“Alright boys, this time I’ve got it.”

It was the early evening and To’phoro had just got back to the den after his latest foray into the streets of Ubal looking for places to rob.

“Got what?” said one of the boys, obliged as he was by To’phoro’s provocative statement.

“The perfect hit. I think I’ve really struck gold this time. In fact, I’m pretty sure what I’ve found is gold.”

“Well it better be,” said Yathom, still the second-most-respected boy in the gang. “It better not be like that ‘secret stockpile of jewels’ we stole last week, which turned out to be an old warehouse full of mouldy vegetables. Or that ‘priceless vase’ we stole the other month which turned out to be just a bucket with a hole in it. Or that ‘special book’ you had Jake steal at his initiation.”

Jake was sceptical too. In the time that he had got to know To’phoro better and better over the last few months, he had discovered that the boy had one single, irrepressible ambition in life: To become obscenely, unimaginably, filthily rich, by whatever devious means he could. It was this ambition which drove him to try to carry out the risky thefts that had resulted in him becoming the gang’s leader—none of the other boys had quite the same drive. They were only interested in stealing enough to get by, dossing around, and surviving in life, which had been cruel to them. But not To’phoro. He wanted more than that.

“No, this is the one, I know it,” said To’phoro. “This is gold.”

Some of the other boys groaned. To’phoro had not managed to pull off a daring theft of anything of substantial value lately, and his past failures stuck out in the boys’ minds more than his successes. Although, to be fair, Jake didn’t think the book he had been asked to steal by To’phoro for his initiation was completely worthless. He had continued reading it over the last few months, enjoying it immensely, and had now read it cover to cover a couple of times. With nothing else to do in the den, he had even started memorising some of the stories. But he would never tell any of the other boys that.

“Shut up! This one really is different,” said To’phoro. “I can see what it is through the window. There’s a house on Choresh Avenue, one of the big fancy ones, and I can see what we’re going to steal next mounted on a wall inside it above their fireplace.”

“Well what is it, then?” asked Yathom.

To’phoro paused for effect. “It’s a big long staff. I think it’s called a skepter. And like I say, it’s made out of solid gold. This is the one for sure.” You and I, of course, know that he must have really meant ‘sceptre’, a kind of valuable staff often used in official ceremonies. He had probably misheard the word and was pronouncing it wrong.

“A ‘skepter’?” said Yathom. “Never heard of one of those. And anyway, that’s stupid: if it was so valuable, why would they hang it up where it can be seen through a window?”

“You know what rich people can be like,” said To’phoro, getting irritated. “Sometimes they think they’re really safe just because they’ve got money, so they do stupid things like that. I’m telling you, it’s definitely solid gold.”

“Alright,” said Jake, seeing that a fight might be brewing. “We can at least come and look at it tonight, right, to see how it checks out. How does that sound, To’ph?” Jake had discovered that he was actually quite talented as a thief, and over the past months since his initiation he had earned even more respect from the group. In the last few weeks alone he had successfully stolen a small chest of coins which was now kept for emergency money, a necklace which they sold for a good price on the black market, and a painting which they were still arguing about what to do with, as well as a few pieces of fruit and loaves of bread casually lifted from some street-sellers during the day. He was now probably the third most-respected and listened-to among the gang. What was more, he was still in the habit of backing up To’phoro, his closest ally and friend.

“Fine,” said Yathom for the rest of the group, resignedly. “We’ll do that then. But just that.”

So, later that evening, the whole gang headed out to go and look at the house where To’phoro had found his skepter.

Choresh Avenue was actually quite a long way away on the other side of the city in the affluent sector—To’phoro had roamed far that day—so it took them quite a long while to get there. And they had left late in the night, around midnight, hoping that the occupants of the house would be deeply asleep. By the time they arrived in the street, the night was cold and the moon was high in the sky, like a big counterfeit sun come out to light the way for their mischief.

The avenue, being in the richer part of town, was wide and long. Two rows of small trees had been planted to line it which glittered with the silver from the moon. It was very pretty. But, as you can imagine, none of the boys paid any attention to this whatsoever. Instead, they made straight for the house which To’phoro had picked out and to which he led the way.

“Here we are, this is the one,” he said.

It was indeed a big house. It had stone pillars which held up a porch that protruded over the front door. It had high windows with steel frames. It had three floors. It was more of a mansion than a house, really. The boys gawped at it.

Then To’phoro spoke up. “See, there it is!”

The rest of the gang looked at where he was pointing. Sure enough, inside, through one of the ground floor windows, they could see what looked like a long ceremonial staff or ‘sceptre’ hanging on a wall above a large, ornate fireplace. It looked very like it could possibly be made out of gold or some other precious metal from the way that it shone delicately. It even seemed as if it might be studded with a few different jewels. None of them could agree on whether it definitely was gold or not. But they did all at least agree one thing: that it was worth trying to steal it in order to find out.

“But it’s strange,” said Jake. “What have they got their curtains open at night for?”

“Maybe they’ve gone away and they forgot to shut their curtains,” said Yathom.

“Maybe they’re trying to show off to everyone else,” said Mikros.

“Never mind that,” said To’phoro dismissively. “It’s time to take the skepter for ourselves.”

“What, now?” said Yathom. “We should go back to the den and make a plan first.”

“No way,” said To’phoro. “Now’s the time to do it. The house is quiet and the curtains are wide open. We’re doing it now. We might not get another chance like this again.”

“He’s got a point,” said Jake. He winked at his friend. “This is a great chance.”

“Fine,” growled Yathom. “Who’ll go?”

“Me, you and Jake,” said To’phoro.

This was accepted with knowing nods, since To’phoro, Yathom and Jake were the most respected members of the gang.

“How will you get in?” asked a boy.

“Well, that part may be a bit tricky,” said To’phoro. “I watched the house all day and it does seem like it might be hard to get into. It’s a well-sealed up place. I don’t think we’re going to get in without making some noise.”

“So what are we going to do?” asked Jake.

“What else? Our trademark: Diversion tactics,” said To’phoro, confidently. “All three of us are going to break in at the same time, but from different places. Meanwhile, everyone else will be waiting outside with stones. If there is anyone in there, they’ll be so confused that they won’t know what direction to go in. And if anyone chases us out, you lot can pound them with stones before we retreat and escape.”

“That’s a bit risky, isn’t it?” said Yathom.

“Yeah,” said another of the boys. “You’re much more likely to get caught if you make a noise.”

“Look, you’ve seen that gold skepter, haven’t you?” said To’phoro. “It’s worth the risk. If we do it properly we’ll be fine. They can never catch all of us if we go in different ways!”

The boys fell silent in tacit agreement. Yathom looked like he was going to protest again, but then he held his tongue.

“Good,” said the gang leader. “Let’s get going then! Good luck everyone! Meet back at the den if it goes wrong, like usual.”

Under To’phoro’s directions, the whole gang crept up to the courtyard of the large house, which was furnished with lots of small, smooth pebbles. This was a luxury that not many households could afford, and the boys did not realise that the pebbles were designed to alert the owners of the house to people approaching. They each scooped up a handful of larger pebbles and deposited them in pockets or clasped them in tight fists, ready to throw.

The majority of the gang stationed themselves in front of and around the house, crouching or hiding behind trees or walls in case anyone came down the street and spotted them. It would be a disaster if any of the town militia passed by on a night patrol and beat them or threw them in jail just because they had not taken the care to hide themselves while they were waiting. Then, Jake, To’phoro and Yathom took up their agreed positions in front of and on either side of the house. Of course To’phoro got to be the one in front of it, right by the window where the golden staff was. Of course he was going to be the one who got to steal it. Of course he was going to take the glory.

Jake watched his own window on the left side of the house with baited breath and waited for the signal. The night was very still. The boys were all poised ready, muscles tensed, ears pricked. But this time, something didn’t feel quite right to Jake, despite his support of To’phoro. He had never seen the gang attempt a theft this risky before. For some reason, at that moment he remembered the face of the man whose house he had first broken into in order to steal the book of stories. He could still see the fear, then the comprehension, then the . . . pity written on it.

All of a sudden To’phoro let out a shrill bird call, giving the signal to start the break-in. Quick as a flash, Jake drew back the stone in his hand and hurled it at the window in front of him. He could hear the sounds of shattering glass as To’phoro and Yathom did the same with their stones nearby. He paused for a moment to survey the damage he had done then quickly threw another stone to break some more of the window and give himself enough room to clamber through. A shout came from inside the house. It sounded like a man’s voice, deep, alarmed, angry.

Jake dove through the window he had just broken, cursing at himself for not doing a better job when he cut his leg in the process, and tried to assess where the shout had come from. It sounded as though it was still quite far off, even over on the other side of the house where Yathom was. Jake had got lucky. But he had no time to be grateful; he had to stick to the plan. He found himself in what was probably a dining room, complete with a long table and an array of chairs. He bolted down the length of the room and went through a door at its end.

He rushed beyond the door into a darkened corridor and then collided with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.