Wherever: The Journey Takes Us

It was an ordinary day in Bannwich.

Its cobbled streets were crowded with people, horses, and carriages alike. There was hardly any room for them all, with free movement being a rare luxury in such a busy place as this. And it certainly was busy, because Bannwich was a big city with a great many buildings. They were various sizes, almost as if each came from a different place yet all were stitched together like a rag made of dozens of separate cloths. Each was a different colour too, and a different shape, and a different aura… but melded together with only narrow allies and wide roads separating them into an intricate maze of stone and wood.

No trees though.

None.

Tallulah couldn’t spot any at least.

And she certainly had been looking a long while now as she travelled this way and that, walking down a route for some time before turning back and going in the opposite direction, and then back again only to turn right or left instead. It would seem like a pointless exercise to any bystander who cared to watch (none did for nobody had the time), however, this was actually a very clever and well-planned action carried out by the young girl. Mainly because it prevented her from becoming lost.

This terrain was not one that was familiar to her, and so she decided that the safest path for exploration was a simple one which she could easily remember and retrace. Therefore, she continued with her idling, peering curiously into shop windows, dodging mighty steeds heaving elegant hackneys, and smiling politely at grimaces from passing adults who suspected her of being a pickpocket. She found it quite rude honestly, as she considered herself dressed far too finely to be a lowly thief.

Of course she was- Papa had bought these clothes for her.

Papa always made sure she looked pretty.

…Papa would kill her if he knew she’d wandered off again.

But that was a mild concern at this time since she could see the large bell tower standing in the centre with the clock’s hands pointing to half past one. Papa shouldn’t be back till two, she predicted, so all was well. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. And in the meantime, she could engrave this magical sight permanently into her mind.

You see, Tallulah had witnessed a great many things in her four and ten years of life, but it was not often that she happened upon such a grand city as this. Her experiences were often limited to country towns, seaside villages, and endless forests- all of which she enjoyed very much, but they had lost their novelty in comparison. It fascinated her, overwhelmingly so, as the continuous noise of chatter and shouts, horse whinnies and clops, and rickety carriage wheels blended in the air and deafened her ears, while a similar concoction of smells from bakeries, and butcheries, and perfume stores (and manure) assailed her nostrils.

At first, it was exciting to be surrounded by such vitality; her attention never struggled to find a new distraction. However, the longer she spent amidst the endless hubbub, the more it began to feel like chaos rather than entertainment, and eventually the scene became suffocating.

The man puffing on his pipe was the one to break her illusion once and for all. She spluttered and coughed when the smoke wrapped its grisly tentacles around her throat and she quickly dipped into an alley to spare herself the torture. The drowning sounds eased a little then, offering her a minor reprieve from her headache before she reached the main road on the other side.

Tallulah now paused, reluctant to continue her dull journey and contemplating a return to her quarters (since it was nearly time to do so anyway), when she turned back to finalise her decision only to bump into a boy. It was a hasty encounter, nearly knocking her off her feet till he grabbed her. Initially, she considered it an act of kindness, then she realised he had pulled her bag from her shoulder and was dashing out onto the thoroughfare.

What a shock she suffered then, standing frozen in place with blinking eyes. She had just been buzzed. Just like that. Stolen from. No remorseful last glance or sorry shrug.

THAT THEIVING LITTLE GIT!

She broke into a sprint, the crowds no longer stifling her as newfound urgency awakened a swiftness that she hadn’t realised she possessed. After him like a hound chasing down a fox she went, matching his step with quickening speed, yelling loudly, “Stop! Thief! Thief!”

However, her cries only spooked him, the perpetrator realising that she was hot on his tail and picking up the pace before diving into a backstreet. Tallulah daringly followed, not knowing what she would do if she caught him, but she had to catch him first if she wanted to decide. Into the same backstreet she lunged, kicking up her dress as her feet leaped frantically until she had to dig her heels into stone and skid to a stop at a mighty wall.

With heavy pants, she watched, disheartened, as the boy then proceeded to jump with a technique he had clearly mastered. He ran into the corner, leaped onto the adjoining building’s side, then propelled himself further over the barrier, landing on it neatly, smirking (yes! smirking!), and disappearing onto the other side.

Well… if she had been any other girl, that would have been the end of it.

But she wasn’t any other girl.

Rage burned so hot that it singed the hairs on her head. She took up her frock, braced herself with a maddened inhale, and sped with the intention of mimicking his method. It was clumsy, undoubtably. However, after some hefty effort to drag at least one leg over the top, which is a very difficult thing to do when one is partially dangling from a wall, she managed to somehow jump down and continue her pursuit.

Fate just so happened to be on her side that day because, under any other circumstances, the boy would have had plenty of time to hide away. Nevertheless, his luck had run out.

Thinking he was very clever, he ran onto yet another road, already preparing to bolt, when Tallulah cried out again, “Thief! Thief! Stop! Stop!”

It would have meant nothing, had the butcher not been stood there. He was an elder man, bulky and muscular, with a bloody apron over his belly and sweat on his brow after loading a delivery of meats into his wagon. With his rounded face he had the potential to look like a very jolly gentleman, but his ill temper made him seem quite wicked instead, especially when he grabbed the boy by the scruff of his dirty shirt and yanked him backwards.

He had heard the girl’s distant cries, seen the crook running, and put two and two together, crumpling up his nose as he roughly shook his recent catch, “And where do youthink yer goin, ey?!”

The boy’s eyes widened and he squirmed to get away.

“Think yer clever, do ya?! Ya little rat! Yeh know what pickpockets get? A missing hand!” and he dragged him to the cart and took his very large knife, raising it high in the air just as Tallulah turned the corner to witness this.

The colour drained from her face.

“Yeh can’t nick nothing if you ain’t got no hands to nick it with!”

The knife came down, the boy closed his eyes, and Tallulah rushed to grab the butcher’s arm, “NO! No! Please, sir! There’s no need for that!”

“No need?! That not your bag, girl?”

“It is…”

“And did he not nick it from ya?”

“He did…”

“Well, the law is the law. And the law says that thieves lose their hands,” and he brought up his knife again.

Tallulah pulled down his arm, “NO! Y-you misunderstand… it was a game- YES! A GAME! We were only playing, sir… no harm was done. Truly… you mustn’t take his hand.”

“HA! A game?! Some game that looked to be! Why are ye defending this thieving scum?”

“It was! It was! I swear it was! We’re so sorry for troubling you! The gesture is much appreciated, I promise,” she tried to flatter.

The butcher did not look convinced, but before more could be said on the matter, the boy went limp under his hold and fell to the ground.

Tallulah’s eyes nearly fell from their sockets, “You killed him! Goodness, you killed him!”

He shook his head and gave an irritated huff, “Naw… he’s fainted is all. I ain’t done nothin’ to him yet. Mind-” he spat on the ground from disgust, “-lads these days be frail as butterflies. Take up a knife and they swoon. Pah! Weaklings. Cowards! Born without balls.”

Tallulah stared at her aggressor-turned-victim, absolutely horrified, then turned to watch the butcher-take his blade and walk back into his shop as if nothing had happened. People were strange here! Had they no feelings?! No sympathy or empathy?! No worry that another was lying dead on the street?! Papa was right, this place was very dangerous indeed!

She hurriedly kneeled beside the boy, checking his pulse as he began to stir, then snatched her bag and firmly strapped it across her chest while she waited. She didn’t want him dead, but she didn’t want him stealing her things either.

Once her blurry outline filled his vision, she spoke, “Are you alright?”

He sat up and held his head.

“You had quite a fall… are you injured? I mean… besides nearly having your hand cut off…”

At this his gaze locked on her, a glare quickly forming.

“…Are you mute?”

“No, I’m not,” he growled.

“Oh good. For a moment, I thought you were.”

“What do you care?”

“Well, I’d be silly to expect a response if you couldn’t respond and I don’t want to look silly, do I?”

“So, looking stupid is better?”

“I beg your pardon?! I just saved your life you know! …Or your hand at least. But I still think that is a very great favour considering that you wanted to steal my bag.”

“And what? You want a reward? You saved the wrong fool. I ain’t got nothin’ for you,” he hopped to his feet, wobbled slightly, and walked away.

She sat stunned for a minute, not anticipating such a speedy recovery. Then she followed, “I didn’t expect a reward, but a thank you would have been nice.”

“Go to hell.”

“You’re very rude, aren’t you?”

He abruptly stopped, “Why are you following me?”

Tallulah thought it over then raised her chin and said, “If you won’t thank me, then you could at least apologise.”

The boy looked dumbfounded.

“…It’s good manners you know.”

“Have you taken a knock to the head or somethin’?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean-” he began to crossly say when the clock bells chimed, a loud sound ringing through the whole city, hitting every street like a wave.

Two ding-dongs, Tallulah counted, and gasped when she realised, “What time is it?!”

He raised a brow.

She looked about her, trying to find the bell tower that she previously saw so distinctly, but now it was gone. Tall, grey buildings sidled the road, obscuring her view with their blackened windows and sooty chimneys. “Where is the clock tower?!”

When she regarded him again, he was already a meter away.

“Hey! Wait! Wait,wait, wait!”

“What is your deal?!”he barked, appearing ready to bite her head off when she blocked his way.

“Y-you need to take me back!”

“Back?”

“Back to the street we were on… I don’t know my way from here.”

“Pfft. I ain’t doing that.”

“Why not?!”

“Why should I?”

“Um, because I helped you?!” exclaimed Tallulah incredulously.

“So?”

“So?!”

“Not my problem, princess,” and he tried to walk past her.

She grabbed his arm, ignoring his expression of ire to say, “Fine… I’ll pay you.”

“Ha! Yeah right-”

From her bag, Tallulah pulled out some coins, jingling them in her hand as she spoke, “Take me back and I’ll give you these.”

Her gaze scrutinised him up and down. He was a scrawny thing, no taller than she and thinner if anything, with ill fitting, grimy clothes, and blond hair that could have passed for brown in the state it was in, hanging over his eyes messily as if he were a poorly groomed terrier. She really did look like a princess next to him.

“…You need it more than I do anyhow.”

“Oh, so you’re acting haughty now, are you?!”

“I mean… have you looked in a mirror?”

His fists clenched so tightly they hurt. He made a move to leave.

“Wait! Wait! I’m sorry… please! My dad will kill me if he realises I’m not in my room! He told me not to go anywhere and… well obviously I didn’t listen. Please! You owe me!”

“I don’t owe you nothing!”

“You stole my bag!” she squealed, earning a few suspicious glances from the strangers passing by.

This made the boy’s heart leap into his throat as he hissed, “Alright! Shut up! Are you trying to get me arrested? Is that it?”

“No, I’m trying to convince you to do the decent thing and show me back to the street where you pickpocketed me!”

“I said shut up!”

“Not my problem, is it?” she mocked him, which made him go red. “It’s your fault I’m lost. And I’m offering to pay you! Wouldn’t you rather earn the money honestly?”

“I don’t care.”

“Fine, then I’ll pay a different guide, and you can just starve.”

This led him to go quiet, as he fumingly scowled at her. But the bluff worked, “Fine…”

“But not the way we came. I’m not jumping over that wall again.”

Rolling his eyes, he seized the money from her and paced off, leading her to think that he had just stolen from her once more when he stopped and called, “You comin’ then? I won’t wait for you.”

She flinched and ran after him, remaining stuck to his side as he navigated through the meandering lanes. The quiet between them lasted about a minute, “What’s your name?”

“Why?”

“Because it feels rude to keep referring to you as ‘The Thieving Boy’ in my head.”

“Then don’t.”

“But then what should I refer to you as?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, that sounds even worse.”

It took him five seconds to understand her meaning, “What?! No! I meant… just don’t think of me. It’s creepy.”

“Mmmm hard to do that when I’m walking next to you.”

“It’s easy enough if you stop thinking,” he grumbled.

“But that would make me a zounderkite.”

“A what?”

“A gump… an idiot.”

“You already are one.”

“Perhaps. But you’re a bigger one. You almost lost a hand because of it.”

There was no answer on his part, only a sigh. Truthfully, this was an incredibly strange turn of events, he thought, still finding himself in a mild state of disbelief because this wasn’t how his kleptomaniacal excursions usually went. It definitely wasn’t common for his target to suddenly follow him around like a lost lamb. Was it a trick? It had to be. But what sort of trick could it be?

Tallulah, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind the unusual progression, managing to find her feet as quickly metaphorically as he had literally, “My name is Tilly Whintle. Well… I mean my real name is Tallulah, but I much prefer Tilly. I think it’s cuter, don’t you?”

At this, he slowly twisted his head to stare at her oddly.

“…Have you not heard of the name ‘Tilly’ before?”

“No, I’ve just never met such a crackpot as you.”

“I’m not a crackpot!”

“You talk like one… and that’s sayin’ something because round here there are some real loons. Yet, you’re the worst I’ve ever met by far.”

“How so?”

“Well… well you just… you’re not mad I pickpocketed you?”

“I was. But I got everything back,” shrugged she.

“Scared then?”

“Of you?”

“Yes-”

“Why? You’re practically a heap of bones,” Tallulah stood on her toes, “look… I’m taller than you.”

That hurt more than it should have as his eyes grew from bewilderment, “You think I couldn’t’ take you?! You ain’t nothin’ but a fattened house cat! I could take that bag back off you right now if I wanted-”

“Then do it.”

He choked.

“But I’ll scream if you do. And I won’t stop them from cutting off your hands this time.”

“…You really are aloon.”

“And you’re full of air.”

“Why you…!” he crossly snapped, but he couldn’t think of anything to call her… and he did want that money she’d given. But it was so difficult to remain indifferent when she insisted on being so irritating. “…Ah… I get your game now… you like blackmail.”

“What?! No, of course not. Why would you say that?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? You keep threatening to squeal on me every chance you get.”

They slipped into a narrow backstreet now, Tallulah hesitating before trailing her unusual escort, “Well, I wouldn’t have to if you showed a little common courtesy.”

“‘Common courtesy’?! What fairyland did you fall out of?! Ha!” he shook his head. “You’re lucky it was me that got to you. Anyone else would have swiped the clothes off your back along with everything else if they heard you talkin’ like that.”

“Hmm… you must be a quite the lousy thief then.”

The boy halted again with an expression of vehemence.

“…Well, you said so yourself that anyone else would have done it, yet you didn’t.”

“I hadn’t heard you talkin’ like that, had I?” he growled.

“Perhaps you should have struck a conversation with me first then. A point to consider for next time.”

He truly had no response to that. His mind was blank which for him was something quite new. Poverty did not provide him much to be proud of… but his cunning was one of the few things he valued about himself. And then this girl decided to just rip it apart.

Tallulah studied his silence before reviewing their surroundings and realising that it was the main road she had come from. She recognised the bakery across the street, and if she craned her neck really, really hard to glimpse behind him, she could just see the edge of the belltower. “Oh! You’ve brought me back! You’ve reallybrought me back! Thank you… for a moment there I thought you were leading me into that alley so that I might never return from it.”

“Why did you follow me then?!” he burst, his temper breaking.

“I don’t know… I just hoped you were being honest I suppose.”

“You… whatever. Never mind.”

“Do you know where the Honchall Hotel is, perhaps? I think I came from that direction but now that I’m stood here like this…” she looked about her and musingly stroked her chin.

The boy stared, exceedingly stared, squinted his eyes, then flicked up his brow. Throwing an arm around her shoulder, he angled her towards their right and pointed, “Over that way. Just keep heading straight and you’ll find it.”

“Oh! Thank you! That’s very good of you.”

“Not a problem,” he shrugged and parted from her. “Safe travels.”

She watched him leave, swivelling on her heel towards the hotel when she stopped short with a furrowed forehead. Tallulah patted her collar bone.

That snake.

Quicker than lightning, she gyrated round and shot off after him, pouncing onto his shirt sleeve and sharply tugging. He startled but Tallulah held him firmly, “Give it back.”

“What?!”

“Give it back.”

The boy stiffened, then shrugged casually, “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know full well what I’m talking about. Give it back.”

“I don’t actually,” laughed he.

“It was my mother’s.”

“What?”

“It was my mother’s necklace. You can’t have it. Give it back.”

This made him falter. Her gaze was suddenly like ice; the warm mirth fully drained from her hazel eyes as she faced him with stern determination, leaving no room for discussion. Who exactly was this girl, he deliberated, obediently pulling out the trinket and handing it to her.

She snatched it from him and stuffed it into her bag.

The boy observed a moment longer, then concluded that their interaction had ended and turned away.

“Wait.”

Oh great, so she was going to snitch on him after all, his heart began to race when he noticed that she was fiddling with the back of her hair.

Tallulah struggled a little, until her midnight tresses fell loosely around her shoulders and she held out a silver barrette, adorned with blue and limpid gems.

The boy raised his sight to her suspiciously.

“This you can have,” she told him. “It doesn’t mean anything to me.”

He didn’t move to take it.

“…It’s not very expensive but it should be worth something-”

“What’s your angle?”

“My what?”

“You trying to trap me somehow? You’ll get me to take it then go say I stole it?”

“You already stole my bag and my necklace. I don’t need to frame you! You’ve done a fine job of looking guilty yourself… mainly because you are!”

“Then why give me anything?!”

“Because, frankly, you appear pathetic. And if you’re that desperate, then I might as well just give it to you.”

Hence, another painful hit to his pride, “I don’t need your pity!”

“Clearly you do…”

Neither of them yielded for a solid minute.

Eventually, Tallulah shook her head and sighed, placing the barrette gently on the ground, “Have it your way. If you don’t want it, then someone else will take it and you’ll look even more the fool. I have to go or my father really will be cross with me. Goodbye, boy with no name.”

She gave a polite curtsy and trotted off without looking back, as she was running out of time and considered the secrecy of her adventure far more important than a silly quarrel regarding pride. Her figure quickly disappeared into the crowd, leaving the boy alone, glowering at the accessory shimmering on the cobbles.

A drizzle began to dampen the city.

He snagged the barrette and dipped into the alley.