The God in the Shadows (The Story at the Heart of the Void Book 1)

by TorVald, Nikolas

  Sara laughed too, bringing her head up to meet his gaze, then suddenly looked down again. “But what will Matt say. I have to go back to the alley, he might show up and then he’d be worried sick about me since I’m not there.”

  Renth sighed, shaking his head slowly. “Tell you what little girl. You let me know where you and Matt stay, and I’ll send one of my children around to see if he shows up. When is he supposed to be there anyways?”

  Sara looked down, tears starting to form in her eyes, “He was supposed to be back two days ago!” she sobbed.

  Renth looked down sadly, and gave a sigh, his long hands clasped in front of him, resting on his long black cloak, “Ah, child. I’m sorry child. But if your friend has been missing for two days, then he’s not coming back. I’ll still send one of my boys around, tomorrow morning let’s say. But you had better stay here with us.”

  Sara sat down on the dirt floor of the building, hard. She looked up at Renth, then turned to Jonah, both looked at her with immeasurably sad eyes. She burst out crying, and stayed that way for five minutes. Jonah sat down beside her and pulled her into a tight hug which Sara went into with desperation, needing someone to share her sorrow. When she finally looked up, feeling numb and not caring about the consequences of her actions, she told Renth, “I live in the slums, when you enter from main street you go straight, then take the third left, first right, second right, first left and then it’s the alleyway on the right with the boards stuck between the two buildings. There’s some money hidden in a little pocket underneath the blanket.”

  Renth smiled at her, “Alright child. Whoever I send tomorrow will also collect your things. Why don’t you stay here tonight and we’ll talk about what you can do for us in the morning?”

  Sara nodded, then scooted her way over to one of the corners of the small basement. She was left alone for a little while, then Jonah came over to her and gently took the squash. He walked over towards Renth who handed him a large knife and he cut the squash into small pieces. Then he walked back over to Sara. Putting the pieces of squash in her lap, he snagged one before she could eat it. “I told you I’d get a little piece.” he said, smiling down at her. Sara gave a small smile in return, then began eating mechanically, thoughts reverberating sickeningly in her head. It was impossible for Matt to be dead. He’d always been in her life, he’d saved her when she was first out on the street. He’d kept her alive with the money he made. The dangers of the slum life were for other people, not Matt. Sometimes he came back late, that was all. Nothing could happen to him. Sara squeezed her eyes shut tightly, because apparently something had. Something which meant he was never coming back.

  Curling into a ball, the remains of the squash showing in small stains across her shift, Sara closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep. No dreams disturbed her slumber and when she woke up light was streaming through the cracks in the closed door that she and Jonah had gone through the previous day. Renth looked over at her and smiled widely, with surprise she saw that he still had all his teeth. In the slums people half Renth’s age were usually toothless. “Feeling any better today?” he asked her kindly. Sara nodded slowly. “Good, I sent Jonah to the directions you gave us yesterday and he should be back soon. That way we’ll get any news about your Matt and we can decide what’s going to happen with you.”

  As he finished speaking, the door opened and Jonah came tramping down the steps. He looked over to where Sara sat curled against the corner, staring at him with wide eyes. Then he walked over to Renth, “No sign of Matt.” he whispered, but Sara’s ears were sharp enough to pick up what he had said. Standing bolt upright, she walked over to where Jonah and Renth were standing.

  Renth glared at Jonah, “Say that loud enough do you think?” he asked sarcastically. Then he wrapped his long arms around Sara and pulled her into a hug. She clung tightly to the old man and looked over at Jonah who was staring apologetically back at her.

  “I did find the money she talked about,” he said putting a hand in his pocket and pulling out a small handful of coins, “I thought it would just be one or two coppers, but look.” he opened his hand, and in the center the silver sat gleaming dully.

  Renth pulled back from Sara and looked at her curiously, “Where did you get that from?” he asked her.

  Sara shrugged uncomfortably, “A man gave it to me when I was begging one day.”

  Renth laughed, “Yes, I have no doubt about that, but this isn’t your usual silver.” he frowned thoughtfully at it, “In fact, I’ve never seen a silver like this at all.”

  Sara shifted from foot to foot, “Is that good?” she asked, letting a tinge of hope enter her voice. She certainly hoped it wasn’t bad. That would probably mean she would get kicked out of the house.

  Renth jerked his head up when Sara asked her question, he seemed to have forgotten that she was there at all. “No, no. It’s just fine.” he said, smiling and slipping the coin into his coat pocket. Then his tone turned brisk and business like, “Now, if you’re planning to keep living with us, you’re going to have to work for it. We let you keep the squash yesterday, because clearly you needed it but if you want to stay you’ll have to steal more. You keep half of what you steal and I keep half. If someone doesn’t come back with anything we help them out. If someone continually comes back with nothing then they have to leave. This is a business, not a charity. I teach you children how to steal then you go out and steal anything you can get your hands on. Food, money, jewelry, I don’t really care. You come back here. The food is easy to divide. I take all the jewelry and sell it through my connections, and I break down the larger coins to coppers so that you don’t look suspicious when you buy stuff. Any time you’re not stealing you can do what you want around the city. Just don’t get in trouble with the guards. I can get you out of the guardhouse, but you’ll be spending a night there at the very least, and that is not fun. So, you’ve heard the rules – will you be staying with us? Or will you go back to the slums?”

  Sara thought for a moment, she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of stealing for a living. Matt’s lessons were still in her head and it felt almost disrespectful to ignore them so willfully. But the idea of going back to the slums with no one to protect her was horrifying. And it had been fun to steal the squash the previous day. She wanted to do something like that again. “I’ll stay with you.” she said, and felt a bloom of satisfaction in her breast.

  Renth smiled, “Okay. First thing is to get you some clothes you can wear around the city. It may be fine to run around in a shift in the slums but that gets you picked up for public indecency in the city proper.”

  Sara looked down at her clothes in surprise, they weren’t great, or even very good, at keeping her warm but they had always been enough in the past. She looked at to Jonah to get his opinion but he had nodded his agreement at Renth’s statement straight away so Sara supposed they must be right. Renth continued talking, “Next thing, you won’t be going out into the city and stealing for a little while, our charity extends that far at least. First I’ll be teaching you the basics of pick pocketing, stealth, and choosing a fat mark. Then we’ll teach you every single way to get here, our little castle, so that you can escape the guards in an instant. When you’ve got all that down you start stealing. Each of my children is an investment to me, and I don’t want to be losing you on your first day out because of poor training on my part.”

  “Now,” Renth said, “you get to meet the crew. Charles, Marie, Johny, James, and Grace.” the five shapes that had been hidden under blankets all of the previous day and that morning tumbled out of their covers. Charles was a good natured looking boy, maybe fifteen, who was slightly chubby. Marie was an attractive girl with long red hair who looked around seventeen and viewed Sara with distaste. Johny was a young child of maybe ten, covered in dirt who seemed to be looking to Renth for guidance. James and Grace had tumbled out of their sheets at the same time and stood holding each other arm in arm, they were siblings by the look of it and Sar
a’s suspicions were confirmed when Renth named them, ‘the twins.’ Jonah had left the room when Renth began introducing the other children, but he came back when Renth was done with clothing for Sara. He dropped a pair of trousers and a relatively clean shirt in front of her. The shirt was a dark green and the trousers were black, each was stained with dirt in various places but they were clean relative to what she was wearing. Then Jonah retreated to stand next to Marie.

  As Sara picked up the clothes Jonah had given her, Renth turned to look at her. “And what might your name be?” he asked kindly.

  Sara almost said her name, but a voice in the back of her head stopped her. If she was going to live here from now on, going to start a whole new life, then it felt right to wipe the slate totally clean. She wouldn’t get another chance to tell these people her name, and if she said it was ‘Sara’ that would be a constant reminder of what had happened with Matt. A voice broke into Sara’s thoughts, from the back of her head. It whispered a name, one name, over and over again. A ridiculously long name which she could never go by. A name which brought up an uncomfortable memory Sara couldn’t quite reach. But the name could be altered, altered quite nicely. “Selth.” Sara whispered to Renth, “My name is Selth.”

  “That’s a lovely name,” Renth said smiling down at her, his bony hands clasped together in front of him, moving back and forth in satisfaction, “and I’m sure you’ll love it here.”

  4

  Training a Thief

  Az’emon destroyed a universe today. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to manipulate Chaos itself, but now I believe it is. The paths that have opened up from this are wonderful, but I do fear the destruction will drive more of my companions to Shattrenlix.

  – Journal of Selthraxadinian Rothinunuss, Lord of Light and Darkness

  Jonah and the other five children in Renth’s care made their way out of the dark basement to begin their day of thieving and Selth picked up the clothes Jonah had given her. Renth smiled, “come upstairs and meet me when you’re done changing.” he indicated a rickety looking ladder that went up through a hole in the corner of the ceiling. Selth nodded and after Renth had gone up the ladder, she stripped off her filthy shift and pulled on the trousers and shirt. She felt uncomfortable about doing so as she was still incredibly dirty from the slums and didn’t want to get clothes she had just been given so dirty when she put them on. The trousers were made of some sort of soft fabric and the shirt was made of the same stuff and they were far nicer than anything she’d worn before. With a sigh of satisfaction Selth forgot her reservations about the clothing and cast around for a cord to hold up her trousers. Jonah had dropped one on the ground with the other clothes and when she found it Selth used it to tie up her trousers, since they were too big by far. In that outfit, she cautiously went up the ladder Renth had used earlier.

  Sticking her head through the hole in the ceiling, Selth saw that the upstairs section of the house was far nicer than the area downstairs. A real bed stood in one corner of the room and there was a table in the center. A massive chest was backed up against one wall, a lock securing it, and the keys were hanging off Renth’s belt. Seeing her hesitating, Renth waved her up cheerfully, “We’ll start with something simple, take the keys off my belt without me noticing.”

  Selth climbed the rest of the way out of the basement and looked curiously at the keys hanging off Renth’s belt. Seeing the way she stared Renth laughed, “Looks easy yes, but we’re doing this until you get it perfect.”

  Selth smiled, “Alright then. Let’s do it.”

  “Eager are we?” Renth laughed, “Okay. I’m going to turn around and move back and forth, you take the keys and if I notice what you’re doing, we start over.” he turned and began doing exactly that, shuffling back and forth as though he were moving along an invisible counter, preparing food.

  Selth started forward as soon as Renth began moving, a part of her mind started screaming at her that she was doing it all wrong but Selth pushed that away. Floor boards creaked under her feet as she moved forward and when she reached out to snag the keys Renth’s hand came down and caught Selth’s in a crushing grip.

  “Not such a nice try.” he said, turning around to grin down at her. She scowled up at him and Renth released her hand. She backed up to where she had stood before, rubbing the sore spot Renth had left on her wrist, “You’ll have to be a bit more careful than that if you want to sneak up on me.”

  “Fine then.” Selth snarled, annoyed at how easily he had noticed her. “Let’s try this again.”

  Renth shrugged his shoulders, “Not like you have much choice in that matter girl.” he turned and began his slow shuffle back and forth once more.

  This time Selth stayed still for a full minute, trying to read how to get close to Renth without him noticing. Finally, she gave up on that and just tried to step as carefully as possible. A floorboard creaked with her first step and by the time Selth got close to Renth she could have sworn her beating heart had given her away. The voice in the back of her mind was once more screaming at her that she was doing everything wrong but Selth stoically ignored that. She wasn’t going to listen to voices like some crazy person. When she reached out for the keys Renth grabbed her arm in the same crushing grip as before. With a cry of frustration Selth pulled herself free and moved back to her starting position.

  “What’s the matter girl?” Renth asked, but a malicious knowledge shone from his eyes. “Having a bit of trouble?”

  “Why do you grab so hard?” Selth complained from where she stood, still rubbing her arm in pain.

  “Do you think the city guard will go easy on you if they catch you? Huh?” Renth demanded, anger tinging his voice, “Do you think they’re going to care if you complain that they’re hurting you?” he shook his head in disgust, “They don’t! So when you make a mistake here, you get punished and that punishment is pain because that’s how the real world works.”

  Selth scowled at Renth’s back when he turned back around. How dare he treat her in that way! A voice rumbled from the back of Selth’s mind. She smiled cruelly as Renth began shuffling back and forth again. If he wanted the real world, then she would give him the real world. In the real world, people went crazy, they listened to voices. Well maybe she’d accept a little crazy of her own. She let the voice from the back of her head come to the forefront. It felt like sliding back into an old skin and she gave a small shudder at the idea, hastily shoving it away. She didn’t know why she felt that way but it was not something she was going to acknowledge. All this was looking for any edge she might get. But when she let that voice take preeminence in her mind Selth felt something change. The wooden boards of the floor screamed with meaning, showing bad places and good places to step on each individual board. Renth’s walk suddenly became a tidal wave of knowledge about the man in general. Everything from a limp he had developed as a young man to the cocky arrogance he had that she would fail continuously all that day. The walk showed her exactly when Renth would reach various safe paths she could travel to reach him. The walk showed her how exactly she should lift the key so that he wouldn’t notice that he was missing anything. Selth almost collapsed as the information overloaded her senses.

  “I’m waiting kid.” Renth called out as he began his return shuffle, “You gonna try any time soon?” Selth shook her head to clear it of the overwhelming flood of information. She focused on her objective and suddenly everything narrowed down to that point. Only the relevant information came to her. Everything else was still there but it was as though it was washing over and around her without leaving a mark. Calmly Selth walked forwards, placing her feet deliberately. She didn’t exaggerate the need for stealth, taking large steps so as to see exactly where she was putting her feet. But she also didn’t ignore the need entirely as she had before. Instead she walked as she would normally, but instead of letting her feet stamp to the ground noisily she placed them with no force behind the foot, letting her weight roll smoothly and silently with
each movement. She stepped only on the places where no sound would be made and as she came to a spot where she could reach Renth’s path the old thief came shuffling towards her. Selth gingerly reached out a hand as the old man passed her and with an easy movement relieved him of his keys. She spun slowly and gently made her way back towards her starting point before turning to look back at him.

  “I’m still waiting.” he called out, actually starting to laugh. “Are you going to start moving any time soon? We’re doing this all day until you actually try something.”

  Selth laughed, “Turn around.” she said dangling the keys so that they jangled together. Renth spun about, his mouth dropping. He put his hands to where the keys had been hanging from a hook on his belt, then shook his head in shock, disbelieving what his eyes told him.

  “How did you do that?” he stammered out, alternating between staring in shock at the keys and rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “No one ever gets it their first day!” he suddenly shouted, “How did you get that task your third time?”

  Selth shrunk back, scared at Renth’s tone of voice. “I . . . I . . . I don’t know!” she cried out, “I was angry at you because you were hurting me and there was this voice in my head that kept saying it could do the task.” it felt as though something were wrenching on Selth’s head, trying to keep her from speaking. With a cry she hurled the voice, the power, which had helped her steal back to the back of her mind. She collapsed on the floor and Renth came hurrying towards her.

  “What voice child?” he asked, concern flooding his voice, “What just happened? You can trust me, child. I’m here to help you.”