The Fly Guild (9 page)

Quinton felt something bump into his
chest. He glanced down and saw a long, narrow dagger made of a steel so shiny
it glittered as if in sunlight, even though they were in a dark room. Its point
had already entered his tunic and he could feel it pricking his chest. Dying
over a scroll, he thought. How many different ways could the Fly Guild kill you
and what could be more mundane? The boy sighed, then quickly looked up and
said, “Yes!”

Glitter recoiled and stood up. The
long dagger disappeared in a flash back into the folds of her dress. She
grabbed the scroll from Quinton and walked back over to the table. She rolled
both scrolls up, added them into the pile and turned to face him.

“That was some courage you showed,
maggot, especially since you weren’t very sure of yourself,” she said, her
voice soft as her eyes studied him. There was a long pause as she stared at
him. “You were correct. The two words were the same. One was in the wizard
tongue and the other was from Crestmontia.”

Her eyes stared off into space for
a moment as she reflected on some deep thought.

“Mistress Glitter,” Quinton said
softly. “May I ask what the words mean?”

Her gaze fell on him once more and
a slight smile came to her lips. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she was, but
just as quickly as it came, it disappeared, leaving the dour woman behind. “Of
all the words on those scrolls,” she said, looking away again, “you picked
love. The word you picked out on both scrolls is love.” She was silent for a
moment, then regained her composure. When she started speaking again, her voice
was commanding, with a hint of evil in it.

“And in those scrolls,” she boomed,
the boys faces becoming wary of her wrath, “is the only place you’ll find
love.” She glowered at them one by one, and each one turned away, afraid to see
her face. Quinton, too, looked at the floor. He didn’t dare challenge her. “For
there is no love here. There never has been and there never will be. You will
serve the family until your miserable life comes to an end, whether that is
tonight or in a hundred years. The guild will be your surrogate parents. We are
the Fly Guild. We feed on the shit of society. We breed in their dead and we
feast on their garbage. We are insects in their world, but we are always
watching. We are always looking for a weakness, looking for an opportunity to
seize their place. They swat at us like an annoyance. Some of us will die, but
many others will live. One day, we will rise up and take what is ours. Some
day, we will no longer feast on their garbage. Some day, we will watch as the blood
drains from their bodies and we will laugh. For we have seen horrors beyond
horrors and nothing will stop us when the time comes. We care not for their art
or their literature. We study their words so as to know their minds. The arts
are the pursuits of the weak. They have everything, while we go hungry. But
soon, maggots, soon we will have our chance. That is why you must train. You
must be ready to serve the guild when the time comes.”

She paused and carefully looked at
each boy. “Do you understand?”

As one, every boy said loudly,
“Yes, Mistress!”

She nodded her approval. “You are
dismissed. Go and prey upon the wealthy so that your family may have a meal
tomorrow.”

The boys scrambled to get up and
get out of the room. Quinton got to his feet and made for the door, but Glitter
stepped in front of him.

“Who is your master?” she said
softly, a hint of danger in her voice.

Quinton looked at the floor. “I
serve Master Sands, Mistress.”

Her hand stroked his cheek and
glided under his chin, lifting it up so that he was looking into her pale blue
eyes again. He tried to keep his mind blank, fearing that she was reading his
thoughts.

“There’s something about you,” she
said, her voice trailing off. “I will speak to your master about it. That is
all.” She stepped aside and motioned him toward the door. He looked up at her
one more time before leaving, but her face was emotionless and she seemed
drained. He looked away and headed out the door.

Quinton rushed to catch up with the
other boys lest he not find his way out of the maze of doors and hallways to
the outside. They wound through several dark halls before coming to the room he
recognized being in earlier. He knew the door across the way led outside and he
followed the other boys out, but not before picking up a bag again. There was
no sign of Master Red eye this time.

The door opened into the darkness
of night. The air was still humid, but a bit cooler than it had been earlier. A
million stars lit the moonless sky, and Quinton might have enjoyed it for a
moment if it weren’t for the smell of human waste that hung in the air.

“Hey, there you are,” came a
familiar voice. It was Huck, who quickly bounded up beside him. “I was
beginning to think Glitter took you back to her room to have some fun with ya.”
He slapped Quinton on the back. “Ain’t she got nice tits?”

Quinton thought of those pale blue
eyes staring into him and shuddered. “Yeah, real nice,” he muttered.

“Don’t get confused though, she’s
real dangerous. She’s got this long dagger that … ”

“Glitters like sunlight,” Quinton
finished.

Huck stared at him, mouth agape.
“Yeah, you saw it already? On your first day? I didn’t see it for like a year.
How’d you manage that?”

He looked at the other boy and
said, “I guessed.”

Huck’s eyes went wide. “You what?”

“I guessed.”

“And she let you live?”

“I guessed right.”

Huck shook his head. “I can’t
believe it. You actually opened your mouth in her class? I should have told
you, but I thought it would be obvious. You keep your mouth shut in there.
She’s always holding up scrolls with all kinds of scribbles on them and you’re
supposed to remember them. Ain’t no way to do it, I tell ya. So you just be
quiet and pretend you don’t know nothin’. You never guess.”

“Well, I guessed. And I was right.”

Huck shook his head again. “Just
don’t do it again, because next time you’ll be wrong and you’ll be in the
river.”

“She said something about how we’ll
rise up and take our place one day, or something like that.”

“Yea, she gives that speech when
she gets really frustrated. I think she feels she should be some sort of
princess or something, but come on, she’s really just a whore with a nice
dagger when it comes down to it. Could you see her in a castle somewhere?”

“Don’t say that about her.”

“Say what?”

“Call her a whore.”

“But that’s what she was. Still is,
I suppose,” said Huck matter-of-factly.

“Don’t call her that,” said Quinton
becoming more annoyed, though he wasn’t sure why.

“Okay, no need to get all upset
about it. Didn’t know you fell in love with her after you looked at her big
scrolls.” He cupped his hands and held them in front of his chest, mimicking
breasts.

“I’m not in love with her. I just
feel bad for her for some reason.”

Huck laughed. “You’re something
else. Take a look at your own situation, would you? You’re a slave to the guild
just so you can get a bite to eat now and then. Our lives belong to someone
else. Forever. And you’re feeling bad for Mistress Bitch, who I’ve personally
seen gut three maggots over the last year and half? They were just kids who
didn’t know any better.”

Quinton frowned. “There are no kids
here. Only survivors.”

Huck looked at him and smiled. “Now
you’re talking. Now let’s go beat up some richies.”

Huck led him at a trot through the
darkened streets. At first Quinton recognized some of the streets and buildings
from earlier in the day, but then everything turned unfamiliar. Most of the
streets were dark, illuminated only by the stars’ faint light and the glow from
an occasional shuttered window. The modest three-0story buildings that
dominated the city rose up and disappeared into the night as they trotted past.
Quinton wondered what was going on inside each one of them, wondered if there
was a happy family inside with full stomachs and the hope of a brighter tomorrow.
He hoped so. He hoped somewhere there were some happy children.

At last they stopped in an alleyway
that intersected one of the main streets near the wall to the inner city. The
sounds of drunken revelry drifted down the narrow alley toward them. Huck
grabbed him by the arm and guided him to some empty crates that were piled
along one wall. They smelled of rotten food.

“Here,” said Huck. He pressed
something into Quinton’s hand. It was a small bag filled with sand. “I’ll bring
someone down, and when they pass you, hit them on the back of the head with
that. Got it?”

Quinton nodded, though the alley
was so dark he wondered if Huck could see his response. If he hadn’t, he didn’t
say anything, as he could already make out his outline against the glow from
the flames on the streetlamps ahead. He grasped the bag of sand tightly in his
hand, slumped down into the shadows of the crates, and waited. It wasn’t long
before he heard Huck’s voice.

“Hey, you need a girl?” he asked
someone. There were some unintelligible words muttered in response. “She’s a
virgin. Very young. She needs a man.”

There were more words muttered,
this time more excitedly. “Yeah, but she needs a man with some coins in his
pocket more than she needs her virginity. She told me to pick out the best man
I could find to deflower her, and I picked you.”

Quinton peered around the crates
and saw the silhouette of a short dumpy man coming down the alleyway with Huck
behind him. He quickly pulled back into the shadows, his palms sweating around
the smooth leather of the bag.

“Don’t worry, she’s near the other
end. She didn’t want anyone to see her. She’s kind of ashamed, you know. That’s
why she was hoping for someone with some experience. Are you experienced?”

Quinton heard the man snicker as he
walked by. His voice was hoarse and barely audible, but he heard, “Oh yeah,” as
he walked by. Quinton stepped out and swung the bag as hard as he could against
the man’s head. It made a strange snapping sound as it hit him. The man dropped
to the ground and lie unmoving.

“Perfect,” said Huck. The boy knelt
down and started going through the man’s pockets. His hands darted in and out
until a broad smile broke out on his face. “This is what we are looking for.”
He held out his hand. Quinton could see what looked like some small round
shapes in it, but it was too dark to make out any details. “At least five,
maybe six, and I think they’re silver. Now get ready to go again.”

“But what about him?” Quinton
asked, looking at the dark heap lying in the alley.

“He’s perfect,” said Huck. “Now get
in position.”

Several minutes passed at Huck
searched for the right victim. When he saw him, Quinton could hear his voice
again. “Please, master, my father has been beaten and robbed and is lying in
the alleyway. Won’t you please help me?”

“What?” came a voice from the
street that didn’t sound very sober but sounded like it was coming from a large
man. “What happened?”

“Bandits! They beat him and took
all our money and dragged him into the alleyway. Won’t you please help me bring
him out into the light? I’m afraid to go back in there.”

“Step aside.”

“He’s down the alley a bit. The
thieves ran off after they took his money, but I was afraid they would come
back if it were just me. Bless you, sir.”

A large, hulking figure passed by
the crates and stood over the unconscious man. “He looks pretty bad, son,” came
a deep voice.

Quinton stood up and hit the man
over the head, but the man just made what sounded like a growling sound and
stood there. Quinton cocked his arm and swung even harder. The bag bounced off
the man’s head, but again, he just stood there. He raised his arm to strike
again before the man could turn around, but Huck grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” he said. He reached out and
gently pushed the man. The hulk fell over on top of the other man, unmoving.
“Sometimes that happens. They’re knocked out, but they don’t fall over.” His
hands worked in and out of the man’s clothes, snatching every item of value,
which mainly consisted of a few coins. “Not bad, not bad,” he muttered. “Take
your position.”

Again, Quinton waited and then
heard Huck’s voice. “Sir, there are two men together in the alleyway committing
unnatural acts on one another. What should I do?”

There was a snarl and a commanding
voice yelled, “Out of the way, I’ll take care of the sinners.”

Quinton peeked around the corner
and saw the man walking down the alley with something in his hand. He was
armed! Huck hadn’t said anything about weapons. The man passed him by until he
was standing over the two bodies.

“All right you unnatural animals,
I’m going to teach you a lesson that you’ll … ”

Quinton struck the man over the
head, sending him toppling onto the other two. Huck took the small dagger from
the man’s hand, tucked it into his belt and searched him. “Yes!” he exclaimed.
“This one’s loaded. The self-righteous always are. You are good luck. I’ve
found probably ten coins on this one.”

One of the men moaned, but it was
too dark to tell which one.

“Come on,” urged Huck. “Time to
move on before they wake up.” Quinton followed him out of the alley and into
the street. They were at the end of what appeared to be the main area for
nighttime action. People wandered to and fro, some drunk, some not. Huck made
his way up the street and Quinton started to recognize some of the buildings.

“This is Pismire Street,” said
Quinton, recognizing the pink building and the gate at the far end.

“Very good, maggot,” replied Huck.
“You learn fast. That’s good, because it’s the only way to stay alive for very
long.” He led them right up to the Pink Lady along the side next to a wide
wooden door. “We’ll play escorts for a while and let things settle down a bit.
All you do is wait for someone to come out. The girls will set you up once they
see you. You help the guy along and help steady him, and when you do, reach
into any pocket and grab whatever is in there. If you’re careful, you can clean
him completely out. Once you got everything, send him off in a random direction
and head back here for another one.”