Page 13 of Danny's Dance

Chapter Eight - Redistributor

“Why did you run?”I asked curiously, eyeing Darren. I had always wondered what made him abandon his post, but then again, who was I to talk? When trouble came knocking on our doorstep, in the form of my two friends and an angry army, I had chosen to flee withthem.

“Disagreements with my oldman.”

“About?”

Darren squinted, an amused look on his face. “You sure arenosey.”

“I’m damn well nosey. You’ve been missing for over two years. People have been speculating and wondering what happened toyou.”

“What are they saying?” he asked, looking genuinelycurious.

I glanced at Regan and JP, wondering if it was a good idea to tell the prince exactly what the people had been saying about him. Maybe I should start off with a small rumour and build up tothe...

“T-That your father m-murdered you. That you are s-secretly transforming into a g-girl. That you went a-absolutely bonkers,” JP summed up, listing all the crazy rumours on his fingers. I grinned. No going easythen.

“Those are...Interesting.”

“Not as interesting as the truth. That the future king is squatting near the Woods of Erald and assassinatingtravellers.”

Darren shrugged as he picked at his shirt. “I don’t actually kill people.Usually...”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You sure? Your shurikens saidotherwise.”

“Hey, if I wanted you dead, you would be ten feet under by now,” he defended himself, looking rather insulted. Apparently being called a poor shot was much more offensive than being called an assassin.Men...

“N-Not to be pissy, but c-can we get out of h-here? I’m getting cold,” JP mumbled, a shiver running along his body as he watched the woods behind us. I watched the wind blow through the leaves and branches, making it look like the trees were trying to grab us. Yeah, leaving this place didn’t sound like a bad idea atall.

With our arms full of dry branches and twigs, we made our descent back to our abandoned barn. I wondered if inviting Darren to join for dinner was a bad idea, but then again... Couldn’t leave the young prince starving, right? He had jumped on the free meal and judging from his looks, it had been a while since he had some properfood.

“Aren’t you a little bit young to be an assassin?” Regan asked, twirling the knife he took from Darren between hisfingers.

Darren sighed. “I’m not anassassin.”

“What would you call your... Line of workthen?”

“Redistributor?” Darren suggested, making JP snort. Regan disapprovingly clacked his tongue, but didn’t say anything further. After all, we had done some “redistributing” of our own in thepast.

“So how old are you?Twenty?”

“I’m twenty-one!” Darren declared, puffing up hischest.

“Really? You look younger...” I answered, studying him carefully. He certainly didn’t look a hair over twenty. I racked my brains, trying to remember how old the prince was actually supposed tobe.

“Okay, I’m almost twenty-one.”

“R-Really?” JP asked, doubt colouring hisvoice.

“Fine, I’ve just turned nineteen, happynow?”

Regan frowned his forehead. “My question stands. Why are you robbingpeople?”

“Got to eat somehow, don’t I?” Darren snapped, trying to grab his knife fromRegan.

“Didn’t bring any riches from your treasury?” Regan scoffed, his disdain for the crownshowing.

Darren scoffed just as hard. “Daddy doesn’t really fund my... “lifestyle”, if you know what Imean.”

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