The thief is getting to his feet, apparently shocked that he's going to get away with this.
“Thank you, I-” he begins, but I cut him off.
“Are you going to tell me why you're stealing from merchants?”I ask.
He shrugs.“There isn't enough work in the city, and some goods are scarce, because plenty of places are waiting to see what Aetheria will do next.Stealing is the easiest thing.”
“Until you get caught,” I point out.I jerk my head.“Go.”
He takes off running, not needing a second invitation.I pull the hood of my cloak up around my head, hoping to regain some of my anonymity, but I can see people pointing as I keep walking.I head out of the merchant district, past the walls, into the slums.
Their stink assaults my nostrils, refuse left in the streets where once it would have been cleared away even here.Most of the houses are tumble down things, little better than shacks.There are some bigger buildings but those are tenements, cramming in as many people as possible.I can see cheap taverns on most of the street corners, along with brothels, pawn shops and places where the stink of the slums is replaced by the smell of illicit substances.
What’s happened here?I’d hoped that the rise of the Republic would make conditions better for the people, but instead, things seem as bad as ever.I can guess at some of the reasons from the discussions in the Senate so far.Marcus and others have talked about the economic impact of the games, the lack of law and order.It's places like this that feel it most.
I can see gangs in the alleys of the slums.They seem to watch over businesses, acting the way the guards do in the city proper.The removal of the emperor created a vacuum filled by petty factions, and not just here.Yes it's obvious that the gangs have greater sway in the slums than they had under the emperor, but the thugs working for the merchants and the guards around the noble houses suggest that they have their own power over their immediate areas.
It makes me angry.The fall of the emperor and the rise of the Republic should have spread happiness and peace to the people of Aetheria.Instead, it seems peace is something that must be fought for, because there are far too many people who are using the gaps left by the fall of the emperor to take what they want.
I can see signs of unrest as I walk, in burnt out houses and blood stained walls, while the body of a man is nailed to a post with a sign around his neck proclaiming this to be the territory of the red and greens.Presumably, they’re a gang.The sight of the man fills me with horror that this could be allowed.
I keep walking, forcing myself to see everything.I head down narrow alleys, seeing the people who beg on the streets, hearing offers shouted from alleyways.As I do so I become aware of the feeling of being watched.Someone is following me, I’m sure of it.
I send a fragment of my consciousness out using my talent as a beast whisperer.I start to borrow the eyes of birds around me, and through those eyes, I can see the three rough looking men tracking my movements.They have weapons at their belts and are dressed in scraps of leather armor.They're accompanied by a man wearing a hood of his own, but his clothes are those of a servant to some wealthy house, simple but finely cut and embroidered.
I move one of the birds close to the men.
“That's her,” the one who looks like a servant says.“You know what to do.Make it look like a robbery.”
I see them start to converge on my position now, the servant moving away even as the other men approach me.I consider my options, trying to find a way out of this that doesn't involve violence, but these men know the alleys well, it seems, and they moved in such a way that I don't have an easy escape route.
They come forward, weapons in their hands.
“Now look here,” one of them says.He has a scar across his face and a knife in either hand.“Some pretty noble thing’s wandered into our area.Don't you know it's a bad idea to come here alone?Anything might happen to you.”
“I don't want any trouble,” I say, removing my cloak carefully and holding it in my left hand.
“Well that's a pity,” the leader says.“Because trouble found you.Now I could tell you that if you give us everything you have, we'll let you go safely, but I think when someone as pretty as you wanders here we get to have a bit more fun than that.”
The other two men are closing in behind me.I can still see them using the eyes of the birds.I draw more from those birds, pulling in some of their speed and grace.
“Do you want to tell me who sent you?”I ask.
“You think this is about talking now?”the leader says.He glances over my left shoulder, but I'm already reacting.Through the eyes of the birds I can see the man there raising a club that's obviously designed to stun me so that these men can do what they want with me.
I spin away from the strike, whipping my cloak around the way I would have used a net in the arena.It tangles my attacker's legs, bringing him to the ground.My knee is already rising to meet his jaw, slamming into him with the crack of bone on bone and sending him sprawling back to the cobbled street.
A second man gets a strangling rope around my neck.He's big and burly, but clearly isn't used to fighting anyone who knows what they're doing.He certainly isn't prepared for a beast whisperer.I flip over him with all the grace of the birds, landing behind him and tearing the strangling rope from his grip.I kick him in the back of the knee, wrapping the rope around his neck and pulling him back while he struggles, being sure to keep him between me and the one with the knives.It's only seconds before he falls limply into unconsciousness and I let go of the rope.
“I'm going to kill you for that,” the leader promises, weaving his knives in an intricate web.I have no good weapons with which to counter it.My cloak is still tangled around the legs of the one I took down first, the strangling rope lies abandoned on the ground, and my small eating knife seems like no match for two razor sharp daggers.
But a beast whisperer has as many weapons at their command as there are living things around them.I call to the birds once more and now, they come sweeping down in a sudden, pecking flock, plunging towards my foe and forcing him to cover his eyes.He flails at the birds with his knives and I send the birds past him because I don't want them to be harmed.
In any case, they’ve already given me the opportunity I need.My attacker is so busy with the birds that he isn't concentrating on me.It means I can step in close, jabbing my hand into his throat, so that he gasps.I wrench one of the knives from his hand, then bring my elbow around in a short arc that ends with his jaw.The blow fells him, sending him spinning into unconsciousness.
In the moments after, I stand there feeling the wash of adrenaline flowing through me.I feel… triumphant, in a way I haven't since I last fought in the arena.I'm surprised by how satisfying it feels to have brought down these foes, even if I'm worried at the same time about what it means that someone has sent men to try to hurt or kill me.
I drag the leader away from the others, using the strangling rope to tie his hands and calling down a single bird to sit on my finger as I crouch before him, waiting for him to wake up.He groans as he does so, then thrashes against his bonds, then curses, glaring at me.
