For Pait, there were pros and cons to having lived most of her life in various places all over Luvatha. For the pros: she knew every street and alley of this shitty city, every hole in every fence or wall, and which ones her thin frame could slip through but the city guard in their ridiculous armor couldn’t. She knew which areas of the city were packed tightly enough with buildings that she could jump from roof to roof, and she knew which gambling houses got rowdy enough that, if she ducked in at the right time, everyone would be too drunk and too belligerent to notice the young girl swiping a purse here or there.

For the cons: every city guard knew her on sight.

It didn’t matter that she’d chopped her auburn hair short, or that she’d shaved the sides of her head. It didn’t matter if she wore a cloak with the hood up, walked with a fake limp, or dressed in fine, stolen clothes. Somehow, they always knew.

“Aelia Pait! Stop!” Rodrick shouted, his armor clanking noisily behind her.

“It’s Pait and you know it, Rod-dick,” she called back as she slipped through a gaggle of ladies out doing their shopping, and dove into a side alley.

Pait was positive no one had seen her lift the coin purse that now jangled in the pocket of her baggy pants, but that didn’t matter. Every time a guard spotted her, they just assumed she had something stolen on her. The fact that they were always right was beside the point.

Luvatha was a strange city. In recent years, it had become this tourist destination for the nobles of Broken Earth when they wanted to partake in a little Chaos that they couldn't find in Lushale’s capitol—yet, the vast majority of the city was nearly as poor as Pait herself. Walk two blocks past the pearly stone arches and massive carvings of Luvatha’s Arena, an enormous building second only to Broken Earth’s own Arena in size, and you’d stumble upon tiny shacks packed with starving children and alleyways littered with scarred, drunken men perpetually one wrong glance away from a fight. So all Pait had to do was sprint through the alley to the next street over, then take a left and she was back on her home turf.

Rodrick burst out of the alley and into the evening crowd milling around on the street. Luvatha was one of the few cities in Lushale that had a nightlife, and the sun making its descent was the city’s signal to head out and enjoy the Dark. Noise, lights, the smell of flesh all drew the attention of monsters, so all smaller villages and towns that didn’t have the walls or the numbers to properly defend themselves had strict curfews, and even most larger cities heavily discouraged any nighttime activities. That was the whole draw of Luvatha—those normally Order-abiding citizens could come here and give in to the Chaos for once.

Pait really thought she was going to get off easy this time—the street so packed like it was, she could melt right into the crowd and let it carry her far away from Rodrick. She made it a block closer to home before the next guard spotted her.

“Aelia Pait! Stop!”

“Mother—It’s just Pait!”

She dodged into another alley, one she knew was blocked off in the middle by a stone wall. But she also knew that stone wall had a rope slung over it and was tied off on a post on the other side. Because she’d been the one to sling it. All she had to do was climb to the top of the wall and pull the rope up after her and she’d be free.

Halfway down the alley something became very clear to Pait. There was no rope slung over the wall. She skidded to a stop, feeling the cobblestone rub against her foot through the hole in her boot sole. One of the kids must have used her little trick already today and forgot to toss the rope back over. She turned to retreat back out of the alley—

Too late. A guard slid into view, clanging against a food stall before getting their feet back under them and starting down the alley after her.

“Shit!” Pait hissed.

She couldn’t get caught, not on rent night. She was already on her third chance with Madam Agatha, and there was no fourth. If she couldn’t hack it as a thief, Madam Agatha said, she’d have to try her hand in the brothel. And if she couldn’t—or wouldn’t—do that, Pait would be out on her ass. Again.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Pait took off toward the wall. “Ay! Marlon! Yessie! Somebody!”

Clang, clang, clang! up the alley behind her.

“Pait?” a child’s voice wafted over the wall.

“I told y’all to toss that rope back when you’re—,” Pait crashed into the wall, “—done with it, you little shits!”

“Oh, shit, we—”

“Sorry, Pait! We’ll remem—”

“JUST TOSS IT OVER!”

A moment later, a rope smacked her in the head. Pait grabbed hold and pulled herself up just as the guard crashed into the wall themself. The guard grabbed her boot, and Pait immediately kicked out, knocking the guard’s helmet loose and sending it clattering across the cobblestone. Oh, it was Alesha—she could see her face now.

Alesha held on to Pait’s boot even as she kicked repeatedly. It wasn’t until her boot slipped off that Alesha fell back and Pait was able to finally scramble up and over the wall, yanking the rope after her. Pait landed with a splash.

“Agh, fuck!” Her bare foot went straight into a puddle of warm piss.

This really wasn’t her day. Then again, none of the previous days had been either.

“Don’t you move, Pait!” Alesha shouted over the wall, then went clanging off to find a way around.

“Come on!” Yessie held open the side door that led down into the basement of Agatha’s gambling house, brothel, and home for abandoned children, though that last one was unofficial.

Pait quickly untied the rope from the post that supported the little awning over the basement door. If she left it, Alesha was sure to either take it or cut it up. But once she and the rope both got inside that door, the guards couldn’t touch either of them. Pait trotted down the stairs after Marlon, tracking pissy footprints behind her, and ducked past Yessie. Once the door was closed, they all let out a collective breath. The basement was strewn with empty bedrolls and a child or two, but most were out in the streets right now, earning their rent.

Pait, still trying to steady her breathing, dropped onto a stool against one wall, then folded forward to prop her elbows on her knees. Yessie, a scrawny ten-year-old in a used-to-be-white dress, stood with her dirty hands clasped nervously together while Marlon, only eight and wearing nothing but his loincloth, bounded forward to stick a chunk of stale bread in Pait’s face.

“Sorry ‘bout the rope, Pait,” Marlon said in his sweet little tone. “Have the rest of my bread.”

Pait waved it away. “Nah, I’m not hungry,” she lied. “Where the hell’d you find food? It’s rent day. Agatha never feeds anyone ‘til after they’ve paid.”

Yessie hesitated, glancing at Marlon, but he just blurted, “Mad Magatha gave us empty plates for dinner last night, so we spent our earnings on food today.”

Pait looked up at Yessie. “How light did that leave your purse, Yess?”

Cheeks burning, Yessie searched her pockets to produce one meager copper coin. Before Pait could scold them, Marlon said, “We were hungry!”

It was hard to argue with that.

Pait glanced at the tiny window up at the very top of the wall that peeked into the alley. Light was fading fast. Rent was due at midnight, and Pait knew Yessie and Marlon had already racked up a few chances from Agatha as well. And there was no way Pait would let Agatha kick these two little kids out. Or worse, ask them to earn their spot on the basement floor another way.

She pulled the stolen purse from her pants pocket and tossed it at Yessie, who fumbled it for a moment before finally getting it steady in her hands. Yess tugged it open to examine the contents.

The little girl shook her head. “I’ll go back out. Earn enough for me and Marlon to stay.”

As if on cue, they heard the clanging of armor down the alley outside, and a moment later, Alesha shouted, “I’m keeping my gaze on this place all night, Pait, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pait shouted back. “Ay, you ask Roya out yet?”

A beat. Then, a little more subdued, “We’ve claimed seats for a show tomorrow.”

“Ha! And name the mouth that told you she’d say yes.”

Another beat, and then a grumble. “Yours.”

“You’re welcome!”

“I’m still watchin’ this place tonight.”

Pait mumbled to herself, “Well, fuck you too.”

Clutching the purse, Yessie looked up at Pait with big, brown eyes. “What about you?”

“Ah.” Pait slumped back against the wall and lied some more. “That’s only one of the three I nabbed today. I’m covered.”

“Oh,” Yess replied, unconvinced. “Alright then.”