11 — Training Thieves

Photo by Rob Curran on Unsplash

Shari, street hawk to the dust lord Bandar el-Zaki, watched the young thief weave through the crowd. Anakar’s sun-baked streets were thronging with people, here to celebrate the new year and the changing of the seasons at the ancient festival of Ramsalla.

She saw the moment the young man chose his mark — a richly-robed man with a tempting belt pouch hanging lazily from one hip. The man must have been a foreigner or a fool…