Sly

I tasted dirt.

I was flat on my face and it took a minute to remember why I would taste dirt as my head spun from the impact. Dirk's face swam into view, hand extended to help me up and I remembered who's kick had just put me on the ground.

"That is not the proper way to avoid being knocked on your ass," he said smiling. 

The old rogue's lessons weren't taking as well as the knives had. When Dirk put a throwing knife in my hand? It was easy. This hand-to-hand stuff was just frustrating. But even the skills I'd developed with knives were almost exclusively for throwing and running. Being a scrawny kid from Swamp, I weighed half as much as pretty much any opponent. That's why Dirk was so insistent that I keep my fingers fast and learn how to squirm out of a hold.

"That was a little harder than necessary, don't you think?" I sat up, spitting the dust out of my mouth.

"Oh the old telling-your-opponent-to-go-easy-on-you tactic, yes that one works all the time. Don't know why I wasn't teaching it to you from the start." Dirk stuck out a hand and I scowled at it before taking it, letting him haul me on my feet once again.

It was two full hours of throwing and being thrown before Dirk was satisfied. In that time, a small audience had gathered in the backyard of the Snoring Dragon. Abe had taken a break in the lull of patrons to watch, and Bricker lazed under the shade of an empty stable to watch and nap. Even Jexa came near the end, leaning on the fence next to Abe to observe.

When Dirk finally called it, I flopped happily onto the ground, out of breath. Bricker tossed a waterskin from his shady spot, and I barely gave him a nod of thanks before guzzling down the contents.

"Good, now when you can throw Jexa reliably we'll have something," Dirk said with a smirk. Jexa at the fence snorted, and I looked at him flatly and received a full-bellied laugh in return.

"What's this about throwing Jexa?" Davery and Grahm walked into the backyard of the Inn, my brother's sharp eyes drifting to each present face.

"Hey Davery, come to watch me beat up your sister?" Dirk stood next to me, giving me a bit of shade, but not enough to make up for the particularly rough workout he'd just put me through. But since I was still out of breath, I settled for sticking my tongue out at him.

"Not today, I'm actually here with some news and for some planning if you would like to join us." Davery and Grahm continued down the cellar stairs, and it didn't take much for me to follow.

Abe shook his head, retreating back into the Dragon now that the show was over. Bricker hopped up from his shady spot to join Davery though.

"Nah, I've got business," Dirk said, waving us off.

"Me too, Jexa said. "I want to follow up on someone we helped a bit back."

"Alright, later," Davery called as we disappeared.

The cellar was blissfully cool as my brother took his usual seat and I sat next to him. We only had three chairs and Grahm gestured Bricker to take it.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where did you go this morning?"

I eyed Graham, who spent so much of his time in the forest that I wondered what could have brought him all the way to Swamp district. The big redhead shrugged, not offering me anything.

"Anything I can do to help?" Bricker asked. Davery glanced at the lanky kid we had saved. He had expressed his desire to help a few times now, and I wondered when Davery was going to give him a proper chance.

"Hold on, let me explain," Davery said, propping his boots on the table in the way he knew would annoy me. I frowned at him and he winked at me. Bastard.

"Well gentlemen, and Sly, we have a mole in High district." Davery laid back in his chair and threw a particularly lazy tone in his voice. He must be proud of wherever this was going.

"Who-" Bricker started to speak before Davery threw a hand up for silence. He cocked his head to one side, listening.

"Fire bells." Grahm barked, running for the stairs.

The rest of us were on our feet in an instant. Davery chased up the stairs after Graham, yelling for me and Bricker. "Bring buckets! Barrels, bowls, whatever you can find.

I scooped up everything we had, shoving half of it into Bricker's arms, and we raced outside.

We hit the road in front of the Inn and ran north towards a thin stream of black smoke. The alarm was little more than a hollowed-out bit of metal that someone would have to run up to and beat with the rock left next to it. A few such alarms were scattered around Swamp, but it was better than not having anything at all.

The smoke was a ways away, but still within Swamp District. A small carpenter's shop with apartments above it caught fire. Because of the wood downstairs, much of the flames seemed to be spreading to other floors and soon would be at the neighboring apartments. A handful of people formed a line and were trailing buckets back and forth from the lake which was thankfully not too far away. It was built so close to the High Road a corner of the roof may have even been under it and a few boys were dragging buckets all the way up there where a muscular man was tossing water from above. Screams could be heard from some of the trapped upper floors.

"Sly, get in line and add our bucket to the train!" Davery had run for the lake, stripping off his tunic and Grahm and Bricker followed his lead. They soaked the cloth in the lake water and wrapped the drenched garments around their heads as they ran back. Then Davery kicked aside the chard door and went in.

"Got it!" I joined the front of the line, sending my bucket down the way of the empty ones and taking up a full to throw at the fire. My muscles screamed in protest after already spending my morning being thrown in the dirt, but a fire like this could spread in the close quarters of Swamp, and it would be an ugly death for many.

The wait for the guys to come out of the building was excruciating. The shop hadn't been on fire for very long but it was spreading so fast. The water was coming in fast enough that the lower level was becoming safer and safer, but unless they could somehow reach the second level better there was a chance of collapse. My eyes kept darting to the windows. To the billowing smoke and each body that moved in and out of the place. Davery and the others weren't the only ones who bravely dived in to help, but they were the ones I was watching for.

The bells were bringing out more people now, and with them more buckets. My heart nearly burst as Bricker was the first to emerge with a toddler on each hip. That was one who came oute safe so far. The children were crying and covered in soot, but they were alive. An old woman ran to them from the crowd as Bricker set them down and she proceeded to cry and fuss over them.

 Next was Grahm covered in soot and coughing. He had a woman, presumably the mother, in his arms. She was unconscious and every bit as dirty as her toddlers but the old woman who fussed over the children ran to the mother and was able to detect breathing. That was two.

A defining crack whipped through the air. Something in the shop had snapped and the building began creaking and moaning under the strain. I panicked, shoving my currently empty bucket into the hands of the next person down the line, and ran for the shop. Before I could quite get there, Bricker and Grahm caught me by the arms. 

"Davery!" I screamed. My brother was still in there. I thrashed and kicked, not caring what I hit, but they held firm.

Another crack struck the air and it looked like the building was going to fall. Shouts from the crowd had my head whipping up to look at the roof. There must have been a hatch to climb out of, because Davery was dragging a man out the top. My whole body sank, every muscle that had been fighting now melted into Bricker and Graham's grip.

The big man who had been throwing water from High Road hung over the side in an attempt to reach someone on the roof. Davery managed to get his unconscious burden over his shoulder and stood up. The big man on High Road grabbed for his collar as soon as it was in reach and pulled him up easily. As soon as he was safely on the road above, the big man turned and threw a hand down to Davery. Davery grabbed it but before he started climbing up the roof under him collapsed and his feet were left dangling over nothing but flaming ruin below. The high Road man yanked Davery up even faster than before, since Davery could watch his own head from banging against the road.

"Shit," Graham hissed. "That was too close."

Soon Davery was panting safely on the stone path above and since the second floor had fallen, all the fire was on the ground level and contained. Bricker and Grahm let me go, and I ran for High Road.

I climbed the stairs at a sprint and flew to Davery's side. Searching for any signs of injury, I was relieved to see nothing major had happened to him. He had caught his breath and was sitting up, talking to the man who had helped him to safety.

Davery looked up at me from where he sat catching his breath. A thousand things passed between us with just a look and a few heartbeats. And then he opened his big dumb mouth. "I seem to have lost my shirt."

As much as I wanted to punch him, I fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck. I laughed and cried at the same time, giving him a hug. My throat tightened at the close call, and then I glanced at the big man who had pulled Davery off the collapsing roof.

"Thank you, for pulling my brother up." I finally turned to the big man who had saved both Davery and the carpenter from the roof. Letting Davery out of my vice grip, he brushed some of the soot off of himself and I began to do the same.

"Name's Grethan." He shook my hand once I was done brushing myself off. "No thanks needed, I'm a bit selfish in helping, I live next door." Davery barked a laugh at that, which turned into coughing and Grethan sent one of the boys who had brought him the buckets before to find drinking water.

"What are these people going to do now?" I asked, looking to my brother for guidance. Knowing him, he already had a plan.

"We'll assess the damage when everything salvageable is pulled out. If it comes down to it, we just helped a certain old man who could probably spare some room in his barn for a carpinter's family until they get back on their feet. That is if they don't have anywhere else to stay of course."

"Anything I can do to help?" Grethan asked. The boy had returned with a bucket of drinking water and Davery drank heavily from it before answering.

"Maybe, if you're really looking to do something. Saving men from burning buildings not enough for you?" Davery was well enough to joke around, and I glared at him.

"Is it not enough for you, brother?" I snapped. We both knew it wasn't.

"Well, I'm newly back from the front, came with the escort of the Prince himself. I'd like to do a bit of good for all the harm I did in the war. Not their fault the Empire drafted them as soldiers but I killed many of 'em just the same." Grethan looked down at this, a firm resignation in his eyes. This seemed to make up Davery's mind.

"Tell me where I can find you when needed, I'll call on you if there is anything for you." Davery conviniently left out the side of the story where they were rogues and thieves. Likely he wouldn't call on a soldier to do anything under the law, but they still did plenty of good deeds outside of that, like helping Marak or feeding those families durring the Hunts Festival.

"Thank you. I'm at the Bloody Dice most nights." He indicated a rough eating house and gambling den. It was on the boarder between Dock district and Swamp. It was popular among off duty soldiers and sailors and from what I'd heard of it they had a nice ale if you can take care of yourself enough to risk an evening there. Drunken patrons like theirs made for a lot of brawls.

"Got it." Davery said. He groaned as he rose to his feet, trying to brush off some filth and proceeding to make it worse. "Let's see what can still be done here."

The three of us headed down to the lower streets to sort out the mess. The family was all conscious now and the toddlers had stopped crying. It took a while to put out all the fire, but the way it had fallen into the low roads the fire wasn't going to spread. The old grannie who cared for the woman and children was the carpenter's mother. When her son was carried down from High Road and began to rouse she cried with joy. What little wood could be saved was piled to the side, a few tools survived, and a kettle but almost nothing else.

Davery asked if they had somewhere to stay and the carpenter seemed to know him by his reputation. The only option they had right now was to try and fit into the grandmother's small apartments until they could rebuild something. I took down directions to the grannie's place and Davery promised to come see them if he had any helpful solutions.

It was full dark before we dragged our tired bodies to bed. Bricker and Grahm went straight home from the site of the fire after there was nothing left to do and Grethan saw them off with a strong pat on the back. Abe and Addah questioned them about the events, they had heard the fire bells but as old as they were and with no one to watch the inn they didn't go to help. Addah insisted on feeding us before letting us sleep, and taking our clothes to be cleaned and repaired as best she could. Addah didn't see Davery slip the extra coin in her pocket as she turned away, but I sure did. We shared a tired glance between us, and a grin.

Abe offered his spare shirt to replace Davery's lost one but he refused. We had the coin to replace it without putting the old couple out anything. Finally, as I climbed onto my pallet I sent up a thanks to Spirit that no one had died. I barely finished before sleep took me.