It took Kael a frown to shift his views on Els' future. It wasn't about needing her only, but a flaw at the base of his worry, a desire to keep her out of this mess that didn't account for the cold, hard reality of her exposure—and his own mistake when he wore her shoes.
Refusing to let her join me won't protect her when she's already neck-deep in this. What she needs—what we all do—is time to understand truths before gangs catch wind.
Shallow light from street lampposts filtered onto Kael's extended palm. "We're beginning to touch things that should be left unlearned. Thugs will come after me if they hear I'm alive. It'll be hard; we'll have to hide, likely without roofs over our heads for a while. But if you still want to come, to understand what you became with me, then prepare to leave."
"I thought you'd refuse..." Els slowly reached for his hand. She grabbed it, a smile blossoming across her face. "No take-backs."
Before he could answer, she pulled the cheap tallow box from beneath the table into her basket. Half-consumed coal from the hearth followed, then the junk tins she used to shape her candles. The blankets didn't fit in, so she shoved a pair in Tonio's hand and another in Kael's.
"Ready!"
That was all she owned. More than Kael. Still so little that he grumbled. "We'll be like kings among beggars."
"We're going to the beggars' streets?" Els' hands froze, and for a moment she gazed at him as if he were a stranger, a man smitten by the gods, or both. "I like the sewers better..."
"Are you sure?" Kael raised a brow.
"The facility and the Sump Dogs... I take it back."
"Right? It was my second choice if the stories about the sewer community were just tales." Kael's eyes sharpened like a blade as he thrust the door open. Cold wind rustled his dark hair, his voice echoing in the silent morning. "If we can't hide in a haven, we'll do it in the heart of chaos."
The almost empty supply bag slung over his shoulder, the blanket tucked against his chest, he led the way. Tonio shoved his items back in his pockets and scowled when Kael put the round glasses on his nose by the door.
Els, however, lingered. She traced the shack's rotten walls, the stone slab hanging over two crooked pipes, and her father's closed room with her eyes.
Understanding her, Kael waited at the corner of the street. It was the home of her happiest and saddest memories; the home she had to leave to escape grief's squeezing claws. She joined him after several minutes.
"Let's go." She walked beside him, and Kael paused to note her clothes. Gone was her patched green dress, replaced by her father's darkened shirt and coarse pants.
He didn't comment. He simply nodded. A girl in the beggar streets would draw them like mosquitoes to a flame.
They walked on wet ground, their shadows stretched tall by the lampposts. In the distant central district, the giant cogs loomed over the clock tower. 7.32 A.M. Els glared at the time as if to carve it in mind.
Kael noted it, then returned to inspect the street. Few were out this early, and those who were hoisted their pickaxe over their shoulder, pressing forward without giving them more than a glance that already made them grumble about the smell.
Somehow, Tonio looked like a very hairy man who reeked worse than sewer water when he wore the glasses. Everyone they met turned away with the same scrunch of their noses until houses of plated stones faded into dilapidated habitations.
If Ashcoil Row was poor enough for rust, mold, and dust to paint everything in grey, the beggar streets were worse. A hell that strangled the very idea of hope in the cradle of famine, of violence, of lawlessness. His mom's words when he asked why she had never begged here.
And even they described something better than the dozen men and women flanking the walls. Kael was skinny, had been for as far as he could remember. But they were bones wrapped in pale skin, ribs jutting sharp beneath hollow stomachs.
They cradled babies he would have taken as spawns of some perverted god in their own ripped shirts, already awake.
Already searching for someone to beg from.
Els gripped his arm, trembling as she pointed at a run-down wall. Inside, beggars pummeled each other over a silent slice of bread enthroned as the ultimate treasure for the winner.
One of them pulled a metallic stake from his loose pants and planted it in another's neck. Blood sprayed. Before the body hit the ground, he jabbed the stake at the others. "Mine, you fuckers!"
Are they still human?
Tonio's palm on his shoulder distracted him from the horror of the scene. He turned toward the extended finger of the grinning rat-man.
In an alley, a dog barked back at them. Saliva, thick like sludge, flew everywhere.
"Meat!" At Tonio's sparkling eyes, the dog shivered, turned back, and scrambled with a whimper. "Nooooo!"
Kael gripped his arm before he chased after the dog. "Later. First, we claim a spot."
Sighing, he led Els and a sulking Tonio deeper. He endured the glares of the weak, the ill, and the broken. Whenever someone grabbed at his legs in plea, he kicked them back. Sometimes they cried until Tonio's growls silenced them; most of the time, something sharp glinted in the shadow of their palms.
"I-It's terrible." Els let out a shocked breath.
"And they're the least dangerous." Kael brought her closer. "Stray dogs are worse. And above them..."
His eyes darted to a grill. A man draped in a woollen coat fanned flames that perfumed the street with meat. Beggars drooled in a half circle, leaving a clean space.
"Who is he?" Els whispered.
"Someone who thrives. Criminals from Veston, or bastards who think they're stronger than gangs." Kael turned her away. "We avoid them."
Kael kept them moving, past bakeries that smelled of splintered wood instead of flour, into the next street.
The same people flanked the walls, yet the sight was different. Before Kael could understand it fully, a woman's eyes glinted. She rushed in front of him, speaking without giving him time to kick her back.
"Hey, sweethearts." She lifted her dark dress just enough to let her pale leg out. "Follow me if you want to escape the cold. I can warm your hearts. Have been the best at it for years."
"Not interested." Kael snarled at her wink, his gaze not on her, but on the man glaring at him from across the street. He tapped a pipe in his hand, ready to remind fools about rules.
"Come on! I promise you fun you can't imagine." She pushed out her breasts between her arms. "Two copper crowns for an hour. A fair price just for you."
"I said I'm not—"
"Tonio go!"
His eyes widened when Tonio reached for the woman. Instantly, he slapped Tonio's hand down and dragged him away.
The woman pursed her lips. "Virgin boy. Hope you'll die soon."
Kael didn't answer and pressed forward, while Tonio raised his fists. "No meat. No girl. Fight Tonio, traitor."
For a moment, Kael put his head between his hands. More women approached. He didn't even gaze at them.
Why was he wasting time with Tonio? Riccardo was gone. Only a hollow promise still bound him to the troublesome rat-man...
He closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he pulled Tonio by his makeshift hood. "I'm a traitor if I don't let you kill us? Remember, Tonio, remember your brothers. Did they let you do whatever you wanted?"
Tonio tilted his head. Eventually, he lowered his fists. "Giovanni scream bad. Riccardo tie Tonio. No facility. No attack bad dogs."
Kael released him. "We're friends. You hear me? Friends. I promised your brothers, so listen."
"... Meat tomorrow if listen?"
"You'll have your damned meat today." Kael waved his hand as much to vent as to disperse the women surrounding him. "Be patient."
Els offered a head pat to Tonio as he moved past a brothel, ignoring the two guys guarding a shop with blades at their belts. Finally, he entered the last one.
An ancient tannery with a slanted tile roof took up most of the space. A wall rose by the end of the street, with pipes broad like tunnels jutting out beside a flickering lamppost.
Fewer beggars claimed homes, but they seemed older and clustered in packs. What he wanted. Kael ignored the run-down houses for the junk walls set up between the pipes. No roof or door, just recycled cloth strewn at the entrance.
He placed the canteens of fresh water in Els' basket, fished the copper crown, and knocked on the wall.
"Get lost! I don't have shit to share."
A voice sliced through his knocks, but he didn't stop.
"Fuck off, mate. Watcha want before the rats even rose?" Footsteps echoed, then a man flung the cloth. A maze of wrinkles traced his cheeks as he lifted a knife.
Behind him, more men stirred on the ground. "Slit their throats, Jake."
"Yeah, thought so."
As Jake moved forward, Kael fished a loaf of moldy bread from his bag, and the man paused. "Two more and a copper crown for your spot."
"Hah! Keep your trash to yourself, brat." Jake eyed the bread as if he recognised something.
"Bread from outside the beggar streets, with real flour." Kael put it back inside the bag.
Jake followed the loaf until it disappeared. Then, he waved his knife closer. "Three loaves for five men? Want us to suck your baby cock as well? Gime the bag, and run."
"Rent us the place for a month, or we can do this the hard way." Kael spat on the ground, gesturing for Tonio to move forward.
"Rent!" Tonio straightened his back, towering a head taller over Jake.
The man eyed the lean but defined muscles through Tonio's ragged shirt with a dry gulp. "T-Try us. Wake up, bastards! Trouble!"
Four men rose from the ground to join Jake.
Before they could finish drawing their knives, Kael pulled the bottle of cheap liquor from Tonio's pocket.
"Mine!"
Ignoring Tonio's protest, he waved it for three heartbeats, then let it slide inside his burlap bag. "Want a deck of cards and a couple of ashtrays? I told you, you can avoid the hard way."
He pulled them from Tonio's pockets along with forks and spoons.
With each item swelling the bag, Jake swallowed, but his eyes locked on the bulge of the bottle. His friends tapped on his shoulder, their eyes darting between Kael and Tonio, as if weighing risks.
Whispers, silence, then Jake reached for the bag.
"Two weeks, then you fuck off."
"Three."
"Deal." Jake snatched the bag, and Kael allowed him to. "Take our things, mates. We're chumming with Jones' group."
Jake's friend packed and chuckled as they left. "Good booze for three weeks? What a moron."
Els frowned at Kael's grin. "Why did you agree? We could have gotten more."
"More? From them? You're good at haggling, but you don't understand them. They'll return in a few days." Kael pushed Tonio inside.
It was empty, the cloth over their heads taken along with the rest. Not that it mattered. The place was as broad as Els' living room, with a small pit filled with cold ashes.
"What do we do?" She followed, nibbling on her lip.
"Remember the hard way? We'll see them coming, so they'll have no chance." Shrugging, Kael dropped the blankets on the ground. "Relax. We got a nice place."
"If you say so. They should have paid us to live in this... place."
Tonio slammed his blankets on the ground. "Mine! Steal, bad!"
"You stole them in the first place." Kael rolled his eyes.
"... Right." Tonio's red eyes widened as if he had just realised what he had done. Then, he simply ran across the place like a child. "New home!"
While they settled, Marek paced in front of the counter of the Black Cask bar. He repeated in his mind what he'd tell Garrick, but the cold shiver never left his bones.