Hungry for a Day

He sat at the edge of the alleyway, broken and hungry. This young child, scrawny and tired looking. Wearing only rags and such. He thought to himself that today would be his last day. Just like he had thought the day before. And the one before that. His stomach hurt, growling loudly, begging and pleading for food. But he had none to give to himself. People passed in front of him, ignoring him, just like any other day. Not a single one of them would give him the light of day, nor any of the others sitting on the side of the road who looked similar to him.

            “Fighting at the border! Our king claiming justice and routing incursions swiftly!” The town crier, not far from where the boy sat, yelled out bits of news about the war.

It was because of this war, that the boy was hungry as he was, the boy thought. His parents had passed. No one would take him. No orphanage had any more room or resources to feed or house them. Even in a town like this, with a decent amount of people, not a single person wanted to take on the mantle of taking on another person into their family. It angered the boy, it made him furious. But he saved that anger internally. No use on wasting energy on something he couldn’t do anything about, he thought.

Eventually, the boy got up, and decided to head to the market. Walking for what felt like a long journey for him, he eventually made it to the market in question. Multiple stalls and storefronts were put up, all showing off their harvests, or their hard work, which ever would sell better in their eyes. Though the boy didn’t care for anything that he couldn’t eat. Even if he managed to get something worth money, he wouldn’t be able to sell it for anything as it would be confiscated immediately by the guards. So there was only one option left.

He had to take what he wanted, paying or not.

The boy paused as he looked over the market. The guards that were usually nearby weren’t paying attention to him, choosing to look and lust over the women who were entering and leaving the area. ‘Good,’ he thought to himself as he scouted out a suitable target for today’s pilfering. His legs felt weak, as always. It was hard to look around with people passing in front of him as he looked around.

            “Hey! You there, young lass, come and grab a loaf, and I’ll throw in some free sausage with it!” One of the louder shop keepers yell out, harassing a lady who happened to pass in front of his stall. He heckled her more and more as she just turned her face away and tried her best to ignore him. Though he just kept going at it, trying to get her to buy his bread, one way or another.

For the boy, that was the perfect choice. Someone easily distracted. They wouldn’t be able to quickly catch him. So he did what he always did when he was trying to steal food, he trudged through the crowd as quietly and unnoticed as he could. And as soon as he got within running distance between himself and the stall, he crouched down, setting his eyes on a particularly good looking loaf of bread that was just sitting on the stall.

            “Bah. Fine! Don’t buy my bread, see if I care! Lousy little ska- Hey! Bring that back, right now!” The shop keeper yelled out as the boy dashed forward, taking the bread right from under his nose and running quickly for a nearby alley he knew he could disappear into.

The boy was running with all his might. He could hear the screams of the man behind him, trying to chase him, but running out of breath fairly quickly. It wasn’t long before the screams and breathing stopped, and the boy was sure that the man stopped following him. The alley was right in front of him, so he quickly ducked into it and--

            “Hold it right there, you little thief. You’re not going anywhere with that.” A voice that was right in front of him declared. He had turned into the alley like he was planning, but waiting there was a guard. He had heard the commotion and spotted the boy coming before he even got halfway to the alley. The guard was holding the boy’s wrist, making him drop the loaf, and also preventing the boy from dashing off, though he still struggled in his grip, trying to get loose, even if he knew he didn’t have the strength to do that.

            “Hooh… Whew! Thank you sir, I’m glad you found the boy before he could take my bread.” A familiar voice had said behind the boy. The boy twisted in the guard’s grasp and caught a glimpse, it was the shop keeper. The large man walked over, giving a satisfied glare at the boy as he picked up the loaf, dusted it off, and walked out of the alley with it. Meanwhile, the guard just nodded and watched as the man took his leave.

            “All in a day’s work, sir.” The guard said as the man left his sight. Once the man was gone, the guard looked down to the boy and scowled at him. “Now, you. You’re coming with me. There’s enough of you on the streets as is, so I’m going to make sure there’s one less to deal with.” The guard said as he started to pull the boy with him further down the alley, though the boy resisted with all his might, pulling and twisting in the guard’s grip, but it was no use. They kept going further and further down the alley. Second by second, fear and adrenaline flowed through the boy, though it did him no good. Suddenly, the familiar sound of coins rang out and both the guard and the boy stopped, turning to look at where the noise had come from. Before them was a coin purse, filled with coins of unknown value. They both looked back down the alley they both had been in, towards the street, and saw a man standing there.

Taller than both of them, but slim, and wearing dark leathers. The man seemed to be slightly elven, with pointed ears, but short brown hair. “Let the kid go, would ‘ya?” The man asked the guard, who eyed him, and then the coin purse, and then the man again, and finally the boy.

After a second or two of considering it, the grip on the boy loosened, and he dashed out, past the man and the guard, to the street. Once he turned the corner of the alley, he turned around and looked down it, to make sure he wasn’t being chased, and sure enough, the two of them were just standing there. After a second, the guard walks forward, picks up the coin purse, looks through it, and then pockets it, moving towards the man, not saying a word. The guard purposely hits his shoulder with the man’s, pushing him slightly, and then moving to exit the alley. As he did, the boy hid as the guard walked out, turned left, and continued walking down the street.

            “You should be more careful, kid.”  A voice that appeared beside him said.

It made the boy jump as he fell on his behind, turning to see the man that just helped him out was standing next to him. “I-I, uh, thank… you...” The boy sputtered out, trying to say something with his extremely parched tongue. The man before him smiled.

            “No need to thank me. I’m tired of seeing guards pick on kids like yourself just because you’re trying to live.” The man extended his hand to the boy, waiting for him to grab it.

The boy looked at the hand, then back up to the man’s face, and grabbed it, letting himself be pulled up. At the same time, his stomach growled, as if recognizing he could get more out of this encounter. “Uh… sorry...” The boy apologized, grabbing his stomach as he tried to turn away, but the man grabbed his shoulder, making him stay and face him.

            “Don’t be sorry either. Come with me kid, I’ll feed ya.” The man said, putting his arm around the boy, and pulling him into a walk, in the direction back towards the market. “I should at least get some food in ya after that slick maneuver. You almost pulled it off, too.” He said as they approached the market once more. The boy just looked up at the man, confused.

            “What… do you mean?” The boy asked, not sure what the man was getting at, talking about a ‘maneuver’ or something like that. All he did was snatch a piece of bread. The man laughed.

            “The steal! That bread, I saw you plan it out in your head. Though a tough bit of luck there at the end, it seems.” The man explained, walking up to the same stall he had just stolen from, not more than ten or more minutes ago.

The boy got nervous. “We… shouldn’t buy from here...” He tried to say, as the man eyed the bread before him, reaching out to grab one of the fresher looking loaves.

            “No, no, it’s fine. It’s my treat.” The man said, as he gave a firm stare at the shop keeper who was staring both him and boy down as soon as they walked up. The man slipped the keeper a few shiny coins, and took his loaf, along with the boy, elsewhere. They walked in silence for a while. The man still dragging the boy along by the shoulders, still holding bread in one hand as they walked.

They left the market, and started to go to a sketchier part of the town. Less and less people were walking the street. The boy recognized this part of town, but didn’t know the layout. He tried to avoid it as best as he could, but he couldn’t run this time. Not only had he used up all his energy trying to steal that bread, but he also feared attempting to run from this guy who admitted he watched him try to steal the bread.

            “Alright. We’re here.” The man announced as they stopped in front of a building, with a sign that labeled it as ‘The Risen Phoenix Inn.’ The man and the boy stepped inside, the boy weary of what was to come.

But to the boy’s surprise, inside, it was warm. It smelled heavenly. Food being cooked, the stinging and stinking smell of beer and booze being served, and a handful of bartenders and such strewn about the not-so-populated inn. It felt cozy, which was a long forgotten feeling for the boy.

            “Let’s sit down.” The man said as he pulled the boy to a table, closer to the back of the inn. As they sat down, he handed the bread to the boy. “First off, this is yours. You earned it.” He smiled as he rewarded the boy with the bread.

            “But...” The boy was about to protest.

            “No ‘but’s. You made a plan, executed it, and almost got away with it cleanly. That’s more than some people can do these days.” The man interjected with, cutting down any sort of denial the boy was going to throw at him. “Now eat. I can tell you’ve gone a while without a proper meal. Hey! Helga, get over here, I need to order some food.” He yelled out at the one halfling busing around tankards of beer and food.

            “I’ll get over there when I can!” She just yelled back at him, as she continued to serve the other customers.

            “Right, right. Alright. So, kid. I have to ask you something.” He said as the boy started to rip into the bread loaf, not taking a second to wait for the waitress to come over to them.

            “Hrmm?” The boy perked up and stopped stuffing his mouth, but didn’t swallow before he responded. The man just gave a laugh.

            “Kid. Swallow first.” He said to the boy as he watched him quickly chew and swallow a few times before continuing. “Alright. So, kid. You have talent. I like your style, and I think you would do good to learn some skills to survive in this hard world.” He explained to the boy, who sat there wide eyed, trying to understand what he was getting at.

            “What do you mean?” The boy interjected with, confused.

            “I mean, I want to teach you to live on your own strength. I want you to be my apprentice.” He explained, the boy still seemingly confused.

            “Um… would I get to eat food like this every day?” The boy eagerly asked, holding the bread loaf close to his chest.

The man nodded. The boy just went silent, staring at the man, this man who saved his life about thirty minutes ago. This man had just offered him a way to stop being so hungry. Was there a catch? Did it matter? Thoughts like that swarmed his mind as the two of them sat there, both waiting for one another to say something. The boy was about to open his mouth to say something as the halfling waitress walked up to them.

            “Whaddya’ want, Dema?” She asked the man, with a clear tone of annoyance.

            “Get both of us my usual. Milk for the kid instead of beer, though.” The man said as he turned to give the barmaid his order. Watching her as she walked away, disappearing behind the bar, he spoke up. “So, do you want to eat everyday?”

            “Yes!” The boy nearly yelled out. Of course he would accept. There wasn’t a good reason not to. The man nodded, facing the boy once more.

            “Good, good. So then. I just need one thing from you, your name.” The man explained.

The boy went silent. He sat there with his mouth open, looking as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

            “What’s wrong?” The man asked, waiting for the response that wasn’t coming.

            “I… don’t have a name. I don’t remember my name.” The boy admitted, sinking into his seat, seemingly saddened by that fact.

            “Then how about I give you a name?” The man proposed to the boy.

The boy looked up, his eyes widened, the excitement from before returning to him, he nodded  furiously. The man just smiled as he nodded too, before speaking up.

            “How about Oberon, then? It’s a name of a king. I think it would fit.” The man explained as the food that he had ordered was being brought over by Helga.