bitter water // dreamnotfound

five

two of the village boys were very infamous for being mischievous.

Their names were Tommy and Toby. Toby relentlessly tried staying out of Tommy's spotlight and trying to pry him out of situations, but he was always associated with Tommy. Toby wasn't ever really a mischievous boy himself, he was just friends with Tommy, which instantly clouded people's views of him.

When citizens call them mischievous, they don't just mean playing little pranks and being a general nuisance. They meant that Tommy liked to steal things from shops, hide people's belongings, let their horses out, etc. He didn't mean any of it maliciously, he just found that causing trouble was his only form of genuine entertainment. Toby was always beside him, trying to talk him out of his new ideas but always giving up quite quickly and tagging along.

The two were rarely ever seen apart during the day. Even during the night, really. They were closer than anybody could describe. Best friends for life. They liked to sneak out at night and sleep in trees or by the stream, though it wasn't really sneaking out when their parents were well aware of their activities. Quite frankly, Tommy's parents were slightly afraid of him.

This time, Tommy had a fresh idea.

"Come on, Toby! Just this one time, I promise it'll be so much fun!"

"I really don't think we should do that... Everything we've done relating to people's horses have gone terribly wrong. Remember when we let out my neighbors horses and almost got trampled? Or when you got stuck in the mud that one time? Or when I got bucked off the horse into the fence the other time and we had to rebuild it? Or when-"

"Okay Toby, okay, okay, I get it, the horse ideas haven't been so great, but hear me out! The castle. Their horses are the most well trained stallions you'll ever see! Wouldn't it be so fun to one, sneak into the castle and two, ride royal horses!?"

"What!? No! Are you using your brain at all, Tommy? We'll get caught for sure, we cannot risk that!"

"What are they gonna do? Execute us? They can't do that to children, they'll just yell at us or something and send us on our way, come on, live a little!"

Toby shook his head, turning around on his heel. "Nope, not doing it, I'm putting my foot down. I've listened to your ideas too many times, they never go as planned."

Tommy giggled. "Isn't that the fun of it?"

---

Clay was walking with perfect posture down one of the castle corridors, book in hand. His tall stature cast a thin shadow against the wall as he turned the page.

It was a book from the castle library on metalworking. It was extremely out of the ordinary for Clay to even step foot in the library, nevermind actually pick up a book and start reading it. His literacy rate was ridiculously high compared to others in the kingdom, which seemed wasteful seeing as he never read unless prompted to. Most commoners couldn't afford proper education. They could read simple things and write what they needed, but none would ever match the second born prince. Clay never read, and claimed he never planned on doing it, so his new behavior was strange.

When Clay started showing an interest in reading, his mother, Niki, got very excited. She thought he had found something he was going to be passionate about. Maybe he'd want to learn more about it or even teach it to others. Little did she know he had other plans.

He was studying up on the exact type of tool he wanted.