This is just a continuation of what I posted last week.

Two hours later, the sun was rising and I was heading home. The only people I'd seen were some dirt poor street urchins fighting over some crumbling scraps of bread and an old man hobbling by with a crudely carved cane. I hopped from roof to roof, until I came to a gap that was just too long for me to leap across. There, I stopped and began to count the sections of the city wall. There, eighth from the wide wooden gates. I got down from the roof, and began to jog in the direction of the tall stone wall. I got to the eighth section and started to climb up the uneven stony wall. The voices of the guards posted there flowed over the side. I flipped over the wall into their look out spot. The all jumped up, toppling their table. They drew their knives, and for a moment, I feared that I had chosen the wrong lookout spot.

"Cal? Is that you? You have to be more careful. We almost gutted you,” one of the guards said. He stuck out his hand, and yanked me to my feet.

The other guards still seemed wary.

"It's just Cal.” He led me over to a light. It burned my maladjusted eyes.

"Hey Richard,” I said, blinking rapidly.

"So, you get a lot today?" Richard asked.

I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, glancing at the other guards. Richard followed my eyes.

"Oh, these boys? They're all from the Rim too. They ain't gonna turn you in any time soon,” he said, gesturing to them.

Now the guards were setting their table back up.

"You want to play some cards? We just started a new game,” Richard asked, flashing the stack of red backed cards he held.

"Uh...No. I got some stuff I have to drop off in the hole before I head back to the shack.”

Richard nodded slowly.

"Well. See you soon then,” he said.

I pushed my damp hair out of my eyes and left the outpost. I swung my legs over the wall, and started climbing down the other side of the wall. A tightly packed forest stood outside the city walls.

I could hear Richard talking to the other men.

"He never stops to play cards anymore. I'm surprised he's still thieving. I mean, after Lance... it was hard for him. He wouldn’t even talk to me for a while. Lance was all the family that kid had, after his mom died and his dad ran off… "

After squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I hopped off the wall. I landed in a bush. I disentangled myself from the prickling branches and rolled out of it. I stood for a moment, rubbing the pommel of my dagger. Then I set off towards the east. The route  involved a deer trail, crossing a creek and pushing through some thorn bushes. Finally I came to a large uneven rock. Bracing myself, I shoved against it until it shifted enough to reveal a hole underneath. I wrapped everything I’d gotten that night in a burlap sack I pulled from the hole, and tossed it all in. After shifting the rock back, I made my way back to the wall and crossed without incident.

My eyes were heavy by the time I’d woven my way to the street the shack I lived in was on. I slipped down the thin alleyway until I reached a wooden shack nestled between two crumbling stone structures. I pulled aside the set of crudely nailed planks that’d been fashioned into a door and slipped into the dark building. I kicked a lumpy body and Auggie growled at my before rolling over. I toed my way between Auggie and Tony until I came to an empty pile of blankets. I slipped into it, trying to shift my way away from the rock that stubbornly stayed under my back. Regardless, it was only a few minutes before I slipped seamlessly into sleep.

"What'd you get last night, Cal?" Tony asked, once the sun had risen and the boys crammed into the shack began to awake.

I paused for a moment. Tony was cold. He'd cut his last partners throat when a big job went wrong and his partner got nabbed by the guards and Tony thought he might talk. I wasn't about to tell him I'd gotten a big payday, or I might not keep it or my life long enough to spend it.

"Nothing much really. Some jewelry. Nothing big. Gonna stop by Porter's and unload some of it," I said, stretching the best that I could in the cramped shack.

"Not what I heard. I heard you hit it big last night with some noble girls," Tony said, "Got some jewelry. You know how this works, don't you? You hit it big, you share."

"But I didn't, so I won't," I said.

"I heard the same as Tony," Auggie said, looking over with a chill stare.

"Don't think you can cut us out," Pete said, positioning himself in front of the door. I looked nervously between the three boys. Auggie seemed uncertain. But Tony was sure, and Pete was too stupid to do anything but follow Tony. I knew that much. He was sure, and he was going to take it from me, or just beat me until he'd gotten what he thought he was owed. It didn't matter that we all held back our spoils half of the time. We were a pack of thieves in the loosest sense of it. We lived together, and did big jobs together. When we split, it was on those jobs. No one split on muggings. But no one else ever mugged any nobles. 

So, in a split second, I decided I had to get out. I shoved Tony back, so that he rammed into one of the walls, making the entire rickety shack shake. I shouldered past Pete and ran out into the street. I looked to the right, where a group was forming around a man performing a raunchy comedy show atop a stack of boxes. I sprinted in that direction, losing myself in the crowd before Pete and Tony could even stumble out of our shack.

Well. I was done there. Tony, Pete and Auggie were the second group I'd run with after Lance and Tom. But Lance and Tom were family, or like family at least. All the other thieves I'd worked with wouldn't hesitate for a second if they thought killing me would make them a profit. 

I sighed as I shouldered my way through the crowd. I'd have to sell all of the things I'd stolen to Porter today. I wasn't sure if Tony or Pete or Auggie knew where my stash was. And I couldn't risk them taking anything before I could move it. So I'd have to sell it off to Porter. But Porter wouldn't pay me half as much as the stuff was worth. It was hot, and newly so. And the more he figured I wanted it off my hands, the less he'd pay for it. But I'd still be able to make a tidy sum. 

I stepped out of the crowd and onto the main road down the city. It led all the way up to the castle on the hill, and all the way down past the Rim to the city gates. Market stalls lined the road, and there was always a loud bustle on it, and a few carts and horses to dodge. 

And maybe I could use that to pay for somewhere new to live. There were other thieves shacks around the Rim, but I didn't want to get hasty going in with a new group. I made up my mind then. I'd see if Tom could lodge me in his room above the stable where he worked. If not, I'd just have to spend some of the money I'd get for the jewelry to pay for a bed for a night or two. If I picked one of the seedier inns in the Rim it shouldn't cost too much, I thought as I walked through the huge gates of the city and turned east. But first I had to sell off the jewelry to Porter.

As I walked back towards the city gate after gathering my loot from the hole, I felt something jolting against my leg, deep in my pocket. I stuck my hand in slowly, hoping it was not what I knew it to be. I pulled it out, and the chain clattered against itself. Rubies. I didn't want it anywhere near me. I wanted to fling it out into the woods where I'd never have to see it again. The bracelet sifted through my hands slowly. But I caught it. I did need the money. But, rubies? Why did the bracelet have to be made of rubies? I shivered and rubbed the single ruby set into the pommel of the dagger at my hip. It had been worn down and dirtied by my hands for two years now. It was barely recognizable.

I'll probably keep posting this piece as I work on it, so there will probably be more next week. But that's all for today.