Pariah

Chapter Three

Damian approached the gate of Pariahland, and with his every breath rumbling with curiosity, he made his way in.
As soon as he crossed in, he was directed to a toll cabin. Seated there was a man, sparsely bearded, wearing a hat and a leather glove on a single hand.
Already dipping his hand into his pocket, the prince asked the man, "Hello, Sir, how much is the gate fee here?"
The bearded man stared at Damian, arching his eyebrows high. "Is this your first time coming here, young master?"
"Yes, I'm new," the prince tittered, rubbing his hair subconsciously.
"Of course!" the man snapped his fingers in realisation. "You had to be new. That's why I don't recognise you."
"What about the fee, Sir?" Damian steered him back to the point.
"Ah, yes," the man recalled. "It's just one bronze coin to go in."
Damian emptied his pockets and opened out his hands to see what he had on him. He searched through but couldn't find a bronze coin. All of his were silver.
He sighed and looked up at the bearded man, his hands still opened out before him, "I don't seem to have any bronze coin on me." Then, he held out one of his silver coins, "But two bronze coins make a silver, don't they? Here, take this. I'll just take a change of one bronze."
But the man shook his head, "I'm sorry, young master. I'm not allowed to give out change- it's the rule. And normally, travellers carry the exact change with them when they're here."
Suddenly, he paused, and with a new kind of surprise on his face, he asked the prince, "Young master, how come the lowest denomination you have on you is silver? You really don't have any bronze coin?"
"I don't," the prince replied, blinking innocently.
"Then, you must be a very rich man- an ambassador maybe," the bearded man guessed keenly.
Damian, in a bid to keep his identity a secret, nodded along there. "You could say so."
"Well, it's all right. Pay a silver coin and tell me your name so I can let you in for free the next time you're here."
"My name is Damian," the prince introduced himself as he paid.
"Make sure you come again, young master." The man picked a pen and wrote the name down.
"I'll see if I can make it," Damian chuckled.
"I hope you do." The bearded man closed the book, then signalled to the prince that he was free to go.
Before leaving, Damian kindly asked him, "What is your name, Sir?"
"My name?" the man's eyebrows arched again. "It's James," he later answered.
"Well then, Mister James. I'll see you the next time I'm around," Damian tipped an invisible hat at the bearded man. James tipped his, then with the farewell well said, the prince moved on.
Now, he picked a direction and started to explore Pariahland. He quietly observed the people and took in the ambience. And just as he had always suspected, Pariahland was completely different from what they were told it was.
That place wasn't in any way a criminal world. It was a thriving civilisation. There was a big market at the heart of the town where he found traders of all sorts. On a side, he would see food traders and on another, tailors, saddlers, blacksmiths, jewellers, weavers, painters... you name it. At intervals, he would also see children with books in their hands pass by; Pariahland had schools!
By the end of the market lay the farmlands and close to them, there was a river. It was an impeccable system. Damian was amazed at the blooming world revolving around him. He had always thought Pariahland couldn't be as bad as its reputation, but what he didn't expect was to find out that it was an absolutely civil society. Who exactly called this place a land of outcasts?!
"I sure will bring some change to this when I'm crowned, Sir John," he muttered to himself as he passed.
He wandered further until he found himself in a new part of the town which looked a lot like a wrestling ring with a noisy crowd gathered around it.
Still driven by his curiosity, he asked one of the young men at the ring what was happening. He was told that the weekly town wrestling matches were taking place. His sightseeing wouldn't be complete without some entertainment, the prince thought. So with a high shrug, he decided to wait and watch.
In a short while, the first contestant, a strong, muscular giant, came into the ring, receiving the people's applause as he did. He twisted his neck left and right to let out the sound of cracking bones which was said to scare his opponents nearly to death. His fans cheered his name loud, and as Damian could hear from their buzzing chants, the giant's name was Shark.
Right after, Shark's opponent came in as well... and Damian was shocked to see a young girl of about his age stepping in.
His eyes widened. He nearly dropped his jaw. He could not believe what was unfolding before him. How was this possible? Who would put a girl of this age against a merciless giant?
He blinked and looked again. The girl was still standing before Shark who twisted his neck some more, sending no friendly message whatsoever. Damian wished someone would just pull her out of the ring.
What was even more puzzling was that her fans outside the ring could still cheer for her. They shouted her name; Autumn! Autumn! Then, the starting bell rang. Fighters took their stances.
Shark attacked first. He snorted wildly and made an attempt to throw the girl on the ground. But, to Damian's surprise, she did a powerful tumble that helped her escape Shark's hands. And it didn't end there. She rapidly raised her fist and, from behind, gave Shark a loud punch in the spine. The audience heard another bone crack, but this one couldn't have been Shark's wish. He groaned and fell flat on the ground, and not even the countdown could get him up.
Now, the judge rang the stopping bell, and Autumn was pronounced winner of the match.
Damian still found the turnout very hard to believe. He asked around, and as he was told, Autumn happened to be the best wrestler in the whole of Pariahland. Shark had been challenging her for the past year and still hadn't won a single match against her. Apparently now, making giants fall flat on their faces was the girl's speciality.
While Shark's fans grumbled in disappointment, Damian's attention was on the winner as she exited the ring. He felt his sightseeing would still not be complete without meeting the star of the day, so as her excited fans cleared out, he dashed in to meet her.
They were standing face to face now, so the prince spoke.
"Hello, Miss Autumn," he began. Then, he placed an arm across his chest. "I want to congratulate you on that wonderful win back there."
"Thank you," Autumn nodded. She propped a hand on her chin and thought for a while. "You don't look familiar, though."
"That's probably because it's my first time here," Damian chuckled. "But I think I just became a big fan."
"Well, there's no harm in welcoming a new face into the circle," Autumn smiled faintly. She reached across the ring for a dangling bundle of blue wristbands with red bolts of lightning painted on them and pulled one out. She boldly gave it to Damian.
"My fans wear these."
Damian slipped the band onto his wrist and checked how well it fit. It was perfect.
Then, from afar, behind Autumn, a slightly older woman shouted her name. She turned around, and without saying goodbye, just another faint smile, she went in that direction to answer the call. Damian couldn't say he expected a goodbye from her, anyway. After all, they were only strangers to each other.
The prince also turned around now, but unfortunately, he'd turned only to find Sir John standing in front of him. And the courtier was not smiling.
Damian blinked. "Sir John, I'm sorry-"
But the courtier didn't let him finish. "Don't say a word, Prince. Let's just go."
"Really, I didn't mean to," he tried again.
John's response remained the same. "Don't bother explaining. Let's leave," he said stiffly.
Damian could feel that Sir John strongly wanted to beat him up for what he just did but held back probably because he was the future king of Amaden now. Even though he held back, the prince could still feel the grip of his simmering anger as they crossed the gate of Pariahland back out.