A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 61

Varian still had no intentions to pursue them, but he felt like if he didn't, the figures would only become more troublesome. They would be cocky having believed they had bested him.

His horse stopped at their camp. Varian dismounted it and turned back to look at his treasure. The figures had managed to roughen up the ropes on it a little bit, but that was mostly it.

He was about to unstrap the box himself and find a good hiding spot for it when he suddenly paused. Varian stared at the golden chest whilst completely immersed in his thoughts. With a heavy sigh, he finally came to a decision. He would need to make a map, after all.

•••

The cocky figures in question were actually just a bunch of young kids.

In a small alleyway far from any place Varian or the other knights had been searching, the kids tossed their cloaks aside and plopped down beside each other on the cold hard ground.

A girl with long red hair was the last to sit. "Boy, we sure showed him, didn't we?" she asked cheerfully.

The boy who had once been the strong wielder of two sharp knives passed the girl a small piece of bread. "Now, don't be getting too cocky, Zarah," he replied.

Zarah shot the boy a look. "I'm not. We did beat him."

"It was our first time actually making a move on him," spoke the boy who had caused the ground to break. "Colton's right; don't get cocky."

Zarah grumbled, "I'm not!" she yelled.

"I'm with Zarah on this one," spoke the second and last girl. "We are really really strong!"

The group left it at that. There were five of them: Zarah, a red-haired girl with a red personality. She can manipulate fire as she pleases.

Miko, the other girl with her dark features, can change the form of water, be it a solid, a liquid, or a gas; the girl can do it all.

Isaiah, the oldest and tallest person in the group with his pale hair and bright blue eyes could manipulate the earth, although he mainly excelled at launching rocks.

Colton, coming in second to the youngest and smallest member of the group-quite basic looking like a certain princess everyone would come to know. While he possessed no magic abilities, his accuracy and precision were not to be underestimated.

The final member of their small team was Ethan. The smallest boy rarely talked, his dark hair covered the majority of his face, he seemed to possess some type of power, but no one had ever seen him use it. They even began to doubt he had any magic to show.

These five people made up the group that was able to best the greatest of knights and skilled people. They had a continuous winning record, and although they didn't earn such strength overnight, it had taken them years-years of struggling, of pain, enduring many losses and hardships one after another, but they had finally managed to create an almost safe and almost happy life together.

They had lived a hard life, but luckily for them, a group of knights decided to take refuge in their home, and to make it easier for them, they continued to find valuable items that they could only dream of finding.

Despite living in the ruins their whole lives, they had never once found anything of value. They got their ragged clothes from the rubble near the once grand clothing stores, and they mostly ate the beasts they had managed to kill the night before.

They were surviving, but it wasn't nearly enough. They needed more than just survival. They wanted money, jewels, gold, anything that could buy them passage to get out of the ruined place they all called home.

"Is that hard moldy bread good?" chuckled Isaiah. He directed his question towards Zarah, who was eating it up.

"I'm not eating it because it's good," she retorted with a scowling look on her face. She tilted her chin up in disgust. "What about you?" she asked, motioning to the slather of meat in his hands. "Is that four-day-old meat any good?"

Isaiah glared at her. He clearly hadn't intended for her to say anything back. Let alone say something so mockingly. "It's not my fault that we can't get any more fresh meat around here. Those knights keep killing our food supply for sport." He glared at the bread in Zarah's hands. "You should count yourself lucky that we managed to find that. A little thanks couldn't hurt."

"The thanks should go to Ethan," replied Colton. "He was the one who found the bread."

Everyone turned to look at the boy who had his head resting on his knees. When he heard his name, he nervously moved his head to face everyone and gave a small nod before lowering his head again.

They thought the boy was weird, but they had grown pretty used to his behavior after a while. They had been together fighting poverty and starvation for years. Even if they all had strange faults, that was the least of their worries.

"Still," sighed Isaiah as he leaned back to look at the grey sky. "Did you see that chest? It was huge and golden! I bet it has a lot of valuable things locked inside!"

"Like a crown," said Miko.

"Or many precious gems!" exclaimed Zarah.

"There could be money," added Colton.

"Or gold," laughed Isaiah.

Everyone, besides Ethan, began to give their opinions on what they believed to be in the chest. Soon after, they began to fantasize about what they would do with the items they found inside.

"At any rate," spoke Isaiah. "Everyone needs to fill their stomachs and get a good night's rest if we're going to jump that poor sucker tomorrow."

"Aw, but it's so early!" whined Miko.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," replied Colton. "We need to succeed in taking the treasure."

"He probably won't even be carrying it with him tomorrow," muttered Zarah. "Not after what we done to him. He'll be expecting us."

"He's probably already hidden it away," sighed Miko.

"Exactly," agreed Zarah. "Just how are we supposed to find him now?"

"It'll be fine," replied Isaiah in an exaggerated voice. "Who else knows these ruins better than us? We've lived our whole lives here, unlike that weakling knight boy." Isaiah laughed as he continued, "I'm sure someone as stupid as he is, carrying a golden chest in broad daylight while knowing people are watching him, could never manage to track down and find the likes of us."

"I'm sorry for being such a weakling and stupid knight boy."

Stricken by panic from the voice of an unknown person, the five leapt to their feet.

"An intruder!" shouted Colton, who hurried to grab his knives.

"How-how did he find us?" Zarah asked, making sure to guard her moldy bread.

The boy who had taken them by surprise came bearing the same golden chest they had been fantasizing about.

"The chest!" Zarah gasped.

They each made sure to keep their eyes on it. They weren't sure what the strange boy was hoping to gain by tracking them down and bringing the very object of their interest with him.

They were confused, but their curiosity only intensified when the boy did something very unexpected.

In a low and annoyed-sounding voice, he said, "Here, take it."

With a loud thud, the large golden chest was tossed right in front of their feet.