Acclayne Book 1: The Game Begins
Chapter 24

Rubbing his calloused fingers along his stubbled chin Alox was the picture of concentration, or at least; confusion. He had promised Stella some sort of compensation for subjecting her to travel by burlap sack, again. As soon as the words tumbled out of his mouth he began to regret them; she could have asked for anything. Clothes, shoes, make-up or heaven forbid; lady products. He was in luck that day; however, and she decided that she would settle for a sizeable portion of cheese. Odd, but he supposed it was strange things you'd find yourself missing in that sort of a situation. At least it was a simple request; cheese was cheese – only apparently it wasn't.

Alox had left his captive – still sulking – in the small room they'd been given, above a quiet pub. Alox had to admit that a safe house that doubled as a pub was quite convenient; especially given the kind of day he was having. He went in search of food alone. Stella had begged him to let her come along; she hadn't seen daylight in so long. He had to remind her that, while he agreed that it might be nice to have the company, she was currently in a state of kidnap and that being allowed to roam around outdoors she was liable to escape. She reluctantly agreed although stayed silent about the fact that she hadn't even thought of escape being an option; he was giving her far too much credit.

Looking around him now he wished that he had brought her along. He hadn't expected so many different shops and stalls; let alone entire stalls dedicated to cheese. Alox, like most of the residents of Corthus, had been brought up to believe that cheese came solely in block form, it was yellow, and it was quite nice in a sandwich. Simple. The stuff on offer in front of him was pre-sliced, sometimes triangular, other times it was even round. Not only that but they were all various places on the orange to white spectrum; here was something that was so white it was translucent and next to it was something that was a bright, obnoxious orange. Nothing even remotely yellow, and he didn't want to even think about that gloopy looking stuff in the pot on the end. He scratched his head through his rapidly thinning hair. Cheese should not be this difficult.

With a little more deliberation and the help of the kindly looking girl behind the counter, he settled for a few thin slices of a number of so called 'cheeses', she could hardly complain about that though he knew that she probably would regardless of the effort. He sighed and shrugged inwardly- there was just no pleasing some people. Cheese acquired; he dabbed at the spittle that had settled into the corners of his mouth. He was quite hungry himself. Bread to go with the cheese wouldn't be a half bad idea, then at least they could share. That's if her lady-ship had finished sulking. His mind, and stomach, now preoccupied by the promise of food; failed to notice the young woman standing beside him and so when he turned around he found himself face to shoulder with her.

“So sorry!” She flustered as he rubbed his nose with the palm of his hand, “I didn't mean to stand so close!”

Alox grumbled, “Yeah, well maybe you wanna think 'bout a person's personal space sometime lady.” The tall red-head smiled sheepishly and he shrugged it off, “no 'arm done though aye.” He couldn't help but think that the slender woman looked familiar; though it was unusual to see such a bedraggled looking person in the Cortharen market. He watched her walk away and join her friend; another woman, significantly smaller and more robust looking who was glaring angrily in his direction. Should he know her? He tried a smile; which she did not return. Geez, some people. He shook his head, young people these days always had such an attitude problem – looking for a fight over the stupidest of things. He looked after them as they walked away; the shorter one leading the red-head. Just thinking about it made him feel old. He'd seen her face before; he knew he had. Shoot, he really was getting old.

He snorted and did his best to shake the sobering thoughts from his head. Those young 'uns didn't matter anyway, he'd more important things to be taking care of: like lunch.

***

“What in The Mother's name are you playing at?!” Alox suddenly found himself pinned to the door of his own room by his neck. He gurgled incoherently as he tried to focus on the face in front of him. Through the blood spots that were clouding his vision he could just about recognise the man's face.

“Gaw, wha' happened to yer face?” he managed to choke out. Where once he had two large dark eyes; he now had one. In place of the other was deeply scarred flesh over an eye that was now drained of all colour and use.

“It is none of your concern.” He snarled as he dropped Alox to the floor and back onto his feet. “Do you realise that you could very well have been seen?”

Alox coughed and attempted to clear his throat, the action was painfully sore. “No one'd recognise me 'ere anyway. 'sides – we needed supplies.” He turned on the angry young man, “You don't want me to be starvin' 'er do ya?”

The young man whirled round at him; his one good eye fixed him with a withering stare and ignoring Alox's comment said: “I found you easily enough my friend.”

“Pah!” Alox barked and as he did so sent a shower of spittle ahead of him, “but it took you this long!”

“The price on your head; I should not want to be found at all; no matter how short or long a time it takes.”

They stood staring at each other for a moment in stalemate. Alox was the first to break the stony silence:

“You got orders from the boss 'en?”

“Stay hidden.”

“Ah yeah, 'elpful that is.”

“A simple order that it seems not even you can manage; it is imperative that you stay concealed.” He handed Alox a small pouch of coins, “somehow I trust this will help.”

“Yeah, well it'll be a lot easier with that kinda motivation.” he grinned a rotten, gap-toothed grin as he weighed the bag in his palm. “What's goin' on 'en? I ain't 'eard anythin' in ages.”

“Nothing to concern yourself with as of yet.”

“Well word is that Cortharen is marching on Corthus. Got anythin' to do with this?” He gestured with his head towards the locked door behind him; to where Stella was no doubt still seething over being man-handled. Yet again.

“All actions will have their consequences.”

Alox scoffed at the vague reply, “You don't 'alf talk some shit.”

“Just stay hidden- I am doing everything I can.” And with that he swept silently down the corridor. Alox knew better than to follow; he'd have disappeared after he'd lost him round the first corner. Slippery bastard. He pocketed the bag of coins. Being paid was always gratifying – especially since he'd been working with minimal funding the last few weeks. His stomach grumbled angrily. He suspected that right now, however; a cheese sandwich was going to be just as gratifying. As he let himself into the room he couldn't help but shake the feeling that things were going to come to a head a lot sooner than he'd expected.

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