Beneath The Stone

Chapter 1

Cipher crouched in a corner of the room, casting his eyes over the empty shop. Maps filled the room, locked in glass cases and illuminated by the light of glowing vines on the wall. These finished pieces were easy to track, and didn’t have much value anyway unless a patron specifically asked for them. Coins were always better. Everyone wanted coins, even the rotting Center. Cipher fixated on a cabinet hidden under the front desk with an inordinately large lock on it. He stepped over to it, his cloth boots making little sound on the stone floor. He leaned closer to the lock, and as expected, saw a slight sheen over the entire piece, and covering the front of the cabinet. Cipher shook his head. The price of that small layer of powder could feed a family in the outer Sectors for a week.

He pulled a small brush out of a satchel on his side and carefully brushed away the powder, taking care not to get any on his clothes. With that done, he pulled out a small canvas bag and unrolled it, revealing a collection of picks, each one worn but meticulously maintained. He selected two of these and delicately inserted them into the lock, using one to maintain tension while he felt for the pins with the other. Four muted clicks later and the lock sprung apart, allowing Cipher to slide the cabinet open. Inside lay a collection of maps with notations speaking about allotted farm use in the outer cavers, along with a bag that jingled suggestively when picked up. After a second’s thought, he grabbed the maps as well with a slight shrug. None of the other maps were locked up, so these must be more important–and thus more valuable. With that done, he slid the pouch onto a belt at his waist and tucked the maps into a pocket, then positioned his dark cloak to cover them up. With that finished, he picked the lock off the floor and attached it back to the cabinet, hiding his misdeed.

Cipher ghosted to the door, ready to spring to the side if it opened. He made it to the door and eased it open, carefully peering into the Center. The massive cavern contained the capital of the Undercity and thus it had the most powerful families-and the richest. Unfortunately for Cipher, it also had the most Sentinels. He spared a glance to his left to see a pair of the hulking guards standing at attention nearby, watching the street. Their imposing armor reflected the light of the many glowvines crawling up and down nearby buildings. Cipher peered into an alleyway opposite his shop, where he could just barely make out a dark shape crouched. He pulled a small circle of metal from his pocket and threw it across the street, hitting the ground near the shape with a slight ping. The form looked around, grabbed the metal disk, then looked directly at Cipher. They gave a thumbs up. Cipher returned the gesture, and the darkly clothed figure exited the alleyway at a sprint directly in front of the Sentinels. After a moment of surprise, they immediately gave chace, their heavy footsteps echoing off the closely built storefronts.

Cipher darted the opposite way, hoping to avoid drawing any Sentinel attention altogether. Unfortunately, in the Center that was almost impossible. He heard a shout behind him and knew without turning back that there would be another group of Sentinels chasing after him. He quickly ducked into a nearby alley and sprinted away, hoping to reach the cavern gate before they could catch him. The maze of houses and alleys in the center were hard to read, and he found himself facing a wall. ”Blight me,” he cursed under his breath. At least in this maze it was just as hard for the Sentinels behind him to catch up.

He glanced backward to see their heavily armored forms just barely turning a corner about 50 feet away. The leading Sentinel wore a small red cape. A massive greatsword rested on his shoulder, a clear sign of rank that, combined with his powerful air, set him apart from the shortsword-wielding grunts. Looking forward again, Cipher almost broke his nose as he hit a dead end, backed into an alley with the wall of a shop in front of him and the Sentinels behind.

Cipher quickly weighed an extra 20 sparks against his life, and decided his life won. “Fine, take them!” Cipher shouted, and grabbed the map out of his pocket, throwing them at the Sentinel’s feet. They probably could have fetched a decent price on the market, but ‘a decent price’ wasn’t worth life in prison. While the Sentinels stooped to retrieve them, Cipher grabbed onto a window ledge behind him and used it to scramble up the side of the building, ripping his shirt a bit as he pulled himself onto the roof. The heavy armor worn by Sentinels made them incredibly difficult to face in combat, but decently easy to run away from. And thank the Lights for that, Cipher thought. Suddenly, a gauntleted hand grabbed the rooftop behind him with a crash. Hauling himself onto the roof was a Sentinel. Cipher cursed as he saw a red cape and familiar greatsword on the guards back. MOST Sentinels are easy to run away from, Cipher amended. He dashed across the rooftops towards the cavern gate, heading for the cloth sector. He knew that area like the back of his hand, and once he made it he was sure he could lose his tails. Jumping back down onto the street, Cipher attempted to assume a nonchalant air as he headed towards the large opening in the rocky wall. He ducked behind a large wagon pulled by two tredbeasts, their hulking, armored hides shifting as they moved the wagon forward. Cipher looked ahead at the massive metal gate separating the Center from the jewelry sector. Getting through there shouldn’t be a problem, as long as he could make it. He saw a group of Sentinels burst from an alley nearby to his left and quickly ducked behind the wagon once again.

“Hey you, what are you doing here?”

Cipher immediately turned, ready to sprint away, but relaxed as he saw a teen boy with a mop of brown hair a few steps behind him.

“Don’t scare me like that, Rag.”

“Come on Cipher, it’s not everyday I get such an opportunity. I don’t know what you did to those Sentinels, but they’re mad. I’ve never seen one climb a building so fast, or at all.”

“Nothing more than the usual. I just ran away. Maybe it’s a new hire or something.”

“You never know. Here, take this.” Rag handed a dark brown cloak to Cipher. “Cost me a pretty penny too, so I hope you pulled the job off.” He looked questioningly at Cipher. Cipher nodded in confirmation, showing the bag tied to his belt.

“Gotta be at least 50 sparks in there, and I think I saw a glim or two.”

Rag showed a slight smile. “Thank the lights for that. Now let’s get home. Patch said he would meet us somewhere in Jewelry.” He continued moving towards the gate between the Center and Jewelry Sector. Cipher followed close behind, head down to avoid drawing the view of Sentinels. As they reached the gate, Rag stepped ahead of Cipher. The nearest Sentinel held out a hand to stop the pair.

“What’s your business in the Jewelry Sector?” He said preemptively.

Rag avoided eye contact with the Sentinel and fidgeted with his hands. “I want to pick up a necklace for a girl.”

“We have jewelers in the Center”

Rag assumed a sheepish look. “Those guys won’t work for cins.”

The guard sneered at Rag. “Street-rat, are you? We don’t get paid nearly enough for the displeasure of working with your kind. You can pass. Be quick about it.”

“Of course, Your Sentinelness.” Rag said, with barely a hint of sarcasm and a bow that might have been just a smidge too low to be seen as respectful. As he passed the guard, his hand brushed the Sentinels and there was the faint sound of metal clinking. The sentinel looked at his hand. Six cinders. A drink, maybe two. Not in the Center, of course. Only outer Sectors accepted these small metal disks. The Sentinel grunted. Worthless metal for Worthless people. He pocketed the money then looked for the next gate visitor to solicit a bribe from.

Rag and Cipher moved deeper into the jewelry sector. The sounds of tiny hammers filled the air, ringing out over the many negotiations being carried out in hushed tones. While the Center was technically the only sector where trade was legal, most workers couldn’t afford to spend hard earned sparks on anything but food. The amount of Sentinels lessened the farther out you got anyway, preferring to patrol their squeaky clean Center. That suited Cipher just fine, as it let him relax a little now. Just as he had the thought, he saw a dark shape exit an alley in front of him. Alerted now, he furtively glanced around, his eyes obscured by the cloak, and noticed two more people following them. “Hey Rag, I think we might be surrounded.”

Gangs were not unheard of down here, especially the further you got from the Center. They were nowhere near the organization or power of those rumored to exist in the Uppercity, but they did well enough extorting or robbing weak looking marks to keep springing up. Unfortunately for Cipher and Rag, they just so happened to look like weak marks right now.

“I had noticed that.” Rag said, keeping his tone carefree. “I wonder if they’re going our poor souls a warning first.”

His question was answered a second later as the person who had exited the alley in front of them shouted in an accent reminding Cipher of a treat herder. “You two. You have the honor of meeting the Gilded Knives, up close and personal. Now, if you would kindly drop that there bag on your hip to the ground, I think we could all continue on with our days.”

“You might not want to try that.” Cipher shouted back. “There’s only one of you. We have you outnumbered!”

The speaker looked around for a second before focusing back on Cipher. “Partner, I’ll warn you not to try pulling anything on me in my territory. Now drop the purse.”

Cipher leaned over to Rag. “Those two behind us are getting closer. What say we start running.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Then Rag pulled a long knife out of his belt and charged straight at the leader in front of them. Cipher shrugged and grabbed a similar knife out of his sheath, turning to face the three behind them. He heard the clashing of metal behind him as Rag engaged in combat.The two enemies Cipher faced were clad in cheap looking leather armor. They drew long bladed swords and set into a defensive stance, letting their sword points sway and dip, obviously unused to the weight. Well, aren’t these the two finest cutthroats I’ve ever seen. The ‘Gilded Knives’ evidently had not been around that long, or at least hadn’t been very successful. Unfortunately for them, it was about to get a whole lot worse.

The most important move in street fighting is the first one. While the two bumbling fools facing him were looking at each other, wondering which one would attack first, Cipher answered the question for them by bringing his short blade across his body towards the closer of the two. The bandit managed to hastily block it and brought his sword around for a counterattack of his own. Cipher blocked it and stepped forward into the space of his attacker, hampering the longsword’s swinging ability. During this move, he brought the hilt of his knife down hard on the bandit’s skull, crumpling him to the floor, unconscious. The other bandit, seeing the fate of his companion, dropped his sword and ran.

Cipher turned to see Rag had disarmed the leader, and had procured a small bag from him.

“Here, Cipher, add this to whatever you got from that shop.”

Rag tossed the bag to Cipher. Cipher caught the bag and dumped it into the pouch on his belt containing his previous earnings. A handful of small, warped metal disks tumbled out. Cipher looked disapprovingly at the disarmed leader. “I mean, we did tell him we had them outnumbered.”

“Well, almost at least. Two on three.” Rag replied

Cipher thought on this for a second, then shook his head. “No, one of mine ran away. Two on two then, final offer. Unless you want to count all of them as half each, which might still be generous.”

Patch let out a chuckle. “I mean, to be fair to them they did at least get their swords out of the scabbard. That’s more than most of these types can accomplish.”

“You’re right about that. In fact, we might have just gone up against the most competent gang in this whole Sector.”

Suddenly Cipher heard heavy footfalls in a nearby alley. He groaned inwardly and was about to bolt, but a shout rang out first as two Sentinels emerged from that alley.

“You two! Drop your weapons!”

Cipher looked around and saw a crowd had gathered, effectively hemming them in. The closest alleyway was blocked by a giant member of this crowd, his face obscured in a dark brown cloak.

“You think it’s too late to run?” Rag whispered through the side of his mouth.

“I don’t think we’ll need to. Just be ready.”

Rag looked around and nodded in understanding, a small smile appearing on the corners of his mouth. “Ahh. I see.”

They lowered their weapons to the floor, Cipher suspiciously hiding the pouch of coins on his belt. One of the Sentinels moved to the disarmed gang leader and the other to Cipher and Rag. He removed his helmet with a slight hiss, steam escaping at the seams. The face revealed was grizzled, easily in mid forties and with hard eyes.

“You two, no fighting in the Sectors by order of the Charter Houses. By law, you must be taken into the Grate until your family can show up to pay bail.”

Rag looked up at the Sentinel. “But sir, what if I don’t got no family?”

The sentinel leered at him. “Should have thought of that before you went breaking the law, now shouldn’t you’ve. Rusting leech. Put your arms behind your back.”

The Sentinel moved behind Rag and Cipher, grabbing chainspools off his belt to attach the thieves hands together. Suddenly, Cipher heard a dull thud, almost masked by the heavy crash a second later as the Sentinel hit the floor.

“RUN!”

Cipher and Rag bolted through the closest alleyway. Suddenly in a maze of walls, tight streets, and cloth covered shelters, getting away was the only thing on Cipher’s mind. He ran for about five minutes, ducking and weaving as fast as he could. Finally, he slowed his pace and took several deep breaths. Slowly he felt his pulse slowing and breathing return to normal. Next to him Rag was doing the same thing.

“Boo!”

Cipher spun around to see the massive brown cloaked figure that he had seen in the crowd earlier. The figure stepped forward and raised his hand towards Cipher. Cipher grabbed it, then pulled in and slapped the man on the back.

“Hey, Patch. You sure took your time getting us out of there.”

The man dropped his hood, revealing a surprisingly youthful face, with piercing blue eyes framed by shortcut blonde hair. He shrugged.

“Lots of crowd. Hard to get to you.”

“Plus you wanted to see us carted away by that tinhead.”

Patch grinned, the massive smile lighting up the whole alleyway with its sheer size.

“Maybe a little. You owe me now. His tin head might have broken my hand”

Patch shook his hand out, his knuckles red where they had imprinted the Sentinels face. Cipher shrugged.

“I mean Patch, you have a sword for a reason.”

“This was quicker.”

“Well thanks anyway. Although you didn’t have to spend that much time being mysterious. Anyway, let’s head back. I want to get this home before any more of the ‘Holy Iron’ guards stop us for nothing.

He pulled the pouch off his belt, shaking it and hearing the coins inside jingle. The group continued through the jewelry sector until they made it to the gate separating jewelry and cloth. The Sentinels didn’t much care about the gates farther out, so the only person at this gate was an opportunist, hoping to get a couple cins out of passersby. He raised a hand and opened his mouth to speak as Cipher, Rag, and Patch passed by. “No.” Patch said, resting his hand on his sword. The man quickly shut his mouth and lowered his hand, stepping aside and looking a bit miffed. But he let them pass without complaint.

Cipher licked his lips as he got used to the sudden dryness of the cloth sector, the faint scent of dust and dye replaced by cloth and staining. It was a harsh difference, but a welcome one. The stale scent of the air, the lack of clouds in the cavern above–all of it was as familiar as the back of his hand. He sighed slightly as they relaxed and made their way back to his home.

Entering the little tailor shop, Cipher noticed a figure clad in dark clothes leaning against the back wall. “Beat you home again,” said Slip, removing her hood to reveal brown hair cut at her shoulders.

“As I recall, you started running before I even got out of the shop. Besides, Rag and I had a little encounter with some more Sentinels. Got out quick thanks to Patch though. Hey, and as I recall I got backed up against a wall two steps into my run through the Center. That map you have is inaccurate.”

“Hey, I paid good money for that. Maybe it’s a new wall. They’re always expanding.”

“Right, new in the three days since you bought that.”

“Hey you never know. Part of the New Undercity the Council’s always talking about. But you got out, right?”

“Yeah, barely. And I got this.” Cipher tossed the mapmaker’s bag onto a counter in front of them, causing some coins to spill out. “There’s got to be more than 50 sparks in there, plus a couple cins from a little opportunists.”

Rag started rifling through the coins, counting them up. “Slip, did the Sentinels after you seem a bit more enthusiastic than normal? We had some almost catch Cipher here.”

“Okay, catch is a strong word.” Cipher said. “It’s true they did seem awful persistent today.”

Slip nodded. “Yeah, actually. It took me almost five minutes for me to lose them. I actually had to get into furniture.”

Patch looked up at this. “They followed you into the furniture?”

“Yeah, I was as surprised as you were. I mean sure, I lost them basically as soon as I entered. No one knows the backroutes more than me. Still, the Sentinels seemed really persistent. Leaving the inner Sectors just chasing some criminal, that’s some new behavior.”

Cipher shook his head. “I’m sure it was just some new hires or something like that. Hey, we got away though, right? What’s the score, Rag?”

Rag looked up from where he had separated the little coins. “We have thirty-two sparks and four glims, plus a couple cins from the awe-inspiring ‘Gilded Knives’.” As he spoke the word ‘glims’, he picked up one of the four bigger coins, letting its highly polished surface catch the light of the glowvines running down the wall.

“So 72 all counted? Not bad pickings.” Cipher said. He lowered his voice. “Now how do we keep this from Merrick?”

“Keep what from me?” came a boisterous voice from a small back door in the shop. The door pushed open, revealing a stately man in fine tailored clothes and a monocle in his front pocket. He had a neatly trimmed beard and a large gut.

“Oh Merrik, nothing.” Cipher said, slowly trying to move to the table in order to hide the pouch of money. “We were just trying our hand at tailoring, you know.”

Merrik let out a small laugh. “You lot, tailoring? I’ve heard more believable lies from a client who doesn’t quite have enough money for their suit.” Suddenly he noticed the pouch behind Cipher, and his face fell. “Kids…”

Slip cut in before he could continue. “Merrik, it was just a small job. If you had seen it you would’ve given it to us anyway. We just had to act quick. Tell him Cipher.”

“She’s right! No one even noticed us. I mean, not for long anyway.”

“Is that so?” Merrik said, sounding defeated. “Then why is your shirt ripped up? And why are there alarms sounding from the gate?”

As he said the last part, Cipher could just barely hear the pealing of a bell out in the cavern, signifying that the gate to jewelry was closing. He knew there was no point in denying their involvement. The only reason the gate would shut at this time is because the Sentinels were tracking a crime, and Merrik had obviously seen the pouch.

“Whose idea was this?”

Rag started to speak. “Well, Slip had a map, and Cipher kinda just went from there.”

“Someone has to take responsibility here. Rag?” Merrik glared at Rag. He looked at the floor, refusing to meet eye contact. “Patch?” Merrik shifted his gaze to Patch, looking up slightly to compensate for the boy’s large stature. He shook his head faintly, looking uncomfortable under Merrik’s stare. “Slip?” Merrik turned to Slip, who was looking at Cipher. “Cipher.” Merrik said with a defeated voice, finally looking at him.

Cipher looked up. “Merrik, we know what we’re doing now! You don’t have to baby us anymore. Look, we pulled it off, we got here safely, what more do you want?”

“I want you to listen! I don’t care if you pulled this one off. Lights, I don’t even care if it was the perfect job, and not a soul saw you. It’s always the next job that could get you. A slippery patch on the road, an unknown room in a shop, anything could ruin a job and get you sent to prison-or worse. Don’t forgot what happened to Wick. A hundred perfect jobs, then caught by a rusty ladder he didn’t plan for. I appreciate you guys, but I need you to wait for the jobs I give to you. You know I put a lot of work into getting those vetted for you. I don’t want to see anything happening to any of you kids.”

The group begrudgingly agreed, nodding their heads beleagueredly, and Cipher went to grab the pouch on the table. As he moved towards it, a jangling came from above the door. He looked up to see a string stretched across the ceiling with a couple of bells on it, ringing as the string bounced around. Merrik reacted immediately, scooping up the remainder of the sparks on the table.

“Get into the back room. Don’t come out until I tell you to,” Merrik said.

“What? Why? What’s happening?” Cipher asked.

“Just go. Quickly.” Merrick ushered them into the back room.

Cipher, followed by the rest of the group, moved through the door Merrik had come out of, revealing a cramped storage closet with a trapdoor on the floor. Slip moved towards the trapdoor, pulling it open. “Come on,” she whispered.

“Wait. There’s a peephole. I can see what’s happening.”

They heard a noise from inside the trapdoor, and the sound of something dropping onto the floor.

“Guys, go watch Button. Keep her quiet. I’ll stay here and watch Merrik. He won’t even notice.”

Slip gave a slight nod, then dropped through the hole in the floor, calling out for Button as she entered. Patch and Rag followed, with Rag casting one last glance at Cipher. He nodded once, then continued down the steps, closing the trapdoor behind him. Cipher leaned his eye against the hole in the door and watched.

The door to the shop slammed open as four Sentinels barged in. Cipher’s breath caught as he noticed a red cape on the lead sentinel, and a massive greatsword over his shoulder. This was the same man who had almost caught him back in the Center. The officer rested the point of their sword on the stone floor, then reached up and removed their helmet with a slight hiss of releasing air, revealing a harshly lined woman’s face in her late twenties. “Good morning, Merrik,” she said in a falsely kind tone. “I’m Captain Lettil, and we had a disturbance up at Guildmaster Vaylen’s shop earlier today. Know anything about that?”

“Vaylen? He’s a talented jeweler over there, right?”

“That’s right. And profitable recently too. Until someone made off with a decent chunk of his earnings. Actually, I heard there were at least two of them, and they weren’t too big. They made it off to the cloth district.”

“Well, you’re in the right Sector then. That doesn’t explain why you’re in my shop.”

The Sentinel’s calm demeanor shifted for just a second, a hint of disgust on her face. “I’ve been told you might know something about these… criminals. We have laws for a reason, you know. Keeps us safe from thieves.” She fixed a hard stare at Merrik. “Not that you outer ring shop owners are much better.”

Merrik ignored the insult and leaned forward on the counter. “I can assure you I don’t have any connection to these people. Now, if you would please leave my shop, you’re scaring off my customers.”

The Sentinel stepped up to Merrik. “You don’t tell my men what to do. I think we’ll search this shop.” She snapped her fingers and the Sentinels behind her started tearing clothes off the racks and pushing aside mannequins and display cases.

“Stop!” shouted Merrik. “Come on, you’ve never had trouble with my shop before.”

The Sentinel glared at him. “And you’ve never had trouble with Guildmaster Vaylen before. Times change, Merrik. Change with them, or get crushed.”

Merrik fixed her with a hard stare, saying nothing. Suddenly there was a loud crack as the Sentinel backhanded him across the face, turning Merrik’s head to the side. Even knowing the Sentinels disdain for the ‘outer ring’, the sudden display of violence shocked Cipher. “You idiotic outer ring people. You’re all the same. I can’t wait for the day I’m ordered to burn you all to the ground. Men, let’s go.” She signaled to her guards and they exited the shop, kicking over a few more mannequins on the way out. Merrik watched them go, wiping blood off the corner of his mouth, then turned to face the peephole Cipher was looking out of. “You can come out now. I assume it’s just you, Cipher?”

Cipher opened the door slowly, still looking shocked. “How could you let them push you around like that! This is your shop, kick them out!”

“I’m not trying to get us killed. Don’t you understand? That job you ‘grown-ups’ pulled wasn’t just a bad job, it’s the type of job that gets people killed. I need you to listen to me. The Sentinels don’t normally push this far out. You drew them here. For better or worse, the group trusts you. They’ll follow whatever you say. I need you to listen to me now. If you get any one of them killed, you will be out of my shop before you have time to think.”

Cipher averted his eyes.

“Cipher, look at me. You have this responsibility.” The anger in Merrik’s voice drained, replaced by a more understanding tone. “I know you don’t want to listen to me. You think, ‘This job went fine, what’s the problem?’ But remember what I said earlier. It’s never this job that gets you, Cipher. It’s always the next one. Any one of a million things you can’t plan for goes wrong and you’re in jail, or worse. Just think on that next time you think up some idea like this.”

Cipher looked at Merrik. “I’m sorry Merrik. I’ll make it up to you. It’s just, we can do more, you know? We’ve been running these cheap jobs for you ever since you picked us up. Slip is incredible at avoiding the Sentinels, Patch is getting stronger every day, and Rag’s incredible at improvising when we need to.”

Merrik looked at Cipher for a long time. His voice softened. “You’re right. I can see that. Here, I’ve got a quick job for you tomorrow that I already picked up, an easy heist out at meat. After that, I’ll start looking for harder jobs. You lot are ready. Now, I want you to forget about the Sentinel’s visit and go tell the group the good news.” Merrik shooed him off with a wave of his hand. Cipher turned back to the storage room, heading for the trapdoor. Merrik watched him go, wiping blood off his mouth with a slight shake of his head.

Cipher scrambled down the stairs, bursting into the room at the bottom. It was a cramped space with 6 bunks built into the wall and a small section full of unfinished clothes and pieces of cloth. Rag, Slip and Patch were on the floor, playing with Button. The little girl had found a bug, and was now attempting to scare Patch with it.

“Guys,” Cipher started, “Merrik said he’ll start finding harder jobs for us. I think I convinced him we’re ready.”

Rag looked up at this. “See, it’s because we robbed Vaylen. I knew it.”

“Actually that’s ‘Guildmaster Vaylen’,” Cipher said with a snobby air. “The closer these gildrats get to a real Charter House the more they love to strut about.”

“Oh yes of course,” Rag continued with a half bow, “ever since we relieved the Guildmaster of his extra money. Anyway, who came in? What did you see?”

Cipher thought back to Merrik’s last sentence, then looked at Button, who was listening intently. “It was nothing, just a rich client. I guess Merrik didn’t want him to see us vagrants in the shop.” Cipher forced a laugh, hoping that had sounded believable. Rag seemed satisfied with the answer, though Slip looked at him a little suspiciously.

Cipher continued: “Merrik also said he had a simple job for tomorrow.”

“Can I go with you!”

Cipher looked down to see Button staring back, grabbing at his pants. Cipher reached down and tussled her light brown hair.

“Not yet, Button. We’ve got a strict height requirement. You’ve got to be able to reach the tops of tables.” He leaned down and whispered conspiratorially. “That’s where the most expensive stuff is anyway,” he said with a wink.

“But I’m good! I can be sneaky, watch!” Button ran to her bunk and scrambled under the thin covers. “See, you can’t see me.”

Patch moved over to the bed and picked up the whole blanket, with Button inside. “Where did she go?” He asked with fake shock. Button sprang out of the blanket onto Patch.

“I gotcha!” Button shouted triumphantly, scrambling onto Patch’s shoulders.

“Oh no! What do I do?” Patch started running around the room before flopping back onto Button’s bed, leaving her laughing and gasping for breath. Patch lay down next to her on the bed. “Maybe you should wait until you can take down Rag over there before we can bring you with us. After all, if you can’t take him down, things out there could be a problem. Like rats. I’m sure a couple of those would give Rag trouble. I mean, stack two of them up and they’re taller than him.”

Rag looked up indignantly at this. “Hey, I’ll have you know it took three last time you tried that. And they were abnormally large, anyway.”

“I don’t even know how you got that many rounded up. I thought Patch ate all the ones nearby.” Slip chimed in.

“Hey, I’m still growing,” Patch said with a shrug.

“Lights, I hope not,” came a voice from the stairs as Merrik joined them. “Do you want to hear about the job for tomorrow?”

Button moved over to Merrik and put her head on his knee. “Cipher said I could go with them!”

“Is that so? Somehow I doubt that.”

Button pouted a little, crossing her arms. “Well, he should have.”

Merrik laughed and picked Button up, putting her on his knee. “Give it a few years. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to stay here with me than go out to those dirty shops with them. Not everyone runs as tight a ship, you know”

Button looked up at Merrik. “Nooo. You just make me do chores all day. Rag tells me all about his adventures. He said they once stole something directly from a house owned by Vestor Siltren!”

Merrik glared at Rag, who shrugged with an unbothered look. “Hey, it was a shop that the Vestor bought stuff from. Same difference.”

Merrik looked back at Button. “I wouldn’t listen to Rag’s stories if I were you. You might be a bit disappointed when you actually get out there. Anyway, you can listen in on the briefing. Are you guys ready?” He looked at the faces of Cipher, Rag, Slip, and Patch, who all nodded, looking at him expectantly.

“Alright, guys, this should be a pretty straightforward job. I haven’t worked with this client before, but he’s paying almost double our normal price-not that I let him know that. The target’s a shop out in the forge. Apparently they’ve got some special kind of metal or something. It’s similar to a glim, except it has a bluer shine. Our client just wants us to pick up a couple ounces, although if you get more I wouldn’t be mad. You got all that?”

The kids nodded, although Rag wrinkled his nose.

“The forge? That place stinks, literally. And all the heat? I’m glad you charged double.”

“Hey, a little heat never hurt anyone. Besides, if you do this job right, you shouldn’t be there long. Our client has helped us out, and said the shop won’t be occupied tomorrow. However, I still want you to scout it out. No sense getting caught for being lazy. You should be back before lunch if you get an early start. Now, get some sleep. You’ve had a long day.” As he said the last sentence, Merrik fixed each of them with a hard stare. Then he started back up the stairs.

“Oh, and one last thing. Our client claims this metal is nothing special, but I’ve been around long enough to know when someone’s lying. Just get in, grab it, and don’t get greedy.” Merrik added.

“Will do, Merrik. Besides, when do we ever get greedy?” Slip asked with an innocent tone.

Merrik rolled his eyes, then continued up the stairs, closing the trapdoor behind him.

“Alright Button, let’s get you tucked in.” Said Slip. She picked her blanket off the floor where Patch had dropped it and put Button into bed. Rag pulled the curtains across the glowvines on the wall, covering up their glow and plunging the room into darkness.