Thieving Brats

Just like every other day, the streets in the kingdom of Mulgard were busy.

People peacefully moved about the villages, going about their businesses. The little ones ran around, trying not to lose sight of their parents in the process.

In the course of running, two brothers - one with spiky black hair and the other with black flowing hair, bumped into a lady who held a basket of fruits in her hands causing her to spill them on the marble road.

"Look what you've done!" She yelled.

The boys paid her no mind and kept running forward in a haste making her wonder what they were running from.

Bending over to pick up her fruits, she saw five men run in her direction, or rather, chasing after the boys.

"Stop right there, you thieving brats!" One of the men yelled.

Hearing his words, the lady realized who they were that had bumped into her. "Just what did they steal now?" She shook her head in disappointment.

Running as fast as they could, the little boys didn't look back. Hoping to lose the men in the town's market, they ran in that direction.

"You won't get away with this one!" One of the men said, seeing the direction they were headed.

Jumping over carts, pushing goods on the floor, the boys were hoping to slow down the men but it wasn't working. The men continued to close the gap.

Running as fast as they could, taking different routes every chance they got, the boys only grew tired. Eventually, one of them tripped and fell.

Unbeknownst to his brother, he had gotten caught.

"Let go of me!" The boy with spiky hair yelled, struggling to get out of their grip. "Raten help!" He called out to his brother.

"Kiyan?" Hearing his brother's voice, the little boy stopped and turned around. He immediately hid himself.

"You little rat, we've finally caught you." The man said, pushing him on the ground. The people, angry about their ruined goods, began to gather.

"This is bad." Raten thought watching from a distance, as he hid.

"Give us what you stole!" One of the men with a shrill voice demanded. The people called him longbeard because of the length of his beard even in his young age.

"I didn't steal anything!" Kiyan denied.

"We'll have to beat it out of you then. Or at least till that brother of yours shows up with what you both stole." Longbeard hit him across the face and held him up with his hair.

"Let me go." Kiyan shouted. He looked up at the people in front of him, and stuck out his tongue in a mocking manner.

"Insolent thieving runt!" The man threw him hard on the ground and kicked his side.

"Aarghhh!" Kiyan yelped in pain as he continually got beaten by the people. 

"What th–?" Longbeard looked confused as he saw the colour of the boy's hair begin to change from black into a lighter colour.

In that instant, an orb-looking beam of light appeared out of nowhere and with immense speed, it hit longbeard. His body was sent flying. He crashed into a store.

Everyone was stunned for a moment but immediately took to their heels as more beams of light appeared. As quickly as they appeared, the little boy vanished.

"Dammit! I forgot they could use magic." Longbeard said getting up. He hurried back out but found no one.

*******

Sitting beside a rock somewhere in the woods, the two boys rested. Their breaths still coming out in shallow pants.

"Are you hurt too much?" Raten asked. He placed his hands over his brother's ribs.

"I wouldn't be hurt at all if you had done something earlier. I was almost found out. My hair began to change back, my appearance as well!" Kiyan complained.

"I'm sorry." Raten said. "I wouldn't just leave my twin to get hurt on purpose. Besides, you hesitated last time. Now, we're even." He said and Kiyan let out a huff.

Whenever they went out stealing, they would always change their appearance so they wouldn't be recognized by the people. Rather than black hair with hazel brown eyes and a round face, they had snow white hair that fell just below their shoulders, eyes with an emerald green hue and a stern face.

"You don't seem to have much injuries on you." Raten said after searching his brother's body. "I'm sure your body still hurts after receiving those beatings." He sighed and placed his hands over Kiyan, slowly muttering some words.

Beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead and his eyes would constantly twitch showing that whatever he was doing was causing him pain.

"You should stop, I feel better now." Kiyan held onto his brother's arm. "You should really stop using that, what's the point if the pain only transfers to you."

"Well, we've been unable to learn a spell that will heal us and it's not like we have a healing balm with us. At least, now I share in your pain and will not let you get hurt again." Raten replied rubbing his palms together slowly.

Kiyan then picked up a pouch next to him. He took out the jewellry inside with a wide grin on his lips.

"It was hard to get you, but you are worth the beating, I can tell." He placed it back and leaned against the rock. "Thirty gold coins?" With a grin he asked his twin.

"Seventy." Raten corrected. "We would be practically rich if we had that." His eyes gleamed at the thought.

They used the coinage mode of exchange -bronze, silver and gold. One bronze coin equaled ten silver coins, while ten silver was equivalent to a hundred gold coins. There was a platinum coin, which equaled hundred gold coins, and was also used to recognize those in relevant positions. The platinum coins were used in specific places.

"Stop your daydreaming," Kiyan said. "Don't forget we have an urgent reason to steal."

"Yes, yes. One more thing..." Raten said.

"What is it?" Kiyan sat up. As soon as he did, Raten's fist collided with the back of his head. "Hey! What did you do that for?!"

"You called me by my name when you asked for help." Raten explained.

"Oh, that was a mistake." He smiled nervously, scratching the nape of his neck.

"I hope no one paid much attention to that. There's only one Raten that can use magic in this village." He sighed and looked at the pouch. "There's no time to waste. Get up, let's go." He stood up, giving his brother a little kick.

"Let's just rest for a while." Kiyan said, leaning back on the rock with the back of his head resting on his hands.

"The longer we wait, father's situation only worsens." Raten said as a reminder of how urgent it is. "With what we have obtained, we can finally afford to take father to the healer. We can't rest now, we still have a lot to do."

"You're right, let's go." Kiyan rose to his feet.

They pulled a bag from behind the rock, and changed into different clothes. They placed the pouch in the bag, and headed to the border of the village where a carriage was waiting.

"Good day, Mr. Edward." The twins greeted the coachman.

Looking down at the boys, he replied, "I'm glad to see you're both okay. You took more time than usual, I was beginning to worry." He gave a warm smile.

"Your real reason to worry is where we are headed." Kiyan said climbing into the carriage, Raten followed.

Edward said nothing else and they headed off.