Ori saw light through the cracks in the wall, though Crane gave him no time to stop. They rushed through a passage that seemed to stretch on forever, and after what seemed like hours in the dark they came to a door built into the darkness.

  “Keep quiet. This opens into a tavern, used to be a Guard granary.” Crane pushed Ori against the wall, scraping something against the wall. A sputtering firesalt match, its flame blue then white in the dark. Ori saw a smiling face behind Crane as she cupped the match, the braided girl’s memory playing in his mind.

  No. Nothing there.

  “What? Ori, keep your head. This isn’t the first time you’ve had the watch on ya, is it?” Crane lit the candle and began working on the lock with a set of picks.

  “No, of course not. I have guards chase me all the time. In the Tannery, the Barrow, they even chased me as far as the King’s castle.”

  “Oh?” Crane smiled at him in the light, “the King’s castle?”

  “Oh yes. I’d stolen the princess’s prized jewels and hid them down my pants. I got away, but found that they had just been a bunch of…”

  “Bullshit?”

  “No. bakti shit. You see, they have special beasts that eat tea leaves and shit out pellets. They cook them up and the water is supposed to make you wiser.”

  “Did it?”

  “I was too smart for them, tossed them away before I drank any.” Ori sighed with relief when he heard the lock turn, and Crane stood up and looked at the boy.

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  She grabbed him, pulling him close and putting her lips on his. She pressed her tongue between his lips and he came back in kind. She tasted like salt and sweet, like the salted melon Sparrow gave him as a treat when he was a very young thief.

  “You’ll never forget your first kiss boy. Mine? A girl who would become my friend’s wife. She was pretty, but I was the most handsome man in the Barrow, even as a boy. I lifted her up and kissed her during the night the river burned, and ever since I’ve been looking for better.”

  “Did you?’

  “What’s that?”

  “Find better?”

  “Once…” Sparrow smiled, looking into the distance as he fingered the river stone he wore around his neck. “But that’s a tale for another day.”

  In all Ori thought that Sparrow had undersold the experience. After an eternity of seconds they separated,

  “You taste like a dead rat.” Crane said straightening herself up.

  “Well, I didn’t have a chance to wash my mouth.”

  “Maybe I’ll give you another chance someday.”

  All things considered, he thought, these have been the strangest days of my life. When his heart had started back up and his face was less flush Crane opened the door, and they found themselves in a basement full of casks and hanging meats.

  “Think they’ll mind?” Ori asked, grabbing for a small hanging sausage speckled white that smelled of fennel and pepper.

  “You’re hungry after all this?

  “Starving, really. I think I will make this my first theft, officially. As a King, you know.” Ori smiled, peeling the rind and biting right into the sausage.

  “Barbarian. Do you not have a knife? Damned children, I swear.” Crane reached into her pockets, pulling out a blade the size of Ori’s hand and sharpened to a point. They walked up the stairs as Ori finished the sausage, only to find themselves walking into a room full of Watch and Guards enjoying lunch.

  “Hey! You! Did I not tell ya to go and get a keg of lager? You’ll both need to carry it, you weak lazy children!” the barkeep yelled, her face flashing between worry and mirth. It was an honest face, and one Ori knew well. He had lied of sneaking into a castle only to fall into his Queen’s tavern.