This Is My Town

Chapter Seven ~ Rye

Rye was furious. Who were these men to just come in and demand money from him in three days that Rye had to have been working a whole lifetime to come up with? This was his home, and they couldn't just kick him out when they needed a new piece of land. That was ridiculous! They knew that Rye would never come up with one hundred gold pieces in three days, which was why they set the limit to that level. Now, it had been a week, and he had been evicted. He needed to be out in a week's time, and he had that seven days to move all of his belongings out. He would have no home, no money and nowhere to put his gear. He couldn't believe this.

What did they expect him to do? People hardly needed weapons in a place like Longreach, and Magnos knew this. He was young and alone in an old, dirty shop working for ten gold coins a week at the most. And that wasn't working out for him either. If there was some kind of way that he could get one hundred gold coins or more to give Magnos and Vossler before the week ended, then maybe; just maybe, he might be able to get his shop back. In his back room, he had axes, swords, hammers and shovels of all lengths, widths and sizes. There were so many that he could hardly fit in the damn room anymore. If he hadn't been working so hard, then he would have been thinner and he would have been able to fit through the iron lodged in the walls and cupboards, but because of his muscular body, he was unable to enter the room. Not that he needed to, anyway. All of the armour and weapons he had crammed back there were uselessly made because he was to be evicted in under a week. Where the hell was he supposed to put all of that stuff? It was valuable, yes, which was why he couldn't just put it out on the street for people to come and take when they pleased. He needed money as much as the next man, woman or child did. But he couldn't get what he needed in the time it was due in, so he may as well have just left Longreach behind him when he had the chance. Now, not even he could escape it.

Sighing heavily, Rye left the shop and sat out on the front porch in the one wooden chair he had and stretched his legs out in front of him, placing his hands over his chest as he leaned back, just getting comfortable when all of a sudden-

"-Open the gates!" a loud, piercing cry shouted, and Rye sat bolt upright in his chair, his head flipping around like a wild goat that had just caught the scent of its hunter. There was a loud, grinding sound that made Rye cringe, and he stood to get a better look. He looked out to his right and leant over on his porch to see the town's gate slowly moving up to allow sight at what lay on the other side.

Rye nearly lost his breath. On the other side of the gate was exactly what he needed. An army.

Well, it was a collection of about seventy or so men who looked beat and worn. Their armour was dented and their weapons were destroyed. They looked annoyed, upset and furious, but also hopeful. And Rye, all of a sudden, knew what had happened.

The men were following top secret orders, obviously, and had been heading for their destination when they were ambushed. It happened a lot, but the men never really bought much from Rye as they passed. These men, however, would not be passing through unless they hadn't met their destination yet, and when the gates were raised for a group like that, it meant only one thing. They were planning to stay a few hours and then keep on going once they were prepared.

The men came on through the gate and Rye could see children peeking through their parents legs to see the men pass, beat and worn. He glanced up the road and saw that they were headed straight for the Inn; food, no doubt. They looked not tired, but defeated. Some wine ought to lift their spirits, and the family that owned the Inn would be happy to oblige for some coin.

Rye stepped back and sank back into his chair, kicking his legs up as he saw Magnos heading straight for his blacksmith. He was storming for it, and Rye simply hid the smirk that threatened to spread over his lips at what he knew was about to be said as he closed his eyes.

"You are not to give those men new armour and weapons," he snapped when he reached the front porch, and Rye opened one eyelid, peering at Magnos incredulously.

"You are an odd one," he decided, his deep, gruff voice rolling over Magnos in waves. Magnos steamed.

"Do not even think about it!" he squeaked. "You are evicted, remember? They do not have the amount of coin you need to even pay for half of your debt, so you will not give-"

"Ahem."

Rye opened his second eye and peered over Magnos' shoulder. He sighed when he saw who it was.

"Look," he began. "I cannot help you and your men. My manager has shut down my shop and I cannot sell anything. Forgive him for his... inhumane ways. He does not know what it is like to hold a weapon, let alone use one." Magnos glared at Rye as he leaned back in his chair again, but Rye simply lifted his eyebrows, shrugged as if to say 'So? It's true' and closed his eyes again. "If you want to discuss armour, I suggest not talking to him either."

The General of the soldiers crossed his arms over his chest, examining Magnos with cold eyes.

"I do not have time for such nuisances," he spat at Magnos, then turned to Rye, his expression solemn as Magnos scampered away quickly. "My men need new weapons and armour, and I am willing to pay good coin to suffice for this. Do we have a deal?" When the General held out a bloated bag of coins, Rye stretched his hand out and shook the General's immediately.

"Take what you need; the back room is full of steel and iron weapons. New chest plates should not be hard to locate either."

"Thank you," the General said in reply, and handed the coin over. Rye didn't think he had ever held this amount in his lifetime; not even all the coin he had ever had combined could add up to this amount.

The General and his men came back into the blacksmith not an hour later to get what they needed, and multiple men approached Rye to tell him how strong and sturdy his weaponry was. Rye, of course, had thanked them every time until the last of them disappeared to the other side of Longreach, their business now completed.

Rye took the bag of gold into his shop, closed the door and then tipped it out on the ground. Counting it didn't take long, but it was the best feeling in his life when he counted one hundred and twenty gold pieces in total. This was... this was all he could ever have hoped for. And it came just in time, too. He would pay the one hundred that he owed to Magnos and Vossler, and then he would have that twenty left over to start his new life. It would begin by him getting rid of all the armour and weapons he had left over in his shop, then he would work on slowly upping his business by advertising himself here and there. Hopefully, the men from the party that just went through the town will have put good use to those weapons and armour, and would talk good about it when they completed their mission, and that would be all Rye needed to get a head start.

Shoving all the gold back into the satchel at the sound of footsteps on his porch, Rye chucked the bag on his bench, leaving out the twenty gold pieces that he was to keep to himself on the bench by the sealed and barred window to his left.

He approached the door and grabbed a sword from beside its frame, taking slow and gentle steps. He knew it wasn't Vossler or Magnos, because their footsteps were too heavy to be this person. These steps were light, gentle and careful. Almost as if they were sneaking.

Break in, Rye told himself, and clutched his steel sword tighter, keeping his palm on the door's surface, readying himself for when he saw the handle twist.

But before that could happen, he heard a loud thump, followed by a short cry of pain that cut off almost immediately. It was definitely a woman, alright, but was she really a thief? I mean, aren't all thieves... discreet? They don't usually trip over when they're about to break into someone's shop or home, so who the hell was this?

Then he heard it. Limping. The sound was getting closer; this woman was hurt. But it didn't sound like she fell very hard. What the hell was going on here? Perhaps it was one of the locals, come to buy something. But Rye knew that was impossible; they wouldn't come that soon after the party of soldiers passed through. That was just... unrealistic.

Then, there was a loud knocking on the door that made Rye jump and drop his sword, hearing it clatter to the ground loudly. But the knocking became more frequent, and more desperate.

So, rather cautiously, Rye opened the door.