He was mischievous, stealing food from the local merchants and daring the guards to catch him. No matter how hard they tried, they never could. Antonio was quick on his feet and agile in tight corners. Living on the streets, he had no choice but to learn the arts of the streets.
Holmfirth was a big town by the beach. It was always sunny. One would think it was a paradise with the palm trees, blue sea and the white sand. In a way, it was. The locals lived peacefully.
Occasionally small group of pirates would come to raid the food and merchandise. Their attempts, however, were usually futile as the local authorities would succeed in pushing them away.
The real problem for the authorities was not the pirates, it was the local mischiefs. Antonio fell into that category. He was part in a small group of local thieves, the Splitcloaks. A gang of thieves which one rule: steal without blood.
They would never hurt anyone, only steal food and basic necessities they needed. It was the one rule they had. If any of the members was to hurt a person, they were banned from the guild and delivered to the authorities. The few who broke the code tried to blackmail the leaders of the gang by threatening to reveal the names of all the members and locations of the hideouts.
They could not though. Somehow, their memories were erased and they never remembered. As frightening as it might seem, this happened very rarely. The guild members were very faithful to each other for many reasons. The main reason being, they were all orphans and had to survive in this town. Because of this, they did their best to look out for each other.
Most of the members were on their own and taking care of themselves. It was different for Antonio. He had someone to care for. Someone who needed him more than ever. His five years old little sister, Mia.
Today was a sunny day and the splitcloaks had their eyes their next target: the fruit merchant. An easy job earning them a couple of fruits and vegetables for at least a week. The plan: a distraction, while the others would steal. Timmy, the new boy, and Antonio, were the distraction.
"Listen Timmy," Antonio said, "we take a couple of things to attract the guards and the merchant, while the others will go in to get the crates, you good?"
Timmy nodded nervously. 'Well,' Antonio thought, 'He is new to this.'
"Okay," Antonio said, "Let's go!"
They went to the roofs of the wooden buildings and made their way to the top of the fruit seller. Antonio jumped down, while Timmy stayed up there. He threw some stuff to Timmy while making some noise attracting the merchant's attention.
"Hey!" The man shouted, "Thief! Put that back!"
Antonio gave him the ugliest grimace he could do and jumped to Timmy who pulled him up.
"Guards!" The man shouted running outside of his shop.
The guards saw the commotion and rushed to the two thieves who fled through the roofs. Some of the guards climbed up while the rest were chasing them through the streets, should they come down. Timmy and Antonio parkoured swiftly their way through the roofs. They were quick but they were holding back. The goal was to bring the guards to them and not outrun them. It worked. The guards and the merchant were chasing them through Holmfirth.
The other orphans quickly seized the opportunity to get the crates they needed and ran off. One them let out a very loud whistle to signal their companions that the job was done. It was time to outrun the guards this time.
Antonio nodded at Timmy and they suddenly ran in different directions. Timmy went to the left down on the streets bringing the guards down to him and Antonio to the right staying on the roof tops keeping those on the roof on his tail. This way, should one struggle to outrun the guards he could easily climb back up to the roofs or down to the streets and disappear. It was a good strategy and one they used often. Antonio found it weird that the guards have not figured this yet.
