Minstrel

Chapter #31 ~ Riptide

Riptide didn't know what he was doing. Really, what had been thinking when he had followed Creak and finally showed his face? Had he really thought she would be happy to see him? That she would accept him like no one else before her had?

First his father had threw him away to be someone else's problem. Then the king himself had taken one look at him and locked him in a room for six years. And now Creak. He saved her life and she hadn't even said thank you. She wouldn't even look at him!

The group Rip was now traveling with was the weirdest he had even been a part of. A crazy girl, a dying man, creepy twin elves, a friendly lost elf, and Rip, an abandoned boy. Yep, defiantly the weirdest group he had been a part of. And yet he still didn't fit in. Still he found himself the unwanted outcast.

It was strange to think about. Rip, a fearless knight, a man who had nothing left to lose, just wanted to be important to someone. He shook his head as he thought back to when he had first traveled to Riverfall.
The knights in his regiment had been teasing him about not having a woman in his life. They all knew he easily could find a fair lady to marry him, but he never made any advances. All he wanted was to be important and cared about, but he had never gotten close enough to anyone for that to happen. He always kept himself at a distance from others because he knew they would just hurt him.

Yet, here he was wanting to get close to Creak, but not really knowing how. It didn't matter though because she would never care about him. How could she? He had been a minion of the king. A king who wanted her killed.

Riptide tripped over a stick and stumbled out of his thoughts. He almost fell, but a strong arm pulled him back onto his feet.

Creak's friend, Vern, smiled at him. They stood eye to eye and shared the same toned, lean build. Other than that their features were completely different. While Rip's eyes were ever changing, Vern's stayed the same muddy brown. Vern's hair was a mess of reddish-brown curls and Rip's was a spiked, wavy sea of black.

Rip gave the elf a nod. "Thanks."

Vern grinned and shook Rip's hand. "I'm Vern. It's nice to meet a different friend of Creak's."

Rip narrowed his eyes. The guy was so friendly that it threw him off.
Rip didn't know whether to hug the him or run. "Umm. We're not really friends, but uh. Yeah." He shook Vern's hand. "I'm Riptide."

"Sweet." Vern grinned. "I've never met a human my age... well not exactly my age, seeing as elves live way longer than humans. But, I mean we look the same age. You're what? Sixteen or so? Yeah if I were a human I would about sixteen."

Rip really felt like running. This guy was crazy nice. Rip had never met anyone who liked him enough to talk to him for more than a few minutes. He felt if he didn't find a way out soon he would be stuck talking to Vern for hours.

"So you were a king's knight right?" Vern sounded way too intrigued.

Rip looked ahead of them and at the rest of their group. Aria was leading with Core carrying Stans and Creak following close behind. He didn't have a way out of talking to Vern.

"Uh, yeah?" He said cautiously. "Why?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I was just thinking it would really help to have one of the king's own on our side."

Rip's eyes narrowed. "I don't belong to the king. He doesn't own me."

Vern's eyes widened when he realized he had hit a sore spot. "No, of course not. I was just saying having someone who knows the king's strategies would come in handy."

Rip nodded. "I see where you're going with this, but I don't think it will work."

Vern cocked his head. "Why not?"

Rip took the bounty out of his pocket to show Vern. "The second we get to this rebel kingdom they'll arrest me. They'll need all the money they can get and taking the king's money to use against him is, in a way, kind of beautiful. Within a month or so the king will have me."

Vern took the bounty from him. "Wow." He whispered in awe. "That's a lot of money. If I had that much money my people wouldn't be living in poverty." He looked at the ground and seemed to say to himself. "If they were still my people."

Rip took the bounty back and stuffed it in his pocket. "Maybe they'll ask me for information before they sell me to my death."

Vern looked back at him. "If it will just get you killed, then why are you coming with us?"

Rip didn't really know what to say to that. It was true that he was just walking himself to his death, but he didn't really know what else to do. He could live his life alone and on the run. Maybe leave Florencia, but where would he go. Rip didn't have many caps and he certainly didn't know a place beyond Florencia.

He shook his head and looked at Creak. "I have nowhere else to go."

Vern looked at him surprised. "So you're just going to let yourself die?"

Rip grinned. He had a purpose when he was tracking Creak. Once he had found her he had thought he had lost his purpose, but now
he realized he had a new mission. "No. I'm not going to just die." He told Vern. "Selling me to the king we bring me as close to him as I can get. I'm not going to just die. No, I'm going to take him out with me."