Thief

Late at night, the group of boys told them it was time to go. Ellen shook his head, refusing to get up. Aron leaned to him, his eyes for the first time frightened since Ellen had seen him.

"If we don't do it, it won't go good for us. I think they will really hurt us." Aron said quietly. Ellen silently got up and went.

"Don't worry. They are probably rich. The rich folks force the poor folks to give everything they have to them. We will only take back what they took from everyone else. We are poor and we need it more than they do." Aron encouraged him in a whisper, leaning close to him so the older boys would not overhear.

The older boys walked spread around them, moving like quick shadows from place to place. Aron and Ellen did their best to imitate them.

When they got to the neighborhood, though, it was just an ordinary working place, where the houses were modest and nondescript.

The boys hoisted Aron and Ellen to the high side window, which had been left propped open. The smaller boys were just barely able to crawl inside.

Ellen took a look around. At a glance, he knew that the people living in this house were not rich. They worked hard for everything they had. An old man lay snoring on a ornate chest. While Ellenon still uncertainly looked around himself, Aron unlatched the door and let the bigger boys in. They spread around the house, poking around cabinets and looking in drawers.

Ellen saw the leader of the boys exchange quiet gestures. They were looking at an old man and at the chest he slept on. They wanted to check the contents inside it, too. Ellen startled at a glimmer of a knife that appeared in the leader's hand as he strode toward the old man.

Gasping, Ellen threw himself at the older boy.

Together, they scuffled on the floor. With ease that surprised him, Ellen forced the knife from the other boy's hand. And then the other boys closed in around him and started kicking him. Ellen curled up helplessly on the ground. Even though he still held the knife, it didn't even occur to him to use it to defend himself.

Aron's eyes widened at the sight of the wooden cane, which appeared in the hands of one of the boys. The boy cracked Ellen on the head with it. Ellen convulsed and grew still. Just then, the stairs creaked above and the light of the lantern appeared, held by a large figure. The sounds of the brief scuffle had alerted other occupants of the house.

"Hey!" A very deep, gruff voice called out.

The wooden stick clanked against the wooden floor next to still Ellen and the older boys disappeared through the open door. Aron ran after them, as well. The old man still snored, unaware of anything that had happened around him.

Aron paused at the door, cast his unconscious friend a frightened look, and then also vanished into the dark.

The man came and stood next to the young thief, abandoned by his team-mates. He shone his lantern over him. He reached out and turned the boy's head, noticing the trail of blood running down the boy's temple. The boy was breathing steadily, though.

The light of the lantern then moved and paused, glimmering off the knife the boy held clutched in his hand.

***

Ellen woke up within the city prison cell. He was alone there and it was still dark, though closer to morning. Faint light came through the barred window to his right.

Stepping toward it, he pulled himself up to look through the bars, and saw the gray cobble-stones of the city square right at his eye level. The faint movement of air behind him distracted him.

A blend of dark and light ethsin strands parted and the Emperor's form appeared in the room. He wore his usual unremarkable gray cloak without any markings of rank, as he did the last time Ellen saw him.

Wrinkling his nose at the smell in the cell, the man's gaze held on a rat that scurried across the floor in front of him. Appearing slightly amused, he turned his dark gray eyes to tensed Ellen.

"Is this the 'normal life' you had in mind?" He asked. Ellen dropped his gaze to the ground in shame.

"Three days! And you already broke the law." The man shook his head slightly. "You know, crimes of this nature are still punished very harshly around here. This is considered a N'Daer jurisdiction. Although they are technically a part of my Empire, the local law decrees punishment for all non-capital offenses. In your case, it will probably be a sound lashing."

Ellenon glumly nodded. The man watched him.

"You won't ask me for help?" He inquired curiously. "I could interfere. I have the right to forgive anyone I wish, regardless of the severity of the crime."

Ellenon looked up and directly met the Emperor's testing gaze.

"I don't need help. I made a mistake. I can bear the consequences." Ellenon said calmly.

"That sounds familiar..." The man smirked softly. Then his eyes became serious. "Enough of this foolishness, Ellenon. I can feel how afraid you are. Come back home with me."

"You gave me your word that you would let me try living on my own." Ellenon reproached. He held the Emperor's gaze firmly. The man frowned.

"Promises... Agreements..." The man grumbled.

"You always see things in absolutes. You cannot always expect such unwavering resolution from ordinary human beings, Taenon..." The man cut off, noticing his slip of the tongue. His face reflected irritation.

"...As you wish. But bear in mind. If you are caught stealing again, your punishment won't be just a lashing. It'll be your arm. And that would be awkward, since I require you to wear both of the Dar'Koval." Im'Guar glanced pointedly at Ellenon's arm-bands.

When the boy did not say anything, the man frowned at him and vanished through the Gate.

Ellenon sat down against the wall and hid his face in his hands. Despite his brash words and outward calm, like the Emperor had noticed, he was afraid of what a lashing would feel like. The dreams he had, where he had been Taenon, were scary but he did not feel pain in them, despite what he saw, and on some level he always knew that they were only dreams, and that he would wake up from them. Until his escape from Viernan, he didn't even know the meaning of true physical discomfort.

Now, in mere few days, he learned about hunger and thirst, got beaten up by rough children, and now sat in a smelly, cold prison.

***

In the morning, Ellenon waited in line, while other criminals were lead up to the public platform to receive their punishment. There were nine. None had been executed, to the disappointment of the on-lookers gathered in the square. Three had been lashed with ten lashes each.

Ellenon winced at the sound and avoided looking at their reactions. He would be up there soon, himself. Four men were merely fined. The last two, unable to pay the fine, were ordered to sit in the public stocks for two days, to be humiliated by a few jeering spectators. There was no real crowd present.

Everyone ignored Ellenon when it was his turn. The bored looking imperial official read the sentence that the punishment for stealing, even if charges were not pressed, was twenty five lashes, unless someone agreed to pay the fine. Ellenon kept his head lowered, resigned. He had hoped that the number would be much smaller. A gruff voice spoke up.

"I'll pay the fine."

Surprised, Ellenon looked up. A tall, muscular man in working overalls and a leather apron approached the official. A heavy beard covered most of his face. His brows were so thick that they almost joined across his forehead.

"That will be 5 marks and 25 ealings. " The official said.

The man pulled out the money pouch from his belt and carefully counted out several bronze coins. The official returned back smaller coins for change.

"Very well. You can take him into your custody." The official permitted. The man nodded and strode toward Ellenon. Intimidated, Ellenon pulled back slightly, studying his rescuer, while the jailer unlocked the metal bar that held Ellenon's wrists together. Freed, Ellenon looked up at the man's gruff face. He thought he glimpsed kindness. He wished he could have reached out with his mind to make certain.

"Well, come along..." The man said and laid a heavy hand on Ellen's shoulder. He didn't let go, but kept a firm grasp, while he led Ellen out of the square. He did not let go of him, still, when they continued on along the narrow streets. Perhaps he wanted to make sure that Ellenon did not bolt at first opportunity. Ellenon obediently walked with him. He did not have anywhere to run. Even if he had to starve, he could not steal again. He could not afford to get caught a second time.

They approached a house that Ellen recognized. It was the house that Aron and he helped rob last night. The man calmly opened the door and guided Ellen in. Once inside, he finally let go of his shoulder.

"Aron!" He hollered. The hammering sounds in the shop next door stopped and grinning Aron ran out to meet them. He wore an apron, smudged with saw dust. His face was as cheerful as usual. Surprised to see him there and glad that he was all right, Ellen broke in a shy smile.

"You've got a good friend." The man told Ellen.

"He had the guts to come back and explained that it wasn't you trying to hurt old Mak. Claimed that you defended him, instead. Promised that he'll work as long as he had to, to pay off the fine so as I got you out." The man glanced at Aron with pleasure.

"Got some skills. Think I might keep him, seeing as the law about runaway apprentices won't apply in Emon, where I'll be taking him. I am not sure about you, though." With deep frown that made his thick black eye-brows come together, the man nodded to Ellen's arm-bands.

"Those are imperial marks you bear. Cannot steal imperial property. That be against the High Law."

"I am not a slave." Ellen protested. "These only mark me for protection. And I am allowed to go to Emon. It's on the border, but still within the North Imperial Protectorate."

"That's what you say. But you could be lying just as easy." The man shrugged. "I don't want to be detained at the border because of you."

"They saw these bands in prison, but they still released me to go with you." Ellen pointed out. The man shrugged, unconvinced.

"Sir, you are not leaving to Emon just yet, right?" Ellenon spoke up with some desperation.

"I don't have any skills, yet, but I can learn very quickly. Please, let me work with Aron for you. Just until you leave. I won't ever steal again." Ellen said as earnestly as he could, meaning every word he said.

He was seeing an opportunity and he knew that he had to take it. If he did not find some means to take care of his basic needs, he didn't know what else to do, besides abandon pride and go begging back to the Emperor's door. But then the Emperor would see and treat him as a foolish child. He would expect absolute obedience from him. Ellenon did not want to become the Emperor's slave.

Despite the man's reassurance, he remained afraid of him, because he now knew what he was capable of. Or, rather felt completely uncertain on how the man's strange "illness" might affect him, if Taenon's brief flashes of memory were any indication of his character. Whether due to his claimed illness, or a dark quirk in his character, the Emperor's kindness could turn to cruelty at a whim.

"That's right. He wasn't even good at it. He got caught second time trying." Aron confirmed, smirking. The man looked from one boy to the other.

"I'll let you stay for now, seeing as Aron says you have no place to go. But I'll be leaving in two months. You'll have to figure out something by then."

"I will. Thank you!" Ellen said gratefully, incredibly relieved.

"Aron, back to work. Lunch in an hour. You... What's your name, again?"

"Ellen." Ellenon readily supplied.

"Gregorin Kievan, Master Carpenter." The man nodded to him in a rough introduction.

"Well, Ellen, you go help in the kitchen. Tell Mia I sent you. I don't quite trust you in my shop, just yet. I'll see later if you learn as quickly as you claim."

"Yes, sir!" Ellen said and headed toward the kitchen.

The man frowned deeper. Ellen blushed lightly with embarrassment, realizing that he had just reminded Master Kievan that the only way he could have already known where the kitchen was, was because he had snooped around the man's house last night.