Mercedes Lackey - Take A Thief

“ 'E's got 'nother liddle trick, too,” Bazie continued. “ 'Ere, Lyle — nobble 'im.”

Not at all loath, Lyle puffed himself up and seized Raf's arm. “'Ere, you!” he boomed — or tried to, his voice was evidently breaking, and the words came out in a kind of cracked squeak. He tried again. “'Ere, you! You bin liftin'?”

Now Raf became distinctive. Somehow the eyes grew larger, innocent, and tearful; the lower lip quivered, and the entire face took on a kind of guileless stupidity mingled with frightened innocence. It was amazing. If Skif had caught Raf with his hand in Skif's pocket, he'd have believed it was all an accident.

“Whossir? Messir?” Raf quavered. “Nossir. I'm be gettin' packet'o pins fer me mum, sir…” And he held out a paper stuck full of pins for Lyle's inspection, tears filling his eyes in a most pathetic fashion.

Bazie and Deek howled with laughter, as Lyle dropped Raf's arm and growled. “Gerron wi' ye.”

As soon as the arm was dropped, Raf pretended to scuttle away with his head down and shoulders hunched, only to straighten up a few moments later and assume his bland guise again. He shrugged as Skif stared at him.

“Play actin',” he said dismissively.

“Damn good play actin',” Bazie retorted. “Dunno 'ow long ye kin work it, but whilst ye kin, serve ye better nor runnin' from beaks.” He set his mending aside and rubbed his hands together. “ 'Sall right, me boys. 'Oo wants t'fetch dinner?”

“Me,” Raf said. “Don' wanta stir washin', an' don' wanta sort goods.”

The other two seemed amenable to that arrangement, so Raf got a couple of coins from Bazie and took himself off. The napkins in the cauldron were finally white enough to suit Bazie, so Skif got the job of pulling the white things out and rinsing them in a bucket of fresh water, while Lyle hung them up and Deek sorted through the things that Lyle and Raf had brought back.

Presently he looked up. “Six spoons, two knifes, packet uv needles, three uv pins, empty needlecase, four spinnin' bobs,” he said. “Reckon thas 'nuf wi' wot we alriddy got?”

Bazie nodded. “Arter supper ye go out t' Clave. Ye kin take napkins t' Dooly at same time. An' half th' wipes. Lyle, ye'll take t' rest uv th' goods t' Jarmin.”

“Kin do,” Lyle replied genially, taking the last of the napkins from Skif. “Young'un, git that pile an' dunk in wash, eh?”

He pointed to a pile of dingy shirts and smallclothes in the corner with his chin. “Thas ourn,” he added by way of explanation. “Ye kin let fire die a bit, so's its cool 'nuf fer the silks when ourn's done.”

Skif had wondered — the stuff didn't seem to be of the same quality as the goods that the boys brought back to Bazie. Obediently, he picked up the pile of laundry and plunged it into the wash cauldron and began stirring.

“Ye moght be a wonderin' why we does all this washin' an wimmin stuff,” Bazie said conversationally. “I tell ye. Fust, I tell m'boys allus t' nobble outa the dirty stuff — 'cause thas inna pile, an nobody ain't counted it yet. See?”

Skif nodded; he did see. It was like playing a page at Lord Orthallen's meals. Food was checked before it became a dish for a meal, it was checked for pilferage before it was taken to the table, and it was checked when it came back to the kitchen as leftovers. But there was that moment of opportunity while it was in transition from kitchen to table when no one was checking the contents. So, dirty clothing and linen probably wasn't counted — why should it be? But if you stole something off a wash line, or out of a pile of clean clothing intended for a particular person, it would be missed.

“So, we gets stuff tha' way, but if's dirty, it ain't wuth so much. ‘F it were just th' odd wipe we git from liftin' lay, wouldn' be wuth cleanin' — an' thas why most on liftin' lay don' clean whut they nobble, 'cause they gotta get glim fer it now so's they kin eat.” Bazie peered at Skif to see if he was following. “Us, we pass straight onta couple lads as has stalls in market, 'cause what we got's clean an' got no markin's on't. Looks jest like wha' ye'd sell t' market stall an' yer ol' mum croaked an' ye're droppin' 'er goods. We spread it 'round t' several lads so's it don' look bad.”

That made perfect sense. The used-clothing merchants buying the things had to know they were stolen, of course — either that, or they were idiots — but there was no other way to tell. And once Bazie's loot was mixed up with all the other things in a merchant's stall, it all looked perfectly ordinary. Servants often got worn, outgrown, or outmoded clothing from their masters as part of their wages or as a bonus, and most of that ended up with a used-clothing merchant. Then those who wished to appear well-to-do or seamstresses looking for usable fabric for better garments would find bargains among the bins. Pickpockets unlike Bazie's gang, who lifted used kerchiefs and the like — and outright muggers, who assaulted and stripped their victims bare — would have to sell their soiled goods to a rag man rather than directly to a stall holder.

“Me old mam made me learn th' sewin',” Bazie continued. “ 'M a pretty dab 'and at un. Mended stuff's wuth more'n tore-up, an' unpickin' the pretties makes 'em plain — well, like napkins. All it costs's time — an' hellfires, I got time!”

“Smart,” Skif said, meaning it. Bazie looked pleased.

“Some lads thinks as is sissy stuff, 'an' couldn' stick i' wi' us,” Deek put in, scornfully. “Some lads, sayin' no names but as rhymes with scare-up, thinks is a waste uv time.”

“Some lads'll end up under the beak inside a moon,” Lyle said lazily. “ 'Cause some lads kin ony think uv glim an' glimmers, an' don't go at thin's slow. I don' care, long's I gets m' dinner!”

Bazie laughed, as Skif nodded agreement vigorously. “Thas m' clever lads!” Bazie said approvingly. “Roof over t'head, full belly an' warm flop — thas' th' ticket. Glim an' glimmers kin wait on learnin t' be better nor good.”

“Righto,” Deek affirmed. “Takes a mort'o learnin'. They's old thieves, an' they's bold thieves, but they ain't no old, bold thieves.”

That seemed excellent advice to Skif, who stirred the cauldron with a will.

It wasn't until he began pulling garments out with the stick that Skif noticed his own clothing was in with the rest — and that Bazie had neatly mended and patched it while he was gone. He'd resewn Skif's clumsy work to much better effect, and Skif felt oddly touched by this considerate gesture.

Raf returned as he started on the next lot of purloined scarves, carrying a packet and another loaf of bread. “They's mort'o doin's over t' Hollybush,” he said as he handed Bazie the packet.

Skif's head snapped around. “What doin's?” he asked sharply.

“Dunno fer certain-sure,” Raf replied. “Summun sez a couple toughs come in an' wrecked t’ place, summun sez no,'twas a fight, an' ev'un sez summun's croaked, or near it. All I knows's theys beaks an' a Guard there now. Figgered ye shud know.”

Bazie mulled that over, as Skif stood there, stunned, the wash stick still in his hands. “Reckon five fer supper,” he said judiciously. “Huh.”

“I cud go wi'im arter dark,” Lyle offered. “We cud reck th' doin's.”

Bazie shook his head. “Nay, no goin' near — Raf! Ye good fer goin' out agin? Hev a drink i' th' Arms?”

The grandly named “King's Arms” was the nearest rival to the Hollybush, and its owner had no love for Kalchan or Uncle Londer. One reason for the rivalry was economic — the Arms didn't serve the kind of swill that the Hollybush did, and charged accordingly. Many, many of the poorest customers opted for quantity over quality, and their custom went to Kalchan. If anything bad had happened to the Hollybush or its owner, the buzz would be all over the Arms.