They wiped their drooling mouths and put on normal expressions. "So the usual?" Trilith inquired.
Analyzing the environment from above, Khay paused for a second. "Mmmm," he took a long comfortable sniff. "The scent is even stronger than last time," he expressed. "And I bet it tastes better too… seriously, how do all these people not get distracted by it?" Trilith added. They jumped down and found themselves hip hopping their way to Old man Ying's vendor space. The old man had grey hair, and a walking stick that supported his slouched demeanor from his old age.
"Get your meat, freshly roasted, freshly fried, horse meat, goat meat, sausage meat, just ask and you might find your kind of meat here." Old man Ying advertised with much vigor.
"Khay, my mouth is watering again, can we grab some now?"
"Wait!!" Khay interrupted Trilith's little hyper active mood. "Remember how we almost got caught last time? He reminded. "Well, I wouldn't want that to happen again, look way ahead, over there." He pointed right ahead of them and a little to the left. And Trilith's eyes followed his hand he saw three city guards in their crimson red armor chatting at the far end of the market.
"They must have caught wind of our presence when that woman yelled at us! Tsk"
"Whoa!!! I would have missed that." Trilith exclaimed.
"It's no big deal, I wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't remembered what happened last time." Khay reminisced about their last 'adventure'.
"Anyway! You ready Trilith?" he said.
"You bet" Trilith responded.
"How about we exchange rolls this time? I'll be the bait, and you the hook."
"Roger!"
"And let's not get caught partner!" He cautioned as they bumped their fists and set off to execute their well-planned out mischievous scheme.
"Old man Yiiiiiing!!" Khay called out, sailing through the air to the ground to the left of old man Ying's vendor space.
Old man Ying's vendor space was one that was like a square, but it had three sides, the front of the stall; where people came to window shop the delicacy on display or buy them and the sides; that allowed old man Ying movement in and out. The rear just served as the inside of the shop where he kept most of his stuff. q
"My mom says I should ask if you still have that meat she likes." Khay inquired innocently. "Who could that be?" Old man Ying responded, straining his eyes to see who it was when he got to the front. "Well, if it isn't Young Master Khay." He excitedly let out. "I haven't seen you since your last theft. What have you been up to these days?"
"Same old, same old, we decided we'd give you a break for a while. So how's business?" he made convo, doing his very best to ignore Trilith's sneaky movement at the right side of the rear of the vendor space, which now had old man Ying's back facing it. "I won't be selling anything if you keep stealing from me." Old man Ying grunted.
"That's why we're --."
"Speaking of…" the old man quickly interrupted Khay, "Where's the other one? It's rare to see the two you without the other, unlike Lilith. She's a good girl. You boys could learn a thing or two from her."
Trilith quietly made his way behind him tiptoeing and into the confines taking out a small pouch about 15cms long and wide. Khay chuckled nervously from the old man's remark, he could see Trilith reach for a small pouch and stuff it with meat.
"You hear me, youngling?"
"I do, I do. Old man." Khay chuckled. But Old man Ying had fallen for this trick far too many times to be fooled this time, he couldn't help but feel something was off and instinctively, he turned around and saw Trilith with the pouch, the boy smiled and chuckled and waved him cheerfully. "You!" the old man groaned, walking towards the boy. Old man Ying, who was old and now grumpy and couldn't even walk properly without the aid of a walking stick, stretched out his hand, trying his best to grab Trilith but the boy escaped his grasp making his way right past him and vaulting over the vendor table and out of the old man's reach.
The old man turned to see; and the boys had already taken off, it all happened too fast for Old man Ying to keep up and when he came to, he had lost the boys. He immediately sought help looking around; straight ahead, he could only see the boys make their way past the closed shops and ahead and even go further from him, then to his left; closed shops and then to his; the same situation. He immediately looked to the left of his behind and finally spotted three guards.
"Guards, Guards!!" He shouted. "The Mischievous Duo is at it again. They're gone ahead, go get them."
He pointed as two guards swished passed him. One of the three guards stopped to ask for the specifics as the other two pursued the boys.
Khay and Trilith had made away with some meat as planned and as they were jubilating on one of the many rooftops, they heard two distant voices shout. "There they are, over there." The two guards on pursuit had split up into two, looking for the boys; to be more efficient in their pursuit.
The last time they chased these two, they only missed them because they didn't divide and conquer; but now they had learnt their lessons very well.
The one that took the roofs found the boys and signaled the one on the ground. After signaling and making his presence known, he was immediately joined by his counterpart. The two low ranking city soldiers almost had them in their grasp, though they were separated by a few buildings.
"Ahhh…. Khay what are we going to do now, we're going to get caught you know, get caught." Trilith cried out. "Will you keep it down; I'm trying to think of a way out of this here!" Khay barked at him.
"Oh my…" Trilith exclaimed. 'It's rare to see you this serious, thinking your way out of things."
Trilith looked behind him only to see that the two guards were only 3 buildings away from them. "Khay, whatever plan you're cooking up, you better do it fast. They're almost here." Trilith said panicking.
"I got it." Khay exclaimed, snapping his fingers then said: "Time to scram Tril!"
The boys started to run on the rooftops and thankfully due to their daily shenanigans; they were familiar with the roofs and its surroundings. "Tril!" Trilith looked over to Khay. "Split up. Loose them in the alleys, find a place to hide and let's meet up at the secret tunnel."
"They split up." The guards in unison as. "After them" they ordered to each other as they pursued them individually. Trilith looked behind and to his surprise the pursuing guard was catching up to him. He looked ahead and spotted a drying line with clothes hanged on them, a sudden grin grew on his face. He slowed his pace and let the guard catch up to him, just enough distance for his concocted master plan to be effective. And when the time was right and he had reached the point to initiate his plan, he immediately grabbed the drying line and pulled it with him as he ran past it. The drying line stretched after him with great length flung back into position with much force; the clothes and white sheets flew into the air and the line itself went flying at the soldier, he saw it come at him as clear as day, but he couldn't maneuver himself midair and the line slammed into his chest pushing him back and causing him to fall on his rear.
He recovered quickly and spotted Trilith going further ahead, he groaned and gave chase, lounged into the skies once again, aiming for the next roof, a sudden shadow fell over him and his eyes widened in shock. He didn't account for the sheets that had been displaced in the air and just when he realized, they came into view and descended on him covering him completely, with his vision blocked mid-air; he went crashing into the walls of the immediate building and into one of the many alley ways. With his trap a success, Trilith took the chance to make it to the rendezvous point. The guard got up after a while to resume his chase, scouting from the roof only to realize he'd lost track of the boy, in frustration, he cursed and trashed his helmet on the floor.
A few moments later, Trilith arrived at their appointed place; a blind alley.
"Took you long enough." Khay stood leaning against the wall and arms folded. Trilith leisurely approached.
"He was being… persistent." Trilith replied hesitantly.
"That's why I took mine head on, man–to–man." Khay scoffed proudly.
"Ha! Wish I did the same." Trilith shrugged. "I haven't had any action in a long while, damn it." He said as he clenched his fist.
"Well, we made it here in one piece; we'd better get going before lessons start". Khay went down on one knee and knelt near a metal cylindrical lid on the ground; a sewer hole. He dug his hand in and lifted it open. The lid creaked and screeched across the ground. It was now open. "Come on, in you go. The academy awaits." He teased, encouraging Trilith.
"Tsk." Trilith scoffed in response as he descended down the hole.
He immediately followed after him and pulled the lid over him as he went underground. The sound of the lid sliding back on as they exited the alley.