~~Author's Corner~~

As of November 21st, 2015, chapter 2 has been moved to chapter 3, while a new chapter has been written for chapter two. Sorry for the change, and I promise I will do my best in the future to make sure it doesn't need to happen again.

Ten points to whoever points out spelling/grammatical mistakes.

HUGE thanks to Balthazar for all his help in getting this chapter to you in greater quality. He went beyond what I expected.

~~~~~

Thane opened the door to his hideout slightly, clicking his tongue in annoyance at the dark street in front of an abandoned building, completely quiet and empty except for the occasional rat running around. He could see the sky starting to turn a lighter blue, the sun still hidden behind the city’s outer walls, and began to worry more.

On one hand, the harvest festival was finally over, and business as usual could start up again without the peacekeeper overkill in place. Although he was just a fence, just looking at a peacekeeper the wrong way looking like he did could end very, very badly. Even worse if it was a mage. On the other, Arduin, his closest friend and partner, was still gone for hours after he said he would be back, an incident that could only be taken as a terrible omen.

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary for the longest time, Thane immediately grabbed hold of his rational self again, closed the door, and turned a rusted lock before heading back into the old storehouse. He moved quietly and thoughtfully, trying his best to avoid all the small bodies lying on the ground without a blanket in sight. Some huddled together, others as far away as possible.

It started a few years ago, when the empire decided to have its first official harvest festival. The keepers cracked down harder than they ever had, and the children in the street had to flee before they were disappeared. The city had to look perfect for foreign dignitaries and nobility to display the wealth and prosperity of the Sarz Empire, so beggars and petty thieves wouldn’t be tolerated. After rumors leaked that Arduin had let a few kids in after seeing them sleep on the streets, they all flocked to the sad little one-story building in the Dirt District. Thane was hesitant at first, but Arduin was persistent and eventually their little hideout became a hub of orphans and young thieves, all under the age of twenty, with Thane and Arduin being the oldest ones in their late teens.

There were about thirty of them in total, but their numbers changed all the time; some new faces showing up with old ones, some old ones never coming back at all. It was hard to keep track of them all. They had moved more than once when a kid didn’t come back after a while. After a host of vacant buildings and houses, they eventually found their current hideout, a long-abandoned storehouse outside of the range of the keeper patrols.

For the most part, the kids came and went of their own volition, only returning when they couldn’t find a place in the Cloud District, were desperate for food, or had “found” something they wanted to sell. Thane, who had the connections to move the wares along undetected. This little arrangement actually became a reliable source of income, and Thane began using the extra money, not that it was much, to buy and stockpile what little food they could afford for everyone. This in turn attracted more kids and the hub had to change locations a few more times just to avoid older crooks from stealing the food. After the second attempt, all  the kids had been sworn to secrecy and Arduin taught them how to check if someone was following them. Even after he taught them, the kids wanted more, leading into lessons on pickpocketing, tricking people, how to figure out who to steal from and the best methods, and on and on.

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As Thane walked, he began counting the bodies to get a good head count. The number was the same as the previous evening and Thane finally got to the back of the storehouse, where a group of kids no older than twelve were talking, probably planning who would take which streets. They stopped talking when they noticed Thane approaching.

“Morning gems, has anyone seen Arduin around? He should have been back hours ago.” The kids looked at each other before a girl responded.

“Haven’t seen him since last night, and he was lookin’ pretty bad… Poltus was up early this morning, so he should know for sure.” She gestured across from her at a timid boy, smaller than the rest, who meekly said,

“I, I never saw him come in, but he always comes back, so it should be okay, right?”

“With your eyes, he could have come right by us and Poltus didn’t see him…” another girl snickered, and they began to childishly bicker with each other.

These kids were a pack of four who stayed together, much like he and Arduin did. He had told them to always leave one person awake while the others slept, and they had taken it to heart, with the small Poltus taking the dawn shift.

Looking at the four of them fight, Thane remembered how he and Arduin would squabble when they were kids. While they were all together now, Thane and Arduin’s partnership had started years before the kids ever became involved, when they had both been left in an orphanage by their parents when they were infants, Thane being the older. They grew up together, played and ate together, and when the orphanage closed after the empire stopped funding it, they escaped the drafting of any child over fourteen together. The two had been working as a pair ever since, realizing their individual talents and how to work together.

Thane was street-smart, and liked to play around in the markets, listening to the merchant haggle their wares with customers and the like, and he used it to form relations with the merchants, using the bonds to fence of the things that found their way into his hands. Arduin wasn’t as curious, but mischievous, always finding a way to pull pranks on the lady who ran the orphanage or the other kids, often getting an ear-full for it. He naturally got better at tricking people and stealing over time, and started to give Thane the jewelry he lifted.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything left for breakfast?” The youngest girl, Clarissa, looked up at Thane and asked, breaking him out of his little déjà vu. He then remembered their current situation.

“Sorry kiddos, you know we’ve been out for a while. There aren’t even crumbs on the floor. The sun’s rising though, so you should be okay to head outside now.” Thane said, gesturing to the holes in the high ceiling that were letting the light in.

They had actually run out of food two days ago. Earlier if Arduin hadn't absolutely refused to eat anything for the entire week. Understanding how long their food would last if he didn't, he decided to fast so that the others wouldn’t go hungry.

Last night, when he was so hungry that he looked like he was going to faint, he vanished as he always did, leaving a message for him with one of the kids. “Going to the festival. Be back soon.” He had stayed up waiting for the idiot to come sauntering back in, food in hand, but it never happened.

“Ugh, but I’m staaaarviiing” Clarissa responded, and Thane opened his mouth to scorn her.