I woke, crampt and chilled, huddled in a doorway in one of the narrow alleyways of Edoras. I rubbed my numbed hands together vigorously, trying to bring the warmth back into my fingers. What to do next? Leave Edoras, the guard had said, do not look back. It was cold, early spring, and I had little food, no money and only the clothes on my back. After the destruction of my village I had spent some months wandering the countryside from village to village, begging for bread. I had no wish to repeat the experience.
I stood up. There was no use in slouching in a doorway waiting to be discovered. As I turned I saw the blood red sun rising huge in the East, flushing my goose pimpled skin with warmth. A sharp wind hissed through the alley making my eyes sting. At Dawn thou shalt be taken and executed by the sword…
Suddenly wanted to laugh I'm alive! I felt like shouting it to the world Alive and free! Before I knew what I was doing I found I was running, the wind rushing up in my face, laughing like a mad- man. I think some fey spirit must have possessed me for I quite forgot all danger in the joy of being alive.
The silence of the streets however began to unnerve me and I suddenly felt a desperate desire to be among other human beings again. With this idea in mind I headed straight for the centre of town- surely the whole city can't still be abed, I thought. It was market day and as I found when I arrived I that the main square of the town already beginning to stir. Sleepy stallholders began unloading their wares, arranging and re- arranging their goods. A woman carrying a large wicker basket stumbled and the rosy apples cascaded into the dirt. I hurried over to her to help her gather them up. She glared at me suspiciously, thinking, I suppose, that my friendliness was part of some elaborate plot to steal her apples- I hardly looked the picture of respectability after all.
The sun climbed in the brightening sky and the milling crowd began to thicken. I decided to remain in the market place, for after all where better to hide than in a crowd? Soon the air was filled with the shouts of the vendors advertising their wares, the exclamations of excited bargain- hunters and the clink of coins. Once more I felt the shameful exhilaration of threading my way, unnoticed, through the press of bodies and dipping my hands into an unguarded purse, the joy of melting away again into the crowd clutching a handful of coin, knowing I had won. For although I did not realise it until later I had fallen into the trap of many once- respectable thieves: stealing had ceased to become merely a necessity for survival- I was beginning to enjoy it.
I was leaning against a doorway, chewing on a stolen meat pie, when I saw him. Over the heads of the shoppers a guard was looking straight at me, frowning as if puzzled. My stomach plummeted and I tossed the pie away. How long had he been watching me?
I got up as casually as I could and then dived into the thick of the crowd, praying that the guard would loose sight of me in the throng. When I dared to look back I saw him deep in conversation with the woman at the apple barrow, the one who had glared at me so suspiciously earlier. I turned away intending to slip away down a side alley when I collided with something soft.
"Hey! Watch what you're doing" a rather large woman in an apron blocked my path, hands planted firmly on hips.
"I'm sorry," I muttered
"You children! You should learn some manners, you need to learn to watch where you're going." I was painfully aware of how her voice was carrying, loud and clear as a bell over the heads of the crowd.
"I have to go." I hissed, trying to bypass her but she reached out and grabbed me by the ear making me yelp.
"You need to learn some respect for your elders, my lad."
I twisted around and with a lurch saw that the guard was pushing his way through the crowd towards us. I began to more violently struggle in the fat woman's grasp.
"Let…me …go" I panted.
"So like the young, always in such a hurry…." The woman began scornfully.
"Excuse me.." the guard called from behind me.
I kicked the woman hard in the shins. With a cry of surprise she released her hold on me and I ran.
"Stop that boy!" the cry went up from behind me, and – was that the guard's voice?
"Stop thief!"
I hurtled through the twisting passageways and back streets, dodging and darting, changing my direction as often as possible in the hope of confusing my pursuers. The city, in particular the poorer, more disreputable areas were a veritable rabbit warren of narrow claustrophobic streets; a very easy place to get lost in and, if you knew what you were doing, a very easy place to loose someone in. Over the past months I had become familiar with this quarter of town and so (I hoped) had the advantage over the guard, who probably would have shunned these parts for more savoury districts. Sure enough the noise of footsteps and shouting behind me gradually faded away and I felt it safe to slacken my pace.
I was on the outskirts of town near the Wall, familiar territory. What I needed now was a place to hide. Five minutes walk brought me to the Headquarters of the Gang- a disused granary in rather a dilapidated state, the windows kicked in and covered with sackcloth and half the floorboards rotten.
I rapped on the door. There was a pause and a scuffling sound from behind the door and it opened a crack. The face of Freor, youngest of the Gang and therefore always being bullied into the monotonous watchman duty, appeared in the aperture.
"Password?"
"Freor, you idiot, it's me, let me in"
"Password?" Freor insisted. I sighed in exasperation.
"Red death"
The door opened wider. I slipped in, shooting a last anxious look behind me at the empty street. The door closed behind me and I felt myself swallowed by the darkness. Stepping forwards and squinting, my eyes straining to become accustomed to the gloom, I saw the huddled shapes of the Gang, heads close together obviously discussing something. I cleared my throat and their heads swerved to look at me. The room fell silent for a moment before exploding with whispers.
Sceotan, leader of the Gang and one of the best horse thieves in the district got up slowly. A rather good- looking boy whose wide blue eyes and soft white blonde hair gave him an expression of such innocence that few would have suspected his true profession, nor that he was in fact renowned among the criminals of the area for his ruthlessness. There were rumours that he had once killed a boy in a fit of temper and from what I had seen of his character over the past months I believed them.
"What the are you
doing here?"
"I escaped." I shrugged.
"And you came here." Sceotan said softly. I shivered. When Sceotan spoke gently I knew I was in trouble.
"Where else could I go?" Sceotan merely looked at me unblinkingly. He reminded me unpleasantly of a snake staring its victim in to a stupor before striking.
"What's the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Sceotan rolled his eyes disdainfully.
" Will somebody explain it to him."
"I will." A voice from the shadows behind me making me jump. I turned to see Aldor leaning back against the wall, his eyes glittering with malice.
"You!" I gasped.
"Don't you see? Half the Palace guards are out looking for you. Lord Grima has put a price on your head of 300 marks. You'll lead them straight to us" Aldor spoke very slowly and distinctly as if to a very young child. From behind me someone hissed, whether at me, or Aldor I couldn't tell. I felt my temper boiling over.
"And whose fault is it that I am pursued? Your directions were false. You told the guards I would be there, you traitor!"
Aldor's face blanched with fury.
"I? I a traitor? Because of you, because of your foolishness we might all have been caught."
"Shut up, both of you," snapped Sceotan. "Laefan, Aldor is right. You must leave us. Now."
"You can't-."
"Now, Laefan" Two of the boys behind Sceotan stood up and began moving towards me.
"If you turn me out now I shall certainly get caught. They want to kill me. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
Sceotan shrugged. I looked down at them all, my former friends, now avoiding my gaze while Sceotan ordered me to my death.
"I see." I said quietly and turned away. Suddenly the door swung open, nearly knocking poor Freor off his perch and in burst Brego. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring at me.
"Hullo, Brego." I said.
"Laefan?" He gasped, wide eyed. "Laefan, I-I thought you were dead!"
"Me, too" I muttered.
"They said- they said you were going to be executed .How did you escape?" He looked at me in wonder.
"Oh, it wasn't hard." I shrugged modestly.
"You're really alive!" Brego laughed in relief. "You're alright!"
He took a step towards me as if unsure whether or not to embrace me. I was extremely glad when he decided against it.
"Enough of this" said Sceotan impatiently. "Laefan, just go"
"Go?" said Brego in surprise "Your not sending him away?"
"It's for the best Brego" Sceotan said quellingly.
"Please, just let me stay until nightfall. It will be easier to slip away unnoticed-"
"If Laefan goes, I'm going too." Brego declared, folding his arms across his chest and scowling. I looked at him surprise. He smiled back at me trustingly I felt a strange lump in my throat.
"Don't be an idiot, Brego." Sceotan snapped.
"Maybe it would be best to let him stay- just until evening." Aldor said slowly. I stared at him, astonished.
"If he is caught he is sure to tell, after all" Aldor shrugged.
"Yeah, let him stay" Ealdor, another Gang member plucked up the courage to speak. Sceotan looked from me to Aldor and to the intent faces of the Gang watching from the floor. He nodded reluctantly.
"You can sleep at the back- until it's time" He said gruffly. I lay down at the back of the granary under a pile of old sacking while the Gang slunk about their business. I was puzzled by Aldor's change of heart, and if my mind had been less befuddled by sleep I might have suspected what was to follow, but instead I lay and watched the dust dance, glittering in the sunlight shining through a chink in the doorframe until I fell asleep.
