© J.B. Norman — Published by Emona Literary Services™
“Oh, geez,” Prima groans, glancing at her sister as the large, angry man tromps inexorably across the tavern. “He knows you stole his wallet. He’s coming this way.”
“I have a plan,” Vera announces and reaches for a glass on the bar.
With a deft flick of her wrist, she launches the contents at the advancing large, angry man. In hindsight, she isn’t sure what she expected to happen, but it’s clear that it didn’t.
“Why did you think splashing a glass of water on him would stop him?” Prima exclaims, grabbing her twin.
“I was open to the possibility that he’s actually made of sugar…” Vera mutters.
“GO!” Prima tells her sister, bolting for the door and dragging Vera behind her.
“Oh, you crazy kids!” the man bellows, vainly shaking his fist in the doorway as Prima and Vera disappear into the night. “With your thieving and your splashing! I hope you stub your toes every three minutes for the rest of your lives!”
The Elf twins duck into an alley to hide, catch their breaths, and count out the money in the stolen wallet.
“Ugh,” Vera says, shaking out the few meagre coins in the wallet. “This sucks.”
She slumps against the wall of the alley.
“You know how they say nothing ventured, nothing gained?” she muses. “This is the opposite of that — something ventured, nothing gained. Steal the wallet from a dude who looks like he could crush pumpkins with his bare hands, have to run for our lives, and all we have to show for it is —”
She pauses to count.
“— one, two, three. Five. Eight. Twelve coins,” she says. “Well, I guess the wallet itself is kinda nice.”
“We could trying selling the wallet at the leatherworks,” Prima offers. “It might be worth something.”
“I wish we had parents,” Vera mutters.
“Yeah,” Prima says. “Me, too.”
“Or at least, like, a rich, crazy uncle who could take care of us,” Vera continues. “With maybe a weird scar on his face, or an eye, patch, or something.”
Prima stares at her sister.
“What?”
“What?” Vera asks defensively. “You know, like in a fairy tale? Adorable orphans discover their long-lost rich, crazy uncle? And then he’s a wizard?”
“Vera,” Prima says with a sigh. “There are no fairy tales where that happens.”
Vera shrugs.
“Yeah, it might be getting a bunch of different ones all jumbled up together,” she concedes.
Her stomach growls.
“Come on. I’m hungry. And we’ve got at least enough to buy something warm for dinner,” she says. “And — Uh oh.”
“Hey!” a familiar voice booms through the night. “You two! Gimme back my wallet!”
“Go!” Prima cries to her sister. “Go, go, go!”
“I have a plan,” Vera announces and reaches for a glass on a nearby crate.
Prima cannot believe what she is seeing.
“That didn’t work the first time! Why did you think that would work now?”
She throws her hands up in disbelief.
“And why is there even a glass of water here?”
More Realmgard Short Scenes here.
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