Chapter 6

Peyton rapped his hand on the wooden door several times.

“Ma! It’s me! Peyton!” Peyton shouted.

They were greeted by silence. Jason looked around, giving off discrete coughs to point out how awkward the situation was. Suddenly Peyton snapped out from his thoughts as he shouted.

“Put the pan down Ma! Jason here is my friend!”

The door immediately opened to reveal Ma, she was old, at least fifty and looked incredibly tired. She looked so thin that her collarbones were sticking out like some sort of celtic necklace, her clothes grey and somber looked surprisingly neat and clean for someone so poor. But her eyes told a different story, they showed hardness and fierceness like no other. Her expression was as stony as her eyes,

“Peyton Leek! Where have you been! You were supposed to be home an hour ago! If I wouldn’t know any better I would have thought you dead! Now run inside and clean up!”

Ma spewed thunder down on his son while Peyton did what any sensible man would have done, shoulders hunched, eyes down, he silently hurried past her mother. Ma, after making sure Peyton was far enough inside, turned back to address Jason.

“Thank you for bringing my son home safe, I was really worried that something happened to him. Please, come inside, we just had lunch.”

Her gaze showed honest gratitude towards Jason and what could he do? Without further ado he entered the house. It was quite tidy inside, a kitchen and dining room, with three bedrooms to the side. Jason could just make out Peyton running behind the kitchen to another room.

“Please sit down.” Ma said, walking past him.

Jason took a seat along the table, a pretty cloth with little patterns covered the thing while beautifully painted clay plates were placed on display above on a shelf.

Peyton rushed back in to the room, clutching the gold to his chest.

“Ma! Ma! Look what I have!” Peyton exclaimed as he dumped the contents of the bag on the table.

Ma’s eyes went wide as she saw the pile, she was drying at a wooden sink when she saw the treasure on the dining table, she dried her hands in a dishtowel before quickly running over to Peyton and Jason.

The coins glittered with an unearthly beauty, enchanting everyone as they sat there. Tears formed on Ma’s eyes as she slowly took one from the pile before biting on it with her teeth, only then did she let the tears flow.

“Girls come quick!” Ma cried out.

Three beautiful girls rushed out from the bedrooms, all wore simple clothes but their beauty was still obvious. Blonde hair for all three, they looked quite similar to each other. Upon seeing the gold they immediately rushed over to the table and stared stupefied at the coins. They started to cry as well next to their mother and soon all four of them were sobbing and hugging each other. Finally the eldest (Jason assumed the eldest because she was the tallest) managed to ask.

“Where did you get it Ma?”

Ma shook her head “Peyton over here just brought it a minute ago.”

All eyes turned to Peyton asking the same answer. Peyton grinned proudly

“I won it!”

“You won it?” her Ma asked incredulously “But how?”

Peyton pointed at Jason, who was smiling quite fiercely, and said

“From him!”

All eyes in the room turned towards Jason, curious about the strange man who walked into their abode.

“Well you see ladies.” Jason said “I was at a fine establishment, The Olde Oyster I’m sure you’ve heard of it, being rich and bored. I thought to myself, why not have a wager with the patrons of the bar? So I announced to them whoever could scratch me may take this bag of gold as their reward.”

He was really getting used to these stares by now.

Ma was the first to recover.

“Did you really go to The Olde Oyster?” she cried, outraged.

“Aghh no!” Peyton scrammed as her mother ran after him, waving her hands in the air threateningly.

This snapped the girls out of their stupor and they all burst out laughing, it was a rather pretty sound, Jason thought. The eldest, (tallest whatever) spoke up,

“Thank you for giving us such an amazing gift.” She smiled.

Jason nodded “My pleasure.”

The other two sisters were a bit shy but nevertheless introduced themselves as Illios and Gwandere, as for the older sister,

“My name is Nasha. Pleased to meet you, what is your name?” Nasha said

By now all three of them have taken a seat, it ruined the effect of a friendly conversation as there was a mountain of gold in the way but nevertheless they managed.

“My name is Jason, it’s nice to meet Peyton’s family.” Jason said

“Did you really challenge everyone at The Olde Oyster?” Gwandere asked

Jason chuckled “Unfortunately yes, money does things to a man I’m afraid.”

“It must have been awfully scary.” Illios said.

“Yes it was.” Jason replied.

Just then an angry looking Ma came in with a dejected looking Peyton being dragged by the ear behind her. Ma pushed Peyton in front before glaring at him.

Peyton mumbled under his breath “I’m sorry for stealing your gold.”

A look of confusion passed between the girls however Jason simply said.

“Ma’am, Peyton did not cheat in the duel, he won the gold fair and square. He just used his brain instead of his muscles.”

Ma was surprised at this “But surely my son didn’t conduct himself properly and attacked you while you were busy fighting others.”

Jason sighed “No ma’am, he did what any smart man would have done and I’m more than happy to give this to him.”

The girls let out a collective breath, they didn’t want to see a chance to a better life sail away from their grasp when it was right in front of them.

“On the contrary, I believe you need this money more than I do, Peyton told me about your current situation with the Thief King.”

The mood in the house immediately darkened. The girls fidgeted in their seats while Ma said, with all previous kindness gone.

“Sir, if you’re here to loan this money to us then I’m afraid we must refuse, please take it and show yourself out the door.”

Jason was truly exasperated now, was it really that hard to give money away freely? Nevertheless he forged ahead.

“Ma’am, I know that you’ve had a hard life and believe that anything that is too good to be true is, I tell you that this money,” he pointed theatrically “Right here, is given by me,” more pointing “To your family” even more pointing “With no strings attached.” Jason finished.

Ma however was still suspicious.

“Fine!” Jason snapped. Around the family mountains upon mountains of gold coins appeared everywhere. On the floor, on the bench top, on the seats, there was even gold sticking out of the other rooms.

“If I wanted gold I would only have to wish for it!” Jason cried.

However Ma didn’t hear him. She was too busy fainting.

“Ma!” Nasha cried hurrying over to her fallen mother.

Jason sighed. “I’m truly sorry for my behavior.” And all the gold vanished except the original stack. While the sisters tried to wake Ma up, Jason said to Peyton.

“Get the gold you need and put it back in the bag, we’re going to visit the Thief King.”

Peyton nodded, counted out a handful of gold coins, placed it into the now severely deflated bag and walked out the door with Jason.

They walked in uncomfortable silence for a while before Jason sighed and stopped.

“Look kid, I’m sorry for blowing up back there, it wasn’t right of me.”

Peyton simply shrugged his shoulders “I’m not that worried, I think it’s okay considering what you’re doing for us.”

“Thanks kid, means a lot to me.” Jason replied.

They continued in silence, however the silence now was sort of companionable. They walked down worse and worse streets as Peyton led them towards the Thief King. More and more people started to appear as well, but judging from their appearance, they didn’t get the memo stating what you need to be considered human.

Drunkards with hideous diseases were passed out everywhere, hobos with mushrooms growing behind their ears stared at the duo with glass eyes while thieves missing fingers and teeth sized them up, while stroking all manner of sharp implements. Rats moved about in swarms, devouring dead bodies in minutes, but they stayed well away from the main streets, or what could be passed off as streets. The buildings grew taller and narrower, hiding the grey sky almost completely, giving everything a damp and dark atmosphere.

Eventually they arrived to the outskirts of the town, there was a half sunken shipwreck in a nearby swamp, at first it seemingly looked deserted however Jason noticed a couple of figures near a hole in the hull.

“Okay.” Peyton said, “The King lives in that ship over there, you should wait here, he doesn’t like strangers.”

Jason simply smiled while his appearance changed. He now looked twenty years older and as hard as leather, his eyes piss yellow, his hair thin and straggly, knives decorated the entirety of his back. His smile turned into something horrifying as his teeth turned black and yellow, some even disappeared completely.

Peyton looked upon the transformation in fear, who was this strange man that summoned money and changed his appearance on command? He was getting ready to bolt when the same voice told him.

“Don’t worry it’s me kid. I just turned into someone a Thief King would be best friends with. Now let’s meet that son of a bitch.”