The Tales of Sengli
He lay upon the stone street, his eyes were wide open into the blue, empty sky. Along both sides of him the busy streets continued to evolved without him, everyone with their own business, going about living their lives. Most were oblivious to the rest of the world. Merchants yelled advertisements for their goods, filling the air with mindless slogans like "Fish that don't make ya' puke" and "Rugs guaranteed to last the next flood." He was tired of it. The city had grown to become a bore. The grand city of Anuradhapura, heart of the Republican Sinhala, had become a bore to one of its largest promoters.
Sengli regained his balance after he fell to the stone floor from some mechanical person who cared not for anyone else but the people he knew. Brushing off the dust from his skirt, he noticed a glint of gold underneath a stone away by the city wall. Curiously watching it as it grew bigger as he neared it, he grew to need it. The want and curiosity of whatever lie mysteriously under the brackish dirt that plagued the land was getting a hold of Singlis mind. Finally approaching the item, he bent down on his knees and carefully brushed the dirt from its smooth surface, revealing a gold coin, worth more then eight hundred marks! That was the most money he had ever seen, and he himself was not a poor fellow. Grasping the coin in his hand, he got up and forced his face to squeeze, blocking the hint at fortune.
Slipping the coin into his purse, he walked quickly to the grand treasurer of the city. He would be the only one with enough gold to be able to supply Singli with spendable currency. The door to the bank was quite large and fantastic by itself. It stood nearly ten fight high, of solid wood, and with engravings depicting the grand battles at Gereian and Serentavo in India, before the Republic began to retreat from the northern hordes. Pushing the door, Singli created an opening large enough to squeeze through. When he finally was able to get through, he looked up only to see an arrow pointing to his head.
This is a robbery my friend, the man spoke calmly. There were three men in there, one had a knife to the bankers throat, one was loading up the coins into three brown, cowhide bags, and then there was the archer with the arrow to Singlis head. The archer was very nervous, the arrowhead was now on Singlis head and he could feel the shakiness that the archer had.
You will listen to me or you will listen to the arrow, you understand? the archer spoke, with a shaking voice. Carefully Singli nodded his head. He felt himself begin to sweat and he could feel the small beads developing on his forehead.
Slowly, put your hands on the ground. Singli obeyed, first getting to his knees, and then bent over so that his hands touched the cool smooth stone. He was definitely sweating now, he could feel the streams if it down the side of his face.
Grab his purse. The man loading the money ordered, so the archer set down his bow to bend over to detach it from Singlis belt. Beginning to breath rapidly, Singli remembered the money he had just acquired.
Stop! Singli yelled without even thinking about it. You dont want to do that. The man reaching for the purse froze. He looked at Singlis face, starring with dread.
You shut up! The man loading money yelled. One can tell that he was angry for having this happen. With that said, the archer without a bow continued to reach for the purse. Singli, beginning to panic, grabbed the mans hand and swung him around, sending him through the air and on his back on the opposite side of Singli. Yelling as his hit the ground, the other men were on Singli in a second. The man with the sword began to swing at Singlis chest, missing by nearly an inch each time as Singli continued to back up. Finally he hit the wall, and a grin spread across the maniacs face as he wielded his sword in preparation for a stab. The other two men were behind him; the one who had been thrown through the air was touching the red blood that had drained from his nose.
He went for the stab, but just before it touched Singlis chest, as if from the heavens or Et himself, another sword swiped from the side and with a loud Clang! the maniacs sword fell to the ground. From behind the robbers came seven guards, their swords drawn, and even three more with archers from the side, aiming at the men. Shouting profanity and trying to struggle from the guards arms, the robbers were escorted outside the bank. The banker stood by the door, smiling as they exited.
to be continued...again
