Chapter 2 Part 4

                                    

                                              
"Hey! Come back here!"
                          
Rattlesnake! That's what his band members would call him, if they hadn't all been captured. Simon frowned. How had the young woman with olive skin and curly hair, carrying a baby, detected him when he picked her pocket? Sure, the bag weighed a decent amount, but with that baby fussing, she shouldn't have noticed.
                          
"Give me back my money!" 

                          
She wouldn't catch him, not with baby in arms, but her yelling might encourage sympathy from onlookers. So Simon dove into the crowded streets and lost her. 
                          
Princess Tiffany hadn't taken the liberty of imparting him some of her wealth, so how she expected him to keep from starving without stealing baffled him. That's the problem with nobles. Noble talk without the noble deeds, and little grasp of the realities the commoner had to face. 
                          
After he had gotten far enough away that he felt sure the woman wouldn't bother him, Simon relaxed and looked in the bag. Not bad. Some silvers in there, mixed with the coppers. The girl shouldn't walk around with so much cash. She had basically asked to get robbed. 
                          
The streets had cleared up a bit, and a print hanging on a lamppost caught Simon's eye. Mostly because it showed a picture of himself. 
                          
"Wanted," it began in large ornate type on the top. A woodcut printed picture of himself, looking rather sinister with dark shadows under his eyes, lurked beneath that word. Below, in smaller print, it said, "Believed to be part of Snake Eyes. Witnesses have heard him respond to the name Simon. Contact officials if sighted."
                          
So, that's how Earl Hart knew his name. At least it made sense now. No creepy specter from the past that he couldn't remember. Still, he didn't look that much like the picture. But it did capture his hat. Simon ripped the yellowed paper off, folding and putting it in a pocket as a keepsake. Few people had the money to get a likeness of themselves. Simon didn't have to pay anything, and he got it hung up all over town. 
                          
He almost left then, but his eye caught another poster. Less visually striking than his wanted poster, this one advertised the Arena of Honor games. Normally, he wouldn't care, but now that he had no band of thieves, no income, and no home, he needed something to do. Only noble born Knights of the Rose would compete in the jousting competition. Bunch of prissies. Reading further, though, he saw something more interesting, the melee duels, with the grand prize being a large sum of money and a chance to duel a Knight of the Dragon for a spot among their ranks to replace the recently deceased Satchel. Simon saw that he could enter the melee combat if he got a noble to sponsor him. Not a very fair way to decide, since the nobility kept aloof from most commoners.
                          
Luckily, Simon had someone in mind; someone he believed would help him out. 
                          
Having Isabel Korigon as his girlfriend had its advantages.