The sun had set on Albus' first successful day in the market and he began packing up to head back to his camp in the woods with the stranger. However, when he emerged from the tent with his things, he found a crowd of several men at his shop front.
"Umm...can I help you?"
The men turned to him. One of them pushed past into his booth. "You're the newbie that set up shop today right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, we've got some advice for you. We've been working here for quite some time so we just wanted to make sure you knew not to get cocky just because Mr.Julian took a liking to your work."
Albus instinctively put a hand over his satchel. As if their words weren't proof enough, the expressions on their faces told Albus that they had nothing but ill intent. He was well acquainted with that look. It was the look of a person so blinded by their own selfish desires that they could no longer see reason.
"Don't worry I won't cause any trouble for you." Albus tried to walk past them quickly but was grabbed by one of the men.
"Good. Since you understand that, why don't you provide us with a little payment for being so kind as to deliver you that warning?"
Albus scowled, he tried to pull away but was held firmly in place by the others. "I have nothing to offer you."
One of the men looked down at the satchel that Albus was clinging to for dear life. "You've made a lot of money today, right? Surely you have some to spare. Enough for us to split between me and my buddies here.
"I don't. I have somewhere to be. Please let me through."
"I don't think so, buddy. You're not leaving here without giving us what we want. Now pay up."
Albus had just about enough. He knew that if he let them continue their antics any further, it would only get harder and harder to escape. Albus felt a familiar surge of magical energy. His fingers curled into his palms, skin dulling into a stony grey as it became cold and solid. Before any of them could see it coming Albus swung his now stone fist right into the face of the man that held him captive. For the split second that everyone froze in shock, Albus took the opportunity to start sprinting out of the marketplace.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn't long before the sound of angry shouting and the footsteps of the men chasing after him became apparent. A distinct sense of deja vu dawned upon Albus. Just a few months ago he felt the same burning in his chest as he ran, the same weakness in his legs as he pushed them further than they could take him. He made a mental note that he needed to work on his stamina so that he wouldn't find himself in these situations as often. When his lungs screamed at him to stop, he forced himself to ignore them, but he couldn't keep it up for long. Before he could make it out of the marketplace, he was yanked to the ground by his hair. The rest of the night was a blur, but he remembered the unmistakable feeling of knuckles against his fists and feet ramming into his stomach and next thing he knew, he saw black.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Albus woke up to the feeling of someone standing over him. His eyes snapped open when a finger found its way to his cheek. He turned his head to see whoever it was who was poking him to find the "friendly" face of the stranger staring back at him.
"Oooohhh! Sleeping beauty is finally awake!"
Albus' head pounded. It hurt more when he opened his eyes completely. He rubbed his face, pushing himself onto his elbows as a strained groaned topped itself from his throat. "What...happened?"
"You tell me. I found you unconscious in the market. A group of guys ran once I showed up. All your money was gone and there was blood everywhere."
"Oh...shit..." Disappointment sunk into his aching body as he lay back down.
Stranger sighed. They moved over to a corner of the tent where the clothes that Albus was in the night before were folded neatly. The stranger pulled something from the pocket of Albus' pants and walked back over to him.
"Well. On the bright side, it looks like they didn't have any time to steal everything, what with me showing up and all so only the money in your satchel was stolen. You still have this."
Stranger pressed the gold lunair into Albus' hand. It seemed to cheer him up. As he looked at the crescent-shaped coin, he felt a strange sense of relief wash over him. He didn't think that a simple coin, from a man he'd never said one word to in his life, would provide so much comfort. Then again, that man was his father after all. Albus raised the coin to the stranger.
"None of the other coins I've seen are like this. Where is it from?"
The stranger looked at it and hummed in response. "Solaria I think. It's way north of Noblesse."
Albus knew he wouldn't be able to return to the marketplace. He couldn't risk something like that happening again. The stranger seemed to realize what Albus was thinking.
"If you don't want to go back, you could always take the travelling merchant route. If the coin fascinates you so much you could travel to the country. Of course, I wouldn't be coming with you since I'm headed in the opposite direction."
Albus thought for a moment. It's not like he had a home per say and with no family to really take care of him, he was no better than a drifter at this point. Being able to travel and share his art did seem like a much better option than staying in Nobelesse and being targeted like that again.
"I guess this is where we say goodbye then."
The stranger smiled. "I guess so. It was nice knowing ya Al."
"Before you go...I know you've always been real dodgy every time I asked for your name these past few months, but I'd still really like to know the name of the person who kept me alive all this time."
The stranger rubbed his neck bashfully. "Well, when ya ask like that...fine. You can call me Red."
Albus had a sneaking suspicion that "Red" wasn't his real name, but it was still something.
"Well then, thanks for the good times Red."
ns 15.158.61.40da2
