Chapter 6: Making The Thief Believe Her
1806 Words
-Jonah-
The princess … or the … non-princess, I was unsure who she was. She claimed to be the princess, but she didn’t look like her, and I was unsure why I had even agreed to listen, but now she was sitting in front of me in the tavern, devouring her food in front of her, and I watched as it disappeared before she drank the ale in her cup. I had never before seen a princess do that. So, how could she be her?
“So, you are the princess?” I asked, trying to understand a little of what she had told me.
She nodded, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. I leaned a little closer, studying her, and our eyes locked. She had very different kinds of eyes, where one of the pupils had lost its form and ran down like a small drop of water. It looked a bit strange, I had to admit, and there was something scary about it.
“I don’t believe you,” I said, leaning back.
“I don’t need you to, I just need you to get me inside the castle, so I can get my brother to believe me.”
“The same brother who you said threw you out after you tried convincing him you were his sister in the middle of an audience?” I asked.
“I … I just need to get him on one on one, then he will see that it is me,” she said before pushing her plate to me, and looking at me with what I believed was supposed to be puppy eyes.
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused.
She sighed, leaning her head forward before looking at me.
“I had forgotten I don’t look like myself. Usually I can get anything when I just bat my eyelashes at someone,” she said. “But I don’t possess the same beauty anymore.”
“Are you asking for more food?” I asked.
She nodded and gave me a small innocent smile.
“I am very hungry.”
“I can see that, but you still haven’t convinced me you are the princess,” I said, crossing my arms. “No convincing. No food.”
She crossed her arms too and then we were locked in a staring contest that I won without having to strain myself, and I smiled victoriously, as she conceded.
“Fine!” she said. “Just … let me think.”
I just sat there waiting for her to find or give me a reason as to why I should believe she was really the princess, who had swapped bodies with some pagan girl. She was tapping her finger against the table, as she was pulling her hair a little, but then suddenly, she let out a big aha, and a smile appeared on her lips.
“I know you were arrested last night!” she said.
“So? I am sure all the servants from the castle know.”
“Yes, but I do not work in the castle,” she said, holding up one of her wrists, so I could see the tattoos.
“No, but people talk. Maybe you are friends with someone from the castle.”
She sighed, biting her lower lip, but then she seemed to remember something, or maybe she had come up with another idea.
“You stole a necklace,” she said.
“I have stolen many necklaces. Especially the ones with diamonds.”
“Yes, but this one had a black stone with white dots on it, and the princess, I mean me, came to your cell to get it back.”
I leaned back, tapping a finger against my arm, as I thought over her words, but I could not say I was convinced. So I shook my head slowly.
“Again, I am sure it is common knowledge already what I stole and what I didn’t steal. People talk,” I said.
She groaned irritated, placing her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. She sat like that for a while, before she slowly lifted her head. Her green-blue eyes were growing big.
“You steal for the ones you love,” she whispered.
“What?” I asked.
“You steal for the ones you love! You told the princess that, and she released you. I mean … I released you.”
I sat there, completely frozen, as she repeated the very words I had spoken to the princess last night. No, it couldn’t be. I leaned forward and looked into her eyes, as I studied her. I was unsure exactly what I was trying to see, maybe perhaps the princess behind her eyes or something. But I couldn’t see anything, and yet, it was her … wasn’t it?
“Princess?”
“Yes! It is me! I told you!” she exclaimed.
I was … speechless. I wasn’t sure if I truly believed it, but how else would she know what I had said that night? How else would she be able to repeat the words exactly like I had said them?
“It is that very necklace, I believe is the reason why we changed bodies! She wore it today, or I did … or she wore it, but on my body,” she said.
I still had to wrap my head around this, and just sat there looking at her, and that worried her, as she waved a hand in front of my face.
“Hey! Jonah!”
I shook my head, pulling myself together, and then coughed a little.
“Yes, I was just … thinking.”
“You don’t believe me?” she asked, fear clearly showing in her voice.
“No, no … I … I think I do. I just need to … understand it. I have never seen magic do this before.”
“You have seen a lot of magic?” she asked me.
I shrugged.
“I have seen some,” I said.
“And do you think I can be changed back? I want my body back!”
“I can understand, but I do not have an answer for that. I mean, she is the one who changed you back, so maybe it isn’t your brother you need to get to,” I told her.
She thought a little over my words before leaning back in her chair and saying,
“You think I need to get to Elisa?”
“That is her name?”
She nodded.
“Well, then yes, you need to get to this pagan woman, who now owns your body and have her switch you back,” I said.
“But how?!”
“I don’t know! I don’t do red magic.”
She groaned, leaning her head back, and I could only say I felt quite bad for her. Her body had been stolen by some pagan woman, and she seemed to have no clue as to why.
“Do you know this, Elisa?” I asked.
“No! I had never met her before that day in the market,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“I just find it a bit strange, why she would suddenly steal your body unprovoked,” I told her.
“Well, maybe she wants to hurt my family. Which is why I wanted to tell my brother and warn him. There was once someone who … tried to … hurt him,” she said, her voice failing her towards the end.
I had heard of the traitor Sebastian, who had been a friend to King Cole, but maybe also a friend to the princess? I never cared much about keeping up with the royals or the rich. I was busy surviving, but it seemed to me that this traitor, might have been important to her.
I sat there and looked at her, as she played with her empty cup. And while I already knew I didn’t want to get involved in this, I still felt the need to comfort her a little.
“I will get you some more food,” I said.
She didn’t say much as I got up and paid for some more food. She was even quiet, as I got back and placed the plate in front of her.
“Want more to drink as well?” I asked her.
She nodded, and I poured more ale into her cup, but she didn’t drink any. She just stared at it, and then suddenly, she started to sniffle, and tears appeared. Oh, I really wasn’t good with crying people. Especially crying women.
“Come now, you will get your body back,” I said, trying to cheer her up.
She ran her sleeve under her nose and laughed a bit painfully.
“How?” she asked. “She is the one who did the changing, and I have no idea why! Maybe she is there to hurt my family, or maybe she wants to hurt me! I don’t know … and I … feel so lost. No one believed me … My own brother, who knows me better than anyone, just threw me out, while you! You believe me.”
“I didn’t at first.”
“But at least you listened to me,” she cried.
“Well,” I said. “Think about it from his perspective, you said you were his sister while she was there.”
She nodded and wiped her tears away.
“A stranger claims to be his sister, while his sister stands beside him in the flesh. Would you believe him if the roles were reversed?”
She was quiet for a little while, and it was clear she didn’t believe she would.
“I … I would have listened,” she just said.
I gave her a small smile before reaching over and grabbing her hand.
“You will figure it out. Good luck,” I said, and got up.
“Wait! Are you not going to help me?”
“No, I have got my own things to deal with,” I said and started to walk away.
“Hey!”
It was then a big man suddenly got in my way, and I had to lean my head back in order to look at him. Oh sh*t.
“Hello Ralph,” I said, my voice shaking a little.
“You owe me money,” the man growled before grabbing the collar of my jacket and pulling me closer. “Or better yet, maybe I should just take your hand! You little thief!”
He pulled out a knife, and I knew I was done for … f*ck me.
- Writer
