The Dragon Games

The Man in Black

It started small, with pickpocketing busy streets. Regan would pretend to read a book while Angelo picked out an unsuspecting target. Then Regan would levitate whatever was sticking out of their pockets, and Angelo would snatch it out of the air and run. But the problem was, they stole more lint than anything of value, and Angelo would raise suspicions if he kept pacing back and forth the same street. 

So pickpocketing turned into riskier but more lucrative prospects, like burglary. They visited small shops at the dead of night, first taking only enough to stay fed, then emptying out whatever they could find. Quickly, Regan discovered that with a little Divine, creativity, and willingness to get your hands dirty, food came easy. Laughably easy, after all the years she spent pining for it. And she did not just have enough to eat. For the first time in her life, she could afford to visit the shopping district.

Regan, Iris, and Angelo caught a boat downstream, then spent an afternoon wandering around. The long cobblestone streets were packed with an assortment of shops: bakeries, tailors, potters. While Angelo bought himself a shiny new dagger, Regan bought her and Iris matching bonnets. Iris beamed, providing a never ending flow of chatter as she and Regan walked arm and arm. Regan was only half listening. Her eyes wandered the busy streets, soaking in the sights. A sharp squeal caught her attention.

Across the street, a beggar stepped in front of a rich mother and daughter, blocking their path. The daughter, only about thirteen or so, looked terrified. Her eyes darted from the blindfold wrapped around the beggar's eyes to the cloth covering his arms, which ended in stumps just above his wrists. The beggar was a victim of The Bind, a procedure knights performed on people that used the Divine to break the law. Most Bind victims end up in the back alleyways of the burrows, begging for scraps and sleeping on the streets. It was only a matter of time before a knight dumped the beggar there, too.

"Elizabeth," Angelo said. "Why don't you run along and buy yourself something pretty?"

Iris scowled. "My name is Iris. Elizabeth's not even close." But the argument fell from her tongue when Angelo set a few coppers in her hand. Iris squealed and took off to a dress shop.

"So," Angelo said, throwing an arm around Regan's shoulders. "I have a new job for us, the most lucrative one yet. It's fairly risky, but if we pull it off, we won't have to work again for another year."

Regan tore her eyes away from the victim of The Bind. Angelo had said the same thing about the last ten jobs. At the rate he was going, their grandchildren's grandchildren wouldn't have to work. "Enough."

"Are you scared? Even if we get caught, which we won't, I'll take the fall. I swear on my life, on the gods above."

"Enough."

"But–"

Regan held up a hand, silencing him. "Just tell me the time and place, and I'll be there." 

– – –

Pauly's inn reeked of smoke and sin. It was hot and overcrowded, the ceiling caved in, and the furnitured looked like it suffered through a war, but you would be hard pressed to find a more popular building in all the burrow. Flushed face men slurred as they swung their cups in the air and shouted, "Wench, pour me another!" A poet stood by the fireplace, singing filthy limericks to anyone who would listen. Young couples rolled against the walls, and it was not uncommon to see a buttox or two before the night's end. But the real action happened at the tables.

Each table had a different gambling game going on. The biggest crowd surrounded a spinning wheel. Each section of the wheel was painted black or white, except the smallest section, which was bright gold. The crowd sang a merry jag while the wheel spun, holding their breath when the wheel approached the gold section, then groaning when it inevitably spun by.