Tiberius was conflicted. The boy had finally stopped weeping and was just sitting there, his friend was dead and couldn’t help any longer. Tibi was still considering going back to look inside the temple, but wondered if he should give this kid a silver or just leave him be? After some deliberation, Tibi decided that Faux needed his help.

Tibi couldn’t do much else about what was currently going on in his city and considered the need to speak to the family about his looming questions. He shuffled over to Faux and set his hand on the silent boy's shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Two simple words, but then he saw some light again behind the boy's eyes. When was the last time this kid experienced kindness? “I’m truly sorry I couldn’t help your friend.” Tibi crouched down to be closer to eye level. “I promise he will get a burial.”

Tibi thought for a moment about what he could do. Maybe he could get Faux a position in the keep’s kitchen. “Come with me. We will find you some work, but let's start with some food. Would you like that?” Faux gave Tibi a small nod. “Great then-”

“Well, well, well… What do we have here?” The sleazy voice came from the alley entrance.

Tiberius looked over his shoulder. Four men stood there, blocking the way out. Tibi’s mind ran through why these men were here. Probably thugs or thieves. Tiberius looked the other way, the wall there was short, and if he remembered the area, it was a stable. It would be hard to exit that way if they were chased.

“How can we help you? Can’t you see we’re dealing with our friend's death? We have no coin for you to take.”

The man in front gave a dark chuckle. He was fat with beady eyes and a large mustache. The man to his left was a tower of flesh with a nose that looked like it had been broken a dozen times. The other two thugs were still hidden by the shadows of the alley.

Tibi only had his belt knife. If these men wanted trouble there wasn’t much he could do. “Why don’t you come with us, make it nice and easy like.” The mustache guy spoke, and waved his hand. The two men in back stepped forward and Tibi saw that they must be twins.

His hand gripped his belt knife, six inches of steel wouldn’t do much here, but it was something. “I assure you, we have no coin on us. We don’t want trouble.”

The twins kept walking closer as Tibi spoke, but what the man said next made Tibi’s blood run cold. “Ah but that’s where you're wrong boy. See, if you had just gone into the temple like you were supposed to, we wouldn’t have had to waste time following you.”

Tibi’s knuckles turned white on the hilt of his belt knife. “How did you know about that?” The mustache man chuckled and the twins moved to grab him. Tibi jumped inside the arms of the left twin and slashed the man across the chest. His small knife cut the thin fabric and left a bloody mark behind.

“Run Faux!” Tibi screamed as the twin yowled in pain. The right twin lunged, reaching for Tibi, but he quickly dodged. “Run Faux!” he yelled again, but the boy just sat there. Tibi’s cries didn’t help, so he made a run for the stable wall. As he turned, he felt one of the twins grab the back of his shirt. Tibi twisted and struck with his knife.

Everyone seemed to stop, stunned, as the knife sank into the twin’s neck, eyes bulging. “Garm!” screamed the other twin. For a moment Tiberius was stunned. As he watched life leave the man's eyes, his stomach flipped. His vision went white as he felt a fist crash into the side of his head.

As he stumbled to his knees, another strike sent him crumbling to the ground. His ears were ringing but he heard someone yell, “Stop, don’t kill him!” There was the sound of a struggle but Tibi couldn’t focus.

“Fool. He’s worth more alive than dead.” He couldn’t place the voice, but he memorized the mustache.

“He killed Garm, the little whoreson.”

Tibi felt arms lift him up. “Well this ones worth something. If you need to express your anger, well…”

“Wasn’t I doing something? Didn’t he need to help someone?” Tibi pondered through the cloud of pain.

“We don’t need no witnesses.”

Tibi thought he saw a grim smile then all went black.

……………………………..

Gorm seethed in rage. He was kneeling over his brother's body. A pool of blood on the cobblestone. A small knife for such a big man. He ground his teeth, and held back a teat. He and Garm had always been together.

They had beat down men ten times that boy's size, and yet here lay his brother’s corpse. Dead from a little shit, on some nothing job. When he met Henry to pick up his pay, if that giant body guard of his wasn’t with him, Gorm would get himself some revenge. Until then, he stood and looked over at the little whoreson sitting by the other kid's corpse.

Gorm cracked his knuckles, his brother Garm normally looked down on killing kids, but today he would make an exception. The kid must be slow in the head anyhow, just sitting there with his head down while all of this went down around him.

He leaned down and picked up a large piece of cracked wood, a good skull smash always put a smile on his face. He walked over to the boy who still hadn’t moved. “I’ll make this quick kid, for Garm’s sake.” As Gorm raised the wood above his head the boy finally looked up at him.

Gorm faltered. Staring straight at him was Garm’s smiling face. “What-” was all he managed to see when he felt a pain in his chest. His knees buckled and he dropped his club behind him. He was eye to eye with Garm when he heard the laughter, then he felt the pain again.

He tried to stop Garm from stabbing him but his arms had no strength. Blood speckled onto his brother's face as he tried to speak, only to then fall down and die.

……………………………..

Faux couldn’t stop smiling. He stabbed the man a few more times for good measure while he stood there. He still had the thief’s dagger from so long ago in the river with Mckale, but it seemed he hadn’t needed it for defense.

For just a moment, he had thought someone was going to help him, and then those men came. It took him time to sort his mind, thinking maybe he was a little cracked in the head. Eventually he had decided that he wanted to punish them.

It was so easy. The man had been so focused on the dead and hadn’t watched Faux change. He had just walked over, so sure of himself, and left himself wide open as Faux had buried the dagger under the man’s ribs while he stood there stupefied, eyes locked on Faux.

Faux gave a small laugh. Maybe that’s what he needed. He felt this city was sick and he would cut away the tumors. He gave a loud laugh. When he heard a noise behind him, he turned and slashed as quickly as a fox. His hand was stopped and twisted behind him. He was disarmed and pushed down.

“Good reflexes boy, but not near fast enough.” Faux turned and looked up. It was the man he had attempted to steal from in the market. “I had a feeling about you, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought to have found kin.” The man bent down and wiped the dagger off on the dead man’s shirt. He checked the body and Faux watched him take a small purse. “Well get up boy, you’re coming with me.”

Faux just stared at him, a smile growing on his face, then he lunged to his feet charging at the man only to trip, falling face first to the ground. “None of that now. You ain’t a wild animal.” Faux felt himself picked up by his shirt and set back on his feet. He turned and was nose to nose with the old man.

“Listen up boy. What you are now at, is a turning point.” The man’s eyes seemed to suck at Faux’s very soul. “You stay here where everything has been taken from you, and you’re probably dead within a week.”

The man stood. “Or you come with me, and I’ll give you the chance to be strong enough that no one could ever take from you again.” He held out his hand. “What do you say kid?”

……………………………..

Tiberius’s brain hurt. He tried to move, but realized his hands were tied. He groaned as he tried to sit up.

“The little shit is awake boss.” He heard a voice as he looked around. He was sitting on a beach with the two men from the alley, the city in the distance. Why was he here?

“Whatever, Tonka will want to look him over anyway.” Spoke the man with the mustache.

“You sure we should be doing this boss?” The big man with the scar said. He had an oddly high voice.

“We was supposed to take him back to the temple.” The mustache man scowled. “Those fools only offered us ten silvers for this boy. Did you see him? As young as he is, he will be worth ten times that to Tonka.” The big man just nodded.

Tibi considered telling them who he was, that they could ransom him back to his father, but something told him that could go badly. How had these men known about the temple? Options were running through Tibi’s mind, maybe if he could get lost in the jungle he could escape. But he had his doubts that they couldn’t catch him.

As Tibi looked around he heard some noise as a group of men walked out of the jungle onto the beach. The man in front had a tricorn hat, dark eyes, and walked with the swagger of being in charge. The scallywags with him were everything one imagines when thinking of “pirates” ; one man even had a hook instead of a hand.

“Henry, old bean! You have some merchandise for me?” Henry’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “This boy here is a fine specimen for the pits, I think he should clear our debts and then some.”

Tonka let out a boisterous laugh. “This little man. You think he's worth the fifty silver you owe me,” Tonka scoffed “and then some!” Tonka waved at one of the pirates who came over and yanked Tibi to his feet. The man squeezed Tibi’s bicep and spoke with stank breath.

“Seem’s fit captain.” The man reached his dirty fingers up to Tibi’s mouth. “Open up boy.” Sneered the pirate. Tibi did, but then bit down hard. There was a scream from the pirate as Tibi kneed the man in his groin.

The pirate shrank forward in pain as Tibi wrapped the rope of his hands around the man’s neck and twisted. There was a snap and a strike as he tumbled to the ground with the body of the pirate. The big man with Henry had struck Tibi and he was dazed.

“Damn it!” Yelled Henry. “Sorry about that Tonka, but see?” His slimy voice sounded a bit pleading. “He’s a fighter. What did I tell you? Worth good money to you.” Tibi looked up with bleary eyes and saw the scowl on Tonka’s face.

Henry looked a bit shaken. “Tell you what, why don’t we just call it even. You take the boy and we’re square.” Henry took a step back under Tonka’s glare.

“Leave Henry, our business is concluded.” Henry was a coward, but he was also greedy.

“We’re square then right? Debt’s cleared?”

Tonka looked calculating but gave a small nod. “Leave,” he said again. Henry smiled and gave a nod.

“Of course. Grady, leave the boy and let’s go see what's taking Gorm so long.” With that Henry and Grady hustled off into the jungle leaving Tibi lying in the sand with his hands still tangled around a stinking corpse. Tibi gave a gulp at the glare on Tonka’s face, maybe he had just seriously screwed up.

The man smiled, then he laughed. The pirates around him gave a nervous chuckle. The man waved his hand toward Tibi. “Gather the boy but don’t hurt him and make sure he’s secure.”

Tonka gave him a greedy smile. “When we get him to the Isle of Sands, that boy will be worth his weight in gold!”

……………………………..

Faux hustled along after the strange old man. He still hadn’t been given his dagger back and it made him angry. “Where are we going?” he grumbled for the thirtieth time. The man just looked over his shoulder at him and kept walking. Faux thought for the thirtieth time about walking away.

They had left the sketchy areas of town and were walking toward the nicer parts of town. Faux had been burned enough times now that he was ready to bolt at the drop of a hat. “Don’t try anything funny, old man. I can find another dagger, and then I can find you.”

The man glanced at him, then pulled out his shiny dagger and tossed it to him without stopping. “I’m not sure where you found such a fine dagger, but there you go. You wanna run off, then be my guest.”

Faux almost stopped. The man had told him he could make him stronger. Faux wasn’t sure he could pass up on that chance, even if it was a small one.

So he kept following. After they had gone a few more blocks the man spoke again. “If you aren’t gonna run off, you should let me hang on to that dagger for you. It will draw attention you don’t need right now and you can have it back when you’re stronger.”

Faux had the desire to stab the man in the back and he felt a smile coming across his face. A quick glance from the man’s dark eyes told him that would be a bad idea, and he deflated.

“Fine, but I expect it back!” Faux grumbled as he tossed the knife back to the old man. The man didn’t even look back, yet managed to catch it behind his back and disappear it under his cloak. As they got further up, the man angled off down a long back road.

Faux looked around as they left the lit street, his hackles rising. The old man suddenly stopped and turned. Faux almost darted away, but the man just looked at him.

“Listen and listen closely.” The old man spoke. “Whatever else happens here, you will never tell anyone what you are.” The man stared at Faux. “Do you understand?” Faux didn’t but he gave a nod. That seemed to satisfy the man and they moved back along the street. The houses here were large and beautiful. High metal or stone gates surrounded the expansive properties. This was not where someone like him should be.

As they got closer to one mansion, he could only see the tops of the roof and spires from where he was, the rest hidden behind an oppressive wall. There was a large gate that they walked up to, where the old man stopped and knocked. It was a strange way to knock in Faux’s opinion, but he was a strange man.

The gate cracked open and the old man said something he couldn’t hear, then they were hustled inside. What he saw was not what he expected. The estate was well lit, which was surprising for the gothic monstrosity that stood before him. “Welcome to the Midnight Guild.”

……………………………..

There was movement as the pirates hustled to do what they were told. As Tibi was trussed up and pulled into the jungle, they stayed close to the beach.

“Please let me go. I can pay you,” Tibi tried. There was laughter from the men but they ignored him. He noticed one of the men was dragging the pirate he had killed. It almost made Tibi throw up as he thought about it. He had killed men today, but his mind put that on hold for now. They exited the jungle not far away in a small cove where sat a small two masted ship.

“Welcome to my ship boy. You will be my guest here.” There was laughter all around as they climbed into a row boat.

“What do you want with me? I’m just a kid.” Tibi tried to reason.

Tonka looked at him, his eyes twinkling. “Don’t you know about the Isle of Sands boy?” he asked. Tibi shook his head. “Well you will learn soon enough.” All the pirates laughed. As they pulled upside the ship, someone tossed down a rope ladder.

“Ahoy Captain.” A voice called from above. Tibi was tossed over a pirate’s shoulder as the pirate climbed the ladder. Tibi considered struggling, but thought that might end in a cold watery grave. When they climbed onto the ship he was unceremoniously tossed to the deck.

“What the hell happened to Crag?” Someone asked.

Tibi felt a small kick and then a whistle. “Well that’s a damned embarrassing way to die. Neptia take his fool's soul.” There were a bunch of chuckles to that.

Tibi heard Tonka’s voice. “Take him to the hold with the rest. High time we headed out, and the tide is on the rise.” There were shouts and movement as Tibi again found himself over someone else’s shoulder. It was even darker as they walked off the deck down some stairs

Tibi was lowered down a ladder into near pitch black. A match was lit and in its low light he could make out dozens of people in chains. Fear filled his heart.