The King of Coal (A Dartron Fan Fiction)

Chapter Four- The Thief

Dar shifted his legs, trying to make himself comfortable on the stone. He rubbed his hands together and held them out for the fire to warm.

Adjacent to him was Hayley.

She sat with her legs crossed, hands in her lap. She stared into fire, as if searching for something lost and forgotten by everyone else.

Snap. Crackle. Hiss.

If crickets existed, there would have been an orchestra premiering that night.

Dar attempted to break the awkward silence.

"So, obviously, you could have killed me at anytime you wanted to. Why would you play with me like that? With the coal and arrows?"

Hayley stopped, and looked up at Dar, tilting her head. She shrugged, and leaned one cheek on her fist.

"I was testing you." She said, blankly staring into Dar's green eyes.

"Testing? For what?"

Hayley sighed, obviously not having any taste for talking.

"To see if anyone had followed you, your Royal highness. After a few pieces of coal, I knew by how desperate you were, and that anyone following you would have shown up by now."

"Ah. Well I can promise you, no one followed me tonight."

Dar felt a burning, irritating sensation coming on in his throat.

"Hey, do you have some water? My throat's killing me."

Hayley obliged, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a bucket of water. She tossed it to Dar.

Dar curled his gloved fingers around the bucket. "Thank you." Dar said, about to tilt the bucket up for him to drink. "Oh by the way," Dar put the bucket down momentarily.

"Why didn't you want any of my," He coughed. "guards to follow?" He finished his question, and began to chug down the water as if it were pint from his father's cellar.

"Because I'm wanted in seven kingdoms."

Dar almost dropped the bucket. His head snapped up instantly, spitting the water like a mix of a sprinkler and a hose on the fire and all over Haley. He held is throat and coughed and stuttered when all the water was gone.

Hayley, now dripping wet, stared into Dar's eyes in the moonlight, now with no fire as their source.

Hayley's hair was soaked, and clung to parts of her face and her clothes.

Droplets of water dripped from her nose.

It looks could kill...

Well, you know the rest.

Haley curled her fist, and wiped her cheek. She casually reached into her pocket and pulled out a flint and steel, not for a moment breaking her glare at Dar.

"As I was saying..." Hayley said, trying to keep the conversation going while lighting the fire.

So much for no taste for talking.

"You WHAT?!"

With one last strike, the flint and steel sent a spark flying into the nether block, and immediately new flame flickered between them.

"What did you do? Did you KILL someone? Are you an assassin?!"

Hayley rolled her eyes. "Shut up, dip wad. If I was a full-time, highly elite, top of the mill trained assassin, your highness would have been such easy prey for me, all alone in the woods like you were, King Coal. We wouldn't be sitting here right now."