It had taken almost a week for the debtors to begin collecting the grocer's surplus stock, during which time the children had a near monopoly on whatever they could get their hands on. On the few occasions they were threatened, they would happily relate the size of their score, and admit their inability to take nearly as much as was there. This was enough to deflect the greed of anyone they came across.
"We should take it in shifts." Berry said.
"Two people sleep, one person on the rooftops as a spotter, one scout, and three haulers." Marius suggested.
"But why?" Thug asked. "That means only three people are carrying food. We won't get enough that way."
"If two people sleep, then we have two rested people who can carry more food later. If we do it in shifts, we can keep taking food until they stop us from doing it."
"But why a spotter and a scout?" Tha'varr.
"Because we need someone who can rush off to distract people, and someone else to warn if people are getting too close." Marius asserted.
"I want to be the scout." Thug said.
"Not likely. You're the biggest, so you can haul the most food." Thema insisted.
"Why do I have to haul the most food?" Thug asked.
"Because you're gonna eat the most." Thema said, with a giggle.
"Actually, in case someone wants our haul, we need you with the food in case there's trouble." Berry added.
Thug nodded in approval. "You and Merry really do think the same."
"Yeah!" Antia agreed. "We've been doing pretty well ever since we found Berry. With another brain, it can only get better."
"We'll make Tha'vaar the spotter." Berry said. "A lot of people hate aliens, so we definitely can't make you the scout. And since you can talk in that weird speak, you can warn us without giving us away."
"Good thinking." Marius agreed. "And Bug is the fastest person here, and can fit into the air ducts still. He'd make the best scout."
"Then that leaves me, Berry, Merry, Mystery, Thema and Anita to haul the food." Thursten said, counting people off on his fingers.
"So the two people resting should always be haulers, since we're taking heavy loads." Anita said. "What should the resters be doing?"
"Resting." BugBug said sarcastically. "Duh."
"Not just resting." Marius said. "They should check to see what kind of food we need most, that we don't have. Like if we have too many veggies, or not enough beans. They can do that, and organize the fridge unit so that there's more space to put stuff in."
"So who's the first resters?" Anita asked.
"You and Thug." Marius asked, to a chorus of questions from everyone, including Berry. Marius waited for a little while, before answering.
"Because it's pretty early in the morning still, so we won't need Thug for a little while. Berry and I need to decide what kind of food we start to take first, and figure out good places to for Tha'varr to watch from. We also need to figure out the smartest route." He said.
"And we need to make sure either me, or Merry is in the hauling group at all times." Berry said.
"How come?" Thug asked.
"Cuz someone with brains has to be there, and you don't qualify." Berry said.
"Brains don't haul food any faster." Thug pointed out.
"But brains will know what to do if there's trouble. Merry will know when it's better to run, fight, or bargain." Berry countered.
"When did Merry become the leader?" Anita asked.
"He didn't. We don't have leaders, just roles."
"Yeah, roles." Thug said sarcastically. "Like the leader role."
"If there's any leader here," Marius said. "It's Mystery. Because if he said anything, we'd all be too shocked to disagree."
The others laughed, for a long moment, before they all heard "exactly" come from Mystery's general direction. They turned around to see him smirking, and stared in silence as he stood up and moved a little further into the circle.
"See? Too shocked to disagree with me." He said, with a smile. Everyone laughed again, harder than before.
"I think," Mystery said, as the laughing started to die down, "we need a name for ourselves. Every good group deserves a name, and we're all lucky to have each other. So I thought the lucky orphans would be a good name."
No one said anything.
"That's more than I've ever heard Mystery say." Berry noted.
"Same here." Anita agreed.
"Mystery?" Tha'varr asked. "Are you okay?"
"We feel like a family now." Mystery answered. His voice quivered a little.
"To the Lucky Orphans!" Thema shouted, taking a bottle of juice from the shelf and punching it in the air.
The others followed suit, saluting each other, their company, and their denial of the misery of their lives.
The makeshift cart that wound its way along antiquated pavement had two wheels, though neither one was the same size, or even made of the same material. Upon finding a wooden board and a mechanical wheel, Thug had taken it on himself to borrow one of the small, round tabletops from a cafe. Though ponderous, the cart allowed three people to carry almost twice as much without having to worry about exhausting themselves.
"Good thinking, Merry." Thema said, for the fifth time, as they stopped at a street corner and looked up for Tha'varr. "I really didn't want to carry all those canned minche beans."
"What are you talking about? You'd claim you couldn't carry it, and make me haul it the whole way." Thug protested.
"You know you would." Marius agreed.
"Would not!" Thema insisted, sticking out her tongue at them. They all laughed, a little too freely for what they were doing, but they had found that, of late, they laughed more often than they used to.
Mystery only smiled, a warm, satisfied smile as if he were newly wrapped in a warm blanket.
From above their heads, they heard a guttural hoot very similar to an owl, followed by two quick clicks of the tongue.
Marius looked up, and made a similar hoot, which broke off in an abrupt 'ch'.
He grinned at Thema, and said "It's clear. No one in sight."
"You can understand what she's saying?" Thug asked, startled.
"A little. She's been teaching me a few phrases. She can tell me if there's trouble, but she can't tell me what kind of trouble."
"Still, I can't understand any of it. She even tried to teach me." Thema said, with a little bit of awe.
"I'm not very good. She thinks I sound like a squealing Gizka." Marius admitted.
Thema laughed again, and picked up the front end of the cart. "Thug's turn to walk without lifting?"
Marius set his hands against the back end, stabilizing it. "Yep."
They had only gotten a few more steps, when they could hear Tha'varr from up above them shouting in that language no one understood.
"Uh oh." Marius said.
"What did she say?" Thug asked.
"Dunno. Can we hide the food anywhere?" Marius asked, looking around.
They heard footsteps, and the three of them looked at each other, knowing that they had no time.
They turned to watch four men step around the corner. They were tall, mean looking men with large truncheons in their hands. One of them wore a blaster pistol at his belt, and all of them smelled faintly of alcohol.
"Hey, kids!" One of them said, stepping up towards Marius. "What are you doing!"
Thug stepped up and said "what do you care?"
Marius cringed to himself, and kicked Thug in the shins just before the man closest to them began to draw back his fist. "Sorry sir." Marius said, quickly. "He worries about us a lot, is all."
"You should watch your tongue better, boy." One of the other men said. None of them made another move to chastise Thug, however. Thug, for his part, was hopping on one foot and cursing under his breath.
Knowing he would be asked again about the cart, Marius took the momentary silence to think as quickly as he could for something to throw off suspicion. "We're doing a delivery, sir."
"Oh really? A food delivery, less than three minutes away from a bankrupt grocer who can't afford to guard his stock?" The lead man asked, fishing out a can of minche beans. "You look like a bunch of thieving orphans to us."
The others stepped forward, and Marius, already nervous, knew he had only another couple of moments before they wouldn't listen at all.
"Please sir! He gave us this list, and told us he'd give us a ducat each and some candy if we did it! I'm sorry, I didn't know we were stealing!" Marius pleaded, forcing himself to cry a little.
Two of the men cringed a little, as if a child's crying were contagious. "Who told you to get the stuff on this list?" One of them asked, softer than they had spoken before.
"A big man, tall like you, but fatter. He wears a white suit with food stains on it, and he told us to bring it to the back of a pub near the big fountain." Marius said, handing the men the list.
"The stump?" One of the men asked. "Isn't that the boss' dive?"
"He must have tipped off the cook." Another one said.
Marius forced himself to swallow the sigh of relief, and asked plaintively "Are we going to be okay? I don't want my friends to get in trouble."
"What does this list say?" The first man asked, handing the list back.
"Minche beans, dried lentils, sprouts," Marius started, but was cut off by an angry wave from the man standing in front of him.
"He can read. He can't be an orphan." He said, turning to his companions.
"That settles it, then." One of them men said, and he stepped around to talk to the children. He actually bent a little, so that his head was almost at eye level with Marius. "You're good kids, so I won't cause you any more trouble. We're looking for the men that own that grocery store, though, so if you see him, let the cook know. Okay?" The man asked, and taking Marius's hand, pressed a ducat into his palm.
"You don't need to go out of your way, just if you see him in passing." The man added, as the other three started walking away.
They waited for the dozen heartbeats until the men rounded and the corner, after which, Marius breathed a sigh of relief and sunk against the wall.
"I didn't know you could read." Thug said, surprised.
"How do you think he's going to read Berry's list, stupid?" Thema shot at him, hefting the front end of the cart again.
They started up again, making sure the men were out of earshot, before Thema said "Thug's right though. You really do think like Berry."
"How'd you know the cook at the Stump?" Thug asked.
"I don't." Marius admitted. "I just know that there's a pub there. I figured since a cook's near food all the time, that he'd be fat."
"Oh." Thug said.
They heard another loud pattering of feet, and Bug ran around the corner, panting heavily as the stopped in front of them.
"Some-" He heaved, gasping for air. "Some-one, coming."
"We know, they caught us already." Thema said.
"Some scout you are." Thug added.
"Lay off." Bug said scathingly. "Where'd you get the cart?"
"We made it." Marius replied. "You figured we were going slower, huh?"
"Yeah. I looked everywhere to warn you guys. Sorry." Bug said, sheepishly.
"All right then." Marius said, and reaching into his pockets, took out another sheet of paper crumpled up along with the food list Beriven had written. "This is the route we're taking there and back. You know where it is, right?"
"Right." Bug answered.
"All you need to do is get on that route right where you figure we would be if we were going fast. Once you're there, and if you don't see us, just assume that we're going a little slower, and head that way. No short-cuts, all right?" Marius explained, holding the map along the side of the cart and pointing at it.
"Where'd you get the map?" Thug asked.
"Berry drew it. We scrounged up some paper and a few pens along with the first load." Merry explained.
"Berry can draw maps?"
"Yep. He's a way better artist than I am." Merry exclaimed, showing the others the map. He pointed at the large fountain, which looked almost exactly as it did from overhead.
They picked up the cart and had Bug scamper down their route, Thug and Thema hefting the load this time. Tha'varr had come down from the roof, and tugged at Marius' shoulder.
"Isn't that dangerous? Using a lie like that? If they talk to the cook at the stump, we could be in a lot of trouble." Tha'varr said.
"I'm thinking about that. I'll wait until we get to the warehouse, but I think I know the best way to fix this lie." Marius replied, holding up the Ducat to the sunlight.
"What?"
"Make it true."
The rest of the trip passed without event. They discovered that with a few blankets they could keep the food out of sight, and a few orphans pushing a makeshift cart looked a lot less conspicuous than children carrying heavy loads waiting for a lookout. This let them pass people they would normally have hid from.
"Merry! Where'd you find the cart?" Anita asked, as Mystery silently began to unload their latest haul.
"We made it!" Thug said proudly. "I even invented that wheel" he added, pointing to the tabletop that made the left wheel of the cart.
"You invented the wheel?" Beriven asked incredulously. "What cave did they thaw you from?"
Thug cracked his knuckles and scowled, but everyone else began storing the food.
"You guys made good time with that cart." Anita said. "More food faster."
"But it might make us more noticeable." Beriven noted. "We'll need to be more careful. Were there any problems?"
"One." Marius replied. "How much is a Ducat worth?"
Marius held the coin up as he asked, and even the other children on the trip with him, who hadn't seen him receive the coin, gathered around him in wonder.
"A Ducat?" Beriven said, his eyes widening. "You could buy half this cart with ten of them."
"I can get us another eight, but if we're going to do it, we need to decide quickly." Marius said, and explained the incident with the thugs. Despite the possible problems they faced, no one pointed any fingers in blame.
"This could be really good, actually. If we make it look like we're doing this for the mob boss of the city, no one will lay a finger on us."
"And it should only cost us one cart trip." Marius said.
"Really? How?" Thema asked.
"It's easy. We go over to the stump, and offer to bring the cook a load. We tell him to write a list, we bring it to him, and then we're in the clear." Marius said.
"We could get even more than nine Ducats!" Thursten noted, but Beriven shook his head.
"No. We can only make nine. One for each of us as the price, and one from the thug." Beriven said. "It's best if the lie Marius used becomes true, and he set the price at a Ducat for each of us, and some candy."
"Oh." Thema said, looking a little forlorn.
"What is it?" Marius asked.
"It's just that one of the stores has thermal sleeping bags on a clearance sale. A ducat and a half each." Thema replied.
The group looked at each other for a long moment. The prospect of being warm, as well as fed, seemed a distant dream only three days ago.
"Don't worry. Even though we can only buy six, there's a lot more blanket for the two of us who're left out." Beriven answered.
"What makes you think you're not going to get a sleeping bag?" Tha'varr asked.
"Because I'd rather be cold than hear you complain. Besides, the four youngest should definitely get them." Beriven asserted.
"I'm not suffering just because you feel like being nice." Thug said.
"You won't be. The two without sleeping bags will be Berry and Mystery." Marius insisted.
Mystery raised an eyebrow at that, and looked over to Marius. Everyone else followed suit.
Marius smiled and said "Berry because he volunteered. Mystery because he's the leader. Leaders should lead by example."
Everyone laughed again, even Mystery, who very rarely laughed.
"I don't like them making a trip without one of us there." Beriven told Marius, as they walked by the fountain. They both stopped in eyesight of the Stump, their imaginations making the building quite a bit larger, and darker, than it actually looked.
"I don't like doing this without you. It won't go as well." Marius answered. "They'll be all right."
"You're right." Beriven agreed, hesitantly. His stomach quivered a little as they approached the door. "I should be worried about us."
Beriven knocked on the door, tentatively. It made only the quietest of thuds, as the surprisingly wet wood seemed to muffle the blow.
"You need to knock louder." Marius said, and raised his hand to bash on the door, stopping when the knob turned on its own and the door swung open.
A large man, so large that his arms alone were bigger than each of the children, stepped into the short doorframe. It barely fit him.
He scowled in the sunlight, looking around with squinty eyes.
It wasn't until he looked around again, that Beriven said anything. "Uh, hi."
The large man looked surprised, as he cast his eyes almost to his own belly, to look at the two orphans near his feet.
"We're here to see the cook." Marius said.
"He ain't in need of extra hands." The big man said, and moved to shut the door.
"We're here on business. We need him to write us a list for a delivery." Beriven said, stepping forward so that the big man couldn't shut the door.
"What could he want with a couple'a orphans?" The big man asked, closing the door slowly. He looked ready to simply push Beriven out of the doorway.
"Can orphans read, dummy?" Marius asked, stepping up next to Beriven. "We're supposed to bring him some supplies. Stuff he can't find otherwise. Even some off-planet goods."
The big man stared down at them for too long. Both boys were afraid he was just going to hit them after he worked up the nerve. Instead, he asked "What's the cook's name? You should know that, if you're doing business with him."
Beriven hesitated, but Marius insisted "No we shouldn't."
The big man smiled, and stepped aside for them. "Even the boss doesn't know his name. Cook's in the back, behind the bar. Don't dawdle."
The boys swallowed their glee, and avoided looking at each other as they passed by the big man.
"How did you know that?" Beriven asked Marius, whispering into his ear as soon as they stepped inside.
"I didn't. I just assumed that it would sound normal if he hadn't bothered to tell us his name." Marius admitted, with a shrug.
The Stump was a world apart from what it looked like on the outside. The rustic, moulding wood covered walls made of a sleek grey metal, littered with strange pieces of art. The tables looked almost elegant, and the cups were made of glass, rather than the sturdy ceramic that they had seen almost everywhere else. Everywhere, the busy servants seemed to outnumber the patrons, who stayed in the furthest fringes of the room, talking to each other too quietly to hear.
"Wow." Marius said.
"Yeah." Beriven agreed, stunned by the wealth he looked at.
"No, over there." Marius said. His hand pointed at a small man, only slightly taller than they were, who sat at a corner table. He was holding a cup in both hands, and looked to be deep in thought.
Beriven looked over at him for a long moment, and said "The boss."
"That disguise is nearly perfect. Small, inconspicuous, plain looking. He's dressed like a vagabond, except that he's clean and neat. He doesn't quite blend in, but he doesn't look important right away, so you overlook him."
"He's clever, to do that." Beriven said. "He's powerful and invisible."
Marius understood something else from it, and though the lesson took years to form in his heart, it was something that would never leave him. The true nature of a person was revealed by how they treated meekness, rather than strength. That, he would come to understand, was why this mob boss had made this place so opulent, and presented himself so humbly.
They stepped past the bar, only saying 'we're here to see the cook' when the bartender raised an eyebrow in question.
Through it all, the small man in the corner watched the boys carefully.
The kitchen was rich with smells that made the boys' mouths water. Young boys, and orphans, the temptations that a professional cook made them forget their mission for a few moments.
They were interrupted from their aroma induced stupor by a booming voice, which despite coming from right behind them, likely could be heard by everyone in the kitchen. "How the hell did you two punks get in here?"
The boys jumped, startled. Marius actually stumbled backwards, and Beriven clutched a counter to steady himself. "You scared us!" Beriven accused.
"I'll chop you up and serve you as a delicacy to the Hutts if you don't tell me what you're doing here." The man said, and both boys immediately understood that they were talking to the man they wanted to.
The cook was almost as large as the bouncer at the front door, and his voice sounded like he had swallowed a megaphone. His neck, which was a bit wider than his head, seemed to confirm that.
"We'd like to propose something, sir." Marius began, stepping up beside Beriven. "Do you know about the grocer who just went out of business?"
"Forget it, kids. I know where this is heading. But if I tell you to bring me Thamsan wine, you'll bring me turnips and still insist I pay you." The cook said, dismissively.
"That's why you write us a list." Beriven insisted, reaching into his pockets and taking out some paper, and one of his pens. "You write two copies, and can keep the money if we don't bring enough of what you want."
The cook paused, in thought, and the boys knew they had him.
"You can read, huh?" The cook said. "Why aren't you at home, if you know that much?"
"We're orphans. We don't have a home that we don't make for ourselves." Marius said. It was a line the cook seemed to smile at, though the boys didn't notice. "Since this grocer just went under, you can get your hands on the best stuff before it gets looted."
"Hmm..." The cook said. "What are you going to do if they don't have some of the items I put on this list?"
"Find the most expensive thing like it, and put it on the cart instead." Beriven replied instantly. The cook nodded at that.
"And if you don't know what something is?" The cook asked.
"We're going to make sure we know everything on the list before we leave." Beriven said.
"What makes you think you can get this stuff here without getting mugged?"
"Some of the boss' people are out looking for the guys who own the grocer." Marius explained. "They said it's all right."
The cook's eyebrows raised in surprise. He paused to think, for a long moment, before grinning at the kids. "Sounds like you kids have a good system going. How many other people have you offered this deal to?"
"No one, yet." Beriven replied.
"All right. I'll write up a list, and then we can haggle on a price." The cook said, taking Beriven's pen and making a few quick notes. Every few moments, he would glance around his kitchen, as if looking for something that ought to be there.
"Thamsan wine, Nintuk steak, Bactan berries, and as many Minorsians as you can get." The cook said to himself. He turned to the boys, and handed them one of the two pieces of paper. "I have some items I definitely want, and some general things I want you to keep an eye out for. If you find them, throw them in with the rest. If not, well, I won't be fussed. You'll get half of our price again if you can find Itamian vinegar, but that stuff's hard to find unless you're sitting on the big black throne."
"Here's your list. I want to see every item on that list, or a reasonable substitute, or you won't get a thing." The cook warned, with a raised finger.
Marius began scanning through the list, checking off each item against his memory. "What's a Minorsian?"
The cook picked up a bright orange fruit from the counter, and handed it to Marius. "That'a a Minorsian. If you can find everything on this list, I'm willing to make you a dessert with it. If you have a few friends you want to share it with, I'm willing to make a little more. But only if you find everything."
"Including the Itamian vinegar?" Beriven asked warily.
"Heh. Sharp kids." The cook said. "Not that. But everything else, without substitutes." He reached into a pocket, a little distracted. "I'll pay you six Ducats for the whole cart. Another three if you find the vinegar."
"What?" Beriven asked incredulously. "I could sell the Minorsians for twice that!"
"To who? And how long do you think you have before everyone in the city is looting that place?" The cook asked, slyly.
"That works against you. The sooner we go and do it, the more likely you are to get what you want. Minorsian sorbet isn't that good an incentive." Marius replied.
The cook stared at Marius for a long moment, the boys afraid that he was going to explode in anger, but when the cook did explode, it was in gales of laughter.
"Oh, you kids! If all those orphans are like you, we're all screwed in less than a decade." The cook exclaimed, grabbing the counter to support his own heaving laughter.
The boys smiled, and laughed at a little as well.
"We'll do it for ten, and enough sorbet for eight kids." Marius said, as soon as the Cook caught his breath.
"Eight ducats, and the sorbet. The other two will be if you get everything."
"And another five if we find the vinegar?" Beriven asked.
"Agreed." The cook exclaimed. He spat into his palm and held it forward to the boys.
Beriven, who had seen this done before, spat into his own palm and shook his hand. Marius followed suit after a moment.
"Spitting for a cook is a serious thing, you know." The cook said, pointing to the kitchen behind him. "So you had better live up to your end of the bargain."
"Making promises is a serious thing for an orphan." Marius said. "We'll live up to our bargain."
"You can use the back door when you come by. Knock three times, and tell whoever answers that you have a delivery for the cook." The Cook said, pointing to a door at the far end of the room.
The boys smiled, and said "We'll be back."
Glee barely held in check, they scampered out the back and into the street.
"Exactly what we needed, Merry!" Beriven exclaimed, as they walked past the fountain. "Eight ducats, so the stories match up."
"We'd better get on this delivery. The cook may not be too dangerous by himself, but we both know who he works for now." Marius replied.
"Right. I think we're going to need the cart to make this in one trip. We might loose a cart full of food to this, but we need to do it right away. Where do you think the others are right now?"
Marius glanced up at the sun, staring at it for a moment too long. "Are you okay, Merry?" Berry asked.
"Did you know you can tell the time by where the sun is?" Marius asked.
"No, and how does that help us?"
"It doesn't. It's just something I think I should learn."
"Learn later." Beriven said, a little peeved. "Do you have an idea?"
"Yeah. I think they're just unloading a cart right now. You should take the list, and go to the grocer. Start finding the items, and I'll bring Thug and Anita as quickly as I can." Marius suggested.
"What about the others?"
"They can take an inventory of what we have, and get us on track for what we need next. They should also get some rest. I don't think we're going to be able to sleep tonight."
"Why is that?"
"Because word's starting to get around about all this free food. Even the cook had already heard about this. How much longer before there's too many people around for us to take anything?" Marius asked.
"But it's dangerous at night." Beriven replied.
"The most dangerous thing out there are the Boss' thugs. And they won't touch us now." Marius answered. "See if you can find that vinegar."
"I will. Do you really think tonight will be safe?"
"Safer than any other night. And quite a lot safer than tomorrow." Marius answered, shouting the last few words as he started running down the street. Beriven stared after him for a moment, checked his pockets instinctively to make sure the list was still there, and ran towards the grocer.
Beriven ran as hard as he could, pummeling his legs recklessly against the street as he ran to the grocer. Marius seemed certain that this was the only day they could count on a near monopoly, and having too many people around would make it too dangerous to have risk his friends. He might chance it, he knew, if he were alone.
While his body propelled him onward, his mind was busy scouting ahead, searching through everything he remembered for the items on that list. The Minorsians were with the other fruit, and there were bags full of the things. He hadn't tried one yet, but he meant to.
Some of the items were going to be easy to look for. Meats could only be kept under special conditions, under ice and far away from other things. If he couldn't find the specific ones there, he wasn't going to find them, and could scratch them off the list.
The hard items were going to be the couple of grains that the cook had mentioned. Tharman Barley could be with the packaged grains, or it could be somewhere else entirely. It's exactly where he should start looking, if he was going to have everything before his friends showed up.
It was odd, he found, to think that way. That group of misfits, he did think of them as friends. He worried for them, the way he worried about himself.
Mystery was right. This could be what family feels like.
A few more blocks brought him to the small building that they managed to sneak into the grocer from. A small hole in the basement, not nearly large enough for an adult, and he was back inside this treasure trove of food.
He stopped suddenly, hid, and held his breath when he heard voices.
It wasn't that he heard people. Even when they first found the place, and gorged themselves until they were sick, there were other people around. This time, though, he heard whispered voices belonging to people who didn't want to be noticed.
"Look, we're dead if we stay. We've already hid the valuable stuff in the office, and we have enough money in the safe to charter a ship off planet. Let's just go already. We don't need to wait for Montomery." One person said, quickly. He was carrying a small bag, though it dug deeply into his shoulder, and both his hands were supporting it.
"Yes we do." The other replied, just as quietly. "What are you carrying in that, anyway?"
"Thamsan wine. Montomery wants us to keep it away from the looters. He thinks we can fleece the stuff for a fortune on Anaxes."
"Is that where we're headed?"
"I don't know. Why do we need Montomery, anyway?"
"Because I don't know the safe combination. I'm not leaving without a cut of that money."
"Good point. Can I just store the stuff inside the office?"
"Not a problem." The other man replied, and they both turned away and headed down another corridor. Beriven followed behind them, long enough for his own footsteps to drown in the ambient noise.
He rounded the corner and watched the two men step in front of a small door. One of the men fished out a key from his jacket pocket, and open a heavy pad lock on the outside of the door. They both stepped inside, and Beriven waited, holding his breath.
The seconds stretched on, and Beriven found it hard to sit still and wait. It was harder still to keep himself from peeking around the corner to stare inside, and watch what the men were doing.
Beriven held his breath as he heard the shuffling of feet in the hallway again. A quick, sharp click could be heard when the footsteps stopped, and then the two men stomped down the hallway.
Beriven waited a few more heartbeats after he stopped hearing their steps, and then stepped quickly to the door.
The pad lock looked heavy, the latches too secure for a child's mischief. He stared at the door in defiance, staring as if sheer determination could somehow do what reason could not.
His determined staring fruitless, Beriven kicked the door in irritation, and stuck his hands in his pockets dejectedly.
There was a trick Beriven had learned, over the few years of his life, that helped him out of tricky situations like this. He would sit down, close his eyes, and think really hard about what he wanted to do. If he focused, he found that he could look, somehow, and find a solution.
He had no way to explain how this worked, and if he tried to explain it to anyone they'd lock him away, but it worked every time he tried.
He sat down in front of the door, closed his eyes, and thought hard about the lock on the door.
In his mind, he saw a hundred possibilities flash by, all vanishing as quickly as they came. He saw himself picking the lock, bashing the door down, even finding power tools to break through the door with a really big hammer.
He saw himself, in a thought that lingered, not getting through the door but gazing into each hallway.
'Of course' Beriven thought to himself. 'I don't want to open the lock. I want in the room.'
He glanced along the hallway, looking for another door. He chose the nearest and stepped inside, grinning to himself when he found an open window at the end of the room.
He opened it carefully and glanced to his left, grinning with satisfaction when he spotted a window just to his left, where the locked office should be.
"Score one for Beriven Vaime." Beriven said to himself, as he pulled himself onto the railing. It was too far to jump, but Beriven was sure he could cling to the grooves in the wall long enough to shuffle across.
The wall had grooves and holes enough that a child, used to climbing nothing more difficult than a tree, could confidently make their way across. To Beriven, it was only a little more difficult than walking.
He pulled himself through the window, and climbed into the office. He scrambled quickly through the open sacs haphazardly piled into the corners of the room, until he found a few round bottles of what looked to be the Thamsan wine.
He put a few bottles into a small bag, knowing he could hardly carry any more than that, and dragged it to the window.
Below, he caught sight of Anita, who carefully scanned the street before beckoning towards a shadowy corner.
Thug and Marius appeared from it, guiding the empty cart between them.
Beriven put his lips together and whistled, trying for a bird-like chirp.
Marius turned to Thug, and in a loud voice, said "That's an ugly bird, making that awful noise."
"I've never heard a bird like that before." Thug agreed.
"I think it's a Berry bird." Marius suggested.
"Is it edible?" Thug asked, looking up at Beriven.
"No." Marius said. "It'd make you throw up."
Beriven pointed to the balcony directly below him, sharply. The three children below nodded, and disappeared through the doors.
It took a few minutes, but Marius and Thug appeared on the balcony directly below, with a large mattress between them.
Marius made a gesture with his hand, holding up a single finger, and them miming letting go of a bottle. Beriven nodded, and held a bottle over the balcony.
They adjusted the mattress, and after Thug gave a thumbs-up, Beriven dropped the bottle.
The wine hit the mattress and bounced once, softly. Marius caught it before the bottle could bounce a second time. The children cheered softly, and Anita took the bottle and put it into another small bag.
Beriven repeated the step with another four bottles, careful to make sure the drops were as clean as he could make them. After the fifth, he climbed over the edge and fell down, laughing as he bounced.
"Five bottles and a big berry!" Thursten said, laughing.
"We'd better load the rest of the cart. We need to get back to the Stump." Beriven said.
"Why?" Marius asked.
"Because I found the guys that we're supposed to keep an eye out for. They'll be back in the room I just came out of." Beriven explained.
"Right." Marius agreed. "But should we draw too much attention to ourselves?"
"We won't. The cook's gonna take all the credit for it."
"Good point."
They heard footsteps, loud and heavy, coming towards the door.
"Anita, act cute and scared. Say you just wanted a place to be warm. Everyone else, grab the bottles and hide!" Marius whispered harshly. The three boys grabbed the bottles and dashed into obscured corners of the room. Anita dragged the mattress into the middle of the room and shut the balcony door, before standing as far away from the door as possible.
Two men walked inside, looking distressed.
"You! What are you doing here?" One of them asked Anita.
Anita tried to press herself further back into the wall, and shook her head.
"I told you that you're ugly." The shorter one said to his companion. "Sorry, girl. But did you hear anyone come through recently?"
A third man stepped inside, a slightly pudgy man with an air of authority. "How long ago could they have done this?" He asked the other two.
"Minutes. They might be in the building still."
"They did." Anita admitted, still shaking. "A couple of men climbed down here, and they told me to keep quiet or they'd hurt me."
She sniffled once, still pressed against the wall.
"Did they say anything else." The shorter man asked, trying to sound kind.
"They said something about being back by 9:00" She said, hesitating. "They said something about a torch to cut things with. I don't know how you'd cut things with a torch, though."
"Should we wait for them?" The big man asked, cracking his knuckles.
"How many men?" The pudgy man asked Anita.
"Just two. I'm sorry if I did anything wrong!" Anita said, hysterically.
The pudgy man smacked the big man across the back of the head. "Scaring little girls." He said scathingly. But he chuckled to himself, as if he found the thought amusing. "Guess we wait for them. Take these guys out and take our cut when Montomery finally shows up.
The three of them left without saying anything else. Anita curled up into a ball and sobbed, quietly, as the footsteps faded. As the grew quieter, she held out her hand in a fist, sticking a thumb straight up.
Marius climbed out of his hiding place, a grin on his face. "Wow."
"I'm never going to believe your crying again." Beriven added.
Thug laughed, holding a hand across his face to cover some of the sound. Anita stood up and curtsied as best she could, and the boys clapped quietly.
"If we're quick, we can tell the Cook before sunset." Beriven said, as he stepped out the door and looked out the hall. "Let's hide the wine here until the cart's full, and go get the rest."
It was a precarious half-hour, and the children moved anxiously as they checked off the items on the list. The cook had neglected to put any volume requests on his list, which lead Marius to insist on filling the cart as well as they could.
"He didn't say how many. That means if we only bring him one, he still has to live up to his end of the bargain." Thug insisted.
"We also agreed on getting a full cart." Marius retorted, pointing to the cart now half filled with foodstuff. "That means unless we only find one of something, we need to take as much of it as we can."
"We can't take chances, Thug. We're not going to get to do this over." Beriven added.
The rest of the cart filled quickly, and they hurried their way out the front doors and to the stump.
They knocked on the back door, three times, and waited until someone opened it.
To their surprise, it was the cook himself who opened the door, drowning the doorway almost as effectively as the door had. "Ah, boys! I hope you got what I wanted."
"Everything except the Vinegar, and we looked all over the place for it." Beriven answered with a sigh. "We even found the Thamsan wine!"
Beriven said it innocently enough, but watched the Cook carefully as he spoke. The cook's eyes widened for a few moments, and even after he caught himself, he still wrung his hands in excitement.
"I heard you can make a fortune for it on Anaxes." Beriven added. "Why didn't you tell us how seriously you wanted it?"
Marius stepped up, and added "Did you just throw it on the list to make sure you wouldn't have to pay us the full price? You didn't expect us to find it?"
The cook threw up his hands in mock surrender. "Boys, I added it because I was hoping you'd find it. Thamsan wine doesn't have a proper flavour by itself, but heat it with something and it becomes a whole different taste. I have half a hundred recipies that demand the stuff. It only sells for a little more than pittance here, because hardly anyone figured out what to do with it. I can't say much about Anaxes, but if I could go off-world, would I still be here?"
"We'll accept that." Beriven said. "But I should tell you about the way we found the wine." He then explained about the men who had locked up the office, and how they were hiding money in the safe. He also explained about the thugs they had run into earlier in the day, and what they had asked for.
"Well, boys, you've just done the Boss a favor, which may be worth more to you than the ten ducats you're getting." The cook said, eyeing the cart. "Good thing I just finished that sorbet, too." He added, more to himself than the children.
"So it's acceptable?"
"It's everything I hoped for. Pity about the vinegar, but the offer still stands, if you find it. Five ducats a bottle." The cook offered. He handed the boys a small collection of coins, and a large jug that felt cold to the hands. He carefully placed a few spoons on the top, and added "You'll get sick if you eat it with your hands."
The boys nodded. Beriven hefted the sorbet, and said "Thanks, sir. We really appreciate you taking a chance on us."
"Yeah. You made our month." Marius added.
The boys turned to leave, turning back in surprise as they heard the cook ask "What are you going to do with that money?"
The boys looked carefully at the cook, who waved his hands sheepishly, and added "not that it's any of my business."
"Sleeping bags." Marius said, after a moment.
"Eight of them. Being cold all the time sucks." Beriven added.
"Eight? There's more of you?"
The boys looked at each other sharply, their minds suddenly whirling. Berry made an apologetic gesture, throwing his hands in the air and shaking his head. Marius, after a few more breaths, simply shrugged.
"We're looking out for a few people." Beriven said carefully.
The cook looked stunned for a moment, and the boys looked at each other again, worried. It was a relief for them, when the cook spoke next.
"Eight, for every bottle of vinegar you find." He said, gruffly, and shut the door in their faces.
The cook was startled when behind him, just as he shut the door, he saw a small man leaning against a doorway behind him. The small, innocuous looking man barely reached his rib cage, was hardly larger than the two boys who had just left.
His arms crossed, the small man asked "Were those the children you hired to steal you a cart-full of groceries?"
"Yeah. How'd you hear about it so fast?"
"I heard about their offer before they made it. About four hours ago, my boys accosted the kids stealing food from the grocer. They fast-talked my hired hands by telling them they were bringing it to you." The small man said, a chuckle in his voice.
"Now, a coward would run. An idiot would do nothing. But it seems at least one of these kids has a head on his shoulders, because the next thing he did was come to you and make it true." The man explained. "They told my boys they were doing it for a ducat a piece. How much did you agree on as a minimum?"
"Eight." The cook answered, guardedly.
"Which means there's eight kids in this little band of theirs. Clever." The small man reflected.
"Oh, they said they ran into the guys you're looking for."
"Did they?"
"Said they stashed some stuff in a small office on the third floor. The boys think they'll still be there around 9:00. Added that they were waiting on someone called Montomery."
"They could be waiting a while. I already have Montomery. But it seems that ducat my thugs paid the boy to keep an eye out was well spent." The Boss said.
"Eleven ducats in one day? That's a fairly good honest day's work." The cook said. "My help might start getting ideas."
"It seems I need to start giving my orphan problem a little more thought, and soon." the small man mused.
"What're you planning? You're not going to hurt those kids, are you?" The cook asked, sharply.
"Not yet. And I'd rather not. But if I have hungry orphans stealing from shops and mugging travelers, it's bad enough. If they're organized, that's a problem in a different league. I need these brats off the streets, one way or another." The small man said.
"You're really going to kill off a whole city's worth of orphans?" The cook asked, incredulously.
"Of course not. What kind of sick bastard do you think I am?" the small man asked, irritated. "I'm going to either make use of them, or encourage them to find some other place to live. I just wonder how I'm going to fit this clever little group into it." The small man said, as he pushed off the wall and walked back down the hall. The cook followed, a few steps behind.
"I'd hate to get them killed just because I involved them in your world, boss." The cook insisted.
"Don't you get it?" The boss interrupted, with a scathing inquiry. "You didn't involve them at all. They involved you."