The Prince Forth & The Pauper by ARIE78 (Completed)

4. Caught out

“Pick a card, sir?”

Forth jumped slightly, not realising just how close he had got to the street performer. He coughed, embarrassed and took a card from the pack. He looked down at it barely registering it, it taking him a full minute to recognise it as the Jack of hearts, and was about to give it back before he felt something tug on his tunic. He looked down to see one of the small children grinning up at him.

“Let me see.” The child tugged again, a slightly suspicious look on his face. “Otherwise you might cheat and just say he was right at the end.”

Forth laughed, coming back to his senses now that his attention had been pulled away from the performer, and crouched down in front of the child. He saw the other children looking sheepish and gestured for them to have a look as well, making sure to keep the card hidden from the performer. “There, now I can’t cheat, OK?” When he received the affirmative he stood back up and placed it back in the deck offered to him, making sure once again that the other man couldn’t see it.

“Right, here we go then.” The performer grinned up at Forth as he came closer and whispered in his ear quickly, pressing up against him slightly to get closer. “Wow, look who’s good with kids.” He smirked at the slight blush that appeared before pretending he hadn’t said anything and continuing his trick. He sat down on the floor, at the children’s eye level and cut the deck into four piles. “Hmm, let’s see…” He flicked up the first card on the first deck to show everyone the ace of spades. “Nope, that’s not it.” He continued along the decks, pulling out an ace on each one but stating no again at the end. He sat back for a second frowning before one of the children spoke up.

“Then where is it?” The children seemed disappointed, even if they were slightly in awe at the four aces.

The performer grinned, as if suddenly realising. “I remember now.” He stared at the children in all seriousness. “You see, these cards sometimes like other people more than me.” He glared down at the cards, making the children giggle. “So, if they have a chance they’ll stay with someone they like more. So who do you think they’ll try and stay with?”

The children frowned for a second, confused, before following the performers gaze to Forth.

Forth blinked down at them, having listened to the exchange. He tilted his head slightly, and pointed at himself. “Me? I don’t have it.”

The performer frowned and stood up. “Really?” He circled Forth, looking him up and down, making Forth feel awkward as he was disguised. The performer from behind him snaked a hand around in front of Forth, making him shiver, and slipping it into the small pocket in the tunic, pulling out the Jack of hearts. “Then what’s this?”

Forth took the card from him, staring down at it, before looking over his shoulder at the guy. “How did you do that?”

The performer grinned again. “Like I’d tell you that~” He took the card back from Forth and showed it to the children, making them squee and ask to see it again.

A sound behind them, made them all jump, having been lost in the magicians little world. “I thought I told you to stay away from here.” A man stood behind them, arms crossed.

The performer smiled awkwardly. “Ahh, damn. Sorry guys, that’s the end of the show today.” With that he grabbed his cards and ran for it.

The man tutted behind Forth. “At least he’s gone.” He looked Forth up and down. “You’re with him aren’t you? Get lost.”

Forth glared back, ready to snap back then remembering he was in a disguise so he wouldn’t be recognised and would probably get himself lost further trying to run for it as he couldn’t fight. He nodded and walked quickly the way the other guy had gone. He wandered through the streets, hoping he was going the right way, for some reason wanting to see the performer again. He turned a corner into a new street frowning, wondering where to go. He looked down one way and noticed something on the ground; he picked it up realising it was one of the playing cards. He continued to walk along further and saw the other man counting through his cards, having obviously dropped a few.