01- Family, Friends, and Fiends

“Haa…ha… Someone catch that little bastard,” the shopkeeper roared. With his hands on his knees, he stopped to catch his breath. As a merchant, any traveling he did was on horse, which explained his lack of stamina and slightly rotund figure.

By the time the shopkeeper looked up, the man who had stolen half a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread was nowhere to be seen. “Dammit,” cursed the shopkeeper. “Where the hell are the astynomias when you actually need them?!”

The astynomias were a group of people who acted as law enforcement. However, appearances of members tended to be scarce these days.

“Ugh… they’re all over the damn place when they check my stock for weapons, but when actual crime happens they’re off doing gods know what.”

The shopkeeper, now up on his feet, looked around with an irritated look on his face. “Man… they’ve been coming around less and less, but to think there isn’t even one today… did something happen? Oh well, all I need to do is file a complaint. I saw the little bastard’s face after all, so finding him shouldn’t be too hard. Honestly though, in all my days I’ve never seen a kid with such bright hair. Welp, just makes it easier to find him I guess.”

The shopkeeper sighed before turning back around and walking right back to business.

…

Knock, knock. Creeeeak

“Oh, Fíle, you’re home. Come in, come in,” the woman said with a soft, yet serene smile. The white cloak she was wearing nearly covered all of her black, long hair and pasty, brown skin. The woman had obviously not been going outside enough.

“Hey aunt Gyn! Guess what?! I got paid extra today! The boss gave me six eggs because of how hard I was working,” the rambunctious boy stated. His olive colored face practically sparkled in the sunlight. However, it wasn’t able to overshadow his dark brown eyes and hair as well as his pearly white teeth.

As Fíle sat the bread and eggs down on the counter, he proceeded to tell aunt Gyn about his day at work.

“… and then this reeeeaaally big guy walked in, but I wasn’t scared. But, ooh! Get this! Our store got robbed today!”

Aunt Gyn, who was slicing the loaf of bread, was stunned. She looked up at Fíle before realizing the absurdity of what he just said. Dropping everything she was doing, she ran over to Fíle.

“Oh my gods! Are you hurt anywhere?! Did they do anything to you?! Did they catch him?! Are you alright!?” While being bombarded with questions, Fíle noticed something.

“Wait aunt Gyn, you’re bleeding!” Hearing what he said, Gyn peeled herself off of him and noticed a small cut on her finger. “Oh. I’m sorry, did I get any on you?” She grabbed part of her cloak and rubbed the drop of blood she got on Fíle’s cheek. She must have cut herself by accident a second ago.

“Never mind that,” Gyn said, “but have you seen your brother? Honestly, he should come home earlier. Doesn’t he know how much it scares me when he comes in late?! Anyway, go to the bathhouse on your way back, you’re covered in dirt. Tell your brother to as well. I’ll have dinner ready by the time you get back.”

After kissing him on the cheek, Gyn ran back over to the counter and resumed her cooking. It appeared that along with the eggs and bread Fíle had brought home, she was preparing cheese and a variety of legumes. While she was doing that, Fíle walked back out the door to look for his brother.

…

‘It’s getting late, so I should probably start heading back,’ Nazarius thought. Usually, if he stayed out past around this time, Fíle would come drag him home where Aunt Gyn would scold him for staying out too late. He was seven years old for crying out loud, he wasn’t going to get lost in the middle of the night and get kidnapped. However, any time he tried to tell this to aunt Gyn, she would always tell him “Until you get into school, you follow my rules.” ‘He would be entering school in a little less than a month, so what’s the difference,’ he thought.

“Hey Nazarius, isn’t it about time you head home,” a voice shouted, reading his mind. Nonchalantly looking over his shoulder, Nazarius saw his two friends, Kakó and Korítsi. Looking at Kakó - the one who just talked- Nazarius sighed and realized he was right. “Ok, see you guys later,” he said. Right as he started walking away, he heard a faint snicker behind him, but pretended not to hear it.

Kakó, the one who sneered, actually didn’t like Nazarius that much. In fact, the only reason he hung around him at all is because Korítsi was practically bound to him by the hip, which Kakó didn’t like. Korítsi was the only girl that would even talk to Kakó, so it was only natural that he would start to feel this way.

Nazarius, on the other hand, didn’t care about anything like that. He was 7 years old, for crying out loud. He still had plenty of time to think about those things.

“Uh. B-bye Nazarius,” a voice whispered. “Yeah, bye,” Nazarius replied, somehow hearing what Korítsi said. Nazarius looked forward and started running home.

…

“Man… who’da thought it’d get so bad that they’d have to send us,” a voice in the darkness sighed. “Why can’t any of these damn beggar cities just behave? Do they know how much of a pain in the ass it is to have to travel ‘round the clock to one slum after another? You get what I mean, right Ándras?”

“I don’t know what you’re complaining for. All you have to do is search the places I tell you to. It’s knowing where to look that's hard part, and finding that out just so happens to be my job,” the man known as Ándras replied. His medium length, dirty blond hair flew in all directions. His face was a little flushed since he was a bit intoxicated.

In the past couple of cities, Ándras had been sent undercover as a nearby worker to try to find out who was working with or helped the rebellion. Normally this job would fall upon the astynomias. However, due to the magnitude of the rebellion, the astynomias cut their ties with the government in hopes of becoming neutral. Normally, this wouldn’t be possible, however the government was currently in a panic and keeping law enforcement in line wasn’t exactly on their list of priorities at the moment.

“Oh come on, you’re no fun. Besides, the astynomias already cleared this next place out before they ran to the side lines, so neither of us’ll have to do a thing,” the brutish voice said.

“Whatever you say, Megálo. What’s this next city called, anyway?”

“Let’s see…” The man known as megálo pulled out a piece of papyrus that had some words enscribed on it.

“… I think its… Ftochòs?”

Ándras’ head, which was drooping lazily, shot up and stared at Megálo. “Are you sure you read that right,” he asked a little too fast.

“Hmm? Yeah, pretty sure. Take a look.” Megálo handed the paper to him and pointed to the next city on the list. Ándras looked at the paper with a shocked expression for a second before smirking.

“Well, I guess it has been a while since I’ve visited home.”

…

The next morning, after Fíle left for work, Nazarius went outside to play with his friends. However, something was off that day. The people around him seemed a lot more talkative. Curious, he tried to listen in to their conversations. “

“Is it true,” one asked. “I think so,” replied another. “But why would a lord come here?” “I think it’s rubbish,” “But my son saw him. He told me.”

A lord? As in those stuck up rich asses Fíle told him about? Why would one be here? Didn’t Fíle say that they were too busy eating gold to go outside? ‘Oh well,’ he thought. ‘I’ll just stay as far away from it as po’—

“Hear ye, hear ye, people of this poor village! I, the great and noble…” a voice in the distance gleefully yelled. However, the voice was getting quieter so Nazarius wandered over to see what was happening.

There was a plump man standing atop a carriage. Besides the fat, the only feature Nazarius noticed about the man was his big, goofy smile filled with yellow teeth. The man obviously wasn’t very smart since standing on a moving vehicle tended to be a bad idea.

As he grew closer, Nazarius could start to hear the words the man was spouting again. Aside from the man, there were a handful of guards surrounding the carriage as well as a servant whose face was beaded with sweat as he looked down in shame.

“…sed you with my presence! Therefore, you shall listen closely! I have decided to open a pharmacy in this tiny, poor town in which only the finest remedies will be sold! Made from an Apostle of Asclepius, you will find no other medicines in this province— nay in the entirety of Greece with this quality! I expect to see each and every one of you in there…”

As the speech went on, the servant’s face was filled with more and more guilt. Until he finally could not stand it anymore.

“Ehem… my lord, perhaps some of the plebeians have questions that they’d like to ask you.”

“Hm? But I had yet to finish the speech you gav—“

“Yes, that is correct, however I don’t think the intellect of these commoners is high enough to understand the rest of your speech, my lord,” the servant said, cutting the lord off.

“Fair enough,” the lord reasoned. “Do any of you puny plebeians have any questions for your all-knowing lord?”

Most people in the area looked at the man, shellshocked. ‘Is this man sane,’ most people questioned. Finally, someone spoke.

“…Um, my lord,” an old man piped up, “how much are these miracle remedies of yours exactly?”

“Ah yes! Thank you for reminding me Mr. Pruny Plebeian,” the lord huffed. “You can buy most of our premium remedies for a mere one hundred drachma! Of course, there are some exceptions, as of everything,” the lord stated proudly.

Authors note: a loaf of bread is about one obol. Six obols make a drachma, meaning that a single remedy is worth about six hundred loaves of bread. The more you know.

The crowd was stunned at the lord's revelation. Some looked as if they wanted to laugh, however they thought the lord might do something rash if they did. The lord had proved he wasn’t exactly of sound mind, after all.

The servant next to the carriage seemed very interested in the ants on the ground.