Contract with a Star (On Hold, Possibly Forever)

The Change Purse and the Star

            The three headed out late that morning. They found a town late that evening that was so lifeless, if they had been riding hard, they would have passed it before they knew it was even there. Rena decided, quite on her own, that they would be staying there for the night when she fell off her horse trying to get something from one of the stalls. The young girl immediately stood up and hobbled over to the stall to begin shoving as much of the product as she could into her bag. The stall owner grabbed her arm roughly, not trusting the child.

            Within seconds, there was a staff end shoved into his cheek, a dagger to his neck and a very angry horse right behind the girl, who was now trying to put some of it in Tanya’s bag. He released her and she turned around to put her bag on her angry horse. The weapons were still pressed into the stall seller’s skin, but they had slackened.

            Rena completely ignored the situation, humming a little tune as she took down Aiden’s bag and pulled out a large, loose bag of noisy money. She took out fifteen Kynins, one short of a full Kyden, and paid for the fifteen apples she had put in her bag. All the man could say was, “Oh,” before he snatched up the money and made sure it was real. Aiden and Tanya ignored him, taking their waiting horses and walking after Rena, who had started singing as she ate.

            They waited until they got into the local inn, paid for a room, and had firmly closed the door to scold Rena. They sat her down and paced in front of her, both of them going the opposite direction.

            “That was a very dumb thing you did, Rena.” Aiden voice was gentle.

            “We know you’re a noble who hasn’t been out of her little castle ever, but you can’t do things like that.” In contrast, Tanya’s voice was firm and commanding.

            “What did I do?” Rena was completely baffled.

            “You can’t bring out a huge bag of money in a dying town. They’re going to come after us, or at least Aiden’s bag. There’s no doubt that at least four different schemes are going through those people’s minds.” Tanya continued pacing as Aiden looked out the window. “Take the bag, strip them and ditch them, kidnap the girl, or kill them all. Once night comes, we’ll find out what they chose.”

            “Why don’t we just let them take it?” The older two stopped and turned to stare at the girl, requiring an explanation. “We don’t really need the money.”

            “Stars above, girl. Are you determined to have Aiden in those back alleys?” Tanya threw up her arms in exasperation. Aiden turned green.

            “Well, I mean, that’s only the change bag. I put all the real money in Tanya’s bag.” Rena shrugged. They could all thank the stars that no one was listening to their conversation; too busy gossiping about the apple buying nobles that just came to town. Rena jumped up from the small bed and pulled Tanya’s bag from the pile near the empty fireplace. From a secret pouch, Rena brought out a smaller, thicker change bag that made no sound as she threw it to Aiden. He took one look at it, whistled, and passed it to Tanya. Tanya felt the weight and knew the majority of the coins had to be Kydels.

            “Little Rena, you’re a genius! A little noble genius!” Aiden picked her up and spun her around the wide room, making her laugh. Then he paused, “But wait, why did you put that in Tanya’s pack? Why did I get the change purse?”

            Rena smiled widely. “Do you want an apple? I want an apple. How about you, Tanya, do you want an apple?” She went over to her bag this time, completely ignoring Aiden’s little temper tantrum. Tanya burst out laughing, and Rena caught on, until finally, Aiden had to laugh too.

            Rena and Tanya dragged a protesting Aiden out of their rooms. Both of them had their bags on them. All the people of the inn noticed that the boy of the group did not have his on him. A small boy whose job it was to collect firewood and care for the horses, followed them. They were headed for his least favorite place. He could see apples in both of the girls’ hands and assumed there were going to feed those big demons he had put away earlier.

            He ran back inside and signaled to his sister. She nodded and handed her tray to her mother. The young barmaid took the stairs to the second floor where many empty rooms and the noble’s room were. She took out the keys. She thought about it and then just tried the door. Those nobles were really stupid, leaving the door unlocked. She would have been suspicious if she had seen the bag as soon as she came in, but it was in between the back of the bed and the wall. It would have gone unnoticed if the rather plump girl hadn’t hit her toe on the pushed out bed.

            She had just replaced the man’s pack when the door opened and the three returned.  She squeaked and placed the purse into her cleavage, hiding it. The barmaid stood up and turned around, greeting the nobles with a fake smile on her face.

            “Just checking the blankets, my Lord, Ladies.” She bowed to them, not really knowing how to address such rich people. “Anything you’ll be requiring? Another bed perhaps?”

            Aiden eyed her suspiciously while the girls took off their considerably less full bags. “This is fine. You can go now.”

            The girl bowed and practically ran from the room. Aiden watched her go.

            “Do you think she bought it?” Rena became much less docile when they were alone.

            “Yeah. She’ll be so focused on her narrow escape; she’ll never think we let her get it. I don’t think she’ll be the last person to steal that purse, though.” The girls couldn’t summon the energy to care. They had paid a lot of money for the small room, and that barmaid was in no way starving. If she let the greed overtake her, then she would meet an end like all greedy people.