The Flame Keeper

Chapter 28

My mind reeled, a million questions swimming through my head as I stared dumbstruck at the coin.

Before I could organize my thoughts and form a coherent sentence, Albert spoke up. His jaw had nearly dropped to the ground and he stuttered like a static-ridden audio recording. "I-I didn't know that... Why?"

A simple question that abridged all the jumbled puzzle pieces in my mind, but did nothing to piece them together. I looked at him and behind those eyes was a mighty bear that had been ensnared by the leg, enough to let him taste salvation on the tip of his tongue, but never enough to reach it. To taste the embarrassment to have succumbed to an elementary trick, and to not have noticed it until it was too late.

"If you didn't make them, who supplied you with them?" Anton said as he took a deep breath to soothe the bright red that pulsed on his cheeks. "I'd like to meet this excuse-for-a-craftsman and make them give me a good look in the eye before they dare set a hand on making these atrocities."

"A pawnshop keeper around downtown paid me a hundred and fifty of these," He muttered, spreading his jacket to reveal the three sacks of worthless metal. "Wait a second..."

He fished a coin out and scraped the thin gold film, a recognition flashing in his eyes. "I should have known. These are the same coins that got me into the mess I'm in now."

The mess he was in now? My mind did a few more somersaults before settling on an uneasy tilt. Did that mean that the pawnshop keeper and his debtors were in cahoots, that it had been no coincidence?

"A hundred and fifty?!" Anton's eyebrows shot up at the mention of the number, an uncanny resemblance to Albert's rash reaction earlier, and he scanned the three bulging sacks that affirmed his surprise. "That is a tempting amount, for sure... But," He paused, as if afraid to ask what priceless thing could come near the sum. "What in the world did they pay you for?"

"Camila," I found myself saying. "Tricked away with some fancy talk and the false promise of gold."

"Camila..." He pinched his nose as his eyes darted around and searched his memories. He turned to Albert. "Didn't you come here a few weeks bragging about some bird you made, how it was your 'life's work' and all? If we see eye to eye, you're saying you tossed that aside for some cheap coins worth no more than dirt."

I wanted to hug him for spitting the truth out, but it would be a bit awkward after he had smashed me into the wall.

"Well, put that way it does kind of strange of me to do such a thing," Albert said. "But, they were pressing for a firm deadline on my debt. And by firm," He squished the top of his eyelid, and tiny, purple bumps formed like ridges on the flesh, gurgling nauseatingly as they slid back to their deformed place. "I mean this."

"That's certainly not a 'little scuffle'," Anton remarked and the two burst into laughter. The tense mood shattered and I chuckled nervously along with them, my back still pressed against the wall. "What's up with these three, anyways? You stopped giving tours around downtown, what, two months ago?"

He shrugged, wincing in pain as his shoulders crunched. "I can't refuse a request from Marion. And besides, you're not exactly keeping to your promises either."

Anton's eyes twinkled, a sparkle of light glimmering in his dark irises, and he scrunched his shoulders like Albert had. "I can't refuse a request from you, old friend. Speaking of which, I'll let this one go. I'm not planning on doing these things anytime soon. Hopefully never."

The conversation went stale like a piece of bread left on top of a fridge and never attended to until the smell had breached the air, and we stood up to leave.