“If you are such a capable sneak, why did you not obtain your own food?” Rezkin asked.

“Well, ah, the master didn’t like us doing our own jobs, ’specially the Sneaks. He says … ah … said we’re too valuable to get caught stealin’ bread,” the young thief replied.

Rezkin raised a brow and said, “If he did not wish for you to steal your meals, then he should have provided you with sustenance, no?”

The young man shrugged and said, “If we finish our tasks, we get fed. It’s ’ow it always is. It’s bloody ’ell when the master ain’t got nothin’ for us to do, though.” Benni suddenly seemed to remember to whom he was speaking and began to stutter, “I mean … not that you … well, whatever you think is best, of course, M-master.”

Rezkin did not want people to call him Master, but it was necessary to maintain respect and authority within the thieves’ guild. It also meant that he did not have to provide a name. It was just easier this way. “We will get you something to eat before your task. I will not have you giving us away when your stomach rumbles, nor do I desire for you to make careless mistakes or lose consciousness from hunger.”

“Oh, yeah, I only done that a couple times. Lucky for me, I was already on the roof when I passed out, and no one found me,” Benni said as though it was a normal occurrence to black out from lack of sustenance. Looking at the scrawny young man, Rezkin decided it probably was normal for Benni.

Rezkin had been taught that thievery was simply another aspect of society to which he must learn to acclimate under necessary circumstances. As in the wild there were predators and prey, so, too, did they exist among men in towns and cities. The hardworking peasants were the grazers, and the thieves were the starving coyotes. The metaphorical coyotes were not the largest predators in the hierarchy of society, though. Amongst the nobles, mages, and royals were wolves, lions, and even the occasional dragon. Rezkin wondered, though, with so many predators, how could the common folk ever hope to survive? He thought of young Benni, who was actually not much younger than Rezkin, and wondered what the young man could hope to achieve if he were not a thief. Perhaps he could become a soldier and die on a worthless battlefield defending a few hundred acres from “invasion” by a neighboring lord’s peasant farmers.

Rezkin stopped at a vendor’s stand to purchase a meat pie for the young thief, and Benni seemed particularly surprised to see that the new guildmaster was actually paying with coin. The Master promised the young man another pie after completion of the assignment since Rezkin did not want the young man going into the task with a heavy stomach. If the young sneak truly ate so infrequently, filling his stomach too full now could only lead to upset later.