Into the Jackal's den!

[Tally]

"Well."  Jackal clapped one of the men on the shoulder.  "I'm off.  See how much work you can give them before they give up, eh?"

The lads would pile on chores for the boys all day and by the time Jackal returned the little annoyances would be out of his sight.

[Rhindeer]

"If beatin' enters into this, we're out," Keani answered, watching the men out of the corner of his eye as he worked.

The chores piled up, and Keani stuck with it. Some of them were kind of ridiculous, and some of them had Keani's jaw dropping (boots were one thing, but he did not wanna be washing some dude's smallclothes!), but he did it. He washed the damned clothes, he cleaned, and he did it all without complaint. If this was a test, he was going to pass it. If this is what it took to get in with the group, dammit, he'd do it.

But doubt did start to filter into his mind, because what if Keoni was right and they were just having fun at their expense? What if after all this, they'd just be sent on their way, or never even get to meet the Jackal?

He was more than willing to weather it out, at least for the first few hours; the need to survive had trumped pride years ago. But there was so much even he could take.

It was approaching evening and Keani had just finished cleaning out a crusted cooking pot when he'd about had enough. What finally tipped him over the edge, though, was the fresh list of chores one of the men presented him with just as he was finishing up.

Setting the pit aside and wiping sweat from his brow, Keani scowled and rose to his feet.

"Okay, so this is great and all, but we came here to meet the Jackal," he said, barely holding his temper in check, "not to clean house all day. So are we gonna meet 'im or not or was this just a big waste of our time?"

[Anonymous]

Keoni was starting to get fed up as well. He worked with a quiet diligence, but they were supposed to be bandits, not maids. And he couldn't shake the feeling that it was all just a joke at him and his brothers expense.

He glared up at the man from over Keani's shoulder, "Yeah. We ain't cleanin' no more stuff."

[Tally]

The fellow they spoke too bellowed a laugh at their expense.  "The second one!" he said to Keani.  He slapped his knee and lumbered off in good cheer.

It drew the attention of Jackal himself, who'd just rode up with it raiding party and now dismounted, casting a look at the two boys.  "They still here?" he muttered, and the lad who took his horse—the son of one of his archers—just shrugged.

"Mm."  The end of the day had reached them, and Jackal bellowed orders out as he walked toward his cabin., one of the few permanent structures in their camp.

[Rhindeer]

Frustrated after a day of doing menial, pointless chores, that was the final straw. Keani jerked to his feet, kicked the pot out of his way, and had several very nasty words on the tip of his tongue when a raiding party, lead by the red-head they'd spoken to earlier, returned.

The red-head who had seemed very in-charge earlier and who seemed very in-charge now.

The red-head who was leading the party, bellowing out orders, and heading for one of the nicer structures here.

Keani froze, realization slowly dawning. Before, he'd figured the man was just someone high up in the hierarchy, but then it registered with painful clarity. All the amused looks and veiled glances. All the laughter and nudging. Keoni's comment that he thought they were joshin' them. The fact that all those men looked to that one man, had always looked to him ever since they'd come here and still did now.

His mouth dropped open. "Uh...Keoni...?" he muttered, staring. "I think that's him."

[Anonymous]

Keoni winced when Keani kicked the pot, ducking his head down. It wasn't until he noticed his brother freeze that he glanced around, noticing the return of the man earlier. He frowned, slowly nodding his head, "I think yer right. I mean, he's the one in charge, yeah? They have been messin' with us."

[Tally]

On his way to his cabin, Jackal passed right by the two thieves.  From the looks on their faces, they'd finally figured it out, but the light was failing and he was through playing with children.  It had been a long day.

He gave them a dazzling—and smug—smile on his way past.  "Thanks for the boot shine, boys."

[Rhindeer]

That did it.

That revelation, combined with confirmation, only added to Keani's sense of being totally and completely fed up with this whole charade.

And desperation and annoyance, combined together, could make him forget his usual cautious paranoia.

"Oh, no, ya don't!" he snapped, grabbing hold of the man's arm. "We came to speak with ya and ya damn well owe us that much!"

[Anonymous]

Keoni stared at the man, fists clenched at his sides. He felt furious and ashamed. He glared at the man, feeling tears prick his eyes and hated himself for them. "Yeah! Ya can't just jerk us around like that!"

[Tally]

"Funny.  Looks like that's exactly what I did."  Jackal pried Keani's hand off him and threw him at his brother.  "Now you're both gonna be on your way.  You're gonna go back to whatever mud hole village you came from, spend a good time nursing your pride, then you're gonna find your way elsewhere in the world.  But not here."

[Anonymous]

Keoni felt a cold, heavy rage in the pit of his belly. His cheeks flushed dark and he glared at Jackal, grabbing his brothers arm, "Let's go."

[Rhindeer]

Scrambling to his feet, Keani glared daggers at the man but rose to his feet as his brother clasped his hand. "Yer a joke," he growled, heading away with his brother. "I hope they rot."