Young Writers Society

Chapter 10 Part 2 - Exposed

Clandestine un-tied Billy and began leading him back out towards the market. By the time she left the tavern, the sun was hidden over the horizon, and the only thing lighting the streets were several fire-lit lamps along the main walkways. There was a little chill in the air that nipped her skin, and she pulled her jacket a little tighter around her neck, flipping up her collar and letting her hair down from her ponytail to stay a little warmer.

She felt like Matt looked unique enough that she could probably get away with asking about a handsome cowboy with a goatee, bushy eyebrows, and pretty blue eyes... or something like that. Maybe not in those words. Clandestine shook her head. Snap out of it, she chided herself. Be serious.

She made her way back to the market stalls. She knew people running shops were always watching people to see who would be interested in the shop's wares. It was just a matter of finding the right people to ask - at least - from the few people who remained. Most of the people left in the market square were loading up and closing up shop. She only had a few minutes to get around, and with an anxious jolt, she froze, holding onto Billy's lead with a frown as she stood looking around at the tents and stalls.

What would Matt have looked at? Or who would've spotted Matt and tried to sell him something?

She couldn't even imagine it. She didn’t even know any shops or items he might have been interested in if any at all. He traveled super light, and though before she'd assumed it was a practical thing, she wondered if that was part of whatever act he was putting on. Even so, the sellers would've noticed, so he probably wouldn't have been interested or stopped by anyone with little knickknacks.

There was one stall that did catch her eye, but it wasn't a stall at all. It was a worn down looking wagon of sorts, but you could still make out the bright yellows, oranges, and greens spelling out in swirly letters: "Healing Medicines and Elixirs." She thought back to all the wounds Matt was left with after their encounters with monsters and goblins. He might've stopped to get some medicine. That seemed like a smart thing to do, and from what little she knew, Matt did seem smart!

She began a hurried walk towards the wagon.

The two men packing the wagon seemed in a hurry as well. One was a short, round man, and the other tall and skinny, and much taller than Matt. They were both wearing rugged, yet still fine suits. The short one was in black and the tall one was in mostly white. The white made his dark tan skin and black hair stand out quite a bit, and at the site of Clandestine hurrying towards them, the tall one slapped the short one in the shoulder, almost causing him to drop a crate. They both began to straighten their suits and ties up a little as Clandestine came face to face with them.

"H-Hey I was wondering if-" She began to say, but the tall man held up a hand and cut her off. He closed his eyes and smirked.

"I know why you're here, my fair lady!" He said with his whole body. It was as if he were acting on a stage. He gave her a grandiose bow and struck a pose. "Of course you wanted to consult the one and only Sir William Diamond himself for all of your medicinal needs!"

Clandestine was admittedly a bit shocked by such a strange introduction. Her mouth was agape, and she stared at William in confusion as she struggled to find words. Unfortunately, William seemed to take her silence as a sign to continue. "Now how can I, a virtuous virtuoso of varied vaccines, help you?" He asked, standing up straight as he began to rub his chin, still giving her a crooked smile.

"Um, no I'm not here for medicine-" was all she got out before he lifted up his hand and his smile immediately disappeared into a look of disappointment.

"Waste my time, apparently," he said, finishing her sentence with his own, then letting out a dramatic sigh and rubbing his eyes.

Clandestine furrowed her brows. For a man who was supposed to sell stuff for a living, he was being astonishingly rude. But in an effort to at least get her initial question out, she barred back her annoyance and took a deep breath.

"Did you see a cowboy come through here at all? He has huge eyebrows and a goatee! And a really pretty horse with a golden coat. He's got blue eyes and-" she stopped herself that time when William turned his back on her.

"No. I had no customers like that. Now go away," he answered curtly.

"You should probably ask them leather selling folk though! Cowboys love some fine leather!" The short man piped up. He sounded much nicer and cheerier than William, though she had almost forgotten he was there as he stood in William's shadow.

William shot his short business partner a sharp glance. The short man glanced at her before getting back to work. Clandestine gave him a nod as a thank you before turning and making her way to look for leather selling merchants.

She started wandering the trading area again, but she felt a little out of place. She doubted she would find a merchant who sold leather among the few who were having last minute, end of the day chats. By sheer luck, she stumbled across a woman packing away what seemed like nice cuts of leather into a small well kept wagon, among other random knick-knacks. She looked to be a little bit older than Clandestine. Her clean dress and sleek hair gave her the professional look of a saleswoman, especially more than William and his dusty clothes...and attitude.

"Excuse me!" Clandestine called out, giving her a wave of her hand. The woman looked up with a puzzled look on her face.

"If you haven't noticed I'm closing up shop," she replied to Clandestine. "So unless you got an offer I can't refuse, I can't help ya."

Clandestine frowned, quickly growing frustrated with everyone's quick and snappy replies. She really began to wish she'd decided to hunt Matt down before sundown. "No! No, uh - I mean," she stuttered, trying to think of something to say to keep the woman's ear, but all that came out was the same shpiel she'd given Diamond.

"I'm wondering if you had seen a cowboy. Average height, big eyebrows, beard, blue eyes, riding a really pretty horse," she said again, this time speaking with her arms as she tried to draw an outline of Matt in the air, but unfortunately, all that came out was a vague oval. Thankfully, the tradeswoman stopped what she was doing and rubbed her chin, and it looked like she was thinking really hard. A small, hopeful smile began to grow on her face.

"I'm sorry hun," the woman said with a shake of her head. "I would have remembered someone like that for sure, but that doesn't ring any bells. I doubt you'd found him around here though unless he's a trader himself. There are no customers here with everyone packing up."

Clandestine let out a heavy sigh. She had been really hoping for a lead. "Thanks anyway," she mumbled, turning to lead Billy away. She didn't want to waste any more of the woman's time.

She kicked at a rock in the dirt and fell back beside Billy so she could lean her head on his shoulder.

The woman was right. She wasn't going to find Matt around the market, or anywhere outside for that matter. She was losing sunlight fast, and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep… wait! She slapped herself in the forehead so hard it left a red mark on her forehead. Inns! Of course! If she were Matt, she'd want to settle down and get some privacy, or at the very least, a bed to sleep in after days and days of being lost in the forest!

She looked at Billy, her eyes lighting up again with a small sparkle of hope as she bounced on her feet. "I have a good feeling this time, Billy!" She whispered in excitement. Billy just gave her a blank stare, but his tail flicked back and forth. Whether that meant he was excited or not, she chose to believe he was anyway. "Yes! Okay! Time to find... inns! Or something!" she continued, quietly speaking to her horse.

As she walked the streets with a brisk pace, the crowds began to thin out more and more with each passing minute. After asking about a cowboy and a golden horse at two different inns, only to receive blank stares and shrugs, she was starting to get really discouraged. If she didn't find Matt before morning, she might never find him again. He could leave town just as quickly as he left her, and be gone forever!

Whatever hope remained in her heart was starting to die down, and though she was still determined to find her former monster hunting partner, she was starting to grow tired, as was Billy. The two walked on one side of the street with slow steps, and Clandestine's shuffling feet eventually came to a stop in front of a sheriff's office. Her eyes landed on the gold star hanging above the doorway, and fell to a long board stretching across the front wall that had a bunch of wanted posters on it - but underneath all of the criminal faces was what looked like a map of the city. With heavy steps, she walked up, tied Billy to the nearest post, and got a closer look.

With a weary sigh, she pulled one of the pins out of the bulletin board and looked down at the illustration with mild amusement. Among the overlapping faces, she'd pulled off one of the uglier ones. This guy didn't look like he had any teeth. With a small chuckle, the went to pull off more of the posters to get at the map underneath but was looking a little more aggressively than she meant to.

A few of the pins come loose, and a dozen pieces of paper fluttered to the ground in a mess. She sighed, squatting down to pick them up.

Great, more wanted ads. Look at this guy and his giant jaw and tiny eyes. Clandestine snorted. If Matt were with her, she was sure he would have been making fun of the guy's weirdly shaped face. She flipped through a couple of the other faces. Some of them looked like your everyday, average person, but some of them looked like very interesting characters. She wasn't sure how much of it was part of the artist's interpretation, or how much of it was accurate to real life.

Clandestine found herself distracted. As she flipped through the posters, she commented on them to Billy, who was watching her idly at his post. She held out a poster to him.

"Oh, look! This guy looks like a bird from his side profile. His nose is huge!" she smirked, and picked up another poster. "Oh, this guy looks a little spooky. He's got a black mask, and no one knows what he actually looks like? Wow," she stared for a moment, tilting her head as she stared into the blank face of the mask, wondering at the inherent mystery of it. But a few seconds of staring resulted in it being creepy, so she flipped back to a different poster. Her eyes widened, and she smiled a little.

"Oh, this guy looks nice!" she said, speaking quietly to Billy. "Wow, look at those eyebrows. They're almost big enough to rival Matt’s! Maybe Matt has an eyebrow twin out there, and this guy has the same kind of look to his face as well! Maybe I could... hold onto this one." Would Matt be amused if she found his doppelganger? She looked back at the bulletin board. Poking out from a few of the other posters, she could see there was more than one poster of the guys. Nobody would miss it, right?

She took a closer look before stuffing it into her pocket. It read:

"Tiberius Hemming. Wanted alive, for committing acts of high treason against the Moonlight Kingdom."

Of which was quickly followed by more zeros after the number two than she'd ever read in her life.

She took another look at the picture. It was really uncanny how much he looked like a younger Matt. The poster itself must have been a few years old. The ink was a little faded and parts of the page were bleached by the sun. She started to read more of the text on the sides of the picture. It had specifics like height, eye color, and skin color. She felt it was odd that it seemed to match Matt so closely but, that was just a coincidence right?

She put her hand over the picture, blocking out the forehead, then the clean-shaven chin, and sat looking at the picture. If she added bangs and a goatee in her mind, plus a cowboy hat shading his face, then it was undeniable. It wasn't just a picture of anyone, it was a picture of him! It was a picture of a younger slightly Matt, but there was no mistaking.

Clandestine could have sworn her heart had come to a complete stop.

She slowly stood up, holding the wanted ad firmly in front of her. Confusion became the prominent feeling amongst the swirl of emotions stirring in her chest. Was Matt really a criminal? This had to be why he didn't open up about himself. That had to be why he lied about who he was. It was because he was a wanted man! But for treason? What on earth did he do to get such a hefty reward put on his head?

She had to find Matt, or Tiberius, or whatever his name was, and she had to find him as soon as possible! She wanted answers. She wanted to give him a piece of her mind, and knowing that he was a criminal on the run only made her all the more determined to do so.

She needed to know. She needed to hear from him what the meaning of all this was, but more importantly, she was scared for him. What if someone knew who he was? What if he had gotten attacked while she wasn't around? What if he was hurt? Or worse, what if he was the person who hurt someone else? That was something she didn't want to consider. A new wave of emotions and panic washed over Clandestine as she sloppily pinned the other posters back on the board before she turned and bolted back to Billy and hopped on him.

Even with her new wave of energy, she could feel the effects of a long day of traveling wash over her as she mounted back up in the saddle. Billy dropped his head and let out a tired sigh.

"But I... have to find him," Clandestine said hopelessly, reaching down to pet Billy's neck. Billy flicked his ears.

Clandestine pursed her lips into a frown and sighed. "Okay. One more inn," she said, unable to keep her heart from sinking in disappointment. "And if he's not there or not... we'll just stay there. To sleep."

She looked back up into the street. Then glanced back over at the map, now partially uncovered. There was another inn on the other side of town. She'd have to hurry - if not to find Ma-Tiberius, then to get there before the front desk closed so she could check in. She gave Billy another pat.

"Okay, come on buddy. Just one last ride before sleepytime."