Free City of Thieves by David Benioff

under the loose tile in the kitchen. Maybe Vera had something for me. She owed me after the way she ran, never looking back even though I’d rescued her. It occurred to me that Vera and the others must have thought I was dead. I wondered how she had reacted, whether she had cried, hiding her face in Grisha’s chest as he comforted her, or maybe pushing him away, angry, because Grisha had fled, abandoned her, while I stayed behind and saved her from certain execution. And Grisha would say, “I know, I know, I’m a coward, forgive me,” and she would forgive him, because Vera forgave Grisha everything, and he would wipe away her tears, and tell her they would never forget me, my sacrifice. But of course they would—within a year they wouldn’t be able to picture my face anymore.
    “You there. You the one looking for eggs?”
    Obsessed with my pitiful fantasy, it took me a moment to realize the question was meant for me. I turned and saw a bearded giant staring back at me, arms folded across his chest, rocking back and forth on his boot heels. He was the biggest man I’d ever seen, far taller than Kolya and broader in the chest. His bare hands looked big enough to crack my skull like a walnut shell. His beard was thick and black and shined as if oiled. I wondered how much food a man that big needed to eat every day, how he could possibly keep the meat on his titanic frame.
    “You have eggs?” I asked, blinking up at him.
    “What do you have for me?”
    “Money. We have money. Wait, let me get my friend.”
    I ran back through the Haymarket. For the first time since I’d met him, I was happy to see Kolya’s blond head. He was still joking with the curly-haired boy, probably describing his dream of a glorious shit.
    “Hello, there he is!” he shouted when he saw me. “I thought you’d run off without me.”
    “There’s a man who says he has eggs.”
    “Excellent!” Kolya turned to the boy. “Son, it has been a great pleasure.”
    We walked back the way I’d come, passing the stalls now shutting for the night. Kolya handed me a wrapped library candy.
    “Here you are, my friend. Tonight we feast.”
    “The kid gave it to you?”
    “Gave it to me? He sold it to me.”
    “How much?”
    “One hundred for two.”
    “One hundred!” I glared up at Kolya as he unwrapped his bar and took a bite, grimacing at the flavor. “So we have three hundred left?”
    “Correct. Impressive arithmetic.”
    “That money is for the eggs.”
    “Well, we can’t go egg hunting without a little something to keep us going.”
    The bearded man waited for us at the edge of the Haymarket, arms still folded. He appraised Kolya as we came nearer, sizing him up the way a boxer takes the measure of his opponent.
    “It’s just the two of you?”
    “How many of us do you need?” asked Kolya in return, smiling at the giant. “I hear you sell eggs.”
    “I sell everything. What do you have for me?”
    “We have money,” I said, fairly sure we had already gone over this.
    “How much?”
    “Enough,” said Kolya. “We need a dozen eggs.”
    The bearded man whistled. “You’re in luck. That’s all I have.”
    “You see that?” said Kolya, gripping my shoulder. “This wasn’t so hard.”
    “Follow me,” said the giant, crossing the street.
    “Where are we going?” I asked as we followed.
    “I keep everything inside. It isn’t safe out here. Soldiers come down every few days, steal everything they want, anyone says anything, they shoot him.”
    “Well, the soldiers are out there defending the city,” said Kolya. “They can’t fight if they’re starving.”
    The giant glanced at Kolya’s army coat, his regulation boots.
    “Why aren’t you defending the city?”
    “I’m on a mission for a certain colonel. Nothing you need to worry about.”
    “This colonel sent you and the boy on a mission for some eggs, is that it?” The giant grinned down at us. His teeth gleamed like unmarked dice within his black beard.