by jadewik » February 4th, 2008, 3:46 pm
A tailor carrying heavy bolts of silk in his arms stumbles up to open the door to his shop. As he enters, he bumps the scissors jutting out from his pocket and his pants rip. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!", he exclaims as he rushes into the shop to quickly tailor his pants.
A single mark falls from the tailor's pocket to the cobbles. It bounces then settles into a roll, traveling some distance from the tailor's shop before settling into a spin and coming to rest in the center of the road. Passersby don't seem to notice the mark at first, but the sun peeks out from behind the clouds and bathes the mark in sparkling sunlight.
******
As the first rays of sun shone on the mark and gave its position away, two street urchins raced towards the mark nearly colliding as they met at the coin.
"I saw it first, it's mine!", cried the smaller boy.
"I'm bigger than you. It's MINE!" The larger boy pounded a fist into his other hand. It looked as if this scenario had happened before as it soon escalated from bickering back and forth into shoving one another.
Ebon-Ashe happened to walk down this very street on a top secret errand for her underground organization as the boys first raced for the coin. Taking some interest in the situation she stopped and leaned against a wall watching as the boys' fight played out to completion before intervening.
Of course, the eldest and bigger of the two won the mark. Broadcasting his victory he gave the losing boy one last jab on his shoulder before turning and, without looking, ran smack-dab into Ebon-Ashe. Showing no respect, the elder boy retorted, "Get outa my way, lady." The younger boy gasped in shock as his eyes grew to the size of small rolls and his jaw touched the cobbles below.
Ebon-Ashe raised her eyebrows in a questioning look at the elder boy before she snarled and roughly picked him up, kicking and screaming, and pinned him hard against wall. The boy struggled viciously and in vain as the seasoned rogue dodged each blow while keeping a firm grip on the child. "Don't you EVER talk to me that way again," she snarled.
The younger boy finally gathered his wits and started to run off, but stopped in his tracks as Ebon shouted out,"I wouldn't run if I were you." He contemplated this for a moment torn between apparent punishment and flight, but decided eventually to stay and suffer the consequences.
Still holding the elder boy up to the wall she asked them both for their names. The younger boy said he was called Stanley. The eldest answered with "Chris," before interjecting,"and it was my mark fair and square!"
"I didn't ask you if it was fair or not you little snot. I asked for your name. Big, dumb, and glum, I suppose."
The boy squirmed and struggled to hold his tongue.
"Have you any idea, Chris, with whom you're speaking?"
He shook his head.
"I thought not. Though I'll be kind today and spare you from knowing my name. I do work for the thieves in this town and it disappoints me to see gutter trash like yourself causing discord and strife in the ranks of the Cartes underworld."
"We're not part of the underworld, though."
"Ah, but you are, Chris. Do you see that fellow over there?" Ebon gestured towards Stanley who gulped as his name was mentioned. Chris nodded. "That fellow is your brother."
"No he ain't."
"Not by birth, of course... but you ARE both brothers of the streets and you'd do well to remember that. Together, you're more powerful than alone and if enough of you got together and looked out for each other, I bet you'd make enough money for lodging and a hot meal every night."
Chris pondered this for a bit and Ebon-Ashe set him down on his feet as she called Stanley closer. Stanley shuffled his feet 'till he was within an arm's reach of Ebon and Chris.
"Now, if you were smart, I'd be apologizing right about now, Chris."
The boy glumly opened the hand that clenched the mark and extended it towards Stanley. "Here you go."
"... and?", interjected Ebon-Ashe.
"And I'm sorry for beating you up, Stanley."
"Very good." Ebon-Ashe mockingly applauded at the rehearsed sounding apology. As she clapped, the boys tensed waiting for what she'd do next. Ebon was already scheming. Two hungry boys would do anything for a warm meal, a clean bed, and money in their pockets and she had just the underhanded, sneaky task for them both.
Giving a snakelike grin she leaned in towards the boys. Wrapping her arms around them both she spoke, "Now how would you boys like to earn some REAL money?"