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Prompt: Knight.
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William Beverley was not a pleasant-looking young man. He was the sort of young man that little old ladies’ glared at in the street, that small children stayed away from, and just by looking, could make almost anybody feel uncomfortable.
He had shoulder-length, scraggly brown hair that looked like it had never seen a comb, and if it did, would probably eat it in seconds. His eyes were shifty and sunken-in, and his skin was pale, except for his almost-permanently sun-burned nose. He had several piercings on his face; Ears, nose, lip, brow, and generally dressed in non-descript, grubby clothing. And his face was set into a permanent frown.
William could generally be found at work, at the corner store appropriately titled the Pitt’s Stop, sitting behind the counter and listlessly gazing out the little window that showed the (usually-empty) street outside.
Quite possibly the most unusual thing that William ever saw outside the window was the horse.
He’d been sitting behind the counter as usual, lounging about in the plastic folding chair that by that point was almost a part of him, staring out the window through partly closed eyelids and wondering if it was possible for a day to be more depressingly-boring.
Then a rider on horseback just calmly rode past the window.
William briefly wondered if he hadn’t made a mistake. There was, as far as he knew, no place to rent a horse within miles, and in any case, somebody with a horse probably wouldn’t be riding it in some dirty city street.
The bell over the front door jingled as somebody opened it. William hastily sat up straight to get a good look. His eyes widened very slightly as he saw that the customer, a young boy apparently in his mid-teens, had a sheath attached to his belt. A sheath that definitely appeared to have a sword resting in it.
“Um.” The young boy said.
“Yes? May I help you?” William said. He couldn’t stop staring at the young boy. He would have looked like any other teenaged boy if it weren’t for the sword, which was probably fake, but there was something bizarre about his presence that William couldn’t ignore.
He was somewhat small, short and narrow, but not exactly shrimpy somehow. He had dark eyes of some color William couldn’t determine, short, straight, chocolate-brown hair and was dressed in a faded brown jacket, jeans, and plain dirty white sneakers, while carrying around beat-up old back-pack.
“Got any water?” The young boy asked.
“We’ve got water bottles on the shelf over there.” William waved his hand in the general direction of said shelf. The young boy briefly glanced in that direction, but still seemed troubled.
“Look, I know you probably won’t be able to help me, but I need a s**t-ton, uh, a lot of water. It’s for my horse.”
William stared at him. The young boy’s expression as he said this didn’t seem to be one of embarrassment, or a barely-controlled grin, like any other teenaged boy playing a prank. Instead he seemed… resigned somehow.
“Would you stop ******** staring at me?” The young boy said in a monotone voice. In the exact same tone, he hurriedly mumbled, “Er, sorry.”
“We have the big sort used for water coolers, but I think you’re going to need a water trough.” William said matter-of-factly. “Which we don’t have, I’m afraid.”
“Listen, I’m not bull-shitting you, OK? I can show you my horse, and she hasn’t gotten a proper drink or food in ages. Can’t you please help me somehow?”
William gave him a long look, despite the earlier demand to stop staring. After several moments, he finally said, “Kid, you have got to be either pulling a stupid prank, or you’re a lunatic. One of the two.”
“I’m not a god-damn lunatic!” The young boy burst out, then he shrank back. “I think.” He muttered. “Anyway, I’m not trying to pull a stupid ******** prank.”
“Ri-i-i-ght.” William muttered. “Would this horse be the same one I saw outside?”
The young boy nodded. “That’s Edotaris. Please, I know this is weird, but we’re really tired and hungry and…” He trailed off. “Anyway, I just need to get some water, and I’ll figure something out.”
William felt rather sorry for him, but had no idea how to help. “Fine, I’ll go get a cooler-sized bottle, but you better be able to pay for it.”
“I can pay for it.” The young boy said firmly.
William heaved out a hefty-sized bottle of water, and dropped it onto the counter. The young boy shrugged off his backpack and began to dig around in it.
“Who are you?” The word’s flew out of William’s mouth before he could stop them.
The young boy looked up from his backpack, and seemed to glare at him. “I’m Mike.” He said with a sigh.
“Look, you came in here demanding water for a horse named Edo-something-or-other, you claimed to be probably not crazy, and you’re wearing a god-damned sword. What the hell is going on?” William regretted asking, knew that the young boy, Mike, would probably just leave after buying the water, but...
With a frustrated look of despair, Mike said in an extremely tense voice. “It’s a long story… but the gist of it is that I’m a knight.”
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