Stumpy

'Have you read today's edict?' Leafbowl said to him.

Stumpy shrugged. 'No' he said.

Stumpy did not liked to read much. He could do sums very well like his "colleagues", as is part of their "job". He and been taught to read as well, but in his mind he is more familiar to numbers than letters. He could write easily, though, but his writing is not without mistakes, both in grammer and spelling, but they are still understandable if studied closely. But reading and writing dvoes not matter here, not when you are working you are a "begging brother". That is the name Master Nox had given to Stumpy's crew, due to their excellence at begging, and stealing and pickpocketing silently when people pass by them. The people are so full of their disgust and distaste of beggers, especially child beggers like Stumpy, that they don't even notice when their coins are stolen from their pockets and purses. All they want to do is to ignore tagged and dirty and ugly begged children on the side of the road when they pass through the same road. In his initial "missions", Stumpy had wanted to tell out to the people that instead of being just disgusted, why don't they do something that they will not have to beg. He had barely managed. suppressed that almost outburst of emotion that he had felt that day. But all people were not like Master Nox, the head of then gang of pickpockets, beggers, thieves and other such people. Yes, Master Nox beat them when they failed to steal something, but he did it only for their well being. The old man was aging and he wanted them to survive without him when he passed away. He was almost like a second father to Stumpy. Maybe the only father he had ever known. Like many others of his crew, Stumpy was an orphan when Master Nox found him. In fact, he was the youngest orphan to be "recruited" in the begging racket. He was scarcely a year old when Master Nox found him near a beet field. He was originally named "Beet" due to that, but it was changed to Stumpy when he found a small stump in the forest near the slums where the begging crew's base is. That stump could be used to hide many of their "earnings", including coins and other items they steal. They could easily dig a hole in the ground and mark in with the stump or they could pierce the stump and create a howl inside it to put the stoeln things in. For that, he and been called Stumpy by the others. But that does not matter- much. Names matter little here.

'What is special about today's edict?' he asked Leafbowl. Leafbowl was so named because he was a begged previously too. Master Nox found him begging with a withered greyish-yellow leaf and using it like a begging bowl. He had five then when he was "recruited". Now he could beg as well as steal. And his begging abilities can make him provoke sympathy from passer-bys, which filled his bowls as well as his pockets. He and got a rule, though: he would not steal from those who gave him money. I tried not matter anyway, his begging had fetched more profits than his stealing, unlike Stumpy, whose stealing had got more profits than his begging. That is why Master Nox had divided the begging group to two sub-branches: the "bowls" and the "pockets", as he called them. In other words, the "real" beggars and the stealing beggers. One group filled its bowls with money earned from begging and the other filled its pockets with stolen coins that would seem suspicions while seen in the bowl, due to the high amount of money. The "bowl's" are leaded by Leafbowl, while the "pockets" are leaded by Stumpy. However, Leafbowl had got an ambition: to read. That is why Master Nox had taken special care in his studies. He had brought him every edict, the piece of paper that stated any orders or news brought by the nobles or he royal family or any recent discoveries by the people which could help the Coal Empire to prosper.

Stumpy cared little about such things. Another difference between him and Leafbowl is that he and no ambition. Why should he have any ambition? The other children's parents have died or are criminals imprisoned in jails and who were acquainted with Master Nox. But his parents had abandoned him. Why would someone just leave a baby in the field. A cruel relative will just kill them. It is only a parent's heart that would prevent him from killing his child directly and abandoning him silently at a lone field. Master Nox knows about this treatment and had, though rarely, even hinted to Stumpy that he had been abandoned by his parents himself, though at a more older age than Stumpy, of course, and brought up by the previous owner of this gang. He could never revelation what courses hai parents to abandon him but Stumpy guessed the same reason is applied in his case like Stumpy's case: his parents sensed a sort of "disappointment" in him that caused them to take "the hard step".

'Stumpy!' Leafbowl called out to him, forcing him to concentrate again.

'Pay attention to me when I speak to you' Leafbowl told him, accusingly.

Stumpy nodded and Leafbowl promptly resumed the conversation.

'So, as I was saying-' Leafbowl's eyes widened and he put his hands behind his back, looking like Master Nox when he tries to lecture some new recruit about the ways of begging and pickpocketing. 'The lake has been poisoned' Leafbowl said, as always going straight to the point only after "revolving the thing here and there", as Stumpy has termed his termed his strange way of speaking.

'What?' At first Stumpy could not make head or tail of what Leafbowl had stated, so to him it was simply a question. But as the realisation dawned on him, his eyes were filled with horror. 'What!' he repeated, but this time in a more emphasized manner.

Leafbowl grinned stupidly. 'I knew that would surprise you' he said. 'Don't worry' he said. 'All the people living near the lake has been moved out successfully.

'Leafbowl' Stumpy sighed. 'Can you please explain to me wjat you Mena to say instead of talking randomly?'

'Of course' Leafbowl said. 'Well, you know the saying: "What we hear maybe wrong, but what we see may not be wrong". So come with and see for yourself what I mean. I will explain the matter to you along the way'.

'Sometimes what we see maybe wrong too' Stumpy told him. 'But I will still come with you to see what you mean'.

'All right' Leafbowl said. 'I will take a copper or two with me, in case we fill hungry along the way and have to buy something'. He turned to go to his room, then stopped, and turned to face Stumpy again. 'I forgot' he said. 'I have spent all my "salary"' he said, referring to the money given to him by Master Nox for his "good work".

Stumpy sighed. 'All right' he said. 'I will bring some money'.

He ran upstairs to his room. They all lived in an old and dusty, but large, mansion owned by Master Nox and most of them had their own rooms. The raw recruits had to sleep in the basement, however, for all of them could not shift in the mansion. Some recruits even slept in the cellar or in the shed located in front of the house. Luckily, Stumpy was not one of them. He and got his own room, being the leader of the "pickpocketing-begging" troop. His room was small with wooden floor and walls and one window only with only a bed as furniture with a trunk containing his things beneath the bed. He reached underneath and pulled out his trunk. He took out his key, which he kept hidden in a small pouch inside his rough wollen and tagged cloak, and opened the trunk. There were not many items in it: only a few of his clothes and a bag containing a handful of Cooper's and a couple of silvers and… that cube. It was a small cube, mainlyorangish-yellow in colour, with patches of red. It is mainly made of copper with some other metals added to it. It was a strange item, and the only item he and received from his family. Master Nox found this cube inside the baby blanket in which he was covered when Master Nox found him abandoned. To Stumpy, it was as precious to him as a heirloom, even though he does not understand what the cube exactly is.

Stumpy shook his head, took a few coppers, closed the trunk, locked it, placed the key inside the pouch and joined back Leafbowl.

'Are we ready to go?' Leafbowl asked.

Stumpy nodded.

They stepped outside the mansion, which was located on a hill in the town of Hozume, which was the previous capital of Arkonia, before it was replaced by the new capital, Nedoma when Arkonia became just a province of the Coal Empire. 'Care to make a wager?'Leafbowl asked him suddenly. 'Will we have a little race to the lakeside? The one who shall win shall get fueb coppers in return.'

Stumpy knew that Leafbowl had run out of money. But he would doubtless get a few more coins the next time Master Nox "pais" him his "salary". And Leafbowl is quite true to his word. There is nothing wrong with having a "loan", supposing he wins. And if he loses, well, he and got enough coppers with him now. 'The wager is taken' he said with a smile. 'The challenge is accepted.' And then he ran with Leafbowl running along with him. Together that made it to the lake, laughing and running.