Book Two - Chapter Six

Lusya ran along the roofs. She restrained her speed for Ariya’s benefit, and so the roofs managed to escape undamaged. As she ran, she scanned the streets with her eyes for Ander and with her senses for his Malice. By now, she could recognize the latter. As she had expected, he had not gone far.

“Woohoo!” Ariya shouted as Lusya jumped from one building to the next.

“Quiet,” Lusya said. “You may bite your tongue.”

They might not have been moving at full speed, but Lusya could still only make the ride so steady. Ariya refrained from any further outbursts as they closed in on Ander’s position.

They found him in a dark alleyway near the marketplace, with, presumably, the thief pinned against the wall. There were some wooden boxes scattered about nearby. Their haphazard placement and light damage did not give the impression they had been placed that way. Perhaps Ander or the thief had knocked them over during the pursuit. Lusya jumped down, landed next to Ander, and set down Ariya.

“That was so fun!” Ariya exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. “Let’s do it again!”

“Perhaps later,” Lusya replied.

She was not sure what Ariya found fun about it. It was the first time she had been carried at anything other than a slow walk. Other than the fight against Kadel, that was. Lusya had expected Ariya to need some time to acclimate. Moreover, why was that fun but the carriage was frightening? Ariya was perplexing at times.

“This is the thief?” Lusya asked, looking over the person Ander had pinned.

“That’s right,” Ander replied. “I’m trying to figure out what to do with him.”

Lusya blinked. “You do not know?”

“Well, no,” Ander said. He chortled. “I kind of leaped before I looked.”

“That seems to be a habit of yours.”

Ander pursed his lips, then nodded. “Yeah…”

He offered no further response, so Lusya turned her attention on his captive.

The thief was a wiry boy. He looked to be in his early teens. Several years older than Ariya, but still a child. His clothes were rough and ragged, his face splotched with dirt. Greasy dark hair was plastered to his head, and he smelled much like a rotting corpse. He was struggling to escape, as Ander held him face first against the wall. One hand pinned a shoulder, while the other twisted the thief’s other arm behind his back. The thief’s efforts were fruitless. It was an awkward hold to get out of, and Ander was plenty strong enough to maintain it. He may well have been the second-strongest person in the city at the moment, for as low a bar that was.

“Oh, I guess Ander’s already done,” Ariya said.

“As I told you,” Lusya said.

“I appreciate the confidence, but I’m not actually finished here,” Ander said. “Like I said, I have to decide what to do next. Oh, by the way, he dropped what he stole over there.” He jerked his head downward. “Can you pick it up?”

There was indeed a small leather pouch, with a few dull copper coins on the verge of falling out, at the thief’s feet. Lusya knelt to grab it. The thief took that opportunity to throw one foot back, trying to kick her in the head, but she blocked the blow on her forearm with ease.

“Ah, shadows, that stings!” the thief exclaimed, shaking his foot.

Lusya grabbed the pouch and stood. All the coins within were copper, but it was about as full as it could get. Far from a fortune, but it would have been substantial sum for most, let alone a vagrant child.

“What is up with you, lady?” the thief demanded, still gingerly holding his foot above the ground.

Lusya cocked her head and blinked. “That pain is a consequence of your own actions.”

“For the record,” Ander said, “if that hurt you, it probably would have gone the same even if she hadn’t blocked. Am I right?”

“More or less,” Lusya said.

Being struck in the face was never pleasant, however, no matter how little pain or harm one sustained. She was not sure why. Some kind of instinct, perhaps. There were also practical concerns, like having one’s vision obstructed. That wasn’t important now, but keeping good habits was seldom a bad idea.

Ander pulled the thief away from the wall. “Time to turn you into the guards, come on.”

“Stealing’s not nice,” Ariya said, wagging a finger at the boy.

The thief scoffed. “I gotta eat, you know.”

“So does that man, I’d imagine,” Ander said. “He didn’t look like he was rolling in money to me.”

The thief hesitated. “Well, yeah, but—”

“If stealing is really the only way you can live, then fine, do what you have to,” Ander said. “But it’s still wrong, and you’re still going to get punished if you get caught. Speaking of which, I think I’ve decided what to do with you. We’ll be taking you to the nearest barracks to turn you in.” He glanced at Lusya. “That’s fine, right?”

She nodded. “I have no objections.” She was not sure why he thought it mattered to her.

“The guards?” the thief asked, incredulous. “You really think I should go to jail?”

“Seems like a reasonable punishment for stealing to me,” Ander said. “You accepted that risk when you made your move. You look old enough to understand that.”

The thief clicked his tongue. “Whatever. I wasn’t gonna let such a good tip slip by—”

He suddenly clamped his mouth shut and looked down at the ground, eyes wide.

“Wait, tip?” Ander exclaimed. “Are you coordinating with someone?”

The thief didn’t reply, looking off to the side.

“Answer me,” Ander said. It was far from a forceful demand. It was almost gentle, even.

Ariya drew near, arms crossed and head held high. “Yeah, tell us.”

The thief glared at her and spat. Ariya scrambled back, allowing the glob to land on her shoe rather than her face.

“Ew, gross,” she said, her face contorting in a scowl, which soon morphed into a frown. “I liked these shoes…”

“We will get them cleaned,” Lusya said as she approached the thief, her head tilted slightly and her gaze fixed on him.

“It’s okay, Lusya,” Ariya said. She reached forward as if to grab Lusya but stopped short of doing so. “It’s not that bad.”

Ander stared at her. “Lusya, what are you—”

“Move,” Lusya said. “I will punish him.”

The thief recoiled. He looked about, squirming and thrashing in Ander’s grasp in a renewed effort to escape.

“Okay, I’ll talk!” he screamed when he found it as futile as before. “I’ll talk.”

“That matters little to me.”

“And I’m sorry I spat on the girl, okay? I’m sorry.”

“Your apology is meaningless,” she replied.

“Lusya, please,” Ariya pleaded. “I’m fine.”

Lusya looked at the child. Her lips were protruding in a pout, hands folded in front of her as if in prayer. This seemed to be upsetting her more than the original incident.

“Very well,” Lusya said.

Leaving the thief unpunished did not sit well with her. He had taken malicious action toward Ariya. The minimal result was irrelevant. If acting in response was going to make the situation worse, however, Lusya supposed she had little choice but to stand down.

Ander sighed and turned his attention back to the thief. “So?”

“W-well, a bunch of us decided to get together and share tips,” he said. “Y’know, this guy always takes a leak at noon, so you can grab whatever. This lady leaves the window open at night. That kind of thing. You get an easy mark, and whoever told you gets a little kickback.”

“I see,” Ander said. “Some kind of…thieves’ association.”

“It’s called a guild in the stories,” Ariya said, as chipper as if the prior incident had never occurred.

The thief nodded. “I guess it’s something like that. We’re in this together, thieves’ honor, all that crap.” He let out a single, joyless bark of laughter. “That’s how it was s’posed to work anyway.”

“And how does it actually work?” Ander asked with a deep frown.

“Guy who started it got a big head,” the thief said. “And he’s got a bunch of others who act like he’s the king or somethin’. He takes a little bit of what everybody gets. Don’t play along, and you get a beat down and no more tips for you.”

“Expecting such a scheme to self-regulate seems exceptionally foolish,” Lusya said. “Even if the goal were not fundamentally dishonest.”

The thief flinched as she spoke, then turned away, grumbling something unintelligible.

“You’ve got a point,” Ander said, turning toward Lusya. He shrugged. “Can’t blame them for trying, though. Either way, looks like we’ve got some work to do tonight.”

She tilted her head and blinked twice. “I do not see how.”

“We’re going to take down this thief ring,” he said, as if it were obvious.

She blinked once more. “I have no interest in doing that. It is none of our concern.”

“We can’t just leave it alone,” he said with a grimace. “It’s probably behind all the theft that guard told us about, and it’s not even working out for the thieves.”

“I do not care,” Lusya said. “If you do, then inform the guards. There is no reason for us to get involved.”

“I agree with Lusya,” Ariya said. “I’m sure the guards can handle it.” She quickly stuck her tongue out at the thief and blew air out at him. “Besides, they’re a bunch of meanies anyway.”

Ander seemed taken aback by Ariya’s input and was silent for a moment.

“You’re right, they’re mean,” he said at last. “But wouldn’t you be mean too if you could never get enough to eat, or a warm place to sleep?”

Ariya hesitated before nodding. “I guess so.”

“And do you think it’s okay to be mean just because someone else was?”

“Well, Papa always says ‘two wrongs don’t make it right,’ but…” Ariya glanced at Lusya as if for guidance. Before any words could be exchanged, Ariya nodded and turned her focus back on Ander. “…I think it depends on how mean they are.”

“You might be right there,” Ander said. “You’re not going to get off scot-free, even if you’re hurting. That can only excuse so much. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m okay with just leaving the situation to fester when I can help. Are you?”

For reasons unclear, the thief sighed and hung his head, his forehead pressing against the wall.

Lusya cocked her head and blinked at Ander. She had hoped the matter would be resolved when Ariya agreed with her. Lusya did not appreciate Ander’s attempts at persuasion, but she saw little way to intervene without upsetting Ariya. The smile he returned when he met Lusya’s eyes at least seemed apologetic.

“I guess not,” Ariya said, letting out a sigh. “You’re right, I don’t want them to hurt or keep hurting other people. But what about the guards? Lusya said they could do it, and she’s smart.”

Ander nodded. “She is, and I’m sure they can. But it’ll take time for them to get organized and do it. Bureaucracy can slow things down a lot.”

“They say that in a lot of books too,” Ariya said. “What’s bureaucracy?”

“It basically means there’s a bunch of people and rules that—” Ander cut himself off and shook his head. “One of us can explain it to you later. It’s not really the point. What’s important is that, with such a big organization, they need to sit down and plan things out. They need to decide who’s going to do what, and when, and make sure everybody’s ready. Even for something simple, it’ll take a while. A small group like us is more flexible. We can move quicker and get things fixed sooner.”

Ariya frowned, humming in thought. “How much quicker?”

“We can have it done tonight,” Ander said. “It’ll take them a couple days at best. Probably at least a week, realistically. Trust me, I know.”

Lusya had no doubt he had been educated on the matter as a nobleman’s son. Whether or not his estimates were accurate was another matter. She could not see any signs of deception, but the way he spoke in generalities made it hard to be sure. She did not have the knowledge to contradict him, however. Miudo had had all the trappings of a functional country, including military and law enforcement, but she had never been involved much in their administration. She had only a broad understanding of their inner workings. His point did ring true with what she did know.

Ariya seemed more convinced. “Well, if it only takes us tonight…”

Ariya trailed off and looked to Lusya for approval. If it really did take just the one night, it would not cost them any time. They were in Larsev for the night anyway. Lusya was inclined to think that estimate, at least, had been an honest one. Lying about it could only backfire. Then again, they had established that foresight was not one of Ander’s strengths.

It would mean losing sleep, but that was no great blow to Lusya. She would assume Ander knew how to handle fatigue as well. Even if he did not, she was sure she could find a way to compensate.

“If we do not succeed tonight, I am leaving,” Lusya said. She did not bother trying to exclude herself. Ariya was sure to insist she participate.

“Oh, and apology accepted,” Ariya said to the thief. “And sorry I called you a meanie.”

The thief, who had spent the last few minutes listening in uneasy silence, replied with an indecipherable grunt and a roll of his eyes.

“Now we’re gonna take down that thief king guy,” she continued. “Oh, that sounds like something out of a story, so cool!”

“There is no ‘we’ or ‘us’ that includes you, Ariya,” Lusya said, “you will stay in the inn.”

Ariya groaned and seemed about to protest.

“This is not up for debate,” Lusya said. “It will be dangerous.”

Ariya scowled, crossing her arms. She locked eyes with Lusya, who gazed back, unwavering.

Ariya sighed. “Yes, Lusya.”

“So, we, as in you—as in Lusya—and I,” Ander said, “are going to take down the thief ring, right?”

“That is correct,” Lusya replied.

Ander grinned and turned back to the thief.

“Well, now that that’s settled, you’re going to tell us where we can find this leader of yours,” Ander said. With a smug smirk, he produced two silver coins from his purse. “Do that, and I’ll let you off the hook and give you these.”

The thief needed no further prompting.