The Thief and the Swordsfrog Chapter 2
By Silent Elegy
The captain of the King’s knights was bored. He was fine with peace;
peace was good. His brother was certainly happy. But to be sent on a mission
to an abandoned castle that may or may not even be there… The captain
felt that the king was no longer allowing him to use his full potential.
He also felt that it was Sir Frog’s fault.
Frog was a good enough soldier, a fine fighter. But he was a frog. The
King’s Champion should not be a frog. The wielder of Masamune should
not be a frog. The Hero of legend should not be a frog. Not that the captain
was bitter; oh no. He just felt cheated. He felt that were entirely too many
Mystics taking the jobs of hard working people. Frog said he wasn’t
a Mystic, but the captain didn’t quite believe that.
Thus it was that he sat at the bar in the Broken Knife in Porre, waiting
for the ship that would take him to the abandoned castle to finally be ready.
He sat, drowning his troubles in a tankard of beer. An empty tankard beer.
“Bartender,” he began, then stopped when he saw a rat’s tail
disappear behind the bar. “Bartender, don’t you keep this place
clean? I just saw a rat!”
“Ye got something against rats?” said a giant rat as it poked its
head above the counter.
The knight captain jumped back and reached for his sword.
“Well, apparently so,” Rat went on. “Humanist,” she muttered,
dropping back down behind bar.
The knight captain recovered his aplomb. “Forgive me. I hadn’t
expected to see, well…” he trailed off.
“G’on and say it,” said Rat. “A giant rat. S’what
I is. And I’s proud of it, too.” Rat set a rag on the counter behind
the bar. “You wants another drink or not?”
“Will you be poring it?” The captain barely kept the acid out of
his voice. It wasn’t that he had anything against non-humans. It was
just that this was a rat!
“Yah, you gots a problem? Gerald’s in back while you was drinking
you’self stupid.”
“I beg your pardon!” the knight captain exclaimed.
“You hearded me! I ain’t gots no respect for a soldier what drinks
when he’s on duty.”
The knight captain stood up, ready with a sharp retort. However, one of the
soldiers under his command interrupted him. He sighed. “What is it?”
“Sir, the ship is ready,” the young man said importantly.
“Very well.” He started to leave, but turned back to Rat.
“We’ll settle this another time.”
“I’ll be waitin’ fer ya’s,” Rat called after him.
“Dang, I tell ya’s…” Rat continued to mutter unintelligibly
about humans who thought they were the top of the food chain, much to the
amusement of the other patrons of the bar.
“Didja get his wallet, Rat?” someone called out.
“What do I look like? A common thief?” Rat yelled back with
mock-indignation as she displayed the knight captain’s belt pouch. An
eruption of laughter ensued, followed by bets on how long it took the captain
to notice.
“Rat, how many times have I told you? If-” Gerald began, coming
out the back room.
“If I’m gonna steal, do it outside,” Rat finished. “And
several. If I’m not mistaken, you telled me just yesterday when I filched
that one guy’s family heirloom.”
Gerald sighed. He loved Rat, but he wished she wasn’t such a kleptomaniac.
It wasn’t even something he had taught her to do. In fact, he had done
his best to keep her from stealing from other people, but to no avail. He
finally decided that the best he could do was to discourage her from stealing
within the walls of the Broken Knife. It seemed that to him that it was just
a rat’s way, to steal.
“Well, are you ever going to listen to me?” he asked.
“I only does it when they deserves it,” she muttered, picking up
her rag and continuing to dry the glasses.
The knights stood on the deck of ship gazing at a fairly dismal sight. There
had been a castle all right, just as Frog had said. It was so old, it
couldn’t have been built recently, but the knight captain knew it
hadn’t been there a few weeks ago and no one had been seen building
anything over here.
The castle was in a state of ruin. It had completely collapsed into itself.
The soldiers made a thorough search of it, but as expected, they found nothing.
Disgruntled, they returned to the castle.
“There’s nothing there save ruins, your highness,” the knight
captain was saying to the King. Frog shook his head, slightly. The castle
had still been mostly intact when he’d left it, despite the collapse
of the basement ceiling. Something very strange was going on.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” the king asked everyone
in general. “Maybe the castle just took a while to collapse
completely.”
“No, highness. The ruin wasn’t the least bit recent. It even had
quite a bit moss growing over it.” He leaned close and said quietly,
“If you don’t mind, highness, I’d like to speak with you
privately.”
The king nodded and they walk out of earshot. Or rather, they walked out
of earshot of any normal humans. But Frog, like all frogs, had incredibly
keen hearing.
“Highness, no disrespect intended, but I think Frog made it up,”
said the knight captain.
“What? Why would he do that?”
“Well, highness, what with the war being over, there’s not much
reason for him to be here anymore. He could be doing this just to feel
needed.”
The king raised his hands. “No, I won’t hear of it. Sir Frog
wouldn’t do anything like this. I’ve known him for over 10 years
now.”
“Yes, sir. But still, I’ve known no few people who’ve manufactured
enemies just to feel that they were doing something. Some of them didn’t
even realize it was their imagination.”
Frog was hard-pressed not to argue with the knight captain. He knew what
he’d seen, and he had a witness to prove it. But no one here knew how
good his hearing and eyesight were, and he wanted to keep it that way. He
was glad when the king called an end to the conversation and dismissed the
captain.
The king sighed. “Frog, are you absolutely certain of what you
experienced?”
“Aye, highness,” Frog answered emphatically. “I cannot have
faked such an injury to mine leg. And there was Rat as well.”
“This is very strange. I want to know this Rat’s story. Do you
think you can find her?”
“I shall try, highness.” Frog kneeled, glad that his leg had healed
so he could again, and left.
.