[Hrtofdrkns]

The boy slowly crawled out from the hole in the old building. It had kept the rain off of him at least, but he knew he'd freeze at night if he didn't find something better in a few hours. The rags he wore offered little protection, and he didn't dare try to make a fire. Not after what had happened last time.

Moving his long brown hair out of his green eyes, he tried to put that incident out of his mind. First things first, he needed to get something to eat.

****

One advantage of being small and ragged was that people rarely noticed him. He seemed to just fade into the background to most, just part of the scenery. And once their back's were turned his quick hands could get something from the market stalls. He'd been caught a few times of course, and been chased off by blows, but most of the venders just thought of him as a minor annoyance.

As he debated which vendor to hit he saw a woman pass him by holding a small canvas bag, with the smell of cooked meat coming from within. One of the meat pies from the second vendor to the right. The boy gulped as he imagined them. He'd only seen them from afar, and the baker had threatened him with a meat cleaver when he'd been caught sneaking up to his stall. He didn't dare try to steal from him again, but now maybe he could get one of the pies.

He slowly followed the woman, ducking behind barrels and into alleys when he thought she might see him. Gradually he moved closer, until her bag was just inside of his reach. He gave one last glance to see if she was paying attention, and reached into the bag.