The Nook-Veizla
The street kids of southside Rundell share spoils and stories in their hideaway. But some of the stories are darker and troubling.
Previously in this story arc;
And if you are new here, check out my best approximation of a table of contents.
โSo then I kicked him in the shin and punched him in the balls!โ Iatr mimed his offensive actions, then threw his hands in the air in victory. He was standing atop a water stained storage crate, flipped upside down to create an impromptu theatre stage for his rapt audience of homeless street urchins. Three of the pre-teens โoooโdโ at the heroic display of street smart combat. [1]
1 - They knew the rules. Never fight clean with the cops or any adult trying to grab you. Thatโs how you wound up in the โsystem,โ hauled off to the war, or dead in a dark and trash filled alleyway. They all knew to punch the cops in the balls.ย
It was the way.ย
The fact that this had never happened in the events inspiring Iatrโs story was irrelevant. Any story about escaping the city watch had to include a gratuitous ball-punching scene for it to be a proper story.
This was also the way.
There was a small crowd of homeless kids gathered in the โNookโ tonight. Word of Iatr and Klemโs daring raid on the Kastan street market square had gone around to the local southside street kids, and several of them had made the trip over to join in the spoils of war and here a good tale of sticking it to the man. Or more specifically, sticking it to โthe manโs balls.โย
The Nook was an old sewer junction that remained unusually dry during most seasons due to several collapsed sewer tunnels. Despite how high the waters got, runoff mostly went around this dry little island of sewer infrastructure. This kind of prime underground real estate would never be held by a pack of semi-feral children, if it werenโt for the interesting anomaly that the only ways in and out were sub-adult sized. So it occupied an interesting ecosystem niche in the cityโs underground, as a hideaway for a bunch of kids still too small to be locked out of it by late puberty.ย
No one was ever banished. You just grew too big to come back one day.ย
So ownership of the Nook was determined by who could steal enough food to share, and told the best stories at night. It wasnโt a large hideaway, so many kids who lacked the skill to maintain a โseatโ in the Nook slept elsewhere, and only stopped by when there was a โNook-Veizla.โ[2]ย
2 - Meaning โFestival of the Nook.โย
The equivalent of a community potluck. When there were spoils and stories.ย
Like tonight.ย
โAnd while the guard rolled around on the ground like a drunk and crippled ogre, I snatched his coin purse!โ Iatr continued to an additional round of cheers. Iatr held up the supposed coin purse, which looked the same as any other coin purse any adult may carry, city watchman or not. The only thing better than punching a watchman in the privates was stealing his money. These kids may reject the authority of adults and the crown, but they were inherently practical about it. Survival comes first.ย
โThen the cowardly watchman on horseback tried to snatch me!โ Iatr said, cowering as if in fear of a giant lumbering above him. He paused, glanced at the watching kids, winked, and then whipped out his knife from his belt as if he were a duelling Samurai cutting his opponentโs throat, striking a pose. [3]
3 - It was a fine cut.ย
Iatr, a 13 year old Rundellian street criminal, was versed in the small blade and a veteran of two street duels.
He had been cut in one of them.ย
But they werenโt to the death.ย
They werenโt barbarians.
So he was 1 to 1.
ย By his younger audienceโs standards, Iatr was basically a war hero.
โSo I cut his saddle out from underneath him, and laughed as the watchman tumbled off his horse and onto his fallen ball-kicked comrade!โ Iatr said, standing up in another victorious pose. The crowd cheered again.
โAnd then!โ Iatr said, his voice dropping into a hush.ย
The kids leaned forward in excited anticipation.
Iatr held the silence for a little *too* long.ย
โI stole HIS purse!โ he said, holding up a second purse.ย
The crowd erupted in cheers. [4]
4 - The fact that neither of these purses came from city watchmen was, again, completely irrelevant.
Facts and good stories rarely intermingle for long. They usually just have one night stands and then misinterpret the events to mean more than they actually did.
โFinally the scoundrel who accused meโฆ ME of being a thief and a con artist!โ Iatr paused his speech as the audience booed, โtried to grab me, to which I grabbed a sack of flour and slammed it into HIS balls! It exploded and painted everyone around us white!โ The boos shifted to cheers at the unexpected visual of a flour-y sacking.ย
โAnd then I dumped a box of apples on the ground as half a dozen more guards charged me, sending them all to their knees and backs as they tripped and slipped on the apples!โ
Strangely this imagery, while visually amazing didnโt land with the audience as well. Food waste wasnโt popular amongst the chronically hungry youth compared to violence perpetrated upon a watchmanโs privates. The cheers were half-hearted, and threw Iatr off his rhythm. Heโd been on a bit of a tear this evening until now.ย
โAt which pointโฆโ he fumbled behind him in his props box, awkwardly pulling out a small satchel, and held it up.
โKlem leapt from the shadows, and stole THEIR purses!โ Iatr exclaimed, upending the bag and dumping out several anonymous looking coin purses. There were some confused cheers to this.
One kid with shoulder length greasy brown hair that hadnโt met a comb it couldnโt swallow whole, opened their mouth and said, โWhatโฆ all six of them? At once? Thatโsโฆ ridiculous!โ There were mutterings amongst the crowd as they each did a quick internal assessment of how long it would take them to cut six purses from guardsmen lying on the ground. The math wasnโt looking good for Iatr.ย
โWellโฆ there may only have been four guards,โ Iatr said a little sheepishly.
The greasy haired kid didnโt let up, โThere are seven coin purses on the ground!โ
โUhhโฆ they were packing double? Mostly?โ Iatr doubled down, his anxiety now on display.ย
The kids booed this turn in the story and a couple of them grabbed the purses off the ground and tossed them at Iatr. Proving it pays to have an editor for your stories, and to double check your props ahead of any public performance. [5]
5 - This is not the first time Iatr had been pelted off the stage in the nook.ย
The Nookians were pretty forgiving of his tall tales as they were *usually* entertaining enough to suspend disbelief.
However, he had a problem with chronic over-embellishment and self-aggrandisement.
No one questioned that he clearly belonged on stage.
Whether as a storyteller or tomato magnet depended on the night.
But Iatr was a scrapper and not one to pass up a good opportunity to give back. His coin purse pelting off stage turned into a full blown โdodge the coin purseโ game that left more than a couple of the Nookians with semi serious welts by the end of the game. The fact that all the coin purses were filled with small pebbles (and not coins) didnโt help matters one bit.
It was, however, generally agreed to be a fine evening of entertainment for a Nook-Veizla.
โYou know I donโt mind you telling the victory tales during the nook-veizla, but did you really have to steal my move?โ Klem said, feeling annoyed that once again Iatr took credit for one of Klemโs victories. This was a common theme in their relationship. Iatrโs commitment to being the hero of his own stories lead to editorial decisions around accrediting Klem with genuine achievements of his own.
โWe talked about this! You were going to be the hero who stole all the purses at the end, and come out of nowhere to have your big moment!โ Iatr said, a little weasel-y.
โI told you no one was going to buy six coin purse cuts at once. Iโm not Flake Shadow,โ Klem said sullenly. [6]
6 - No one was Flake Shadow. He was an entirely made up character.
โBut you COULD be,โ Iatr said encouragingly. The reality was that Klem was faster on foot and the blade than Iatr, and this fact contributed in no small way to Iatrโs need to constantly prove himself. Or to make up stories that made him seem like the more competent of the two.
โNawโฆ Flake Shadow is like six and a half feet tall, and can walk through walls,โ Klem said wistfully.
โI heard Flake Shadow doesnโt walk through walls, but walls get out of his way or he punches them,โ Iatr said confidently.
โYea, and no one ever hears the wall fall that Flake Shadow punches,โ Klem adds, leaning into the time-honoured game of Flake Shadowisms.
โThatโs cause Flake Shadow punches the wall in the throat so it canโt scream,โ Iatr escalated.
The conversation about the fictional hero and his anthropomorphized victim of a wall continued for a few minutes, ultimately reaching a pinnacle of absurdity when Flake apparently acquired the power to punch the wall into purgatory, whereupon it was reincarnated as a rat that Flake later killed with a disapproving stare. [7]
7 - Some heroes wear capes. If the cape is lucky, Flake Shadow uses it as a doormat.
The Nook-Veizla had been a successful event, and as per the rules of the Nook, Iatr and Klem had secured themselves beds until they were unseated by a more generous contribution to the Nook-veizla by one of the other kids. Luckily for them, theyโd had a pretty good run of luck. Since there were four spots to sleep, Iatr and Klem were sharing the space with two others.
It was a strange but effective system for ensuring mutual social support amongst the kids of the south east side Rundellian street dwellers. Everyone got a weekly meal and a story when times were bad, and when times were good, you got a decent place to sleep in exchange for sharing your riches. The competitive allure of being a King of the Nook led to boldness in criminal enterprises, which always made for good stories if not successful acquisitions.ย
They heard that the northside kids fought with knives for beds in a place they called โThe Castle.โ Northsiders were barbarians, and best avoided.ย
The greasy brown haired kid who went by the name Lucy, though from everyoneโs best guess the kid was a boy [8], had been questioning Iatr about the now famed jail riot.ย
8 - These werenโt things you investigated too closely for fear of being stabbed.ย
Street girls were notorious for being very stabby.
โI heard a rumour that Watchman Sanko got his head split open by a chair,โ Lucy said conspiratorially. Sanko had some minor fame in the underworld because many criminals had been on the abusive end of his nightstick. The fact that no one had seen fit to slit his throat on the way home from work before now was a remarkable testament to the fact that bullies with badges tend to get away with rather a lot before consequences catch up to them.
โServe him right,โ Iatr said darkly, rubbing his ribs at the memory. The jail break had been less than a week ago, and there was still noticeable bruising on his body from where Sanko had fed him the โstick of excessive use of force.โย
Iatr and Klem had had a very busy week.
โHowโd they catch you two anyways?โ Lucy asked, โI thought you two were big shots or somethinโ.โ
Iatr and Klem exchanged looks.ย
โBad luck,โ Klem said at the same time as Iatr said, โThey cheated.โ
โWell them cheating would be bad luck,โ Lucy said sagely. Iatr and Klem both nodded at this.ย
โThere was a dog in the sewers,โ Iatr said.ย
Lucyโs eyes went wide. โA dog in the sewers? And no one tried to eat it?โ they said with astonishment. [9]
9 - In these trying times, household pets were an anomaly, as many smaller animals had been trapped and eaten by either the refugees or the homeless.
The cityโs population of dogs had plummeted in the last five years due to their more trusting natures.
Cats, because of their inherent distrust of big footed things, were more successful at surviving in this man eat dog city.
Klem shook his head with seriousness, โThat was no street dog. Was a Mauthe Doog.โย
โA mouth doo gah?โ Lucy looked confused. Iatr looked sceptical.
โThatโs just what that no good Sheriff thinks. Was a big black dog in a place it didnโt belong. Hungry like the rest of us,โ Iatr said, crossing his arms and looking angry and uncomfortable.ย
โNaw, Iatr. It was a Mauthe Doog. My mom told me about them when I was young,โ Klem said, his voice hard and certain. โBig, black, muscles and teeth for days. Howl that freezes your bones. Hates humans and tries to kill them on sight. Itโs Fey. Smart. And in our sewers.โ
Another kid, younger than Iatr and Klem, possibly older than Lucy, but itโs hard to tell these things, piped up at this, โI heard a howl in the sewers four nights ago. I was scrounging on the borders of the east side when I heard it. Came from inside the Gloom.โย
โNo way you were scrounging near the Gloom, Teek,โ said Iatr, scoffing at this unbelievably bold pronouncement.ย
โWas too! It's usually pretty safe at the edge of it - everyone is afraid to go there. I found this out there!โ Teek said boldly, holding up a scrap of cloth. It was dirty.ย
โGoodโฆ for you?โ Lucy said. Teek frowned at them and shoved it into their face. Lucy recoiled.
โLook at it!โ Teek said, waving it back and forth. Lucy frowned and shoved it away.ย
Klem held out his hand, and the allure of validation motivated Teek to stop waving it at Lucy and hand it over to Klem.ย
โHuh,โ Klem said. โAre those leaves? Embroidery? In the sewers?โย
โRight!?โ Teek said, โItโs my new handkerchief. Iโm practically a noble.โ He looked weirdly proud of his dirty scrap of cloth.ย
โI donโt get it,โ Iatr said.ย
โItโsโฆ dirty but itโs also kinda fancy. Weird thing to find in the sewersโฆ but near the Gloom?โ Klem said. โLike what were you even searching for there Teek? A quick death?โ [A]
A - The โGloomโ was the part of the Rundellian sewers that was older, deeper and darker.ย
It was a popular destination for criminally inclined individuals who desired privacy above safety, and were prepared to take personal responsibility for stabbing unwanted visitors.ย
Recently the Gloom had undergone a vicious power struggle, and the new Gloom Lord was discouraging visitors.
So visitor stabbing was at an all time high near the Gloom.
Teek scoffed and snatched back the cloth. โYou know that smugglers use the Gloom to hide their stuff. Sometimes they drop things. Like this!โ He held it up like a prized trophy.ย
โYou ever found anything else there?โ Klem asked with an awkwardly upraised eyebrow and dubious tone. Heโd been obsessed with the facial expression since heโd seen Sheriff Ratcliff do it the week prior, and had been practising whenever the chance came up.
โYeaaaaโฆ.โ Teek said, trailing off. Everyone around the makeshift fire looked at him.ย
โI found a body,โ he said, quietly. The circle was quiet for a time at this pronouncement. Death was a neighbour to them all and one to be treated with respect.ย
โSomething had eaten most of his face and arms off,โ Teek said, a distant tone in his voice. โWasโฆ couple weeks back I think. Left behind his boots and purse. I was lucky.โ There were more nods to this. Gruesome death was something they had all witnessed. But to find a body that still had boots and coins was a rare, if gruesome, prize.
โSuss. Sounds like something a mouth doo guh would do,โ Lucy said, sagely. Teek and Klem nodded, while Iatr just looked ill.ย
โHeyโฆ I heard a story about the Sheriff,โ Lucy said brightly, knowing when it was time to change the subject. Iatr and Klem exchanged looks.ย
โI donโt like him, heโs a creep who kidnaps people,โ Iatr said. โAnd heโs got a stupid stache. โย
โWhat about the Sheriff?โ asked Klem, who hadnโt shared Iatrโs instant dislike of the Lord.
โI heard some gossiping guildsmen in the market today. Apparently the Sheriff is secretly a wizard and he abducted some law abiding guildsman's wife and daughter. Tortured the guildsman with lightning in the middle of the street when he tried to stop the Sheriff! They had a protest anโ everything. I went for a bit to watch.โ
โHeโs a wizard too!?โ Iatr said, โSee Klem! I knew he wasnโt trustworthy - everyone knows you canโt trust a witch!โ
โWizards arenโt witches Iatr,โ Klem said angrily, โAnd my mom was a witch, you turd.โ
Iatr crossed his arms and looked sullen. โYouโre a witch.โ
Klem made a gesture at Iatr that wasnโt so much as rude as it was strange. Iatr stiffened and said, โWhatโฆ is that some kinda witch hex or something? You ARE a witch!โ while looking concerned.
โYea, I hexed you to be forever full of turds,โ Klem said dryly. Teek laughed.
Lucy chimed in, โIatr was hexed with that as a baby.โ
โWhatever,โ Iatr said, glaring at them both, โBut you canโt argue that it was the right thing to do to escape now. Any job coming from a wiโฆ zard is clearly a trap.โ He crossed his arms in righteous conviction and put on his haughtiest expression. [B]
B - Iatr is, on this point, mostly correct.
It has to do with the fact that if a wizard is asking you to do a job, they are either
a) too lazy to do it themselves, in which case the job is probably tedious and underpaid.
or
b) too scared to do it themselves, in which case the job is probably terrifyingโฆ and underpaid.
โYea, youโre probably right,โ Klem said, sighing. Theyโd had a brief argument about whether or not it would have been worth taking the Sheriffโs offer before theyโd escaped, Klem having a gut feeling that a regular bed and food was worth the price of colluding with โthe man.โ Iatr had vehemently opposed the idea and Klem had ultimately acquiesced to Iatrโs demands. โAnd being the son of a witch doesnโt make you a witch.โ
Iatr muttered under his breath, โYouโre a son of a witch.โ
โYea, the Tanners guildsmen are up in arms about it,โ Lucy interrupted before Klem could throw something at Iatr, โThey held a protest outside the Sheriffโs office, but the Kingsguard came down with horsemen and scattered them. I saw one guy I recognized out with his whole family so I went to steal food from his pantry while he was at the protest,โ Lucy said proudly.
โSmart play!โ Teek said, high-fiving Lucy. They both laughed.
โTheโฆ Tanners?โ Klem said, a thought occurred to him. โLucy, did you hear whoโs wife the Sheriff abducted?โ A bad feeling had lodged in his guts when Lucy brought up the Tannerโs guild. Iatr looked at him with a frown across his face.
โI heard it but I donโt remember it. It was a big loud red haired angry man. Looked like he was going to have a stroke he was yelling so much,โ Lucy said. Iatrโs eyes went wide with a mix of fear.
โWasโฆ it Jake Bracken?โ Klem asked, his eyes not leaving Iatrโs face. Iatrโs head shook back and forth in denial, like saying no to it could stop what was coming.
Lucy broke into a smile, โYea! Thatโs the name! Howโd you know?โ [C]
C - โA big loud angry red haired man who looked like he was going to have a strokeโ was a common description used for Jake Bracken.ย
There were more people in Rundell who knew him by this description than by his actual name.
Silence descended on the group as Iatr and Klem stared at each other in horror.
Lucyโs smile faltered, looking back and forth between Iatr and Klem, and said hesitantly, โWhatโฆ what does that mean?โ
Iatrโs choked out in a mix of outrage and fear, โThat RATโฆ kidnappedโฆ my MOM.โ
fin for now
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Editorial Note;
Iโm on a tear. It didnโt take me two months to write the next chapter!
Iโm going to be doing my best to publish stories on or near the 7th, 17th and 27th of each month, depending on whatever work is coming up for me outside of this storytelling. Currently the mood is striking me to go longer on the storytelling than I have in the past, so I guess thereโs that as compensation for the slower publishing schedule?
Still once a fortnight is faster than once every two months.
My current AI Art assistant is continuing to demonstrate significant comprehension flaws, so thatโll continue to be pared down. If anyone wants to donate enough money to help me purchase a pair of high end graphics cards, Iโll mess around with making a local AI Artbot like my friend Chris P did. That guy is producing some really clean images that are quite impressive.
Or I suppose if you know any artists who specialize in medieval fantasy settings who like to work for free, thatโd be fun too. But Iโm generally resistant to asking artists to donate their time for free. โExposureโ is a good way to slowly kill a personโs career in the art world.
Or you can become a paid subscriber! And then I can pay artists with money! Honestly that would be my preference. I believe in Art, having family and an unusually high number of friends in cultural industries.
I wound up dropping the subscription price to this newsletter to $5/CAD per month, and $55/CAD per year. I had initially left it on the substack paid sub default of $8/mo, $80/yr because โwhy not.โ But if Iโm being honest with myself I have a hard time believing Iโm offering a level of value comparable to half a disney plus or netflix subscription. I would have made it cheaper, but the platformโs settings physically wonโt allow me to do that.
I get that times are tough, and spending money on written content when there is *so much* free content in the world right now doesnโt necessarily -make sense-.
So given that, if you want to support my writing but have economic or value concerns, here is a discount code for a lifetime subscription at 30% off the new, already lower price.
This code will expire on July 31st, so this IS a limited time offer.
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So. 1 average priced latte a month is the new price for a paid sub.
Iโd actually prefer people pick a monthly sub than a yearly sub, mostly for consistency in personal budgetingโฆ but Iโd also rather people feel like theyโre not obligated to stick around or feel cheated if Iโm not delivering value for your subscription. If you think itโs worth it at first, but change your mind, feel free to cancel and walk away. Iโll bear you no hard feelings.
Youโll note I still havenโt put these stories behind a paywall, so to subscribe would still be an act of generosity on your part - to which Iโd be incredibly grateful for. The paywall *is* coming, but I have some marketing/branding/quality issues Iโm sorting out, so my timeline on the paywall is, as of this moment, indeterminate.
Well enough standing here with a bowl in my hands begging for alms.
I hope you enjoyed the story, and Iโll talk at you again in a fortnight.
Robin George