Prince, Twins, Dragon

Chapter Three: Recruiting

The boy in the scruffy clothes was still talking to Jake.

"Now look here, mister—well, you're not really a 'mister', are you? You're only a boy really--now look here mister boy, I don't know how you got yourself down there and all tangled up in the river weeds, but I rescued you, you see, and fair's fair: I think I deserve some kind of reward. It's the least you could do, don't you think, given the circumstances? So? Well...?"

"What?" said Jake. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening..." He was still trying to take in his new surroundings.

"I said: I deserve some kind of reward for rescuing you, don't you think? You look like a wealthy sort of gentlemen," said the boy, eying up Jake's school uniform blazer and shirt, "why not help a fellow out for a good deed?"

"Oh, right," said Jake. "Um, ok then, let's see what I've got..."

He fished around in his wet pockets for something he could give the boy.

"Sorry, I spent all my cash on sweets before the trip. All I've got on me is my phone."

"Your what? Give it here, let me see."

Jake took out his phone. He had just noticed that the boy was wearing a short knife, which must have been what he used to cut the weeds. He wondered about dialing 999. But his phone, which was soaking wet, appeared to have no reception here.

"What is that?" said the boy as he snatched his phone off him.

"Don't you know what a phone is?" said Jake. Even though he had just almost died and was totally lost in a strange, unknown land, his rebellious instinct kicked in and he started showing off to the boy. "It's a device for making calls and sending texts to people. You can also get social media on it and play games." That was mostly what he used his phone for, anyway. He touched some buttons for the boy to show him. "Look, here's my high-score on Tetris." He was really showing off now, but he didn't want to get the boy too interested in his phone. After all, it was his only lifeline to connect him back to the outside world.

The boy inspected the phone, held up to the light, and fiddled with some buttons, as if he had really never seen one before. Then he said, "Useless," and threw it over his shoulder, back into the river.

"Hey!" said Jake. He very nearly dived in to get it back, but he stopped himself, remembering the ordeal that he had only just survived. "What did you do that for?"

"It's just a stupid shiny little brick," said the boy. "No-one would give me any money for it. That, and I wanted to see if you jumped in after it. You didn't, so it can't be that valuable, can it?"

"I didn't jump in after it because I didn't want to nearly drown again, not because it's not valuable!"

"Oh, well, that's your fault then. It's probably sunk to the bottom and gotten lost by now, anyway."

"You idiot!" said Jake, his anger getting the better of both his fear and his politeness.

"Sorry mate. So, you don't have any money you're willing to give me for rescuing you, then?"

"No! I don't know where I am and I don't have any money!"

Before Jake knew what was happening, the boy was knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. He felt a knife being held to his throat.

"Are you sure about that?" said the boy.

Jake tried to stop his adam's apple from wobbling. He looked around at the people passing by on the roads. No one seemed to notice or care what was happening to him. They seemed to be ignoring them as a couple street urchins having a scuffle.