The Journey (sorry best title i could come up with...)

I quizzically studied the man across the table from me. There wasn't much to see. He had a hood on that wrapped around his head. The only feature I could make out was his nose. The hood hooked down from the top, wrapped around the side, and basically did all it could to conceal his facial features.

His offer had made me start with surprise. A guide across the mountains? And only 20 francs? Who could pass this up? Plus i needed to get out now, so I agreed. I pushed 10 francs across the table to the man. "Where are the other 10?" His deep, gruff voice demanded. "Ten now, and ten when we get there." I insisted. He grunted his consent, grabbed the money, and left. Now to just survive until tonight...

I hurried out of the dark taverna. I looked to make sure I wasn't being watched, then melted back into the shadows.

I can never think of titles...

I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Are you sure?" My eyes were following the beautiful white Arabian and her handlers. Mare leaned over and whispered back, "Yeah, I think I could tame her in a couple weeks." I had some trouble hearing her, because of the shrill squeals of the horse. Also the music coming over the loudspeaker combined with the voice of the auctioneer did not help at all. The auctioneer was saying, "Will anyone buy this...um..fine mare? she is...um...even tempered and well worth buying!" I wondered if we were looking at the same horse. This was a terrified horse dragging along her handlers. She also looked partially wild. I could see potential in the horse. I looked at Mare again, "Are you sure?" She hesitated, then nodded. I stood up, waved our number and shouted "$200!" Everybody turned to see who was crazy enough to buy the horse. "Sold!" came the voice of the happy auctioneer. I sat down. The  man sitting next to me  said, "You know eight people have tried to tame that horse?" "What happened to them?" I asked. "Two were killed, two were bitten, two had bones broken, and two just gave up." I smiled and said, "Perfect, I love a good challenge!"