Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (10 page)

It was over
two hours before Shady spotted a likely subject.  Ramaeka waited as patiently
as he could, leaning against the wall of a meat shop, looking as innocent as
possible.  Stripe was positioned somewhere above him on the roof of one of the
buildings.  It was cold, drizzling and he was terribly bored.  Shivering he
pulled the over large coat that Stripe had given him tightly around his body,
scanning the street impatiently.

Finally Shady
gestured for Ramaeka to join him from an alley nearby.  He walked over as
inconspicuously as he could, following Shady as he climbed up some crates onto
the roof.  They joined Stripe several buildings down.  He was lying on his
stomach despite the rain leaking through his clothes.  Ramaeka copied his position
and leaned over.  The street below was surprisingly busy considering the weather;
people bustled back and forth between the shops.

“That’s our
target,” Shady announced pointing at a large beefy man with unfortunate taste
in clothing.

“He looks like
a giant plum,” giggled Ramaeka staring at the purple velvet clad figure. 
Stripe sniggered beside him.  Looking over the street Ramaeka noticed a tall
arrogant looking man who was staring over the street, a sneer of disdain
twisting his face. 

“What about him?”
he asked curiously.

Shady rolled
his eyes and pointed to several tough looking men standing nearby. 

“That’s why,”
he told him.  “Those men are guarding him; it’s not worth the risk, even if he
does have anything on him.”

Watching
Ramaeka realised it was true.  Still there was something about the tall man
that called to his instincts.

“Come on then,”
Shady said impatiently.  He wriggled back, out of sight of the street.  Ramaeka
hastily followed, Stripe shot him an encouraging grin before turning back.  Shady
led him to the corner of the street.

“You know what
to do?” he asked coolly.

Ramaeka nodded
quickly, pushing away the excited fluttering in his stomach to concentrate on
the task at hand.  As Shady left, Ramaeka confidently walked around the corner. 
He casually glanced around as he did noting the purple man on his left several
lengths down the street.  Several men with swords wandered past him, joking
with each other.  Movement caught his eye.  The tall arrogant man was moving
slowly down the street from his right.  As he walked Ramaeka noticed him glance
at the purple man.  It was only a quick look but it made Ramaeka suspicious. 
Something strange was going on here.

The purple man
walked into the middle of the street and began to walk towards Ramaeka with a
mincing swagger.  This was too easy thought Ramaeka as he realised that the man
would walk past just inches away with his money purse in the pocket closest to
Ramaeka.  He glanced up at the tall man again, he was looking out over the
street as if casually observing the passer-by’s, he was also looking in
Ramaeka’s direction. 

At the last
second Ramaeka made a quick decision and continued walking past the purple man
without making a move.  He continued up the street before stopping in front of
a grocery shop a few lengths down from the tall man.

He looked back
casually to see Shady’s scowling face as the older boy slouched down the
street.  As he passed the purple man his hand flicked out the way Ramaeka’s
should have and secured the purple man’s money purse before he continued past. 
It happened so fast that a casual observer would not have noticed the
movement.  Ramaeka was not a casual observer and neither, it seemed, was the
tall man.

He gave a
shout and pointed at Shady who immediately took off.  The men guarding the tall
man immediately took off after him as did the tall man himself.  He shoved
Ramaeka out of the way as he stepped back to watch the events, and raced off
down the street.

Ramaeka shoved
his purse into his jacket and casually made his way down the street.  Once he
stepped around the corner he took off in the opposite direction to Shady, he
knew that Stripe would have followed his friend to see if he could help. 
Several blocks away he stopped, panting, outside the doorstep that he had first
met Makkie on.  He had visited her several times since, to everyone’s shock. 
He knocked twice, slipping in as soon as the door opened.

“What’s
happened?” Makkie demanded as she pulled him into the one dingy room.  He
leaned against the wall getting his breath back, pulling the torturous boots
off his sore feet.

“The job I was
doing went a bit wrong,” he admitted.  “I don’t know where Shady and Stripe
are, but Shady could be in a bit of trouble.”

“Stay here,”
she ordered.  “I’ll go see what I can find out.  I’ll knock three times when I
get back.”

He nodded and
settled back to wait.  He desperately hoped that Shady hadn’t been caught or
hurt.  The older boy had been cruel to him but Ramaeka didn’t want anything to
happen to him.  And he would never forgive himself if something happened to
Stripe.

After an hour
someone knocked three times on the door.  Ramaeka yanked it open expecting to
see Makkie.  Stripe and Shady quickly pushed their way into the room closing
the door behind them.  They were both out of breath and Ramaeka quickly found a
couple of cracked glasses and a jug of water.  Stripe smiled tiredly at him as
he gave him glass.

“Are you ok?”
he asked anxiously.

“We’re ok,”
replied Stripe.  “Makkie saw us hiding behind some rubbish and told us to come
here.”

“She’s finding
out what happened,” he added seeing the concerned look on Ramaeka’s face.

“This is all
your fault,” Shady snarled suddenly standing up and shoving Ramaeka backwards. 
  

Annoyed
Ramaeka pushed him away, Shady wasn’t that much taller than him despite the
fact that he was four years older, and Ramaeka was tired of being pushed
around.

“It was a set
up,” he told them.  “It’s not my fault you made an attempt before I could tell
you.”

“He’s right,”
Stripe interrupted.  Shady glared at him furiously. 

“You would
take your little pet’s side,” he growled.

“Because he’s
right,” Stripe glared right back.  “It’s always been the rule, if the hand
pulls out we wait to find out what happened before we make another attempt. 
Ramaeka did the right thing.”

“Well now were
gonna have to ditch the city and we needed that purse,” Shady said sulkily.

“What happened
to the purse?” he asked.

“It was full
of bits metal, no coins,” replied Stripe sadly.  “It was a complete failure.”

“Well actually,”
Ramaeka said calmly.  “If you would both shut up for a second I could tell you
what happened.” 

He quickly
described the way the tall man had been acting and why he had kept walking. 
Just as he finished someone knocked three times on the door.  He quickly jumped
up and let Makkie in.  She smiled at them.

“You wouldn’t
believe what’s going on out there,” she said.

“What happened?”
Stripe asked quickly.

“Turns out
that man you hit was Lord Apella,” she grinned.  “He’s the richest and most
miserly noble in the area, he’s absolutely furious.”

“The purple
man?” Shady asked in surprise.

“No he was
just a decoy, Apella is a tall man.”

“Does he look
like he’s eating something sour all the time?” Ramaeka interrupted.

“That’s the
one,” she said amused.  “He’s looking everywhere for you.  I can’t believe you
managed to hit him despite the decoy and all the guards.”  She looked at them
with respect.

“But we…,”
Stripe trailed off and looked at Ramaeka’s grinning face.

“I can’t
believe it,” Shady looked at him in shock.

Beaming
triumphantly Ramaeka pulled out the bulging purse and chucked it to the dark
haired boy.  With a whoop, Stripe grabbed Ramaeka into a bear hug, spinning him
around, while Shady stared open mouthed at the coins in his hand.

They slipped
out of the city by the cover of night.  Ramaeka and Stripe had made a trip back
to Ma Dresden’s to collect their things, making sure to tip her generously from
their new riches.  From the resigned expression on her face Ramaeka guessed she
knew where the money had come from though she didn’t say anything.  The kitchen
staff had tearfully piled large amounts of food into a pack for Ramaeka,
ruffling his hair and pushing cakes into his hands as he sadly waved good bye. 
Ma had laughed at his sad face and given him a hug.

“I have no
doubt we’ll be seeing you again one day you little rogue.”  She looked at
Stripe.  “Take care of him and yourself lad, there’s some nasty people and
beasts roaming the hills at the moment, especially with Gasha about again.”

 She waved
goodbye to them both as they headed out to meet Makkie and Shady at the wall. 
Makkie hugged Ramaeka and also told Stripe to look after him before
disappearing into the shadows.  As if he couldn’t look after himself, Ramaeka
thought amused as he watched her leave.

“I left her
some coins,” Shady told Ramaeka gruffly.

Ramaeka looked
up at him in surprise, then gave him a quick smile.

“Thanks,” he
said softly.

“We owed her,”
Shady replied looking away as if bored.

Ramaeka smiled
to himself.

“So let’s see
you climb then monkey,” Stripe said cheerfully.

“What’s a
monkey?” he asked confused.  Stripe just gave him a shove and pointed up.

Ramaeka bound
easily up the wall and dropped down the other side.  Shady and Stripe quickly
followed him and they jogged away from the city.

They stopped
for a break after five hours of running.  Ramaeka pulled out some of the fresh
bread and cheese that the kitchen staff had packed for the three of them to
share. 

“So where are
we heading now?” he asked as they quietly ate their food.

“We’re heading
home,” Stripe replied.  “Our home city, Porkae, is about three weeks travelling.”

“Depending if
we get attacked or eaten by dragons, or worse,” Shady said moodily.

“We’ve made
the trip before,” Stripe rolled his eyes then yawned.  “Why don’t we keep
running for a few more hours then stop for the rest of the day?” he asked
tiredly.  “I could use some sleep.”

The other two
agreed and they picked up their packs and headed out again.

They stopped
again after four hours in a small well hidden glade that Shady spotted.  The
weather was cold but fine and they caught up with some rest.  Ramaeka was the
first to wake up.  Yawning he headed into the trees to relieve himself and find
some water to wash his face with.  He found a small brook only a few minutes’
walk away; the water was ice cold and refreshing.  As he splashed it on his
face he noticed several decent sized fish.  Dinner he thought happily, he would
get Stripe and the two of them could set up some lines.  Cheerfully he headed
back to camp.  Both Stripe and Shady were awake when he got back in.  Stripe
was cleaning his sword, something Ramaeka privately thought he was overly
obsessed with.

“There’s some
decent sized fish swimming in the stream,” he told Stripe flopping down beside
him.

“Excellent,”
Stripe replied happily, sliding his sword into its sheath and placing it
carefully beside his pack.

“I’ll grab the
lines if you want to find some bait.”

Ramaeka nodded
in agreement and jumped up to search for insects in the soil outside of camp. 
If there were no insects he would use bits of meat from their supplies, however
it was better to save that as much as possible.  He quickly found some useful
looking grubs and worms and placed them into a bundle of cloth.

As he walked
back through their small camping site, Shady passed him.  As he passed Ramaeka
he shoved him out of the way.  Ramaeka winced as he hit his back against a
tree; he managed to keep a hold on this bundle of bugs however.  Stripe walked
over and hauled him to his feet.  Ramaeka scowled to himself as they headed to
the stream, he had thought that he had left that sort of thing behind when he
had escaped from his family.  He and Stripe cast their lines silently then sat
back to enjoy the peace.

“He’s jealous
you know.”

Ramaeka looked
up in surprise as Stripe spoke.  Stripe looked at him sheepishly. 

“It’s just
always been the two of us you see, since I was six and he was eight, and he’s
always been really bad at sharing.”

“It’s ok,”
Ramaeka told him.  “I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Still you
shouldn’t have to,” Stripe told him firmly.  “I’ll have a word to him later.”

“How did the
two of you meet?” he asked curiously.

“I ran away
from home when I was six,” Stripe paused for a moment thoughtfully.  “I was
sick of being locked up in the cellar or beaten by my family, so I just ditched
one day and headed on to the streets.  Shady found me running away after I
tried to steal an apple from this huge vendor.  He took me under his wing and
taught me how to survive pretty much; he’s like a brother to me.”

Ramaeka
nodded.  “I wish I had someone like that when I was growing up,” he told Stripe
wistfully.  Stripe laughed. 

“What do you
mean when you were growing up?  You’re still only a kid.  Anyway you have me;
you’re like my little brother.”  He grinned at Ramaeka who could only beam
back; his throat seemed to have swollen for some reason.  Stripe clapped him on
the back and lay back to enjoy the sunshine.

It was five
days after their conversation when Stripe came racing into camp just as Shady
and Ramaeka were finishing the breakfast clean up.  Ramaeka watched in surprise
as his friend shoved dirt on the embers of their cooking fire.

“Quick, pack
up,” he hissed at them.  They did so as fast and silently as they could. 
Within minutes they were ready to go and Stripe beckoned them to follow him.