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July 24: Part 1 – In which the Klockhaven Kids rough up a stranger

The skies above New Babbage grew dark as a storm system
moved in. Orpheus looked up at the clouds as they came down over the mountains.
He could tell by how dark they were that New Babbage was about to be hit by a
strong summer storm; the kind that came hard and fast.

“Hey, O,” shouted String Bean, the leader of the Klockhaven
Kids. “We’re headin’ to the wall. This storm looks nasty. Ya comin’ wit’ us?”

Orpheus turned his gaze away from the the ominous looking
sky towards the lanky kid shouting at him. Behind him, the rest of the Kids
were rushing off to get to shelter before the sky opened up. Orpheus took off
after them.

The Klockhaven Kids were one of New Babbages many gangs of
roving urchins. Some were from New Babbage, but many had come here as stowaways.
They had run away for a variety of reasons. Many were orphaned. On the streets
of Clockhaven, it didn’t matter why they were here. These kids had grouped
together and watched out for each other. They had no problem with grabbing a
few coins from a gentleman’s pocket or swiping the occasional cinderberry pie
from the Gangplank, but at the end of the day they were a family. String Bean,
being the oldest at 15, looked out for all of them, especially the younger
tykes. It had been String Bean who had welcomed Orpheus into the group. Orpheus
had been wandering the streets alone after deciding that he would not go to
school. He had no friends, not even that Billy kid who had been so friendly,
even though he was so sick. Orpheus was glad that he had the rest of the
Klockhaven Kids.

Orpheus and the last few of the younger Kids climbed up the
stairs and into the shelter of the wall that surrounded the city just as the
storm cut loose a torrent of rain on the city. Lightening shot out of the
clouds, and the rain hissed as it landed on the hot stones. String Bean
gathered everyone up close. “Well, we ain’t goin’ anywhere soon, so now’s as
good a time as any to hand out your ‘lowances.” He then proceeded to give each
of the Kids a couple of coins each, coins that they had swiped from some of the
better dressed people who they saw, as well as coins that they found on the
street. Sometimes they got lucky and someone tossed some coins into the
fountain in the square. Orpheus held his hand out as String Bean placed an oddly
shaped piece of metal into it.

He looked down at the coin. It wasn’t round like all the
others. It was shaped like a small shovel or hammer. It had deep lines etched
into its face. “Hey String Bean, what’s this?” he asked, holding the strange
shard of metal up.

“Hmmm…,” mumbled the leader of the gang. “must be one of
those old Imperial type coins. That guy we beat up must have been some sort of
collector.”

Orpheus looked at it again. It didn’t look like
any coin he had seen before. He didn’t even think it was a coin. Something
seemed familiar about it, but he didn’t know what it could be. He put it into
his coat pocket and moved in closer to the rest of the Kids. Another lightning
bolt hit, very close by the sound of it, and he wished that the storm would let
up soon.

 

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