“How about we head to the part of town where everyone’s been spotting Bruce M’chouchouteman?” Fie suggested. She had been collecting the squires’ eyewitness accounts for the past week and discovered that most of these sightings had occurred in the southwestern corner of the city, a place that she and her friends had never even been on watch duty. This sector of the city was in the midst of rapid expansion as local merchants, having grown rich on the economic boom of King Roy’s reign, used their profits to build new houses there in great numbers. An increase in population should have led to a proportional increase in crime, but crime was largely unheard of in this affluent neighborhood.
Fie and her friends set off for said neighborhood as the stars twinkled in the night sky overhead. On a normal night, Fie’s gang was likely to be asleep at this hour, but the city was still awake with bright lamp light and adults promenading about merrily. Several of these adults frowned when they saw the squires, mistaking them for ordinary children, before recognizing their uniforms and carrying on their merry way.
The corners of Slad’s mouth quirked up into a grin as he stepped into a pool of shadow between the lamplights. “Something about walking around alone at night is pretty exciting, don’t you think?” he said. Sure, the squires had conducted night patrols before, but always with a senior knight around. Roaming the city at night on their own was a different sort of beast altogether.
“D-Don’t say that,” Remie said, as he, too, began to grin. “Remember, we’re here on business.”
Fie noticed a swanky, high-class bar and pasted herself to the window, marveling over all the delicious-looking food and drinks she still had had no opportunity to taste. “Hey, Queen,” she called, “see that blue drink in there? D’you think it’s alcohol? I wonder if it tastes good.”
“How am I supposed to know?” he answered.
Gormus unpeeled her from the window and said, “Hey, we’ll get in trouble if one of the knights catches us here. Let’s get moving.”
Thanks to Gormus, the siren song of the night failed to ensnare the squires, who straightened up and continued on their way. They had a few close calls with nearly running into watchmen on their way through the city, but Fie’s skill in espionage allowed her to spot the guards before they spotted her, and she shepherded her friends into alleys to wait in hiding until the coast was clear. During these moments, Fie pressed herself close against Queen, which did dangerous things to his heart rate—but at any rate, they all arrived at their destination in one piece.
A chill crept up the squires’ spines as they set foot in the neighborhood. Save for a few solitary gas lamps preventing total darkness, this area was a far cry from the bright and boisterous streets further downtown. In fact, it felt as deserted and silent as the grave, yet (and this should have been oxymoronic, but there was no more fitting way to describe it) Fie noticed several people huddled together watching them.
Fie took a better look at her watchers, and her mouth dropped open in shock. They were all teenagers and children! Some looked around her age, but others were a few years older or younger. Most were playing in groups. Downtown, every passerby had been an adult, but here only the children roamed around.
A scowling teenage boy approached Fie’s gang as they stood there, slack-jawed, and said, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing? You’re not from around here.” A group of boys slouched around behind him; Fie guessed he was the leader of this little posse. Although he jammed his hands in his pockets and glared at her like a would-be hooligan, she noticed his clothes were well tailored, his crudely applied accessories high quality.
He continued to glare at them until he registered their uniforms, whereupon he spluttered, “Gah! You’re squires?”
“What’re you guys doing out here so late at night?” Fie asked. She thought it was a simple question, but the boys looked hesitant, unsure of whether or not to run. Finally, they decided that running from someone as small as Fie would be an insult to their pride and chose to stand their ground.
“We’re chilling,” he said.
“Huh?”
“At home, it’s always go practice this, go study that. Night’s the only time we can get to sneak out and have a little fun for ourselves. You got a problem with that?”
It certainly made sense. It wasn’t hard to imagine feeling trapped by being born into such a constrained, if comfortable, life as this.
Still, Fie was taken aback. “It’s dangerous to be out here at night!”
“Mind your own beeswax,” the kid told her. “’Sides, it’s not like any of you have room to talk. Aren’t you all sneaking off from guard duty or something?”
He did make a good point, Fie conceded. Well, so much for warning him. She sighed and decided to cut the conversation short. “Have it your way,” she said. “Just be careful.”
She waved and turned to walk away, unwilling to pursue this any further. The boy gloated, the other boys looking on in admiration and then mobbing him, cheering, as if he was a great hero to have bested Fie in this battle of words. Made sense, Fie thought. Kids would be kids.
Slad, as much a kid as the rest of them, asked, “Heath, are you really gonna just let them win?”
She gave him a withering look that immediately dampened his excitement. “They’re not in any danger,” she pointed out, “so what’s the point?” Of all the places to skulk around all night, this was a safe area for it. So who cared?