I quickly learned what it meant to live on the road: long stretches of travel interrupted by days or sometimes even weeks in a village or small town. The old man made it his business never to stay in one place too long – partly because he had a knack for starting trouble wherever he went.
We avoided the southern capital and traveled the western roads of the kingdom, one after another.
As unbelievable as it still seems to me, the old man was in fact a verified member of the Trader's Guild. He even conducted honest business – although I must say, he was a terrible merchant. Which isn't a surprise, knowing now who he truly was.
Still, he traded goods for gold and made it his daily bread. But, of course, he had five not-so-honest little boys with him. While he sold his goods and tried to charm every women he ever met, we prowled the taverns and marketplaces.
With the money we earned, we bought clothes, food, toys, additional cards for our Draw Thirteen deck – especially when Quiet crumpled another one in anger – and everything else we needed to survive and enjoy life.
On a sidenote, we never blamed Quiet for his… temperamental behavior. He couldn't speak, after all, so he found other ways to express his feelings. Sometimes I wished I could be as feeling as that boy.
Now, considering we were thieves that stole as much as we did, that might sound bad for the normal person – after all, we could have survived on a third of what we took. But we never stole indiscriminately. We preferred hypocrites, swindlers, and drunken assholes – especially the ones that treated their children the way we were treated.
Thinking about it now, though, I wonder why the boys stole from me when we first met. Maybe they assumed I had a better life than they did and felt jealous.
Regardless, I was one of them now. It didn't take long to realize that Ninefingers and I were the most skilled at slipping things from belts and pockets into our own. Crosseyes and Quiet almost always acted as distractions. Spending time with them, I also learned that Crosseyes could only speak confidently when he was playing a role. Otherwise, when it was just us, he remained reserved and shy.
Sebastian was both the head of the snake and the scapegoat whenever things went wrong. Though we never forced him, he was always the one to take the blame. If we got caught, we could count on a thorough beating – unless Sebastian came running, begging people to spare us and punish him instead.
Sometimes he succeeded, even when I protested that I was the guilty one. Sometimes he didn't. Either way, it was easier to endure punishment together. That was also a part of our lifestyle.
And we didn't have much to fear. Every bruise, every welt, and every broken bone was as good as new by the end of the day, thanks to the old man's all-healing salve. He never explained exactly what was in it or where it came from and would never let us apply it ourselves. A fact, I questioned but never acted upon.
Those adventures, however, were the smaller part of my time with the Innocent Thieves. Most of it was spent on long roads through rolling hills, past golden meadows, eerie forests, and rivers weaving like nets across the west. Known as the kingdom's breadbasket, the region was famous for its idyllic beauty. Whether under the sun, rain, or mist, we traveled endlessly, seemingly without any real destination.
But back then, I didn't care. I had good company, after all. During those long journeys, I talked and played with my friends. Two topics always came up – important ones for boys like us: the legends of the Thirteen and…
"Can a girl join the Innocent Thieves?" I asked one day while repairing the old man's balance scale in the back of the wagon.
The other boys, busy with similar tasks, looked over at me.
"Hopefully not... Girls are scary," stammered Crosseyes.
"Girls are too afraid to do what we do," added Ninefingers. By now, after so much time together, we got along decently. Not as well as I did with the others, but at least we were comrades, even if not yet friends.
"Exactly. I don't know a single girl who's ever stolen anything…"
I frowned, my hands never pausing in their work. After a moment's thought, I asked, "Do you even know any girls?"
"Of course!"
"Did you speak to them?"
Crosseyes and Ninefingers both quickly turned back to their tasks, pretending they hadn't heard me. I would have laughed if I weren't just as clueless as they were.
Instead, it was Sebastian who answered. "I don't think there's a rule against a girl joining us."
"What?" Ninefingers said, baffled. "But big brother, look at the old man! Girls only bring trouble."
Sebastian tilted his head. "I think that's more about him than them."
Agreed.
Everybody seemed to agree as well. We turned back to our tasks. Then, curiosity got the better of me. "Sebastian, have you ever met a girl you could have taken in?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"We help kids who have it rough at home, don't we?" That had always been my assumption.
But Sebastian shook his head. "If we took in every kid with a hard life at home, there'd be no room left on the wagon. Besides, most kids don't even want to leave."
"If I hadn't met you," Ninefingers said without looking up from his task, "the dogs would have gotten me every time until there was nothing left. Who wants to stay in a place like that?"
I could only nod. Before, I didn't know better. But now, after months with my new family, I understood how things could have been – and how they had been.
"True," Sebastian said. "But not everyone feels the same. Many of us are just too scared, or they think they deserve what's happening to them. You think long and hard before running off with strangers."
He stretched, leaning back against one of the crates. "But that's how it is. If we ever meet a girl who needs our help and wants it, then you can be her savior, Corin."
"What? Me? Why would I want that?"
"Isn't that why you asked?"
"No, just out of curiosity."
"Oh, good. Then I'll be the savior."
"Hey!"
Sebastian and I laughed. I laughed a lot in these twelve months. A sharp clap interrupted our playful banter. Looking up, I saw Quiet standing on a crate, pointing into the distance. I set the balance scale aside and stood as well, quickly finding my footing on the rattling wagon.
Far ahead, the horizon was broken by a sprawling city, its white walls shimmering faintly in the afternoon sun. A cluster of rooftops rose in the middle, painted in bright greens and blues, while two spires stretched skyward, catching the light like beacons. Surrounding the city were rolling fields of wildflowers and neatly tended farmland, a perfect harmony between nature and human craft.
"That's the Green Rose," the old man suddenly said, turning his head slightly as he kept hold of the reins. "Our next stop."
"You said we don't stop in big cities," I pointed out. The Green Rose was definitely the largest city I had ever seen.
The old man nodded. "Did I say that? Perhaps. But the Green Rose is special. I heard that the new Love has been found there."
"What? Really?" Ninefingers jumped up, his voice filled with disbelief.
Even I couldn't hide my interest. "Will we meet them?" I asked.
The old man chuckled. "Unlikely. But plenty of others will want to, including people from other parts of the kingdom. Business will be booming."
Then he looked back at us with a sly grin. "Mine, just as much as yours."
The other boys cheered excitedly. I smiled too, but my thoughts lingered on the other part of the news. So, the time had come for the six who died on the Day of Cataclysm to rise again.
Love, the Dice, the Blood, the Scales, the Sword, and the Word.
I had once hoped I might become one of the next Thirteen – but if that were the case, I would have been chosen on the day they died. Besides, becoming one of the Thirteen would likely mean leaving my friends behind. The new Thirteen and their Sprouts were always sent to the royal academy in the capital.
So, I was both relieved and a little disappointed not to have received a Sealcycle, Sprout or Thirteen.
Later, I would come to understand what it truly meant to be one of the Thirteen – and the terror that came with it.
For the week we spent in the Green Rose was the week everything changed.
Because if you think that this was the happy part of my story, then you are wrong. There is no happy part. Just a steep mountain, at the top of which nothing but the long fall awaits.