The two of them stood in front of the gate. The line was fairly short — mostly merchants, all of them well past their thirties. They carried fruit with them. Every year, merchants from various places came to this city to sell fruit and food. Everything they brought was sold to the king. Jhed and Shine stood in line, waiting their turn.
Everyone in line kept staring at Jhed. To them too, this was strange to see.
"Hey, did you hear — has the king stopped killing children?" one merchant said.
"No idea. Looks like he's new to this city," the other merchant replied.
The merchants had parked their carts along the side of the gate.
There was no toll to enter this city, which was why so many people came here. But no one could ever leave — leaving required paying a hundred gold coins. So everyone who came got trapped, living out their days as slaves to the king, Miruth. Even the guards standing by the gate had become Miruth's slaves in their own way. Every one of them accepted Miruth's food just to feed themselves and their families. Instead of wages, they were given a meal each day.
"I'm honestly really scared right now," Jhed said to Shine.
"Don't be scared, I'm right here. I just got an idea. These guards will think you're a child and take you straight to the king — I'll come with you, and we'll walk right up to him. We beat him there, and everyone goes free. We won't even need to fight the guards." Shine said it like it was simple.
The merchant standing in front of them overheard all of this.
"You fools want to die," the merchant said, smiling. It wasn't a happy smile. It was the kind of smile fear puts on a face.
The line moved forward slowly. Jhed had become the topic of conversation among everyone in it. People murmured — "He's come here to die." "He should just run."
Then it was Shine's turn.
"Listen, if you want to leave the city, you'll need to pay a hundred gold coins," the guard told him.
Then it was Jhed's turn.
"How old are you?" the guard asked.
"Fifteen, sir," Jhed said, nervous. Fear had already brought sweat to his skin.
"I never want to come back here again. Did I just dig my own grave by coming here?" he thought to himself.
"Arrest him."
The guards seized Jhed.
Shine stopped them.
"Wait — please don't take my little brother. He's still a child. If he's done something wrong, please forgive him. Please, don't take my brother away." Shine forced out crocodile tears, dropping to his knees and clutching the guard's feet.
Pity showed on the guard's face. But they had no choice either. If they didn't follow orders, they wouldn't get fed.
"Little brother. Such a drama king," Jhed muttered, looking at him.
"Take him too," the guard said. Some of the guards grabbed Shine as well. They led both of them away toward Miruth.
The people still waiting in line watched, fear written plainly across their faces.
As they were being led away, Shine winked at Jhed. He'd wanted exactly this to happen.
"See? My plan worked."