The Month of Storing (November) Age 9

Week 1

You'll never guess what Kanrik did. It was just a normal day in class, with most of us bored and staring with glazed eyes at the front of the schoolroom. They Kyrii master was saying that two special visitors were arriving today- as if any of us were interested in that. Then…it was all a blur.

Two golden streaks vaporized the lecture hall. No one could stop them, or had any idea what was happening. Even the Kyrii was taken aback. In moments, we were all tied up in the corner with the desks and chairs propped up against the wall.

Kayley glared at me. "Hanso, if this is one of your stupid pranks again…"

"It wasn't me!" I protested.

"'Course it wasn't!" Exclaimed two voices. "It was us!" We struggled as best as we could to see who it was. A Meerca duo stood there. They were absolutely identical- same beady black eyes that eyed everything they saw eagerly, same cheeky, buck-toothed grins, and same grey stealth suits that looked as if they could hide anything. In fact, the only way I could tell them apart was that one wore red goggles and the other a blue beret.

Julius and Juliet gasped. "The Meerca Brothers!"

"That's right!" They bowed to us. "Fresh out of the Quasalan Treasury."

"Came here with a favor from our favorite guild leader," the red goggled one explained. "I'm Heermeedjet, by the way. This is my brother, Merouladen."

"How come I never get to do the introductions?" Merouladen grumbled. "Ah well, Kanrik's a good boss mostly-"

"A lot better than that Malkus Vile fellow."

Heermeedjet nodded. "I can't believe he convinced us to steal a dead king's crown!"

"I can't believe we were stupid enough to do it!" Merouladen added.

"Why did you do it?" Juliet piped up eagerly. "I always wanted to find out!"

Heermeedjet shrugged. "We didn't know about the Thieves' Guild yet. Since we were of course destined for a life of crime, we started taking on a few interesting clients. Vile was one of them. We were paid on time, so we kept doing his dirty work, even when they started to get harder. Then that whole business with the hunt for a crown- we knew that sooner or later he'll use us as fall guys."

"So we turned the tables on him." Merouladen grinned. "Late at night, we snuck into the tomb again-"

"It sure was creepy, even the second time around," Heermeedjet inserted.

"And we signed our names to the back of the slip of paper. Made those fancy princesses in Sakhmet look stupid, as if they didn't try to check the behind it before. Well, they found out it was Vile-"

"And arrested him. He ranted about us, of course. If he's going down, then we were supposed to go with him. But-"

"We got away just in time," Morouladen finished. "But enough about us. Kanrik called us about two promising siblings in here- the Wocky twins, I believe. I'm guessing it's you guys?" He stared pointedly at Juliet and Julius.

"Well," Juliet began. "It's…we don't really fight together anymore…"

"Don't really fight together?" Heermeedjet spluttered. "Siblings are your best allies! They know everything about you (whether you like it or not), and so can probably guess what move you're going to make even without telling them."

Merouladen smiled. "Plus, you're going to need double the power to beat us."

"See that vase over there? Let's see who could grab it first. Ready? One, two, three, GO!" Before the twins could react, the two Meercas had already grabbed it.

"Hey, that's not fair," Julius argued. "You got it before we could understand what were supposed to do."

"That's the trick of the business kid," Heermeedjet told him. "You have to move fast, or at least faster than the guards. Then they can't keep up. Do yourself a favor and don't get captured. It works every time. Now how about that frame? GO!"

Juliet managed to regain her wits faster. Quickly, she tripped Heermeedjet, but Merouladen was too fast for her. "Nice try, kiddo," he spoke. "But like my brother said, you need to work together, or you'll never have a chance."

"But-"

"No excuses. When you're in the middle of the heist, don't think. Act. Sure, it's handy to have an escape plan, but nine out of ten times it usually goes wrong." We all grinned at the thought of another plan gone awry; when we busted the guild leader out of jail and had to improvise. If anyone knew how important thinking quickly is, then it's us. "Now how 'bout that book?"

"JULIUS!" Juliet shrieked. It was the first time she'd said his name in months as a call for help. He blocked the bookcase while she pounced on Heermeedjet. Unfortunately, they saw what the twins were trying and switched tactics, Merouladen catching Juliet before she could reach his brother and Heermeedjet ducking under Julius.

"That was even better than before," Merouladen complimented. "But try predicting what's going on in each other's mind before saying things aloud. It always alerts the enemy." The twins gritted their teeth in preparation. "Now, about that door decoration-"

Julius and Juliet instantly ran. The Meerca brothers expected this and raced for it too- and they were closer. There was no way one of the twins could get there. As they looked at each other, it seemed like something passed between their gazes. Julius, instead of diving like he was planning to, kneeled down and cupped his hands. Juliet jumped on them, and as if she practiced this whole scenario before, she glided through the air like a ballerina. Merouladen and Heermeedjet were surprised and momentarily forgot what they were doing. Juliet landed and feinted to the right. As they went on defensive, Julius ducked underneath them and snatched the door decoration. "YES!"

"We were going easy on you," the Meercas asserted before they started celebrating. "Now how about the real game?"

The rest of the class pretty much just scrutinized them while they competed. It was amazing. The twins quickly picked up on the challenge, and even won a couple of matches. But they lost, too, and we quickly noticed the reasons. After awhile, the Kyrii reminded us that we only had about five minutes of the period left.

"Whew!" Merouladen said, exhausted. "We haven't had a contest like that in ages. You two are good."

"We did see a few things you guys can work on, though," Heermeedjet commented. "For example: Julius, you should've let your sister do a few more things. And Juliet, don't be so rash when you have to choose to do it yourself or hand it to your brother."

"But he's sometimes so…dominant. How can people know I'm able to do it if I let him do everything?" She asked.

"And I'm supposed to be the big brother," Julius complained. "I have to look after her, not give her more things to worry about."

Heermeedjet grinned. "Besides having to remember you're only a little bit older, you also underestimate her. Little siblings can be quite resourceful if they want to- you just gotta trust them. I remember the first time I had to do the same with Merouladen-"

"Kid," Merouladen said, turning to Juliet, "If you think being five minutes younger than your brother is bad, try five years. It was horrible; at first, he wouldn't let me look atanything, let alone steal them!"

"So how'd you get over it?" The twins questioned.

They shrugged. "Eventually, we realized our bickering wasn't going to help us pick any pockets. So we made a deal."

"Merouladen wouldn't be so brash," Heermeedjet began.

"And Heermeedjet wouldn't force me to hold back," Merouladen completed. "After that, it was all smooth thieving." The bell rang, and the twins groaned. The Meerca brothers, however, just laughed. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

"Really?" They squealed.

"Yeah." The brothers winked at me. "Kanrik hired us to do a bit of….independent studying, you know? See you later!" And like the same way they entered but in reverse, they put everything back in its proper place and were gone in a flash.

"Woah," Juliet marveled.

Julius nodded in agreement. "They were awesome! Just what we always pictured them to be."

"They were the whole reason we became thieves in the first place," Juliet told us. "It was kind of inspiring, two poor siblings who worked their way in top in the crime underworld." The twins had watched them with star struck expressions; they really must have idolized them. Before I could ask any more questions, though, she went to Julius. "You think that you could help me with the duck-and-roll trick?"

Julius's eyes lit up. "Yeah! After lunch, though. I hear that they're serving chocolate cake."

"After lunch," Juliet agreed. Together, they strolled down to the canteen, as if nothing had ever happened between them; while just a few hours before, they would have been happily strangling each other.

I guess that life really is full of surprises.

Week 2

Yet another wish of mine that's gone twisted. Kanrik broke the news to us today. "I'm sure you're aware of our guests…"

"The Meerca Brothers!" Juliet piped up. They bowed.

"Yes, yes," Kanrik tried to continue. "And I also believe that you were assigned a few young charges while I was…away. Though it was unplanned, I believe that they were very useful to you in some things, or as one person told me, 'increases your thieving skills, reminding you of the basics while you move forward.'" I bit my lip. I didn't think I liked where this was going. "A few of my Master Thieves would find those type of reminders rather handy, especially when they get too- er, overconfident. So now you get to switch places. You are going to be assigned to them."

"What?" We all yelped.

"But…but…." Razor spluttered. "I'm not good enough to learn one-on-one from a Master Thief."

"I don't study with any strangers," Kayley muttered.

"We don't either!" The Wocky twins cried.

"And I really doubt you could find someone to suit me," I told him.

Kanrik rolled his eyes. "No complaints; it was your remark that I got this idea from, anyway." For the second time in the year, the whole class glared at me. "Razor, you'll go with somebody that has the talent you want to expand on. Kayley, at the beginning everyone here was a stranger to you. Julius and Juliet…I'm surprised you're complaining."

They frowned. "Why?" Julius asked.

"Because," he answered, "Your mentors are none other than the Meerca Brothers."

The two yelped again, this time in excitement. "Sign me up!"

Razor huddled near. "Can we have partners?" Kanrik shook his head. "Oh, Hanso," he wailed silently to me. "I don't know any of them. What if they're not nice? What if my teacher laughs at me when he sees I'm no good? What if-"

"Razor?" A red Shoyru asked. I recognized him as Dr. Kent, the guy who treated my arm. "I hear that you have a lot of talent in mixing medicines; in fact, I've seen it myself with young Hanso here. He would have died had you not made that elixir for him. Yes, I think you'll be quite a natural."

"Really?" Razor let go of my arm. "I get to study medical stuff?"

The doctor chuckled. "Yes, you get to study 'medical stuff.' Get over here, you're going to be my new protégé."

"Okay!" He said brightly. "Bye Hanso, Kayley!"

"Bested by a mere Bruce again," Kayley said under her breath. "Too bad your guard friend can't help you with this one."

I glared at her. "She got us all a passing grade last time."

"Last time," she repeated.

I was about to retort when our own Master Kyrii came over. "I'm supposed to take one of you…"

"Me!" Kayley stepped up before I had a chance.

"Alright, Kayley. You've been training with your classmates, but let's see how you do with me only." He smiled. "Don't worry Hanso, I'm sure you'll find someone suitable."

Most of the criminals that were left looked like they wanted to kill me- exactly what I anticipated. Basically, I got the guild leader trapped and then rescued him, stealing 'their' glory. As if it was my fault that they didn't have the guts to stand up to Mortak before. The best I could hope for was one who was willing to wait before he'd slit my throat.

"I'll take him!" A Jetsam said. "Come on, kid, I don't have all day!"

I was taken aback. "I, uh…okay," I said, really confused. I saw earlier than his name was Mish. He had a threatening appearance- as most Jetsams do- but the scars around his face made him even creepier. Why did he pick me? I wondered as I went with him. Simple. He was one of the ones that wanted me dead.

He led me to a nearby creek and hopped in. "Well? Don't just stand there! Jump!"

"Er, alright. But I'm not that much good at swimming," I told him.

He gave me a simper. "Good. Go a bit deeper."

"The current's getting awfully strong," I noted, trying to keep paddling.

"Nonsense," Mish replied. "Keep going."

Then I slipped. I tried to rise up for air, but the water kept pulling me down, getting in my nose, blocking my vision. I thrashed around desperately, which earned me a few seconds of air. "Help!"

"Oh, come now. Just breathe."

"But I can't breathe underwater!"

"Sure you can. Use your gills."

"I don't have any gills!"

"Sorry." Mish smirked. "Oops, I forgot. My bad. But I'm not worried, of course; I'm sure somebody who could break Kanrik out of jail could handle a bit of water."

I'm not usually that fearful; in fact, I'm a bit reckless. But I was scared then. I couldn't think, I couldn't inhale…it was like the fire in Charlie's house, but worse. The river was pounding on my head, but I couldn't keep up. I couldn't even see, the drops kept getting into my eyes and blurring them.

Then someone yanked me out, pulling me by my jacket and splashing against the flow. It was they Kyrii Master. With a lot of effort, he waded to the shore. That's when I saw that he wasn't alone.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Kanrik snarled at Mish. I was soaked to the bone and shivering.

The Jetsam's face turned white. "It- it was a harmless joke."

"Harmless joke? He would've drowned had we not been passing!" He sneered. "Luckily we had an experienced swimmer here, or you would've been kicked out of the guild this very instant. Get back to headquarters and turn in your badges; you're demoted to pickpocket."

"But that's the first level-" Kanrik's glare silenced him, and he scurried away.

"Are you alright?" Kayley asked me. She was troubled, even a little concerned.

I managed a smile. "You going to tell me any deep, dark secrets?"

"You're alright," she said, a little annoyed.

"Told you none of them liked me." I got up and took my coat off, shaking it. It was actually water-proof, so it was dry in no time. I put it back on.

"Indeed," Kanrik said. "That was definitely not a good choice for you. But you will have to have a mentor, though. We'll give you another one tomorrow."

"So I'll nearly get killed again?"

"I doubt they'll try. When news of Mish's fate spread, they'll think twice in trying to destroy one of the most skillful future thieves. Get back home. And don't say anything to your mother," he added. "We can't afford you missing another week."

The next day, a snotty Lenny took Mish's place. "You're that brat Kanrik told me about, I suppose?"

"Minus the 'brat' part, yeah," I said, crossing my arms. I can't believe they were making me do this.

The Lenny's beak curled into a thin smile. "Sit down then….Hanso, I believe? We'll begin with escape strategies." Well, that was going to be easy. Kayley drilled every single one in my head.

"Let's start simple. Now, suppose you're in a cell. There's no guard. What can you do to get out?"

Easier than I thought. "You open the door and run away."

"You forgot that you had to lock pick it. Surely someone like you would know-"

"You didn't specify it was a locked cell," I observed.

The Lenny glared at me. "Fine, it's a locked cell. Now what do you do?"

"You lock pick it using your lock picking tools and then run away."

"No, Hanso," he sighed. "A guard never forgets to confiscate your tools."

"Oh, trust me, it happens more often than you would think," I assured him. "Besides, you didn't specify I didn't have any tools either."

"You little-"

By the end of the hour, he was being driven mad. He exited the room in a huff and told Kanrik that there was no way he was ever going to teach the likes of me. I was too flippant, too frivolous, too facetious, and a few other words that starts with an 'f' that I'm not allowed to mention.

Of course, they gave me other mentors. Each one had quit within the day. There was this overly nice Cybunny, this sneaky Scorchio, and this egomaniac Eeyrie to name a few. None of them stood a chance.

Kanrik groaned as he watched the last one walk away. "Really, Hanso? Twelfth one this week!"

"At least none of them tried to murder me again." I sat on the chair and relaxed, putting my arms behind my head. "I'm way too good for them. Besides, none could match up to me- they don't enough patience, or talent, or they're just plain mean. I really don't think you can find anybody. Couldn't you just let me have free time?"

He glared at me. "No." Then a thought struck him, and a slow smile crept up to his lips.

"What?" I questioned.

"If you want a job done right, do it yourself," he told me. At first, I didn't get it. Then it hit me.

My jaw slackened. "You're going to be my mentor?" He gave a slight nod, and I grinned. "YES!" Then I realized that I might have sounded too eager. "I mean…yeah, I can live with that. I think."

He chuckled. "As much as I find you irritating, I'm used to it, and it's not likely I'll kill you- hopefully. We'll start next Monday."

Week 3

I have to admit, Kanrik was a good teacher. We began with walls, which he knows is something I've never done before. "How do you get to the other side?"

"After the Lenny crosses the road?"

He rolled his eyes. "You clamber on it."

"But how? Those bricks are perfectly straight!" I complained.

He raised his eyebrows. "Are they really? Or are some dislodged? Are some slightly pressed out?" I looked again, and I saw he was right.

Feeling pretty stupid, I asked, "Then what do you do?"

"Climb," he answered, and within moments got over the wall. "Go on; try it."

I fell a couple of times, but then somehow I managed to get hold of a few. I worked my way up, going one stone at a time. As I reached the top, though, Kanrik hissed, "Get down here!" He dragged me into the bushes. "This isn't private territory. When you sneak in, make sure no one sees you. Now let's try it again, but in reverse. And do it more quickly!"

We flipped sides again and again and again. It was getting boring, and soon I knew how to do it by instinct, choosing the loosest ledges, hoisting myself up, and tumbling below. When we got out again, I asked him, "Are we done yet?"

"Try that plaster wall," he told me. Now that was perfectly straight. "Can you think of a way to go in? Still using the wall, of course."

I examined it a bit. With any other teacher, even with the Kyrii Master, I'd have probably given up. But this was Kanrik that was watching me. The guild leader, and yeah…sort of my role-model. I suddenly got why the twins were striving to impress the Meerca Brothers. They didn't want to let them down; and neither did I with Kanrik.

"Well, it's weaker compared to the other blockades," I said finally.

"What use would that be?" That might sound like an insult, but from him it was like a genuine question.

"It's soft enough so…" I thought for moment, and then I slid my dagger in the material. It sunk deeply, but I still managed to pull it out with ease. "I can knife my way up! I think I really could, if I had two weapons of the sort." Without a word, Kanrik handed me his own. I gulped and gripped it tightly, and then slowly inserted it in the mortar. Trying to make that many marks, I stealthily made my way up, and then toppled to the cover of the shrubs. "Hey! I did it!"

"Quiet," he reminded me. "But well done. An alternative would be to get a friend to help you up…but your way was original." He shook his head. "It always is."

Week 4

They say that a thief's luck could run out any second. I guess mine did today…as well as Kanrik's, for that matter. He wanted me to go to the armory, which was actually a long way off, not to mention the top of a hill. Now, it's one thing to climb up of your own choice for the view, but to go just to get inside a musty old shop wasn't really appealing to me. I did it anyway, though a bit grumpily.

Kanrik was waiting for me outside. "That persnickety Draik is gone, for now," he told me. "That leaves us a few minutes to look at some of the weapons."

"Oh, joy," I said as we went inside. I poked a few of their 'armor.' "Now very defensive, you think? Brynn's armor is a lot stronger than this. I mean, everything's made out of cloth! I guess it could help if there's a mage casting spells, but not when someone has a sword."

"They reserve the best for guards," Kanrik replied. "Anyone can buy, or in our case steal from this shop, and they don't want thieves getting anything good."

"That makes sense. But that doesn't really stop us, does it?"

"Nope," he answered. "We have branches all across Neopia, from the depths of Moltara to the height of Terror Mount- I mean, Faerieland." His face darkened.

"You were going to say Terror Mountain," I pointed out.

He frowned. "You misheard. Now come along; there's more to it here than old robes." We wandered in deeper. He gestured to a few shields in a corner, and I checked them out.

"Well, this doesn't help much either!" I exclaimed. "Most of them are wooden."

"Not all of them," he said, addressing the ones beneath it. I peered closer, and found about fifteen metal ones.

"Woah!" I ejaculated. "These are huge. I can fit under it. In fact, you can fit under it."

"That's what we use them for," he explained. "Sneak attacks. While a guard or other enemy is looking away, you could either slowly push it forward to get to a desired object, or slide from one of the shields to another."

"Wait a minute," I asserted. "You said that 'guard or other enemy.' What other enemies do thieves have?" I paused. "Well, aside from angry pedestrians of course."

Again, his face darkened. "Themselves. Anyway, that's not the point of this lesson. You are going to move these shields and go around. I will try to find you."

"So you called me here to play hide-and-seek?" I asked indecorously.

He rolled his eyes. "If you have to use that blunt term, then yes."

"Awesome!" I cried, and then started stacking them around the store. Kanrik, after I insisted, sat by the pile of wooden shields, closing his eyes with an exasperated expression. I went around until I only had one 'metalic hiding place' left. I smiled, planning to play a little trick on Kanrik, and put it on the ledge close to the ceiling. I was about to yell I was ready and then go inside, when I heard the door open. The guild leader didn't, since he was in the other side of the room.

It was green Acara lady, dressed in a purple hood. From what I could make out of her, she had pretty and elegant features. I was about to call Kanrik, but something stopped me. He said that nobody was going to be here for a few hours. So how come she was here? Glimpsing closer, I saw that she had lock picking tools.

Momentarily, I relaxed. So this is just one of the Thieves' Guild, maybe here to give Kanrik a message about something. I decided not to tell him. It'd be a fun little prank, for a member of our small community seeing him squat down closing his eyes foolishly. Using a few of the wooden pillars, I crept closer to watch.

She stared at him, shocked. But she didn't alert him to her presence. Instead, a huge smile swept to her lips. I think it should have looked beautiful- in fact, in a way it did- but there was something twisted and insane about it; that much I could tell. Haltingly she pulled something out of her cloak…..a dagger. She raised it above her head to strike. I grasped what was happening.

"KANRIK! WATCH OUT!" I shouted. Rapidly, I grabbed a wooden shield from the heap and jumped in front of him. The lady was taken by surprise, but her blade plunged down with full force, right through the shield. Luckily I had held it in arm's length, so it didn't reach either of us.

Kanrik leapt to his feet. "Hanso, what's going-" He gaped at the person in front of him. "You."

At first the lady was enraged, a few ugly lines contorting her lovely face. Just as quickly, she calmed down. "Hello, Kanrik. My, my, what a…promising apprentice you have." I had a feeling that that wasn't what she was going to say at all.

"Stay. Away. From. Us." His anger seeped into every word.

"My dear, that's not how you should treat me," she said, her tone tilting, soothing. "I know things didn't work out between the two of us. But it still could." She smiled.

"You're a betrayer. I banished you-"

"No you didn't." She giggled merrily, and for some reason that made me want to laugh along with her. "You thought I was dead."

"I-"

"Don't deny it. You didn't even do a proper search for my body. You didn't want to know." She beamed at him. "I find that very sweet, giving me a chance to escape."

"I did not!" He roared.

She shook her head at him, like he was a child instead of a guild leader. "Now really Kanrik, you're acting like a five year old. That's not setting a very good example for this young one here. What's your name again, sweetheart?"

For once, I followed Kayley's rule. "You don't need to know."

She frowned, as if she couldn't believe that someone was resisting her charms, but then returned to being a peaceful diplomat. "You're quite right. A very smart Ixi, I think."

"What do you want?" Kanrik interrogated.

The lady held his arm, but he backed away from her touch. "Oh Kanrik, I'm not going to harm you." That was rich, coming from somebody who tried to kill him a few minutes ago. Yet he loosened up slightly. I frowned. Something was wrong. "I would never do anything like that. That Heart of the Mountain rubbish- that was all just a misunderstanding." For one scary moment, he looked as if he believed her (what did she say- something about a mountain?). "Join me again, Kanrik. You've done a marvelous job- a king of thieves, as you always dreamed to be- but you know you're tiny kingdom wouldn't be complete without a queen."

He said something really smart, like, "Um..."

Her voice! That's how she did it. It was gentle, persuasive, controlling. I've only seen somebody do it once, and that was when that guy tried to save me from that bully. But Harry withstood it. He hated me enough to not listen to him. He convinced the others when he recounted how I punched the idiot. And they followed his orders…because they knew it was real.

"Excuse me," I piped up, pretending to be submissive. "May I say something?"

She smiled at me, probably thinking I supported her. "Of course."

I scampered to Kanrik, slightly tugging at his cape. "If the lady doesn't want to harm you…then why did she try and stab you with a dagger?" I pointed to the now-useless shield on the floor.

He regained his wits. "Traitor!" He screamed at her. "Get away from my sight."

Her eyes widened in disbelief, as if she didn't understand how we could not listen to her. "Kanrik, I-"

"Lies!" He bellowed.

Her eyes narrowed, and her face turned deadly and dangerous. "As you wish, my former lord," she curtsied mockingly. "As you wish. But mark my words, I will be back. And remember, my sweet, that Galem thought you were loyal. It will not be long before I use your little student to destroy you as well." With that, she raced away.

Kanrik was breathing hard, as if he ran a marathon instead of exchanging a few words with an Acara. "Hanso, do not tell anyone about this."

"But why- okay," I said when I saw his face. "Who was she, anyway?"

He looked at the door for a long time. Then, in barely a whisper, he said it: "Masila."

And so it begins… ;)

Sorry it took so long, but I'm taking a few courses over the summer and I'm a bit short on time.