Already his bare feet ached with cold. The most risky part of this procedure was the moment that they got down from the roof onto the top of the wall. The roof actually overhung the wall, so that they had to dangle over the alley and feel with their toes for their support. And of course, this put them in clear view of anyone in the alley.

But as Skif already knew, it was too early for scrap collectors and too late for the rag-and-bone men, too late for tradesmen and too early for those delivering special items that Lord Orthallen’s cooks did not have the expertise to prepare in time for an evening’s feast. There was no one in the alley.

Deek went first; Skif followed. He slipped his legs over the edge of the roof and lowered himself down, hanging on grimly to the lead gutters, groping after the rough stone of the wall somewhere underneath the overhang with his benumbed toes.

When he finally got his feet on it and set them solidly, he eased himself down and under the overhang, his arms hurting with the strain. Deek crouched there, waiting for him with great patience, and he paused for just a moment to shake some feeling back into his fingers.

From the wall, they climbed down to the alleyway; Skif noted with concealed glee that Deek came down the same route that he himself used. “Wait a mo—” he said, as Deek made to move off, and retrieved his boots from the hidden nook.

Deek’s mouth dropped open. “Cor! That be right handy, that do!” he whispered in amazement.

Skif just grinned, and shoved his boots on quickly. They still couldn’t afford to be caught here; someone might search them. Deek wasted no more time, but led Skif off in the opposite direction from which Skif had come. He didn’t go that way for long, however; just far enough to get back into a more modest area. Then he cut back in the direction that Skif had expected. He didn’t slow down, not for a moment, and Skif had to stretch his legs to keep up with him. For all that, he didn’t look like a boy who was somewhere he shouldn’t be; he strode with his head up, paying close attention to anything that stood out like a landmark, quite as if he had an errand he’d been sent on. Skif tried to emulate him.

As they worked their way back toward the south and east, Deek started to talk, quietly enough so that it wasn’t likely they’d be overheard. “‘Sjest me an’ a couple boys, an’ Bazie,” Deek said. “Bazie, he’s the clever cuz what tells us how t’nobble. Cain’t do it hisself; ain’t got no legs. But ’e kin show us, an’ he innerduced us t’the fence, so we gotta place t’sell the swag.”

“He gonna have a prollem with me?” Skif wanted to know.

Deek shook his head. “Nah,” he said decisively. “We bin one short since Larap tookt off on ’is own. No flop an’ no feed, though,” he added, casting a look aside at Skif. “Not lessen’ ye bin wi’ th’gang a sixmun.”