AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Take yer stuff out of here!” another yelled.
The shopkeeper trembled beneath their fiery faces as he shook his head. “B-but the bad luck started before I set up shop! And they bring only good luck! I swear it!”
The crowd moved in on him. Ben pursed his lips and took a step toward the booth, but someone beat him to the heroics.
“Gentlemen!” a voice spoke up and a man came from the direction of the old barracks. He was about our age with a bright smile on his face. The man wore an outfit like the others, though his was even more crowded with advertising. He strode into the middle of the group and folded his arms over his chest. “What seems to be the problem here?”
The leader rattled the wood in the man’s face. “These damn things! I heard some idiot was selling these trinkets and inviting more trouble, and here he is!”
“But these are very good charms!” the seller insisted. “They only bring good luck!”
The man plucked the wood from his compatriot’s hand and turned it over in his hand. “I doubt it does either, but the man has a right to sell them.” He smiled up at the crowd. “Besides, don’t some of you men have races to prepare for?”
A grumble arose from the mob, but they dispersed toward the arena.
The seller scooted up to the front of his booth and bowed his head to his savior. “Thank you so much!”
The man tossed the wood on the table and shook his head. “No need to thank me, but I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again, so be careful.” And with that warning he sauntered off.
I looked up at Ben. “Can a lucky charm bring bad luck?”
He shook his head. “Not generally, and I would be surprised if those bits of wood could bring any luck, good or bad, but we should hurry to the arena if we want to watch the show.”
CHAPTERNINE
We rejoinedthe throngs of people who ambled toward the former barracks. The pair of sliding doors were wide open and revealed a huge dirt ring with bleachers situated on the outskirts. The place was huge and I had no doubt it could have fit several thousand people. Many of the seats were taken by people happily chewing on their boughten food, but the front two rows were mostly empty. The flow of people stalled at the entrance where a ticket booth stood.
“We pay for seats?” I wondered.
“Only for the better seats,” he told me as we moved with the flow. “Those without any coin can still view the show from the higher benches. It’s a major source of income for this stable, and alleviates some of the tax burden.”
I craned my neck to get a view of any of the engines I had heard. “Where are the thunders?”
“On the track on the other side of the arena,” Ben explained as we neared the ticket booth. “There are stands against the outer wall of the arena building. Those will no doubt be nearly full, but we should be able to find some prime seating for ourselves. Many of my peers don’t approve of watching these races.”
I snorted. “Too dirty for them?”
He nodded. “And they don’t quite appreciate the cuisine.”
I nodded at the crowded bleachers in the arena. “So what are these people waiting for?”
“For the girls, of course!” a man in front of us piped up. He had a devilish grin on his face as he wagged his eyebrows. “They’re going to be showing off some of the thunders after the race and they use some really pretty girls to do it.”
“Or so we hope!” his buddy spoke up as he nudged his companion with his elbow and gave him a wink. Both men burst into laughter.
That’s when I noticed that the majority of the audience was indeed male, and very eagerly glancing at the ring.
I snorted. “I guess that makes two things to admire at once.”
“Have you considered joining one of the companies?” another man spoke up as he examined me from top to bottom, with an emphasis on the middle. “You’d make a good addition to any thunder, and I hear the girls get paid a lot, too.”
Ben’s eyes twinkled as he cast a mischievous look down at me. “Perhaps you might wish to make some coin on the side.”
I gave him my own sly expression. “That’s not a bad idea. I might need a nest egg in case my current piggy bank decides to abandon me at one of these tracts.”
“I’ll be sure to keep your allowance well stocked,” he promised as the line moved forward.
We reached the ticket booth and Ben smiled at the pleasant-looking woman at the counter. “What’ll ya have, sir?”
