing not to use his full name.

"What d'ya want?"

"I have a m-map-"

"So?"

"It's supposed to lead to the last Pieces of Eight," Alexander replied, beginning to regain his confidence.

"Follow me."

Butch led him into a small room in the corner of the bar, and then closed and locked the door behind him. He turned to Alexander and cracked his knuckles.

"I don't think I'll be payin' fer that map."

He definitely should have listened to the girl.

Butch walked forward, each step shaking the ground. He raised his fist, and Alexander closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain. But instead, he heard a grunt and a few words that he would have gotten in serious trouble for saying. He opened his eyes to find Butch lying unconscious on the floor, and the girl from before standing in front of him.

"You shouldn't have closed your eyes. You missed all the fun!"

She was pretty, with long black hair that reached her waist and light brown skin that showed that she spent a lot of time in the sun, unlike Alexander's blonde hair and pale skin that had been given almost no contact with the sun. But what stood out the most were her brown eyes, as bright as the sun, but at the same time, as broken as some of the King's prisoners. She had a mischievous smirk that made him wonder who she had just pranked, but at the same time, she seemed like she was holding the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Underneath her cloak, she was wearing black pants, a hunter green tank top, and black boots with small heels. If it weren't for the bow and the quiver filled with arrows slung over her back and the dagger strapped to her leg, he would have mistaken her for a fellow undercover royal.

"Hello? Anybody home?"

He startled, realizing he had been staring.

"Th-thank you."

"You're welcome, Alex. Your name is Alex, right?"

"It's Alexander, actually."

"Nice to meet you. My name's Lux. I heard you say you were following this map."

She held up the map that had been in his pockets a minute ago. He checked his pockets, and sure enough, the map wasn't there.

"How-"

"I'm a thief. It's what I do. Anyway, I could take you here. If you wanted."

She tucked the map into a small pouch tied around her waist.

"You would do that?"

"Of course. I'm a lot nicer than most of-"

She stopped and studied him, her expression suddenly guarded.

"Wait a minute... You look awfully familiar."

Alexander started sweating nervously, knowing what she was about to say.

"You look... like the prince. And you have the same name as him. You are the prince, aren't you?"

"...No?"

"Wow, you're a terrible liar. How do I know I can trust you?"

"That guy was the size of a bear and you beat him in not even five seconds! Do you really think I could trick you?"

She shrugged and smirked at him again.

"Fair enough. So, why is this coin so important?"

"Well, that coin is what made the Spanish rich when they came here, and as far as anyone knows, it's the last one in existence."

"Cool," Lux replied, then grabbed his arm and pulled him to the window and said, "Climb out here. If you go back into the bar, you'll definitely be attacked, and if I fight an entire bar full of crooks in these shoes, there's no way I'm not going to ruin them. Just stay outside the window and I'll be there in a few minutes."

After Alexander climbed out the window, he looked back in and saw Lux's smirk fade away, replaced by the expression of someone who has lost more than they should have.

Hi!

How are you?

This was for a HOST (History of Science and Technology) assignment, because we were learning about the Pieces of Eight, and about primary, secondary, and tertiary effects, so our teacher had us write a short story about the Pieces of Eight, and we had to have some mention of a primary, secondary, or tertiary effect of it being discovered.

I may have gone a bit (or a lot) over the word limit.

Question of the chapter:

What are you wearing right now?

I'm wearing black leggings, a supercute white top with flowery designs on it, a sky-blue jean jacket, and black scrunchie, and almost knee-length black boots where about 3 inches of the top of it is brown.

Bye!

~Sita