Chapter 38

“Range Isaac! Watch the range! I’m stepping inside your range Isaac! Punish me! Don’t let me get away with it!” I insert my foot between his legs, stepping right behind his pivot foot before driving forward my shield, putting the weight of my left shoulder right behind it, into his side, the force pushing him backwards and he trips over my foot, falling to the ground with a thunderous thud. I take a step forward to finish him off but I’m blinded by a handful of dirt and before I can take a step back to regain my footing, he sweeps my legs out from under me and I fall to the ground. I try to scramble back to my feet, still blinded by the dirt, but I feel something soft brushing up against my neck and I know it’s over. “Now that was a nice fucking try.” I hold out my hand and he grabs it, pulling me to my feet. He hands me something and feeling it with my hands, I can tell it’s my waterskin. Uncorking it and pouring its contents into my eyes, I clean the dirt out of my eyes while I listen to Bertrand talk, “Listen, you picked up finding the moment when I want to pivot really quickly and you’re protecting your disruptions pretty well. You’re also quick on your feet but most importantly, you know when to pull back. But this is a more esoteric concept I’m trying to teach you. It’s not about learning the moves and copying them which you’re good at but rather understanding what your range is and intuitively judging their range versus your own. You have a shortsword and a shield which automatically means you have a shorter range than most other weapons but in exchange for that, you need to own your range. Anyone who trespasses into your range should be taught a lesson they’ll never forget. But you’ll get there. Learning your range and controlling it is something you only learn with experience. You’re already competent in a fight which is more than I can say for most of the riffraff in this city. With the way you’re going right now, you’ll get it down in no time.”

“Thanks Bertrand. What’s on the table for tonight? The Fighting Cock or are we calling it early?” It’s been about three weeks since Bertrand first started training me. At first, he only taught me swordplay and about a week after we started, he let me start using my shield as well. He said I’m a natural with the sword and I was able to learn everything he was teaching me pretty quickly. I don’t know, I feel comfortable with a sword in my hand and as I spent more time with it and really started practicing with it every day, the feeling only developed further. Like I’ve lived my whole life with a sword in my hand and now I’m only remembering what it was like before. He also brought me to fight at The Fighting Cock’s arena a few more times but I’ve only lost every time I fight. Bertrand tells me in an equal fight with two amateurs tussling it out, weight is king and unless I start gaining some serious pounds first, which I’ve been trying to do these past few weeks by gorging myself on mutton, I won’t be winning any fights anytime soon. At least my voice recovered over these past three weeks although it sounds more gruff than before but I think I actually like it more now.

“Hmm, neither of those. Heard you were finished with your reading, writing, and arithmetic lessons?”

“Yeah, yesterday was our last day. I can officially say I can read and write in Informal now. I can also do simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.” Three weeks ago, Wraine and I found a night course for adults offered at a nearby inn and paid for the lessons. It was a pretty steep cost at 15 copper every night for each person but it did teach me to calculate that we paid a total of 6 silver and 30 copper for the lessons. It also let me see that our funds were quickly dwindling and we only have 95 silver and 77 copper left. We haven’t even been renting out a private room and we haven’t bought anything with our coins except for two sword belts with sheaths for 2 silver and 50 copper each. But we’ve replaced a bowl of pottage for dinner with a leg of mutton which costs 7 copper more and we’re still renting two beds every night for an extra 12 copper each night. These amounts didn’t seem much to us at first but they’ve really added up over these past three weeks.

“Well congratulations. And as a congratulatory gift for the two of you being able to read now, Quinn and I had a talk and tonight you’ll be committing your very first robbery.”

…

It’s a few hours after nightfall and Wraine and I are skulking around the entertainment district, looking for our target. Our heads are covered by black hoods and a black cloak is draped over our backs. We had to buy these black linen hoods and cloaks for 2 silver each which I thought was ridiculous but Bertrand hit me on the back of my head and said they’re essential. When we finally spot a wooden sign hanging on a building with an image of an open book, we dart down the alley next to it. There’s a few beggars in the alley, leaning against the building, but when they see us, they avert their eyes. When we reach the shop’s backdoor, Wraine takes off his leather pack, which Quinn made us buy for 10 fucking silver, and opens it up, searching for something. While he’s busy with that, I keep an eye on our surroundings and keep my hand on my sword’s grip. It doesn’t look like the beggars will bother us but you never know. Wraine finds what he’s looking for and pulls out a leather roll, fastened with an iron buckle, and unfurls it, revealing the lockpicking set we bought for 20 godsdamn silver. He gets to work on the door while I watch for any movement. I don’t feel like the skillsets we’re each being taught are very fair. Wraine’s being taught survival skills and he can scavenge the land whenever he wants to. He even knows how to fucking pick locks now. All I can do is use a sword a little bit and take a beating.

Before long, Wraine gets the door open and quickly gets inside. I follow right after him and close the door behind me. We’re in. But we can’t see anything further than two feet in front of us. Wraine takes out a small wooden box and slides the top off, light bursting from the opening. This is a brightstone in a box and it cost us 3 silver which isn’t too much. Wait, yes it is. What the fuck am I saying? This little thing costs us 3 fucking silver. It’s the same fucking cost as an iron shortsword. Before night fell, Bertrand and Quinn brought the both of us to a special shop in the entertainment district and made us buy everything we’d need for the robbery. I don’t even know if they knew how much money we had but once we bought the leather pack, they went crazy and pulled us all over the place, grabbing various items off the shelves. It’s their fault my sense of money is warped now.

While I’m having my inner dilemma, Wraine pulled out a huge leather sack we bought for 2 silver and 25 copper. He’s shining the brightstone at the shelves around us, looking for something interesting. Once he sees something he likes, he takes it off the shelf and puts it into the sack. I should be helping him. Walking over to another shelf, I grab an item off of it and read the front cover The Princess and the Farm Hand. It looks like a love story, not really my cup of tea. Putting it back, I walk over to another section and pull another book from the shelf, its cover reads Medicinal and Poisonous Properties of Every Flora Species in the Nasaar Kingdom. Now that’s fucking interesting. I walk over to Wraine, book in hand, and put it in with the rest of what he’s taken thus far. We spend quite a few minutes robbing the backroom before we head to the front. While Wraine keeps looking for books we can use, I ransack the counter, looking for anything, really. The shopkeep isn’t going to keep his earnings here, especially after dark but you never know. The whole reason we’re robbing this place is because the shopkeep refused to pay his protection fees to Bertrand a few days ago and as Bertrand and Quinn are keeping their eyes on him while he’s getting drunk at a pub a few streets over, we’re here to collect those fees in the form of books. Bertrand told us to grab anything that we thought we could use and anything else really, since we’ll be selling the ones we don’t need and this is more about sending a message than anything else.

As we’re finishing up in the store’s front room, I accidentally bump into a bookshelf, knocking a book to the floor. The loud bang makes me wince and Wraine glares at me for being an idiot. Sorry, sorry. When I bend over to pick it up, I can tell it’s a children’s book judging by the frog wearing a hat on the cover and its title Mr. Frog and his Woodland Friends. Cute. What’s not cute is the sound of walking coming from upstairs. Horrified, I shake my hand at Wraine for him to cut the light which he does. Both of us instantly slump to the ground in the darkness and I can hear my heart pounding as I watch the stairs, my hand on my sword. Fuck, such a stupid mistake. Before long, I can hear the footsteps stop at the top of the stairs and then I hear a little girl’s voice calling out, “Daddy? Did you come home?” I sigh a breath of relief in my head and I take my hand off my sword. We wait for a few seconds in silence and then we hear the little girl walking back to her room. We don’t move an inch before we hear her close her bedroom door. Even after she closes her door, I don’t move anywhere but just relax my body instead. After a few minutes in darkness, Wraine slides the wooden panel off again and he stands up, looking at me. He lifts his leather sack up and down, showing me it’s already pretty full and we should get out of here. Agreeing, I walk towards him and put the children’s book along with the rest. Hey, this book has a story behind it now.

We leave the shop through the back door and Wraine locks the door behind us when we’re out. The beggars look toward us when we come outside but instantly look away when they realize what we were doing. Ignoring them, we head out of the back alley and emerge onto the dark street. We head towards where Bertrand and Quinn told us they’d be and we arrive after 10 minutes. When they see us, they nod towards us and head in a certain direction. It’s not towards The Sleeping Hornet but seeing as no one else is speaking, I won’t be the one to break this silence.

Before long, we arrived in front of a group of houses guarded by a huge solid wooden gate in the entertainment district. Bertrand knocks on the gate and after a few moments, it’s opened by a young woman with short brown hair. She has a sword strapped to her left hip and there’s a smile on her face. “Are these two the new projects you two have been spending all your time on?”

Bertrand sneers, “Fuck off Angelene. Any food in the house or no?” The woman named Angelene makes way and lets us into the enclosure before leading us into one of the houses.

“You ask me that every time you come here and the answer’s always no. You know Uriah left with Derriv and won’t be back for another two weeks. You expect me to cook in his place?”

“What else are you doing with your time here? Alright boys, how'd the job go?” Bertrand takes a seat at a table in the corner of the room and pulls out three more chairs for us. Taking a seat, Wraine opens up the leather sack and goes through everything.

“It went fine. Got in through the back door no problem. Isaac fucked up and dropped a book, waking up the shopkeep’s daughter. But she went back to sleep when she didn’t hear any more noise.” Wraine ignores my dirty glare at him for snitching on me.

“Ehh, this was a protected job. You had me and Quinn watching over the shopkeep and didn’t have much to deal with. Isaac, next time won’t be this easy and staying focused could mean the difference between your life and death, get it?”

“Got it.” I start looking through the books we stole too when I hear a quiet voice from further in the house.

“Uncle Bertrand?” Looking over, it’s a little girl with dirty blond hair, probably around five or six winters. “When’d you get back? Did you bring me a present?”

“No Ilya, didn’t get you a present this time. Didn’t go anywhere that had presents, I’ll get you one next time though.” This is a different Bertrand I’m seeing. It’s like two completely different people. “Boys, this is Ilya, Derriv’s daughter. Ilya, this is Isaac and Wraine.”

“Hi Ilya, how are you?” I ask.

“Hi Ilya, it’s nice to meet you.” Wraine says.

The little girl hides behind the doorway and peeks at us, curious but shy. Hmm. With an idea in my head, I keep searching through the books we stole and find the one with the frog wearing a hat on the cover. Presenting the book to the little girl, I ask, “Have you ever read this book? It’s called Mr. Frog and his Woodland Friends. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

The little girl’s curiosity triumphs over her fears and she lightly steps into the room, coming to take a closer look at the cover. “I don’t know how to read. Can you read it to me before bed?” Oh fuck, what have I done? I look towards Wraine and Betrand for help but both of them have grins on their faces as they’re enjoying the show. Quinn’s no help either and started drinking from a bottle he seemed to pull out of nowhere. I look towards my last potential savior, the woman named Angelene, and she comes over and picks the little girl up in her arms. Oh thank you.

Angelene turns to me with a grin on her face before saying, “I’m sure Isaac would love to read you this book before bed. Wouldn’t he?”

Smiling against my will, I answer, “I sure would.”