A boy from Calimport, trying to face down the many impediments of the land. At any rate, the tale of Artemis told by his own thoughts . .

These were the streets where a young Artemis Entreri had first made his mark in Calimport, where he, barely a teenager, had defeated all challengers to his supremacy, where he had battled the man sent by Theebles Royuset, the lieutenant in powerful Pasha Basadoni's guild. Entreri had killed that thug and later killed the ugly Theebles, the clever murder moving him into Basadoni's generous favor. He had become a lieutenant in one of the most powerful guild of Calimport, of all of Calimshan, at the tender age of fourteen.
But now he hardly cared, and recalling the story did not even bring the slightest hint of a smile to his face.
He thought back even further, to the torment that had landed him here in the first place, trials too great for a boy to overcome; deception and betrayal by everyone he had known and trusted, most pointedly his own father. As the tale goes, Entreri claimed the life of his very brethren on the very night he learned of his devious ploy against him. This, at the age of ten, if not younger. Still, he didn't care, couldn't even feel the pain any longer. It was meaningless, emptiness, without merit or point.