Defy The Throne

Chapter 1||Fallon

Royal Deluxe - Make A Little Money

Unedited since it will be a rough/first draft like my other story, Lady of Lake and Arrow, but hope you like it!

- Ryn

The man dressed as a joker stood behind the table draped with a cloth. It was a simple game; five upturned cups on the table, with a ball in only one of them.

A simple game, except the person who guessed where the ball was hidden first would earn hundreds of coin pieces.

Fallon sat on the end of the table. One would look at him and think him strange, always averting his gaze from everyone, never speaking unless spoken to.

But most of the time he was ignored, for he didn't emit that much strangeness to be worth giving attention to.

Sitting next to him in the table were three men, all of them large and burly; looking strong enough to crush a person like him with their bare hands. They paid him no heed, laughing and drinking their bottles of beer, waiting for the joker.

But these people didn't know better. Fallon had some tricks up his sleeve, waiting to be used. Shadows no one but him could see stood at his feet. They, too, waited for the joker to finish shuffling the cups.

Rather impatient, at that.

When the joker was at last done, the Shadows stirred with excitement, shooting up from underneath the table. The smoky black tendrils weaved through the row of cups–a small whirlwind.

Fallon hid his smile.

The Shadows wrapped themselves around one of the cups––the middle one to be more specific.

Just for show and his amusement, he let the first two burly men speak out their answers. Both of them were wrong.

"Third cup," he said before the last man could answer, making all eyes on the table turn to him. He deliberately ignored them all.

The joker lifted the third cup.

And the ball sat inside it, looking innocent for what it's worth.

Fallon collected his gold pieces, letting them fall like a miniature waterfall into his pouch, tightening the twine to close it with intricate fingers. The Shadows danced across the table like flame erupting once lit.

"Cheater," the man closest to him in the table snarled. The one who hadn't answered.

Pity.

The rest of the men in turn also looked angry. Or as angry as they could get in their drunken state.

Then a fist hit him square in the jaw. Whether it was one of the men or someone else, Fallon did not care, for he had been waiting for this.

A brawl broke out; punches were thrown; blood was spilled. Soon, the rest of the tavern followed. Someone knocked down a table beside him, which he barely dodged. Men were tackling each other to the ground. It was chaos.

Violent, wonderful chaos.

With a crazed grin, Fallon joined in.

•••

"A black eye, a split lip––scratches. Why am I not even surprised, it's always scratches." Daniela threw her arms up in exasperation. "Stop starting such stupid fights in taverns, Fallon."

Fallon winced as Daniela dabbed a cloth on his bottom lip. "I didn't start it," he countered. "It's not my fault the men lost in a guessing game."

They both knew it was not true. He had very much cheated at the game with his dear Shadow friends. The Shadows weren't here now, but a mere thought and they would come jumping out of the walls to his command in an instant.