Matt may have known the ways of cities better than the girls did, but that didn’t mean he knew the ways of this city. He took them into a tavern, to ask a few discreet questions and learn the lay of the land-but the questions must not have been discreet enough, for the jolly-looking man he was asking only laughed and said, “New come to Venarra, are you?”
“Does it show so badly as that?” Matt asked, deflated. “I’d know you in a minute, and I’ve only been here a year and some months myself!”
“Then there are jobs!”
“Yes, if the Burglars Guild lets you learn the trade.”
Matt stared. “Burglars Guild?”
“Yes. We keep needing new members-so many of them go to the king’s gaol, and half of those to the noose. No, there’s always room for a newcomer who’s willing to learn to steal. You and I, now, minstrel, might do great business together-you holding the attention of a crowd while I slip into their homes…”
“Well, maybe some other time,” Matt said, abashed. “How about girls’ jobs? Is there a Housemaids Guild?”
The burglar gave him a tolerant smile. “There is, if you’re looking for that line of work-though I’d scarcely call it a guild, more of a gossip club.”
“Better than nothing,” Matt sighed. “Where do I find them?”
“In the Street of Rough Hands. Can’t miss them-there are always young women standing about the door, waiting to be sent out.”
“And older women, trying to recruit them into a different sort of housework?”
The burglar grinned broadly. “No, the Housemaids Guild keeps a couple of bruisers about to scare off the jackals. Your young charges will be as safe there as anywhere. The young man, now, might do well to join my guild.”
Pascal glanced about nervously. “Thanks,” Matt said, “but he’s not limber enough for second-story work.”
Pascal looked up indignantly. “Anyone can learn to cut a purse,” the man offered.
“Yes, but I’m afraid that if he starts cutting leather, he’ll get carried away and start cutting skin.”
“Ah.” The burglar nodded. “No, that kind of thing is out of our purview. He might try the Murderers Guild.”
“Yes, of course.” Matt was feeling increasingly nervous. “Say, do you folks take care of armed robbery, too?‘
“No, that’s the Thieves Guild.”
Matt could imagine what the jurisdictional disputes must have been like. “You can only take things when people aren’t around, huh?”
“Not around, or sleeping. We can steal, but cannot rob.”
“I don’t suppose you set fires, either-or steal people?”
“The Arsonists Guild and the Kidnappers Guild?” The burglar scowled. “You are not really looking for that sort of work, are you?”
“No, but I’d like to know what to steer clear of. Any kind of crime that isn’t organized in this city?”
“None that I know of, no,” the burglar admitted. “Still, there is always someone about who will dream up something new.”
Matt shuddered at the notion and decided to get out of town before someone invented racketeering. “Well, thanks for all the info.” He turned away, then stopped and turned back. “I don’t suppose the heads of all these guilds have the same last name do they?”
“Only the Thieves Guild, the Burglars Guild, and the Murderers Guild,” the burglar said. “They’re Squelfs. The Gamblers Guild, now, with the Pimps Guild and the Peddlers guild, they’re Skibbelines. All the rest are DiGorbias.”
The girls shivered, wide-eyed, and Pascal swallowed heavily. Matt didn’t blame them-he was feeling the same sort of chill inside that they must have felt-but his curiosity was piqued one more time. “The Peddlers Guild? Peddlers are criminals here?”
“Only the ones who sell you what you can’t get in the shops.”
“Oh.” Matt couldn’t help himself. “Uh, what do they sell?”
The burglar’s grin widened even more. “Anything you want.”
“Right.” Matt turned away, “Thanks, friend! Come on, folks, let’s go.”
They found the Street of Rough Hands just as the sun was setting. The bouncer snarled at them, but when Matt explained that he had brought some young women who were looking for honest work, the bruiser sent one of the loitering girls in to call the boss. She came bustling out, a matronly sort in a blue dress and white apron, saw the new arrivals, said “Ah!” with a nod, and came down to look them over from head to toe. “Well, you’ll need a bath and a chance to wash your clothes, at the least. Go to the house next door, where the house warden will give you supper and a bed until you can find your own quarters. We’ll take it from your first week’s wages, of course, and we take one part in ten from all your wages after that-one part in five for as long as you live with us. Anyone hires you, they pay us, not you, and we pay you your share. If we catch you setting up work on your own, you’re still in the guild, but out of our services. Any questions? No? Off with you, then!”
Bemused, the girls turned away. The boss woman turned to Flaminia with a scowl. “You don’t wish to go with them?”
“Not yet,” Flaminia hedged. “The minstrel needs our help with other business first, I think.”
“Well, you look honorable enough.” The matron gave Matt a quick inspection. “You brought these poor deluded lambs to our doorstep, anyway. We can’t take them all, mind you, but we do what we can.”
That explained why they hadn’t had a recruiter just inside the gate. “I understand. Not all that much call for housemaids, is there?”
“Oh, there is work aplenty!” the woman said. “The town has swollen enormously since good King Boncorro came to the throne! The nobility have come flocking in-bored to death in the country, and eager for the delights of the city, now that there’s no chance the king will demand their wives in his bed, or themselves for his arena. So they have left their lands in the care of stewards and come to Venarra for excitement-and they all need food, and furniture, and new houses, and clothing, and all manner of silliness.”
“So there’s a sudden increase in the number of tradesmen and merchants?”
“Yes, and they are all growing rich off the trade-so their wives are wanting to spend more time in the shops and less at the housekeeping. No, there are jobs aplenty for girls who can clean and mend-but there are far more girls coming in. The peasant folk wish the exciting life, too, and far too many of them find it, but on the wrong end.”
“Yes,” Matt said grimly. “The noblemen want to be entertained, don’t they? And there aren’t enough clean and open amusements.”
“There are diversions aplenty, young man!” the matron said indignantly. “You’ll find you have far too much competition here-there is a minstrel on every street corner! Aye, and a theater in every boulevard, though their plays are very bad, and more what you would expect to see in a brothel than on a stage.”
“Yes,” Matt said grimly, “the pimps always learn early on that the theater is a great place to advertise, on stage or off. Isn’t anybody trying to keep them out?”
‘Trying, aye.“ The matron gave him a hard smile. ”Has anyone ever succeeded?“
“Well, they have in my country-but it took a hundred years or so. How about music-concerts of a dozen musicians together? That’s harder to corrupt.”
“Oh, there are whole bands of musicians playing in great halls every night, and livery stables, fencing masters, taverns for the lowborn and parties in palaces for the highborn.”
“But you don’t recommend the new arrivals try to find jobs in them?”
The matron made a face. “Certainly not for the girls! You have heard what I think of the theaters, and the troupes of dancers are every bit as much apt to abuse as to foster! Music’s another thing, I suppose, but it means learning to play or sing really well, and that’s no quick undertaking, as I am sure you know.”