The march through the woods was quick. Everybody moved together, but faster than the usual pace. It seemed everyone was nervous. And so they should be. It was not a good thing, what they were gonna do. But they were just kids and they wanted to see.

The kids got to the edge of town where they stopped for one last briefing.

“We’ll move in one at a time.” Venturious gave the orders. “Rodger last. And Kwinsal, you go around the back.

“I’ll go first. Then the pickers. Then the muscle. Then the bait.” Everybody gestured their understanding. Venturious set out.

He had to take the side street of Hindon, parallel to the main road, incase his mother saw him. He already told his mother he was busy with Rodger for the boy’s firstday, so she probably thought Venti was at the yard.

All the shops were starting to grow busy as locals were finishing their duties. People were seated at tables outside snack shops and tea houses, others flocked the street carrying baskets and buckets of food for home, some with bags of grain. The town was alive, and that was a good sign.

Venti sneaked a glance behind him. Nothing too obvious. Adrian and Tinsley were in the distance, a good toc or two behind.

One turn to the left at a street corner, and the target was in sight. Venturious scoped the area. The snack shop near by was empty. Not a surprise as it was a night time snack shop, just like his mother’s.

The coast was clear.

Venturious then stopped. A fruitshop was before him. Big juicy crunchos stood outside in pyramids of bright red and bright green fruit, pink mouth-watering citranges were stacked the same, bunches of dark blue plops hung looking fresh off the vine, and enormous aquamelons could be seen sitting further in the shop. The bounty was rich and plentiful as the freshness shined off the fruit. Venturious swore his mouth had even watered for a tic. But the real prize was something else. On the wall behind the shop counter were bottles full of their main objective. Plop wine. And protecting the wine like an obedient guard dog was the shop owner, Mr. Meginley.

He caught sight of Venturious outside, and immediately, it seemed, his alert was on high. The boy took a step inside the shop and Meginley eyed him cautiously.

Several weeks back, Meginley had caught Venturious red-handed trying to pinch some crunchos. What he didn’t know was that Venturious was with the team, and they had gotten more than was thought taken. Miginley dragged Venti by the ear all the way to his mother’s shop, in hope of justice. Gizelle was furious with her boy, but sought to solve the matter, offering her apologies.

Shop owner to shop owner, the crafty Meginley was not content with an apology and demanded payment. Greed can do nasty things to a man, and he was set on his demands.

Gizelle was clever and found opportunity in the dirt. She offered to sell his plop wine at her snack shop and promised a fair share of it. At first he refused, then the man saw the two fronts to sell his poisons was better than one and took the offer. 

She was happy to have a cheap local supply. But things can go sour when one did not keep their end of the deal. Even wine. Venturious knew the recent over charges that Miginley had raised upon his mother. It was only fair to now settle the debt.

Miginley kept his complete attention on Venturious, eyes like a hawk. The boy felt the weight of the stare. So he took advantage and played his audience. The boy walked to a pile of crunchos, and picked one up, observing the fruit with a grower’s expertise. Meginley eyed him mercilessly. The attention was perfect. Venti replaced the fruit, then made a slow strut to check another. He knew Adrian and Tinsley must have arrived and so the boy walked further into the shop. Venti sensed Adrian and Tinsley sneak up to the stands outside, confirmed by the slight sound of movement on dirt. Meginley would not have noticed. The afternoon crowd made a blurring fuss, and the shop owner’s only concern was Venturious.

Venti stood by the hanging plops. He held one by the tips of his fingers like he was checking a precious stone. The shop owner grew irritated and made a quiet grunt. In the corner of Venti’s eye, little hands appeared from behind the outside fruit stands, taking one cruncho, then another. The citranges were also disappearing one by one, out of Meginley’s sight. The shop owner faced the opposite direction. Venturious then approached the massive aquamelons. He gazed at them for a second until he then gave an effort to lift one of the boulderous fruits above his head. Meginley grew fed up and knarled.

“Oh. What is it you want, boy?”, obviously unhappy. Venti played innocent.

“I’m just having a look.”

Outside, Venti noticed fruits rolling to big Thomas, who filled a sack with the lot, just beside the shop where Meginley would not see. The man scouled on,

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, boy. You should pay me back for what you’ve stolen.”

Venturious’ face cringed.

“We’ve already paid you back. We’ve paid a lot more than we should, thank you.”

The boy was growing heated. Venturious knew of his mother’s new troubles. Luckily, Rodger appeared and entered the shop. Meginley turned and politely welcomed young Rodger.

“Ah… Master Krugle. However may I help you?”

Rodger was frightened frozen for a second, until Venti gestured him to hurry.

“Oh hi.” Rodger spoke up. “My father has heard of your delicious wine and asked me to fetch him a few bottles for celebrations tonight.”

Meginley thought for a second, then smiled.

“Certainly. How many bottles?”

“I think, 6, he said.”

The man turned around and fetched a wooden crate. Rodger relaxed and caught his breath. As Mr. Meginley started to load the bottles, Rodger grew nervous with the quiet and asked how much it would cost per bottle. The man paused for a second, then replied,

“50 chips, Young Master.”

Venturious’ face flashed with raw anger. That was cheaper than what the man charged his mother. A lot cheaper. The original price before it became popular was 20 chips. Venti knew if it was not for his mother, nobody would have enjoyed his wine. The boy was enraged and considered making the shop a mess, until the man asked Rodger a question.

“Your father would have sent somebody else to get the wine. Why has he sent you?”

The question caught Rodger off guard and he froze. Rodger did not know what to answer. The shop owner’s eyes grew suspicious upon the now silent boy. Venti’s jaw dropped. He knew Rodger was caught out. Suddenly a pyramid pile of fruit at the front came crashing down, scattering crunchos all over the street. Meginley poked his head out and noticed Thomas gathering the bounty. The man then turned to Venturious and stuck out a pointing finger.

“You!” he growled with rage.

The mishap caught Venti off guard and he paniced. He was still for a second, until suddenly…

*PAHH!!!*

A loud explosion cracked behind the shop with a deafening snap.

*PAHH!!! PAH PAH!!!*

More of the ear deafening cracks. It was like the cannon fire of the new weaponry that was supposedly spreading throughout worlds.

The sounds stunned everybody in the shop into fear. Venti knew what it was and it awoke him into action. The boy quickly jumped to the counter and grabbed one side of the crate full of wine. Venti expected Rodger to help but turned to see the boy more frightened than the shop owner was. Rodger noticed Venti staring at him but did not budge.

“Come on!” Venti roared.

PAHH!!! PAHH!!! PAH PAHH!!!

Meginley ducked his head in panic at the loud cracks. Rodger finally woke up and grabbed the other side of the crate, starting the two boys to make their escape. They heaved the heavy crate off the counter, with Venti at front, Rodger behind, and bolted out of the store.

The rest of the team followed as they darted down the road. Thomas passed the sack of fruit to Adrian as he grabbed the crate off the other two. The stronger one was best to bear the burden. Suddenly, Thomas stopped at what he noticed was out of line.

“Where’s Tins?”

The gang turned around and saw that Mr. Meginley had caught hold of Tinsley by the arm. Rodger stood the closest, but did not move as he watched the girl fidget and scream. Venti, took a deep breath and let out a loud hush of air. The boy dashed straight for Meginley, fully aware that his friend was in danger. Tinsley cried out. Cried out loud, until next thing, Venturious slammed his shoulder into her captor. Meginley released his grip on the girl. The force of the shove was unbelievably strong and sent Meginley flying back a few paces, stumbling to the ground.

Everybody witnessed the staggering push as the man fell a distance. It was like the charge of a bull.

During his push, Venti noticed a peculiar man leaning against the wall of a shop. The man was very well built, as could be seen from his muscular arms hanging out from what seemed to be a very olden-day chest plate. He also wore what seemed a skirt and held a helm at this side. Now that Venturious thought about it, he was sure this man was dressed as an ancient soldier. It was just like he had seen in an old book. People sure are crazy, at times.

Tinsley was free, and Venti took her by the arm to escape. As they ran, Venturious looked back to get another glimpse of the strange man. But not one could be found. The two caught up to the rest. Thomas embraced his little sister, Adrian tried to continue carrying the filled sack, Kwinsal came from another street and helped Adrian, and Rodger still stood at the same spot. Venti wondered if his awesome push had shocked his friend, but Venti knew what it was. Venti knew his friend wanted to help Tinsley.

Ready to leave before Meginley got up, Venturious called out,

“Come on! Let’s go!” and began the run. Turning at the street corner, Venti bumped into something extremely sturdy. It was a man. And the man did not budge in the slightest. Shoving Meginley made Venturious feel much stronger than he usually was, but running into this man reminded him that he was still a boy.

Venti looked up to see who he had crashed into. The man wore a big black coat, with a big black hood shading his entire face. Everything he donned was black, from his trousers, to his shirt, to his fine pointed boots. All black except for his muffler. Venti saw it was red. A dark red, almost brown. The man was accompanied by an old fellow with a dark beard. The old fellow wore long white robes and smiled to Venturious and the young ones.

The hooded man gave a chuckle and Venti noticed he wore a pleasant smile.

“Do be careful, young one.” The hooded man’s voice was deep and powerful. There was weight behind his few words. It scared the children somewhat. Venti looked properly and saw that even though the man had a pleasant smile, the man’s eyes were serious and deep. They were the deep that others described about Venti’s own eyes, only much more ominous. Venti could not look at them for too long. The boy was now more than grateful that this man wore his hood. Maybe the hood was for everybody’s sake. Venti felt he would faint if he looked for too long.

“Sorry, Sir.” the boy said as his gaze remained low. He wanted to look up and face this man, but there was something powerful about him. The boy could not understand what. The children moved aside to let the men through. All were silent and still. They could barely look up as the men passed on. The old man in the strange long robes strayed behind a moment and gave another smile to Venturious. He was not so hard to look at.

After the two had left, the children made their way back to the spot. The walk back was a quiet one. They went through a lot today and no one was in the mood to chat. Venturious was upset he couldn’t face up to that man. That left they boy to his own thoughts for most of the trip back. But either way, they now had supplies for Rodger’s party. Even wine. Venturious was so sure that when he looked back, the hooded man was speaking to the stranger in the chest plate. What a weird bunch.