“Hmm?”
“The prince. Who’s teaching him?”
“At the moment? A pack of idiots.”
Before I could ask what he meant, a man came out of the kitchen area with a plate, some silverware, and a small glass of water. I thanked him and took it all, gulping some of the water before setting the glass on the windowsill beside me.
“So what does the prince need to learn?” I asked Lars before diving into my food.
Lars gave me a big smile. “Thank you for asking, son. You’re the first to do that.”
Again, I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that. Everything he was saying felt just a touch off. It could be simply because I was from a whole other place and didn’t understand the culture here. Or he could be a nutty old guy with nutty old guy problems. Either way, he was passionate about what he was saying.
“The prince is cocky and devious. Lies and manipulates to get what he wants. Thinks it’s cute. He’s impulsive and reckless.” He leaned toward me and lowered his voice to say, “I can’t tell you how many times he’s been caught having sex right out in public where anyone could see because he’sliving for today.”
He said the last few words like he was quoting the prince. “Pretty sure that’s a felony where I come from.”
“Oughta lock him up,” he said with a nod, “but I know that wouldn’t work. Boy needs more than a passing glance at responsibility, that’s for sure. He might be adventurous and charming, but he needs to strap in and do his job.”
I nodded along, devouring absolutely delicious beer-battered fish. In between two of them, I said, “I’m not familiar with any princes in my world, but I would’ve thought there should be a level of civic duty to such a position. He sounds like a frat boy, not a government servant.”
Lars slapped his thigh and pointed at me. “Thank you! Exactly right.”
I smiled. He was a little crazy but I liked him.
“So are the people protesting?”
He harrumphed. “They did in the beginning. The rumors about the curse spread fast, and folks expected more from him. Obviously, no one thought it would all happen overnight?—”
“Sure.”
“—but seeingsomethingchange would’ve helped.”
“But you got nothing?”
“Nothing. Of course, if one thing doesn’t work, you try something else, hmm?” He grinned and slapped me on the back. “So now you’re here.”
I grinned back at him and chewed equally amazing french fries, not at all sure why he thought any of this had something to do with me. He was kind of a sweet old man, but clearly not all present.
Somewhere outside a whistle sounded, and the atmosphere in the pub changed almost instantly. Several people left money on the tables and walked out like they had somewhere to be all of a sudden. Employees bustled about cleaning up and resetting chairs. Was this preparation for the influx of drinkers Lars had implied we’d be getting?
“Here they come,” Lars told me. “You just keep pouring pints, and I’ll handle the rest.”
I stuffed another bite in my mouth before wiping off my fingers and standing. Maybe the whistle had been some kind of shift change indicator. Miners came to mind.
“That wasn’t a whistle for mining, was it?” I didn’t know much, but I knew that was brutal and often fatal work.
“Well, they are digging,” Lars said, “but for water. Gold and silver are only up in the mountains.”
Suddenly, men and women started marching into the pub and heading straight for the bar. They were covered in so much dirt, it literally fell off of them with every step. Digging for water. I didn’t know how someone did that, but the fact that they needed to said a lot about the suffering here in Trilgare.
Suffering that their prince wasn’t even trying to alleviate.
For a while, I concentrated on my task of pouring one pint after another. Folks from the kitchen brought me clean glasses as they got them washed, and I just kept going. Some of the drinkers put their glass back on the bar, and I filled it again. I was praised more than once for the quality of my pours, so that was a huge relief.
At one point, I looked up and found Pinky from Solaris’s little crew standing there. He gave me a sheepish smile and said, “I am sorry about leaving you behind, but, well… We can’t exactly go against the prince’s orders, you know?”
The prince gave an order to leave me behind?
