Amongst Thieves

CHAPTER SIX- Knowledge and Gold

'I 'spose I have you to thank for all this,' Callen sighed as he lay against the riverbank, the smooth stones strangely comfortable against his back.

Harver laughed softly from beside him.

'Hardly. I just mentioned a merchant's son willing to do dirty jobs cheap to some friends, you did the rest. Still I can't believe how well it worked, it's only been a couple of years and you've managed to get half the squires this side of uptown paying you to do their work. Who knew we were such a lazy bunch.'

'I did.' Callen smiled. "But regardless of who's fault it is I'm so busy these days I barely have time to steal. It's no fun at all.'

Harver's disapproving stare finally brought a laugh from the smaller boy.

'I guess you're right, I should be focusing on bigger things. Just imagine how much coin I could take from uptown,' he said, staring distantly towards the manses on the hill, shrouded in the shadows cast by the castle that loomed over them all.

'We both know that's a bad idea,' Harver sighed.

'You barely lasted five minutes up there before you were beaten bloody and thrown out, and that was just for looking the way you do. People like us don't belong up there and they sure as hell don't want us to.'

'Probably,' the younger boy conceded, 'but you're assuming they'll be able to catch me a second time.'

'Are you really that good?'

The smile fell away as Callen shrugged.

'I'm alright. Better than most I guess but I've been caught more than a few times. Mostly it just comes down to luck.'

'I'm guessing that means you want to join the thieves' guild eventually?'

He shrugged again.

'Maybe. That's more Lohan's dream to be honest but I will probably end up following him there to make sure he doesn't get himself killed. For now I'm just stealing because I have to.'

Harver gave a short laugh.

'You must be better than you are letting on, to be willing to put up the entry fee just because your friend wants to join.'

'Fee?' Callen repeated as he sat up, suddenly serious.

'Well, yeah.' Harver replied bluntly. 'You can't just walk in. You have to apply, be tested and if they like what they see you can join for a gold piece.'

Callen slumped back against the riverbank. Gold. A single piece would see a man fed, clothed, and sheltered in uptown for nearly a season or keep Callen and his friends alive for at least a year. He had never even seen one.

Seeing the look on his friends face Harver rushed to continue.

'Not all guilds cost that much. The Protection guild is only half and most others are even less than that. Maybe your friend could join one of those first?'

Callen remained silent, knowing it was hopeless. Lohan wasn't the sort to wait forever. Once he found out about the entry fee he would either find a way to get it or die trying. The revelation left Callen with little choice; he would have to steal the gold himself, enough for both of them, and there was only one place where he could find that kind of money.

-----

'This is pointless,' Callen muttered, venting his frustration on the piece of rope twisting between his fingers. After several forays into Uptown he was close to abandoning hope and Harver was increasingly supportive of the notion.

'You managed to stay there for the whole day this time.' Harver replied, fumbling in his attempt to mimic Callen's latest knot.

'Most people get beaten and tossed out within minutes.'