The Witching Hour, 15th of Frena (Febuary), 1682. 14th year of the Q.E.

The lanterns snapped softly at each other as the Ragtag Queen stared at her subject and his guest.
"You want me to give you a name....but you want to operate with your own agenda?" she asked pensively, stroking the dark wood of her desk as she thought it over.

"That's right, but I will also do any simple jobs that you ask of me." Skye answered and the other young woman sighed after a few more moments of contemplation. On one hand she knew that she couldn't afford not to give the girl a name, on the other hand it was quite likely that the cobble child's plan could fail.

Rheys leaned back in her leather chair and stared at the hardy young woman in front of her. It wasn't every day that she was given the answer to saving her gang and that of the Skeletons.
"You shall get your name, on the condition that you take no jobs that the Ragtags take part in. You will be a Ragtag in name only until the Dragna are taken down. I am also truly sorry about your sister." Rheys words made a faint smile come to the thin face of the youngling before her. As the Butterfly sent Joker away, she almost thought that she was selling her soul to the devil....almost. As she sent him out she gave him a message for him to pass along the Whisper Lines.

"Your name shall be Alley Cat. Cat for short and no one is to call you otherwise whilst you work for or with us. If we call on you to be at an Alliance meeting you shall wear a mask, as is custom for all gang members. Do you understand?" As Rheys talked, she got up and went to a small ornately carved chest. She opened it and despite its groan of protest she searched through the depths of its contents. She let out a slightly triumphant sound as she pulled a simple black mask which depicted the face of a cat out of the chest.

"It may be old, but you can use this for meetings if necessary. However you must not keep it on your person. If this troubles you I can keep the mask here and send for you when you need to wear it. Is there anything else that you need, Alley Cat?" Skye looked up from the mask and thought for a moment before she nodded and the Thief Queen gave her a pointed glance.

"When is the next Alliance meeting?" At Skye's question Rheys laughed a little and before either of the young women could speak any more there was a sharp knock at the door.

"Jackal and Ace to see the Butterfly and guest." The elderly man's voice made it clear that this was an unofficial visit and without warning Rheys passed the cat mask to Skye. Within a few seconds the door opened and the women were masked...as were the two men that stood behind the old 'butler'.

"Welcome Jackal and Ace, what brings you to my dwelling this late in the night?" The Butterfly asked, but all four of them knew that it was a formality as the door chattered closed behind the visitors.

"You sent for us earlier, we took counter measures to ensure Dragna could not follow." The Jackal spoke first, in low and husky tones as Ace hung back and locked eyes with her for a moment. Butterfly noticed this and cleared her throat politely, gesturing to her companion.

" Ah yes, Joker was incredibly fast with the Whisper Lines I see. This is Alley Cat, my newest advisor...incidentally she is also the reason that I sent for you both. She is proposing an incredibly fun game for us to watch her play." Jackal's razor gaze landed on her for a moment and Skye could almost feel him trying to peel the mask away from her face.

"What sort of game would this be?" Ace spoke up and Skye found it impossible not to glance at him, his mask covering almost all of his face except for his mouth and chin. It was painted white with a spade symbol on the right half of the face.

"A game which the Dragna will be hard pressed to survive." Skye answered of her own accord and her skin tingled from their skeptical stares.

"What makes you think that we want the Dragna gone...Alley Cat?" Jackal growled lowly and she stared back at him before holding up her hand.

"You have five very good reasons to want the Dragna in the cesspit. There are likely to be more younglings killed in the squabbles, are you willing to risk even more cobble children?" she had no time to be diplomatic, her plan was so finely timed that if the Skeletons did not agree tonight then she would have to go back to square one. Skye refused to return to square one without a very good fight.

The men looked each other in the eye for a few seconds before the Jackal let out a slight huff and sat down.
"What is it that you need from us?" His question was easily answered and Skye looked at Butterfly fleetingly.

"You need to ally yourselves firmly with the Ragtags, any whom disagree must be thrown out of either gang. The Dragna have broken off their third of the Alliance but you must give an oath that you will protect one another. This will not be easy and I cannot tell you even half of what I will do, but I need to be given free passage between territories and the borders." her words were stated carefully and each leader stared at the other as they digested the youngling's requests.

"I agree if the Jackal does." Butterfly answered, startling them all out of the uncertain silence as she extended a slender hand out towards the Skeleton's chief.

"Then we both agree to ally ourselves Butterfly." his statement caused Skye to let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding, the two leaders shaking hands firmly. When the gutter child looked back at Ace, she noticed that his hand was outstretched towards her. After a flicker of hesitation, her small hand slid into his momentarily.

"I'm glad to be your ally." The firm shake almost rattled her before she let go and the corner of his lips quirked upwards.

"Agreed." she answered before the two Skeletons left to use the chamberpot and she slipped out, having left the mask with Butterfly. She wrapped a scarf around her nose and mouth, flipping the end up over her head as she left through the front door.

It took her a while but she managed to reverse engineer her way from the Butterfly's house to the Night Markets, doubling back several times in case she was tailed. By the time she arrived home the lantern lighters were relighting the street lights, grunting and waving the long handled torch about in an effort to do their job. She hopped nimbly up the stairs and managed to make it in and settle down beside her brothers. Moments later her mother teetered in and fell asleep on the small pallet beside them.  Skye fell into a fretful sleep moments later as she let exhaustion seduce her into slumber.

----------

Her sister's blood running down between the cobbles as she watched on in horror. The bigger children were beating and kicking her small curled up form, Skye screamed but she had no voice and they kept going until Orica was no longer recognisable. The group of children looked at each other, slowly morphing into snakes as they started to come for her.
"Ssssssomeone's plotting againsssst ussssss......ssssshould we bite her?" One questioned before one of the others shook their reptilian head as she backed up, its tongue flicking out to taste the scent trail.

She tripped and fell back, hitting her head on the cobbles. She lay there in winded agony as their cold slippery bodies started to overwhelm her. Hisses and murmurs coming from all around her prone form as she tried to fight them off, one finally delivering that final nail in her coffin. The terrifying burn of the toxin coursed through her veins as she realised that they had indeed bitten her. The Dragna were indeed toxic.....would she die from the bite?

----------

She awoke with a sharp choking gasp, panting as she sat up and realised that it was dawn. The birds were already awake...which meant that she was late. Skye washed her face before grabbing her satchel and running out the door. She clutched the decade old leather strap like it was a lifeline as her old boots skidded over the rough slate grey cobbles. Her eyes flicked down to the faded red stain as she got to within a stone's throw of the Golden Gate Inn.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you....my darling sister." she whispered to the bloodied cobbles before hurrying on and pounding on the door. It gave a distressed squeal as it was opened and she was ushered inside without a moment to lose.