It was a dark moonless night in the Imperial city, Athros. Most of the city was slumbering or getting ready for the next day. Only drunks and guards roamed the city streets at dusk.

“Hey! Get back here! Thief! Thief!” a drunkard cried out, ruining the peaceful silence of the night.

Hearing the plea, my patrol rushed over and saw a drunk man grappling with a skinny youth. As we were making our way over, the young boy managed to slip from the drunkard’s grasp and run off into an alleyway. Giving chase, we pursued the perpetrator.

Thieves were a plague on the city, and recently more of them  have been coming out from the woodwork. This thief was only able to stay ahead by nimbly jumping over the various heaps of trash and obstacles littering the alley way. As our torches dispelled the surrounding darkness, a figure of a dirty street urchin was revealed. As the kid saw us gaining on him, he started making quick turns in an attempt to lose us in the winding maze of the narrow alleyways. He was still a good twenty meters in front of us, but at this rate, his lead wouldn’t last long.

It seemed as though the running was draining him, while my compatriots and I only had a light sweat going. Seeing this gave me an extra burst of energy, I wanted to end this now and get back to our card game. Just as he was within our arm’s reach, the thief made a sharp turn and slid sideways through a small gap in between two rundown buildings. It was a tight fit, but he managed to squeeze through.

One of my compatriots tried to do the same thing and got himself stuck. Seeing that, I rushed around the building hoping to corner the kid, but by the time I got there he was long gone.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered as I looked around, hoping for some trace of the thief.

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Pov: Thorin

I woke up with a growling stomach. It ached, crying out for food, and tore me from my slumber.

I tried to ignore it and slip back into sleep. After a few minutes, I was able to shrug off the pain of my empty stomach. It continued to protest letting out gurgles and growls, but I was about to nod off again regardless of its protests.

At this point I was used to the relentless ache. It was like a twin to me, there for as long as I remembered.

There are few chances to eat your fill when you're an orphan.

Just as I had finally fallen back to sleep, my best friend, Herald, shook me awake.

“Wake up Thorin. Today is the start of the festival! A lot of people brimming with cash, just pouring out of their britches ready to be stolen, are going to come  here all week,” he whispered as he shook my shoulder.

“Eeh, let me sleep a bit longer. You know I had a rough night,” I whispered back as I forced my stiff legs off the side of the bed and slowly sat up. I stayed up most of the night to make sure the guards didn't follow me back.

“No way man. The merchants will be just as tired as you are. They won’t even notice us cutting their purses. Plus, you have to make up for coming up empty yesterday,” Herald whispered, with excitement in his eyes.

He was always eager. There was nothing fun about being a pickpocket, but he was a dreamer. He fantasized that one day he would steal a pouch full of gold and leave this life behind. He was always telling me that today was the day that he would soar away from this city on wings made of gold. I admired him for that.

I stood up and groggily began putting on the worn clothes that I had stuffed underneath my bed last night. They were covered in filth, but I had to wear them as they were the only set of clothes that I possessed.

I finished getting dressed and made my way over to the sheet separating my sleeping area from the rest of the orphans’. I was careful not to wake them up.

I paused, taking a moment to just look them over... Each of them endured the same struggles that I did. They were all dirty, skinny kids. I hated the fact they were here because I knew what they went through. Eventually they'd have to leave.

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Some might get lucky, but most would live the rest of their lives penniless and starving. The boys, that I played with, would join gangs or beg on the side of the street. The girls, that I had grown up with, would sell their bodies in order to survive.

I would gladly give my life if that would guarantee that orphans like them could have better lives. I had given up on myself, but they each had a chance. So I stole for them. I tried to get enough food or money so they could eat well.

Some days there just wasn’t enough for all of us. We often made it through the day by rationing the little we had. Yesterday, I didn't get anything and today, if I do not have a successful ‘snatch’ , we wouldn't be eating.

“Let's go already,” Herald whispered, causing me to move away from the sheet separating the sleeping areas.

“Alright, alright. I am moving,” I whispered back, as I moved towards the door of our shack with Hearld following behind.

I rubbed my eyes as I stepped out into the grimy alleyways. It was early dawn and the sun had yet to fully show itself.

We made our way through the warrens of Athros, avoiding the shadier areas of the slums and slowly making it to the west gate. On the way, we chatted, deciding what ruse we were going to use today.

“Cripple and helper?” Herald asked.

“Nah, people are going to be in too much of a hurry. Let’s use the beggar and pedestrian,” I decided.

“Fine, but I'm the beggar. You know I’m a better actor than you are,” Herald said, sticking his tongue out at me.

“It’s more like you're afraid that you'll screw up the ‘snatch’ ,like you did last week,” I shot back. Laughing, we drifted onto less conspicuous topics as we approached the gate.

We made it just as the gate was opening. Travelers started forming a line in front of the guards and waited to be inspected. After the guards asked some questions and checked their items, they were let through.

Most were farmers or travelers here for the Blackwater Festival. We could rob them, but often times they didn't have much and they weren't worth the risk of being caught stealing. Herald and I were biding our time to find a merchant or lesser noble that was coming to participate in the Blackwater Auction. In Athros, the wealthy gather annually to sell rare items. If we could snag one of their purses, we would be set on funds for a year or more.

We sat there, observing the flow of people, and waited for a good target. After twenty minutes, Herald nudged me and pointed at one of the people that just walked past the guards. He was wearing decent clothes that weren't too flashy and he didn’t seem special.

“What do you mean? He doesn’t look wealthy,” I protested. “Aren’t we supposed be looking for high-class targets?”

“I saw him flash gold to the guard to skip the line. He had a decent sized pouch. Trust me,” Herald said over his shoulder, already moving back into an alley.

“Alright, set up two buildings down. See you in a bit,” I said, my eyes locking onto the man.

I waited until the man passed the alley to walk out into the crowd. Making sure to keep track of him, I casually made my way towards him. It was a little crowded on the street, but I managed to get in position behind the man. I slowed down, keeping pace right behind him. I familiarized myself with his gait and copied his movements. He seemed tired, but alert.

I looked ahead and checked the side of the road where Herald waited. We made eye contact for a brief moment and I made a small gesture with my hand, indicating that we were good to go. He repeated the same motion.

My heart beat started to pick up and my adrenaline began to flow, I had ten more paces until the target passed Herald. I took the small blade hidden in one of my pockets and hid it up my sleeve, ready to ambush  the man. Three paces left. I stepped slightly closer and readied myself.

Herald crouched on the side of the street and jumped out towards the man. He latched onto the man’s feet crying out, “Sir please give me some coins, anything please. I am starving!”

The man stopped walking, surprised by Herald’s behavior.

Before Herald had even moved, I was in motion. I knew that he would go for the left leg because the pouch was on the man’s right hip. We had figured out long ago, that most people move their pouch away from the beggar by twisting their mid-section.

The small subconscious movement made my job much easier. I zeroed in on my target and was soon close enough to get to the pouch. I reached out with my left hand and pulled the pouch slightly downward creating tension on the bag. With my right hand I placed the knife to the pouch strings attached to his belt. Then, I lowered my shoulder and prepared for the difficult part. While doing all of this, I continued walking forward. Right as I collided into, the now stationary, man I jerked the blade through the pouches’ strings, using the impact to disguise the force of the cut.

I quickly stuffed the loot into a small bag, attached to my pants, and straightened my posture, quickly jumping back.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I asked angrily.

By this point, the man had kicked off Herald and turned to me, apologizing.

“Sorry, this beggar-kid forced me to stop,” the man said in a frustrated voice, glaring daggers at the figure of Herald retreating back into the alleyway.

“Next time watch where you are going, idiot!” I replied before heading away, into the nearest random shop.

I was a bit out of place in the shop, but I pretended to look at the items for a minute, before wading back out into the crowd with a big smile on my face.

I went back towards the slums, ready to go through the spoils. Perhaps we had finally gotten lucky.