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Chapter Five
Petty Theft and Book Buying
They spent several minutes looking over the map, occasionally making a comment. As a large group came to look at the map they moved away and found an out of the way spot to observe from.
“So what do you think?” Sydney found herself asking Sark.
“That your guess of a shared delusional episode would be preferable.” His lips quirked into an almost smile.
“Cute.”
“So you’ve said before.” He casually replied while carefully assessing the crowd.
Before she could snark back at him he told her, “Wait here.” and disappeared into the crowd.
She only had a chance to partially open her mouth and put a hand out before he slipped into the crowd and disappeared from her sight.
She stayed with her hand outstretched not sure what to do. Should she go after him, he might be trying to slip away, but if he wasn’t she didn’t want to leave her spot and risk not being able to find him. Finally she decided it was too late to look for him now, better to wait here. If he came back he came back, if he didn’t then he didn’t. He hadn’t left or tried to hurt her the previous night so maybe he would honour their truce.
Shifting around impatiently, she was starting to get hungry; she heard a vender giving his spiel and shifted closer to listen.
“Get the official, anniversary tour guide and tale of King Wendell’s journey to the 10th Kingdom and back. Read about the places he visited on his historic journey to reclaim his rightful body.”
‘Rightful body?’ Losing interest she rolled her eyes and started to move away, but stopped with the next words.
“Read about the adventures of Tony the valiant and his daughter Virginia the fair. Who traveled with then Prince Wendell back through the magic mirror from the 10th Kingdom, called New York City, to help King Wendell in his historic quest.”
At the words ‘New York City’ she inched closer to get a better look. Several people were purchasing the book and she noticed others in the crowd already looking through a copy. Taking a peak over someone’s shoulder, she felt a presence behind her. Turning she looked right into Sark’s impassive face.
“I though I told you to wait there?” He waved his hand behind him.
“You did.” She shrugged it off, to which his lips quirked again.
She got back to what was important, “We need to get a look at one of these books.”
Raising an eyebrow Sark looked around briefly before going right up to the booth where he handed over something gold and received a book in return.
When he returned to her side she grabbed his sleeve and dragged him out of the crowd and next to a house. “What did you give him?”
“Money.”
“Money? What kind of money?”
He held up a gold coin and looked at it skeptically, “A golden Wendell I believe they’re called.”
Snatching it out of his hand she ignored his affronted expression and examined the coin herself before asking, “And where exactly did you get this?”
He regarded her briefly before enunciating slowly, “I stole it.”
The hand with the coin in it clenched into a fist, “You can’t go around stealing stuff.”
“Why not?” He asked genuinely puzzled. “We’re stuck here without any local currency or any idea how we can leave. I know I’ll need something to eat soon and you wanted this book. What were you planning to do? Read over someone’s shoulder?”
She glared at his expressionless face for awhile before closing her eyes and slumping against the wall behind her. Raising a hand she rubbed the side of her head, this was just too much. Opening her eyes she looked at the houses, the people and finally at Sark who was flipping through the book. Surely she was having a dream, she’d hit her head at the castle and was having a weird dream influenced by the party and the castle’s decorations. A small voice told her if she was dreaming than what harm was there if Sark stole some money, it wasn’t real, right? She needed something to eat and said so, “I’m hungry.”
Sark glanced up from the book and nodded his head to the left, “I saw an establishment in that direction. It appeared to serve food.” He didn’t say anything about her easy capitulation which she was gratefully for, but somewhat uneasy over.
“Lead the way.”
He paused as he turned to glance at her, she was too tired and hungry to analyze his expression, then offered her his arm. Staring at it bemusedly for a moment she mentally shrugged and took the offered arm. ‘Why not.’
She took the book he offered her in return and let him lead the way.
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