So, Echo takes place before Protector of The Small but after The Immortals.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except any OCs and the plot.
Chapter 1: Echo
A small hand dips in and out of a purse. Pulling out a handful of coins, the person cradles the coins in two small hands. Darting back into the alley, the pickpocket slips the coins into a small pouch around her neck. The little pouch is then tucked into the neck of the person's ratty, too-big tunic.
Running back towards the lakefront, the thief keeps to the back alleys. When she reaches the lake, she heads towards a small shack. Opening the door, she walks into a dusty room with a single trapdoor in the corner. The thief opens the trapdoor and jumps down onto a little wooden platform. She closes the trapdoor and slides down a rope to the Sharktooth gang's den.
The room that she is in has a clear white light coming from small egg-shaped rocks in each corner of the room. The light shows the thief's face, which is still slightly round with baby fat, but thin from lack of food. She looks to be only about nine summers. Her eyes are dark blue-green, with bags under them from lack of sleep and long lashes framing them. Her hair is ebony with streaks of auburn in it. It's cut at her earlobes except for a single hands-width braid going from her crown down to her waist. She is wearing a battered gray tunic much too big for her, black breeches, and a silver scarf tied around her waist. There are knives strapped to her forearms and her thighs, and one hanging off her belt.
She opens the pouch around her neck and pours the coins into her palm. There are nine silvers. The girl dumps the coins back into her pouch and calls, "Nine silvers! We will have a feast tonight!"
All of the other people in the room cheer and crowd around the girl. One girl calls, "Jinx for Echo!"
There are shouts of agreement from around the other Sharktooth urchins, and Echo is herded over to a door in the corner of the room. The lucky pickpocket pushes open the door and slips in, closing the door behind her.
The room is small, with an oak chest sitting against a wall. Echo opens the chest, which holds all of the items that the little group had gotten, either from foraging or thieving. Rummaging through the chest, she finally decides on a small bag of hairpins. She closes the chest and walks back out to the main room after tucking the bag into her sash.
She is greeted by four others in the den. One is Vixen, a fiery-tempered runner with her red hair cut and braided like Echo's. The second is Bee, a short, easy-going little lockpicker with her braid only reaching her elbows. Another is Robin, a tall, muscled boy of almost fourteen, with his hair braided like Echo and Vixen's. Last, there is a scavenger named Holly, who is about Echo's age, with her golden braid hardly past her shoulders.
Echo shows them her jinx and then heads back up the rope and onto the platform. She climbs back through the trapdoor and walks out of the shack, heading over to the town near the lake.
At the town's market, Echo walks over to the baker's stall and spends a silver marong on a basket of rolls big enough for the whole of the gang. Another silver marong pays for a basket of apples with enough for everyone. Echo pays two silver marongs for thread and cloth, and three more for bandages and healing salves.
When she reaches the den once more, Echo gives everybody two rolls and an apple. They all dig into the food ravenously, and Echo heads into a corner underneath the stone light. She pulls out the cloth and thread, and starts to make a new tunic for herself. When she finally finishes the tunic, she folds it and puts it in a little box next to her nightroll. The bandages and healing salves go into a healing kit next to the box, and Echo puts the baskets in the corner before climbing into her bedroll.
This was more of an introduction than anything else. It gets better later, I promise!