A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 19: Magic
Lissa slowly made her way to the west side of town, carrying the package in her arms. No one was paying her any mind, no one was bothering her. She was left, unhindered, to go to Lawson's house, and deliver the package.
“He's not going to recognize me.” She thought to herself. “HE's probably not even going to see me. He likely has someone there to get deliveries and open the door and scratch his arse. He likely doesn't answer the door himself.” She took a deep breath, then took off running down the street, bumping into a man, who smelled of ale as she did. He turned and shouted, but she paid no attention to him. She ran until she was breathless, stopped, started walking, then ran again once she thought that she could. The houses gradually got nicer, the streets got cleaner. Then, there at tall, stone wall with an iron gate before her. The gate was open, and It was unguarded, but despite this, no one seemed to be going though the gate, not unless they had business. Everyone was carrying packages, or leading horses, or had the look of someone very busy, running off.
She entered the gate. The houses on the other side lacked the look and smell of decay from the other. Most of the houses were built with stone, not wood, the streets were cleaner, and though she couldn't see as many people, the few that were here looked cleaner, were dressed nicer.
“The rich side.” She muttered. She guessed that the west side was the rich side of town then. Not surprising, really, if Lawson was supposed to be here. He wasn't a lord, but he was rich, and well off enough for Lord Mintas to try to arrange a marriage between his son, and Lawson's deformed daughter.
After she got further into the rich part of town, Lissa realized that all the houses were big, of course, and she couldn't remember if the apothecary had told her anything about it. She slowed down, and stood amid delivery boys, merchants, and men in fine clothes with doll-like women at their sides. She needed to ask someone, but all these people were rushing around so fast, and looked like they wouldn't give a moment of attention to someone like her. The thought of just walking up to someone and asking for directions made her slightly sick.
'Delivery boys' she thought. She had seen a lot of them, all she had to do was find another and ask. She scanned around, and after a moment, she saw a young boy, running towards her, carrying a package in his arms.
“Excuse me.” She said as he passed by her. He stopped and turned around, staring at her. He was a younger boy, perhaps only a few years younger than she was, but it showed, he still looked like a little kid. After a moment, she realized that she had used her normal tone when she had spoken to him. She lowered her voice, slightly, and without the guttural undertone that she had used before Ella had corrected her.
“I'm looking for Lawson's place.” She held up the package.
“what you don't know the whore house?”
Lissa felt blood rise to her cheeks, “I'm still new here.”
“Well, come on. That's not fair. We all know where it is.” he glanced back at him. “I'll tell you a secret?”
“A-alright.”
“We're not allowed in, but in the back, where the windows are all boarded up, that's where Lawson's whores do all their tricks. We've managed to crack the windows enough so that you can see through the slits in the bottom.” he gave her a quick grin before running on. “It's better at night though. You can see better.”
“Thanks.” she muttered. She wondered if she would have been one of those whores if she had taken Lawson up on his offer, or if she would have been his new wife.
The kid took her around a few corners, and led her though a shortcut though a clean alley. The only clutter there was a small collection of empty wooden crates.
“Have you seen the castle yet?”
“The Castle?”
“Yeah. You said you're new.”
“I haven't, no. I've not been here yet.”
The kid pulled Lissa between two houses. HE led her down the alley and brought her to a ladder that was leaning against a house.
“Hurry up.” the kid said, “Take a quick look, then I have to hurry.”
'You brought me here, kid.' she thought. She ignored him, and quickly climbed up the ladder. IT was rotted and creaky in places, and it shook, but the kid was holding the ladder in place. She got to the top of the ladder without hurting herself, climbed onto the roof.. She pulled herself up, holding onto a stone chimney for support.
Stretching out around her was a vast field of rooftops, and short trees of chimneys, with leaves of smoke that rose up into the air. The roofs rose up, like a hill, towards the castle in the centre of town. Many large, tall pillars rose up towards the sky, with one in the centre rising up above all the others. Resting over the castle, like a glass cover over a plate of food, was a reddish dome It didn't obscure the view of the castle but rather, made it looked as though it was encased in a smoothed ruby. The central tower reached just over this, and on top, a large platform rested, looking as though it might topple over.
“Most of it's held together by magic.” The kid called up the ladder, “And the dome protects it from any weather. My dad says that it was made hundreds of years ago, and that the Magus who made it has to still be alive, or the whole thing would fall apart.”
Lissa took a long look at the castle, then hurried back down the ladder. The kid was still waiting on her, and she had things to take care of anyway.
The castle could wait.
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 18: Work
Lissa needed work.
It had taken a few days for her to rest from her days of travel. The moment she had been able to rest, she came down with a bad cold. She refused to see a doctor, choosing instead just to sleep and rest. She dressed only to go to the common-area, and eat what she could, drink whatever broth was available. The days passed in a blur of fever, aches and pains as her muscles slowly recovered, as the callouses and cuts on her feet slowly healed, and scarred. The scratches on her arms and face finished healing, though there were times when her fever was very bad that she felt like she could have peeled all the skin off her face, times when it felt more like a mask than her real skin.
Then she started to feel better. The fever subsided, her dizziness passed, and as snow started to fall over Rawlins. When she finally stepped out of the Inn, wearing only the quickly repaired cloak she had left with, and the loosely fitting tunic and pants that had been found for her, and her old boots,
And now, here she was. Walking the streets of Rawlins, looking for work. Something that could take her at least through the winter. She of course, had plenty of skills that she could use. Housekeeping, of course. Something simple, something that she knew how to do. There was also the idea of becoming and apprentice to a seamstress. She could sew, of course, so if she was lucky, she could of course get a position.
But, most seamstresses were looking for young ladies. Girls, who didn't mind a hard day of work.
She was not a girl, at least, not as far as anyone was supposed to know. That was her two skills, housekeeping, and dressmaking, useless for the time. For the time, it was better to continue to mask herself. Being alone in a big city as dangerous enough. It was even more dangerous for a young lady. Not to mention the fact that if they realized in her home that she was not really dead, if they found out where she was.
“Home.” She muttered. She wondered suddenly how her mother was, how long it might be until she would be able to go home and visit, if only for a little. If only like those short visited her father used to make in the dead of night.
She shook thoughts of home out of her head, before they drifted to thoughts of death. She didn't need that. She had had all the time she had wanted, and more, to idle on death while she was sick.
Now wasn't a time to let herself just dwell on that. She couldn't, and she didn't want to. She needed something to take her away from that.
She needed work.
Soon, she found herself back at the square. Having wandered though endless, turning streets filled with merchants at stands, and small shops squished between houses, she had come back to the square, the well, the apothecary.
A thought took her suddenly, which at once revolted her and elated her. She remembered the fear, the terror on the man's face when ella had torn into him, threatened him as she had.
She half ran across the square towards the apothecary. She opened the door, and a bell ran as she walked into the warm room. Light from the dusty window glinted off the bottles and jars on the shelves. She heard the ringing of a tiny bell as she closed the door behind her, and a moment later, from the open door that led into the back, the apothecary came out. He looked up at her from a jar he was labeling with charcoal, looked up, and dropped the jar and the charcoal. The Jar thankfully didn't break, but it landed with a loud clunk, and rolled until it hit the counter.
“Oh balls.” the apothecary breathed, “Why are you here? I've left you alone.”
“Hire me.”
“... I Beg your-”
“I need to work. You work here by yourself, don't you? Apothecaries generally do well, don't they? You can afford an assistant.”
“I.. I've done nothing to you. I didn't really hurt you, everything was sorted before anything happened! And besides, I work alone. I don't need an assistant.”
Lissa felt her mind race, and surprisingly, she came up with something fast. “you know, I got sick just after I got into town.” She snapped, “Horrible fever, weakness, muscle aches. Could be a cold. But hey, it could also be whatever fumes I inhaled from whatever you were trying to get me to drink.”
“I.. It wasn't.. I didn't even get it close to you.”
“Did you? Can you even remember? You were about to force that stuff down my throat when Ella got here. And you know, me being sick... it really hindered my finding a job, getting settled here in town. I'm sure Ella would appreciate that, wouldn't she?”
“Look.” She said, panicing a little now. He looked around, picked the jar off the floor, and set it on the counter. “Look. Even if I were to hire you.. I have no use for you. A young lady-”
“Young lady?”
“I'm old, miss. I can easily tell the difference between a young man and a young woman. Besides, Ella wasn't really trying to keep that quiet when she stormed in here and got you.” He shook his head, “I don't have a use for a young man, let alone a young woman, especially one who knows nothing about the kind of work I do.” He reached down, picked up the stick of charcoal one more, and finished writing something on the label. “Now excuse me, I have to close up.”
“...Why? Isn't it early to close up?”
“I'm not closing up for the day, st-” he hesitated, then set the jar back on the table. I”m closing up so I can make a quick run over to a client's house.”
“A patient?”
“Not quite. Just a delivery. A customer of mine has a new little wife, and she's having trouble, shall we say, getting used to him? I've made her a little mixture that should do the trick.”
“Well then, I can bring it. That's something easy enough, isn't it?”
“Fine!” he snapped. He rummaged around under the counter until her came up with a burlap sack, He put the jar inside, and tied it tightly. “If it'll get you out of my hair, you can take it.”
“And.. you will pay me?”
“Yes, yes, I'll pay you-” He thrust the sack into her hands and pushed her towards the door, “Just get out of my hair. Don't set Ella on me or anything, just take it and go.” He opened the door, the bell rang overhead. She stumbled as she was pushed back outside. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the brightness of the snow-covered outside. Behind her, she heard the door squeak closed. She turned quickly.
“Wait, where do I bring it!”
“You're bringing it to the new wife of Lawson Dives. He lives in a big house on the west side of town. Ask around, you'll find it.”
He let the door close, leaving Lissa, holding a packing for Lawson.
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 17: Better Than Nothing
The king sat in his chair, drinking wine by the fire. The whole day had been spent looking over revisions to rules, some of which were hundreds of years old, and so useless and outdated that they didn't mean anything anymore. However, they were still rules, and before he made a decision, the purpose and necessity of every rule needed to be discussed in depth, the possible implication of removing a law needed to be discussed.
They had spent the entire afternoon trying to decide if they needed to enforce a 300 year-old rule on citizens having red hair, which, after several hours on arguing the possible implications of removing the rule, he himself had to bring up the possible implications of enforcing it, and then had to bring up the possibility for others to use the rule.
IT had been a taxing day. And they had another three days ahead of them like that.
He filled his wine glass, and took a deep drink, then set the glass down on the table next to him with a clink.
“It's been a good few years now, I think I can hear you just fine, no matter how quiet you are.”
The Hunter stepped out from the edge of the fireplace.
“How strange, your hearing is improving with age.” he muttered. The king grinned and gave a smile.
“Maybe I just lied about that. Maybe every so often, I ask the empty room if you're there, just so you'll think I'm clever if you are.”
“Well, I'm make sure to deny your cleverness here there.”
The king took another glass from a small box under the table, set it down, and poured a small glass. “Have a drink. Tell me what you found out.”
The hunter stepped forward, took the glass, then moved to the wall just behind the king, and leaned back as he drank.
“Ella is back in town.”
“She is now.” he leaned back, “That means we're almost done?”
“I think so. She came in to town last night, with some kid with her. She brought him to a pub then went to her little hideaway.”
“You didn't go in after her?”
“I did. She got away in the end.”
“She must be good to get away from you.”
“She was... Lucky.”
The king nodded, and took another long drink of wine. “Life is half luck. Doesn't matter how good you are. If you're not lucky, you're screwed.” she set the glass down again, and stared at it. “OF course, if you have all the luck in the world, and you don't work, nothing happens.”
“I suppose.” The Hunter shrugged. “Regardless, she got away. But she can't leave Rawlins, she can't go outside, she can't buy bread now without me finding out about it. IT won't be long now.”
“And you think if you get here-”
“If I had gotten her in the first place, everyone who knew about the pendent would already be dead.”
“... Except for the girl.”
“She doesn't know what it is. She is not a danger, and for now, it's just as safe with her as it is here, because no one knows she has it.”
“Except for us.”
“Aye.”
The king sighed, and rubbed his fingers against his temple, “This would have all been easier if you had just killed the girl, and taken the thing back.”
“You gave me a choice. I choose this, didn't I?”
“You know, life would have been a lot simpler if you had just killed the girl, and taken the damned thing back. You'd probably be done by now.”
“Perhaps.”
“Speaking of the girl... why haven't you told me she's gone?”
“... Pardon?”
“I've had my people checking up on her from time to time.” He picked up the glass, and looked deeply into the wine. “She's dead.”
“...no.”
“She was accused of murder, and buried alive, just outside of town.” he looked at him. “You didn't know?”
“I... I knew she wasn't there.. but I didn't imagine-”
“And you didn't' tell me this? Don't you think it's more problematic for us if she's running about with that thing on her?”
“I was going to tell you-”
“Save your breath, Tiller. I know you wanted to protect her.” He leaned back, and smiled a bit. “A little sad though. You're just about done, and she's dead.”
Tiller said nothing for a long moment. HE quickly drank the rest of his wine, dropped the glass on the table, then went towards the door.
“For what it's worth... On a personal level, I”m sorry for your loss.”
“Screw you.”
The king chuckled. “I could have you killed for that.”
“What do I care now?”
“Your wife is still around somewhere.” he said. Tiller stopped, and for a long moment simply stood in the middle of the room. “I've arranged to have her found. She apparently left the village shortly after her daughter passed on. I'm waiting for information now. I had some men go out for the pendant. They'll give your daughter a proper burial after they're done.”
Tiller opened his mouth, as though he was about to say something, then stopped. And walked to the door. He was just about the leave when he stopped. “This means I don't have to hunt down-”
“You still do. “ The king said. “You still choose, and you've gone this far, you might as well. Besides, if you go back on your word now? I can make life very painful, very hard for you.”
“All this, over that stupid thing?”
“That stupid thing is dangerous.” The king said. “ The only reason humanity stopped fighting over it was because they thought it's lost.” he sighed. “You know.. maybe it's best that she died.”
“How could you-”
“There's only been a few people in recorded history who have actually worn that thing. It takes years for it's power to imbed itself in someone. Like vines on a stone wall. You don't neven notice them before they're all over the place, and making your wall weak. For all y ou know, she wasn't even your daughter anymore.”
“Then why didn't you go and take it from her?”
“Because I made a promise too, didn't I?” he whispered. “I Promised that if you did what I wanted you to, I wouldn't hurt your daughter. Of course, I had men checking up on her from time to time. Staying out of the way, making sure she wasn't snapping, or shapeshifting, or the gods know what else.”
“Shapeshifting?”
“Demons have many powers. I dont' know exactly what that one will do.” he shook his head. “If she di murder that boy, that could have been her succumbing to the power of that gem. It would only have been a matter of time then before she started to enjoy killing, before she needed to kill. Or maybe not. Who knows.”
“It's almost over.”
“Almost. We'll have the pendent back soon, everyone who knows about it will be dead, and you... well, I made a promise to you. You can go back to what remains of your life, I suppose.”
Tiller looked up at the carvings over the door. A series of vines with small berries were carved into the wood. “The remains.”
“It's better than death. Better than nothing.”
Lissa had had one of those dreamless sleeps that still managed to pass slowly and comfortably. She woke up slowly, her mind fuzzy with sleep, and turned over, nuzzling into the pillows, pulling the blankets up almost over her head.
It had been a long, long time since she had had a proper sleep, and she was reculant to wake fully. She was still at the point where she could decide that she didn't want to wake up and deal with the mess she was in.
But while she was trying to sleep, there was a knock on the door, and it was quickly opened. The man from pub the other night came in.
“Eh.. hello?”
“Good morning sir!” he said, “I've brought you some breakfast here, and a note from Adex. Whenever you're ready, you can leave, but in honesty if you needed the room another night, no one will really care. Not until Ella says she needs it again.”
“..Thank you” Lissa mumbled into her pillow.
The man walked over to the table near the bed, set down a tray which had a bowl on it, a mug, and an envelope, sealed with a blob of wax.
“Do you need anything else?”
“A bowl of warm water.” she muttered. He nodded, and hesitated nearby a moment before leaving. She heard the door close, but didn't hear it lock. When she was sure he was gone, she sat up, and noticed that the door was left slightly ajar, so that she could leave whenever she wanted.
She got up, and quickly threw on her clothes from the other night. After she had done that, she quickly ate the luke-warm bowl of grains, and drank the tea that in her opinion could have used more honey, but she didn't really care. While she was drinking, hey eyes rested on the letter.
'an explanation for last night?' she wondered. She door the letter, cracked the seal, and read:
Dear Lissa.
Ella must be gone on one of her runs. She might be back in a couple of days, but it wouldn't be fair to let you just sit around in that room until she comes back.
Enclosed is a share of the money that Ella had intended to give you. This should be enough to get you started. I don't know what kind of trouble you're into, or why you ran off, but whatever it is, keep your head down. You done need to be getting into any more trouble. If, however, trouble does find you, then you're welcome to find us again. We could always use more thieves.
-Adex
Lissa wondered how Adex had been able to write the letter, given that he didn't have real hands, but then realized that there was at least someone he knew, who he could trust, who could write well. A folded piece of paper slid out from the letter, and fell onto her lap. She picked it up, assuming it to be the money she was owed, and openend it.
A few golden coins fell out into her hand.
For a moment, she stared at the coins in her hands in disbelief. It wasn't enough to keep her set for years, of course, but enough to keep her fed for a while. Enough for her to keep a room in an inn until she found a way to work.
Work. There was another problem. She didn't have that many skills, Se figured she could probably get a job as a maid, or even as an assistant to a seamstress.
She suddenly thought of the boys from her home. She didn't think of how they had framed her, how they were willing to stand by and let her take the blame for their actions, but their words. A thief, or a whore.
“I'm not whore” she muttered to herself. She wanted to say 'I'm not a thief.' but she couldn't. She had become a thief. She had stolen, and if it was just the fact that she had stolen out of necessity, then she could convince herself that she was no a thief because of that. But no, she hadn't just taken out of necessity. She had enjoyed it.
And she wanted to do it again.
She started slightly as she heard someone near the door and slid the coins back into the paper. The man came back in with a bowl of hot water.
“Here you go, sir.”
“Thank you.” She said. She got up, took a rag hanging off the edge of the bowl and started washing her hands, when she stopped. “where would be a good place to get some new clothes?” She asked.
He turned around and looked at her. “I'm guessing you need something not quite so caked with dirt, right?'
“Right.”
He shrugged, “there's a few places around, I think.” he glanced over her clothes once more, “ think I have something you can have. Old clothes someone left behind one night. Oh, don't worry-” he said as he caught sight of the look of disgust on her face, “They're clean.”
“How much?”
He wrinkled his nose a little, “For used clothes? You can just have them. I was going to use them as rags anyway.”
“And... one more thing...”
“Yeah?”
“If I wanted to rent a room here for a longer period of time..?”
“Normal rate is two silvers a night... but for a friend of Ella, I can make that half.”
“And, do you have a less..” she looked around the room, looking for the right word. After a moment, the man gave a short laugh.
“A real room? Sure. I have another one upstairs. Nice view too.”
She nodded, and then reached for the paper, and took out one of her gold coins.
“I can pay for nights in a advance?”
“You want to pay for fifty nights in advance...?”
“well, like I said, I'm looking for a place in the long term.”
“Hey, no problem. If you're sure, then you're sure.” He put the coin in his pocket, and turned to leave, “I'll get you the keys, and come back with that and the clothes. I can show you to your room after?”
“Sounds great.” Lissa said.
As he left, and as she slowly started to wash the dirt off herself, she felt like she was getting her life in order.
-M.K.Barry
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 15: The Hunter
Ella climbed to the top of the bell tower, and looked down at the square before. That man, the Hunter was there. They didn't know his name, but shortly after they lost Tiller, this guy had been stalking them. HE was the one they had been hiding from for so long, and Ella had thought that they had lost him for good, that he had given up.
Now he was standing by the well, looking down into the water. He was looking for them again Or maybe he had never stopped, and had just caught their tracks again.
“Damnit.” she muttered. She though she saw him stiffen, and he turned slightly. Though he was looking at the ground, she still slid into the shadows, her heart pounding wildly. She could almost feel his eyes on her, staring up past the stone pillar and right at her back. She shivered, and waited. After a few moment she could actually hear him, the click clicking of his shoes on the cobblestones in the square below echoing up to her in the silence of the very early morning. She listened until the sound faded into the grey of the morning, and then slumped to the floor
'How the hell is he back?' she thought. 'Lissa couldn't have drawn that much attention to herself, or me.' she sat very still for a long moment, watching the sky slowly lighten.
'I need to tell the others' She thought. She carefully counted off people in her head. 'I need to get to everyone else, and I need to tell them that he's back, that I have Lissa, that...'
She got up slowly, and looked back down into the empty square. ' the damned pendent' she thought, ' what the hell do I do with that.'
She sighed and turned around, and started making her way back down into garrison below. The Damned thing hadn't been used in a long time, and was hers now, so long as she was careful. It was home.
'what do I know' She thought to herself. 'I know that Lissa is here. She has the pendent. The Hunter is here as well. He wants the pendant... But likely doesn't know that Lissa has it.' She sighed. “Damnit” She muttered again. She got to a landing down about halfway through the bell tower, kneeled down, and gently brushed her hand over the wooden floor until she felt the leather strap that opened the trap door. She pulled the strap, and a bare room with a single table with one lantern on it opened out beneath her. She jumped down, landing almost silently on the balls of her feet. She quickly took the lantern, and blew it out.
'Part of me wants to just let her keep it.' she thought. 'no one knows she has it... anyway.' It took her only a moment of thought before she decided. 'that's what I'll do. I'll let her keep it, and get her out of here. I'm sure she won't mind. I can sent her to the islands or something.'
She walked around to the back, and started to unlock. 'So. I'll get her set up tomorrow. I'll give her some money, and get her to Teans and put her on a ship. Maybe I could suggest she throws the damned thing out to sea when she's far enough.'
She gave a small smile. Even when things were hard, she was fine if she knew what she was doing. So long as she had an idea of what had to be done, and what could be done, then she didn't have to worry about much.
She opened the door, and standing on the other side was Hunter, his burned and deformed face staring back at her. She yelped and walked back to the table.
“Hello Ella.” He said in his grating, scratchy voice. “Trying to hide form me?”
She moved fast. She grabbed the lantern off from the table, and threw it at him. The light was off, of course. He moved out of the way, and it shattered against the wall, splashing everywhere. He moved quickly towards her, caught her by the throat, and squeezed gently.
“Careless?” He croaked. “You pulled a little too much attention to yourself tonight, Ella.” He squeezed a little tighter. “There were seven people there that night, including your leader. There's only three left.” He squeezed tighter. “Yourself, Adex, and Lysans.”
Ella have a quiet squeak which would have been a gasp if she could breath properly. Hunter chuckled.
“The others have been taken care of.” He hissed. “From you, all I want is the location of the other two. You do that, and I might not have to kill you slowly. I might not hunt down everyone you ever knew or cared about.”
Ella mouthed something, but he couldn't see properly what she was trying to say in the darkness. He loosened her grip on her neck until he heard a strained gasp for air.
“Say that again?”
She gave a low chuckle. “Idiot.” He brought her knee up, and kneed him between the legs. He fell to the ground, and without taunting him or throwing another kick, Ella took off. Jumping over him and running out into the square. She dodged into an alley, and ran until she came to a plain looking door. She pulled the handle, but rather then pull the door out, she pushed it to the side, and slipped into the darkness. The door slid shut behing her.
Moments later, Hunter pulled himself up, and ran to the door. He couldn't' see anything in the courtyard, no sign of Ella. He leaned agains the cold stone wall of the garrison. It was ok though. After so many years, he had at last found her again. Knew where she was, and knew one of her “secret entrances” into the city. One of the last ones, he hoped.
“This will all be over soon..” he muttered.
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 14: End of the Trip
The tall, nearly bald man came towards Lissa with the bowl of slimy puss coloured liquid in his hands. She could kick, or course, and she could struggle, but chained as she was, how much could she really defend herself? She tried to come up with an idea, a way to get herself free, but all she could think about was the deceit, the trickery, of Ella's blatant lies that led her here.
There was a sudden knock at the door. Loud and long, like someone was trying to knock the door down.
“Damnit.” he hissed. He threw the bowl down onto the table, and turn. Before he left, he grabbed a rag off the table, and went back to lissa. He tried to tie the rag around her mouth, but she moved her head out fo the way. He frowned, grabbed her by the hair, and then managed to get the rag around her mouth.
“ Just be quiet.” he hissed. He tightened the rag and took off out of a sturdy wooden door on the other side of the room.
Lissa struggled against the chains once more, but couldn't escape. She was trying to squeeze her hands , to make them small enough to slip through the shackles when she heard shouting, There was a lot of banging on the other side of the door, and someone was yelling loudly. She heard a thump and hear the man say something she couldn't understand. He sounded panicked.
The door was thrown open, slamming against the shelf of bottled mixtures, causing several fo them to fall to the floor, and shatter, Ella stormed in, the man following close behind her. Her face was hardened into an angry, almost scary glare, her eyes were wide and wild, and her lips were pressed together tightly.
“Ella, I swear, I thought she was-”
“I dont' care.” She snapped. She went up to Lissa, and tore the rag from around her mouth. “Are you ok?” She said, she gently took her chin in her hands, and looked carefully into her eyes, and at her face, “Did he do anything to you? Did he give you anything!”
“N-no.” Lissa stammered.
Ella took a deep calming breath, then turned, snapping her eyes back at the man, who almost seemed to shrivel under her stare.
“Release her.” She snapped.
He took a key off the table, and ran towards Lissa, Ella snatched the key from his hands, and unlocked the shackles herself.
“Are you hurt at all?”
“No I.. I think I'm fine.”
Ella nodded, and turned back to the man again. “Lin, I swear, if you ever, ever touch her again, I'll force-feed you poison.”
“I thought.. you said you were bringing me a girl.”
“And you just assumed that she was...” She caught Lissa's curious stare, and let her sentence trail off. “From now on, we do business in person. Got it? No more deliveries. Got it?”
“Y-yes Ella.”
Ella took Lissa by the arm, and led her out of the room. The door let into a shop front, where a fire burned in the fireplace. That was the light Lissa had seen from outside. She only caught a glimpse at the rows of bottles and dried herbs on shelves before Ella pulled her out into the street again, and pulled her across the square.
“The pub is on the other side of the square.” She said softly. “I... I guess I always get a little confused when I come up out of the well.
Lissa looked across the square, and could see a building, with thin linees of light illuminating tightly closed. She hand't even noticed it before.
“You were bringing him people?”
“Ignore Lin for now.” She muttered, “He's half crazy on the best of days.”
“You... you were bringing him people.” Lissa said, his voice quiet, her eyes wide. She pulled her arm from Ella's grip. “You were bringing him people.. and he was killing them?”
“Lissa, this isn't the place to-”
She took a few steps away from her, “You were. You were just-”
Ella moved fast. Within a moment, she was behind Lissa, her thin dagger held to her neck.
“I don't want to hurt you, Lissa.” She whispered. “That's the very last thing I want right now, save for being caught by the authorities here. You keep you voice down, and come with me now.
Lissa stiffened, and didn't move until Ella pushed her gently towards the pub. After a few long moments, Ella removed the dagger from her neck.
“Don't run.” she hissed. “I could kill you in a moment if you tried.”
They got to the pub, and Ella opened the door, and pushed Lissa inside. There were a few patrons there, but none of them really looked up, save for one skinny man sitting along in the corner, who glanced up for a moment, then looked back down at his drink. A stone fire pit sat in the centre of the pub, a low, smouldering fire burning, the smoke following the stone chimney that stood as a piller in the centre of the room. A wooden counter stood, covering one side of the pub, and behind it was a youngish man, no more than twenty, with light brown hair and light brown eyes.
“Your normal room, Ella?” He asked, letting his eyes flicker towards lissa only for a moment.
“I think so.” She said. “And a room for my friend here.”
“Any one in particular?”
“Room five would be useful.”he nodded, and from under the counter, pulled out two sets of keys. She thanked him, and pulled Lissa up towards a flight of stairs. She dragged her around a corner, and towards a door that had “5” scratched into the wood. She unlocked the door, the elaborate, long key turning the tumblers loudly, and gently pushed Lissa in.
“I am sorry about this.” Ella said softly. “In the morning, I'll explain more. But you can't run off, not just yet.” She looked at Lissa and sighed. “I'll have some food sent to you... just try to rest.”
She closed the door, and Lissa heard it lock. She took a half step to the door, then changed her mind. She looked around the room. There was a bed in the centre of the room, a single table with a tinderbox and lit candle sat next to the bed.
She collapsed down on the bed. The mattress was a least a good one, and soft enough that she sunk into it. She shut her eyes and started to drift into sleep, then she got up, pulled off the dirt-caked clothing she had been wearing since she left home, pulled back the thick blankets, and slipped in under them, snuggling the around her neck. She started to worry over everything that had just happened, but in her exhaustion, she told herself that all her problems would still be there in the morning.
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 13: A Trapped Rat
Lissa couldn't scream. Her voice was caught, stuck inside of her. The face rose up from the water. A slender hand reached up, and grasped at the edge of the well. The figure, with soaked, slicked back hair took a deep, silent breath before opening her eyes and looking right at Lissa.
It was Ella.
“Hurry it up, I can't sit around watching you all night.” The guard snapped from behind her.
“I.. I'm done.” Lissa muttered. She looked back at Ella, wondering how she could quickly ask for help without saying anything.
Thankfully, Ella already knew she needed help. She mouthed something, but in the darkness, Lissa couldn't see what she was saying. She leaned in close to listen. She missed most of what Ella whispered, but managed to make out the word Pub. She mouthed the word back. Ella nodded.
Lissa moved quickly away from the well, and took the mules, leading them by the reigns. “Sorry to be such a bother.” She said to the guard, trying again to deepen her voice. She suppressed her natural manners, which told her to curtsey, and settling for a quick nod of her head, to cover up for the twitch that might have been a curtsey, she pull the mules along, and looked around the square quickly. There was only one building that still had lights on in the window. She figured that that was the Pub, and made her way over.
The Guard watched her carefully as led the wagon across the square towards the building. She didn't know off hand where to bring the wagon, she of course couldn't just take it into the pub, but since Ella had told her that she could bring the wagon here, she assumed she would know what to do soon. She reached the door, and made to knock on the door, but realized that if it was a pub, it would probably be strange for her to knocked. She pulled on the door handle, but it was locked, so she knocked anyway. IT was very quiet inside. She knocked again and heard footsteps. A moment later, the door opened, and a frazzled looking man with hair the colour of ash threw the door open and glared at her.
“What!” HE hissed.
“I.. I brought a delive-”
“Delivery?” HE looked past her and at the wagon. “About time. Bring it down the alley and into the side door.” He slammed the door closed, and she could hear a latch slide into place.
She looked behind her quickly, and saw the guard starting to walk away. She could hear him starting to mutter, but she couldn't understand his low, echoing voice.
She turned, and led the wagon down the alley. Boxes were piled along the side, but it was wide enough for the wagon to fit, but only just. At least here, there were no rats scurrying around in the alley, though the smell of rot still lingered. She reached the door midway down the alley, but there was no handle. She reached up to knock, but the door swung open before her. The man was there again, leaning out of the doorway, staring at her. “delivery?”
“From Ella?” she said. “Ella told me to-”
“I see.” He said. “Come in.”
“What about the wagon?”
“I'll take care of that.” He said, pulling her in. She was in a small storage room, with boxes piled up along the walls. He pushed Lissa into the darkness of the storage room,and quickly closed and locked the door behind her.
“Ella will be here soon?”
“Probably not.” he said. “Ella doesn't come here after packages are delivered.” He grabber her by the wrist, and pulled her through the storage room, “Come quickly now.” HE said. He opened another door, and pulled her in. This new room was brightly lit. Tables were filled with cages, each with a single rat inside. Some were sleeping, some were thrashing wildly against the cages. Others were twitching and frothing. One light brown rat was sitting, it's eyes bloody and red, staring out at the room. A bot bubbled over a large fire , and in the center of the room, one large table stood, filled with glass vials, shining metal instruments, and finely ground powders.
She backed up, and turned to open the door, but the man grabber her by her wrists, and pulled her over to the wall. Chains were attached to the brick wall, with old, but well kept shackles on the ends. She thrashed against him, but he acted as though he didn't even notice, and soon had her hands locked into the shackles.
“Don't worry sweets.” He muttered, “It's nothing personal, really. I need subjects for my experiments, and I can only go so far with rats.”
“Experiments? But Ella said-”
“I pay Ella very well to bring me unwanted runaways, little urchins. It's easy for her. You were a little harder though, I think. I needed someone in relatively good health, not the half-starved wretches that she's been bringing me as of late.”
“But she said... Auntie Ella said-”
“She's a thief. She lies. What do you expect?”
She pulled against the shackles, but they were strong, and of course she couldn't get out. “What are you going to do with me.” She whispered.
“Well, I happen to have been working on a little something to protect people from poison. A neat little trick that counters most poisons in the system.
“And...?”
“Well, first you drink that. Then I feed you poison. See if it works. If you're still alive after the poison should have worked, I give you another dose of my potion, and another poison. We continue until a poison kills you.” He shrugged as he brought a small metal cup, filled with a pus-coloured liquid over to her.
The last one Ella brought me lasted for two days of testing. You might get at least three.”
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 12: The Well in the Slums
Lissa slowly led the mules towards the gates. There were two guards, both leaning against the wall. Talking to each other loudly about a woman that one of the guards seemed to have slept with. Lissa replayed her story in her head. She was bring goods to her uncle. Why was she so late? She had slept in, and had tried to get through the forest before dark. Once she had, she didn't want to sleep out in the open when the city seemed so close. That seemed good enough. Her name was Luc, and she was male, and bringing some cloth to her uncle.
That would do, wouldn't it?
As she approach the guards, and caught sight of their spears, leaning casually against the city walls, she a twinge or resentment towards Ella. At the moment, she would far prefer going through whatever they were going through to get into the city. However, it was too late to turn back. The Guards had already caught sight of her.
She took a deep breath, and walked towards them, trying not to feel like a criminal, trying not to feel like the Guards could, or should, catch her and throw her into a dungeon somewhere.
“Halt.” One the guards said lazily as Lissa approached. Lissa stopped the mules, and stood still, waiting for the guard to say something. The other guard stood up straight, but didn't move towards her and said nothing.
“Bit late for travelling.” The guard said.
“I- my uncle...”
“what?”
“I'm bring cloth to my uncle.”
The Guard nodded, and wandered towards the back to the wagon. He pulled the tarp up, peeked inside, then let the tarp drop.
“Why so late?”
Lissa quickly pull the excuse her had planned into her mouth, “I was travelling, and it started to get dark, and I wanted to get out of the forest before it got too late, and then I thought I could make it to the city, and I wouldn't have to worry about-”
“Ok, ok.” the Guard muttered, “You're name?”
“Luc?”
“And who are you going to see?”
“MY uncle.”
The guard sighed “Yes, I gathered, what's your uncle's name?”
Lissa's froze. Had Ella mentioned who the uncle was? “Mintas” she said.
“Mintas? As in Lord Mintas?”
“No. Mintas is my uncle's first name.”
“ The guard looked back at the other guard. “You know any other Mintas'” He asked. The other guard shrugged.
“He's a tailor.” Lissa said. “A new one.. he's not very good.”
“Clearly.” the Guard said, “At any rate unless you're on official business, I can't let you-”
“Oh shut it, Marc.” the other guard said. He turned around, and started to unlock the gate.
“But we're not supposed to let people in unless their on official-”
“Look, he's bring goods to a crafter in the city. What, you're going to let him hang around with us all night?”
The Guard muttered, and moved out of Lissa's way.
The Gate opened, and the other guard moved out of Lissa's way. “ Be quick, sir. There's thieves, even in the city.”
“Thank you.” Lissa said. She quickly led the mules, and the wagon into the gates. As the gates were closing, she heard on guard say to Marc, “Really, I know you're used to palace guard, but you've got to relax. There's lots of merchant deliveries that come through late at night.
The gates slammed shut behind her. The voices of the bickering guards grew silent, and Lissa was left alone. The cobblestone street was wide, though the run-down building that loomed up over her still managed to make the whole place feel cramped. Windows were boarded up, and no light flittered from them. Down one ally, Lissa could see a flickering, dull light coming from a window, covered partially by worn, moth-eaten curtains. Some rats were scurrying about near a pile of old, mouldy rags off a corner which led down another ally. Lanterns hung from tall polls, but most of them had already been stolen.
Lissa took a deep breath, and looked down the street. Her instructions were simple and clear. All she had to do was go straight down the road. Eventually, she would find a well. Ella and the others would meet up with her there.
Lissa tugged gently on the reigns, and the mules fell into step behind her as she led them down the street. The rats on the pile of rags scurried away into the darkness as she passed. She heard someone chattering off down an alley, but she didn't know if it was someone chattering to themselves, in the dark, narrow alley, or if it was someone talking inside, next to an open window. She shivered, pulled her cloak tightly around her, and walked quickly. The houses all looked the same for a while. The stench of rotting wood, and the smell that arises from close living hung heavy and wet in the air. A while passed, and another road, smaller than the one she was on, but clearly a road, and not a alley. From there, the houses seemed a little nicer. The wood was nicer, and the house windows were shuttered. The road expanded before her, showing a small square among the houses, with a round, stone well sticking up like a tree stump from the ground.
She let a small sigh of relief escape her from mouth, and slowed down a little. The well was within sight. Ella and the others would find her soon, and take the wagon, and Lissa could get her payment and find a place to stay.
She came close to the well, and stopped, let go of the reigns, and leaned against the wagon. The lanterns here lined the square, and none of them seemed to be missing, though one seemed to have gone out. A flickering orange light filled the square with a comforting light. She shut her eyes and tried to imagine it during the day, filled with busy people. She had thought, for some reason, that even at night there would be people running about in the city. She didn't expect it to be so empty, so quiet that she could hear the footfalls of one single person approaching her.
That's likely , she thought. She stretched against the wagon, and then walked around to greet her.
A guard, dressed in a light chain mail shirt was walking towards her. “You got any business here?” The Guard snapped.
“I.. No, I”
“Then get moving on.” he said, “can't have you cluttering up the place.”
Lissa moved away from the guard, back towards her wagon, and took the reins. “I.. I was just getting some water.” she said.
“Well, hurry it up.”
Lissa had no bucket. She went over to the well, and leaned forward, hoping that it was believable enough that she had just stopped for a drink for herself. She reached down, scooped up a handful of the icy water. Fat drops fell from her fingers and hit the clear, black water. She took a sip, staring at her blurry reflection in the water. The water was at least good, and gave her a reason to procrastinate under the glare the guard. She reached down for another sip. That was when she realized that her reflection looked strangely contorted, even though the water. Though she saw a face, it didn't look at all like hers. Another face was breaking though her own reflection, coming closer towards her.
-M.K.Barry
There was a safety in numbers that Lissa couldn't deny, even though she didn't want to travel with this people. Hunger, exhaustion, and the opportunity to sleep next to a warm fire night after until convinced her to stay with them. However, Ella hadn't really helped her. She was thankful, yes, that Ella told her what happened to her father, and she had a few pleasant memories about Ella, true, but Ella had also bound her and kept her captive. Ella had held a knife to her neck. Ella hadn't come back for Lissa and her mother, hand't looked for them, to tell them if anything had happened to her father. She hadn't come back to help them.
There were reasons of course. They were hunted down, they thought her father had come and taken them back. Easy stories to tell.
However, for the moment they were a safe ride to Rawlins. A wagon, pulled by an old mule. No more walking at least. No more starving, no more freezing. Lissa felt safe, at least for the moment.
As the day grew longer, the trees began to thin. The sky grew overhead, bright and blue above them. The cracks that the bare branches seemed to create int he sky receded, allowing the sky to become full and whole again as the sun began to dive down into the horizon. The trees grew smaller, and soon the forest fell away entirely, leaving a colour streaked sky above them, and the red inferno that was the setting sun hung in the distance. Int he fading light, Lissa could see the sharp, black outline of a city in the distance, with buildings creating a man-made hill, the peaks the sharp towers of the castle, reaching up, fruitlessly, into the sky.
From here, it looked so small. But Lissa had heard stories about Rawlins, a dense, massive city, where at best houses are separated by narrow alleys, and tower over the narrow streets. Breathing room is granted only to the rich. All she could think about was how big the city was going to get. How it would swallow her. In part, that was what she wanted.
“We're going to keep traveling tonight.” Ella said. She had been leading the group, but had fallen back to talk to Lissa. “ If we keep going, we should get there before it's too late. AT least, before dawn.
“Isn't it dangerous to travel at night?” Lissa asked.
“Of course it is.” Ella said as she gave a sudden, wide grin, “There's all kinds of thieves and bandits out on these roads at night.”
Lissa forced a smile. She didn't feel comforted by Ella's jest. Weren't' there still people on the roads, looking for thieves and bandits?
“It's easier this way.” Ella said, seeming to catch onto Lissa's concern. “We can't just walk into the main gates. We're thieves, we'd be killed... or, they would try to kill us. The gates would probably only have a few guards... but then again.. well, anyway.” Ella shrugged. “That's not important. What is important is that we have an alternate way into the city.”
“Ok.”
“Now.. here's what I need you to do.. You won't be recognized by the guards. So, you can bring the wagon and the mule... and our stuff, into the city.”
Lissa stared at Ella for a long moment, waiting for her to say something else. When she didn't, Lissa finally said, “You mean... into the main gates?”
“Yes.”
“But.. wouldn't the alternative-”
“ The alternative entrance involves a lot of swimming. It's cold, it's dangerous, and not something we can pull off with a wagon load of stuff. We normally choose someone to disguise themselves to bring the wagon in, but today, you can do it.”
To Lissa, it suddenly seemed to make sense. Maybe Ella just wanted to use her. Perhaps Ella just wanted Lissa to do this, bring the wagon into the city, get caught, and get thrown into prison to rot.
“OF course,” Ella said, just a moment before Lissa was about to refuse, “We'll compensate you for helping us?”
“You... You will?”
Ella nodded. “Look. I won't lie. You might get caught. It's not likely, but if the guards are in a foul mood, and want to poke through the wagon... Honestly, we've been doing this for years. And if you just relax, and... I suppose really feel as though you have every right to be riding through that gate, the guards will believe that you do, and leave you alone.” She eyes Lissa carefully, “And the other way... well, unless you can swim well, you'll drown.”
“And... you'll pay me to do this?”
Ella laughed, “Of course! Look, if you're working for me, you get paid. It won't be all that much, but you'll be able to afford food, and a room if you wanted, for a few days in the city.” She grinned, “OF course, you can save a lot by forgoing the room and just staying with us.”
Lissa gave a weak smile. She didn't trust any of the thieves, and certainty didn't want to live with them for any amount of time. How long could she hide the face that she was Lissa, not Luc, that she was a female, not a male.
“Ok.” Lissa said
“Now... We've covered our goods with fabric, so if anyone asks, you're selling... well, you're selling fabric. That way, if they look, they'll see fabric.”
Lissa nodded. Ella smiled at her. She ran to catch up to Adex, who was now standing before all the other thieves. Lissa yawned, and wrapped an edge of the canvas that was covered the fabric, which covered Ella's stolen goods, over her. She though of a nice bed in the city, next to a nice fireplace, with warm drinks and food nearby. As they rode on, she wondered how she could ever had wished for more than just that. Just some basic comforts, the guarantee of food and shelter. She thought about Luc, and for a moment, felt bad for having forgotten about him.
I was hungry. She thought, and I had nothing...no food, no shelter. I almost froze to death. Isn't that reason enough to forget, even for a little about Luc?
Her stomach turned, and she wrapped the canvas tighter around her, and quietly dozed off before she could realize that she felt bad about forgetting about Luc, not about losing him.
Lissa slept soundly next to the dying fire. Ella's cloak was draped over her, and a small wooden bowl held the remains of Lissa's second helping of stew. She lay on her side, and held one hand, half-closed over her nose and mouth, her ragged, dirty hair covered half her face.
Ella say nearby. She was tired, of course she was. The sky was starting to lighten, and the stars were slowly disappearing. Ella wanted to sleep. She didn't need to watch over Lissa, she had told her men that “Luk” was a friend of a friend, and would be travelling with them for a little while. No one would mess with Lissa. No, Lissa was safe from everyone here.
Everyone but Ella.
Ella reached out and moved Lissa's hair out of her way. She could see the tarnished chain of the necklace. The pendent was hidden under Lissa's shirt.
That damned pendent. Ella thought to herself. It hadn't been her idea to steal it. There were some things you didn't go after if you wanted to continue being a thief. It had taken her years to start over, to be able to show her face in pubs again. She had joined another band of thieves, and had for years sat on the bottom rungs, had been the one stealing food or booze for the men. She thankfully hadn't been their whore. No, their previous leader had taken her for himself. She had been very lucky, and they had held their little mockery of a relationship for many years. He had even taken to (jokingly, and in private) calling the band of thieves his family, and the others their kids. Over the course of eight years, he had told her about his childhood, his hopes, his fears. He had trusted her.
Ella still felt a pang of guilt when she thought about how she killed him. He had been neurotic about having someone test his food for him before he ate it. His worse fear was a slow death by poison. After five years, he failed to do this while having a private dinner with Ella. After six years, he had stopped altogether when he was eating with Ella. Halfway through the winter of their sixth year, she had poured poison into his wine. It only took a few minutes for him to die, but they were minutes of pain, Ella was sure.
She drew herself out of memories, and looked back at Lissa, sleeping in the fading firelight, pendent around her neck. She silently slipped her blade from her sleeve, and gently lifted the chain up from Lissa's neck.
She heard something behind her. She quickly withdrew her dagger and turned. Adex was walking slowly up behind her. She sat back on the ground, and waited until Adex was sitting next to her. He held out the rough model of a wooden hand, which was attached to his left arm, and took a small knife out in his right. He eyed the hand for a moment, then slowly started to carve at it, trying to smooth unnatural bumps.
“An old friend, eh?” He whispered. It was very quiet, and Ella was so used to his voice that she could have heard him easily if he whispered in a crowded tavern.
“It's Lissa, Adex.” Ella said.
Adex stopped smoothing out the wood, and after a moment, started to dig away at an uneven piece of wood around the thumb. “Tiller's girl?”
Ella snorted gently, “No, Lissa the friggin' whore in the back ally of King's Cross. Of course it's Tiller's girl. How many Lissa's have you ever known?”
“I thought she was gone.”
“So did I.” Ella reached out and held Lissa's hair out of the way of the chain, “I had hoped she had taken that with her.”
“The pendant?”
Ella rolled her eyes, “Yes. The pendant.” She sat back and let Lissa's hair fall back, “I wish Tiller had told us what the damn thing was for.”
Adex set the knife down and sat back. “Let's see...” he murmured, “It's been a awhile since I've seen it... I don't' think it was valuable though.” He shut his eyes, “Low quality bronze. Roughly the size and shape of a large coin. A hole in the center was filled in with a smoothed piece of red quartz, an oddity, but not particularly valuable. The pendent itself was engraved with vines, with words around the edge. I can't remember the words, though.”
Ella looked blankly at Adex for a long moment. “That you can remember all that in such detail amazes and terrifies me.” she said, a little louder than she had been speaking, but Lissa was fast asleep. Adex just winked and grinned.
“You're not surprised though, I hope.”
“Oh no.” She sighed and turned back to Lissa. “Big fuss over a useless piece of junk. Castle guards were after us.. then the Royal Guard... Adams.”
“Obviously it's not valuable.” He said, “And obviously, Adams was stupid enough that he didn't go back and check to see if Lissa or her mother had the damned thing.”
“...Do you think it's magic?”
Adex snorted, “No. I'm no expert, but I think if it was something magical, we would know by now.”
“Well, I didn't' really ask too much about the pendent right off,” Ella snapped, “And I doubt she goes around telling everyone if the pendent... I don't know, made something explode or something.”
“She'll ask soon.” Adex whispered. “I bet she will. She'll have questions about her father. What happened, why the men were there. If she was too tired tonight... I'll bet a bottle of my best wine that she asks tomorrow.”
“Done.” Ella said, grinning. “But what am I supposed to tell her?” She leaned back. “What, am I supposed to say, “Yeah, your father risked all our lives over that worthless little trinket by having us all break into the castle and steal it from a display in a locked library. Then, after running day and night for I forget how many days, he just tossed it to you after leading all the guards to your house.' that's nice. I'm sure she'll feel great about that.”
“Tell her the truth.” Adex said, “Tell her that you don't know why he gave it to her. We picked it up during a job.” he shrugged. “Right now, there's no need to worry her, and everything else is just speculation. If it does come up, just tell her to keep it hidden. “
“And if she asks why?”
“She's travelling with a group of thieves that she doesn't know. Shouldn't' that be reason enough?”
“I suppose.”
Adex watched the fire for a moment longer before struggling to his feet, “Go to sleep.” He said, “I'll be a long day tomorrow. I don't think we'll catch that wagon, but we can make a good effort at it.”
“Yeah. The wagon.” Ella sighed. There was still that to deal with. She didn't really want to deal with a cargo heist. Finding Lissa seemed like a greater achievement at the moment. However, she was the head of this little band of thieves now, and if she wanted to keep her boys happy, they had to make the odd heist. She lay back and looked into the lightening sky, listening to Adex as he started to walk away.
“Hey.” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Three days.”
“Till what?”
“Until she asks about the pendent. If she didn't ask right away, there's a reason aside from being tired.” she tilted her head back, almost hurting her neck to look at Adex, “Three days. I'll bet ten silver pieces on it.”
“Done.” Adex said, grinning. “Three days.”
A Proper Young Thief
M.K.Barry
Chapter 9: The Escape
Ella quickly untied Lissa. She brought her a blanket and some of the soup that had been cooking.
“So, you do remember me, don't you?” Ella asked.
“I...I Think so.” Lissa said softly. “You're not really my aunt though... are you?”
Ella laughed. “No no, I'm not. Just a close friend of your father's.” She sat back, and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Why are you here? Once things settled down a little, I went back to the house, but no one was there, so-”
“You were caught though.” Lissa said, “They took you away! You escaped!? Where's dad?”
“Your father's not here.” Ella said, “I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him since that day.”
“Why not? What happened?”
***
After you and your mother were taken from the rooms, we were quickly surrounded. You probably don't remember much about that night. Let's see... There was general Adams, that much I'll never forget. He had no less than a doze armed men with him. He told us that if we tried anything, you and your mother would be killed. None of us wanted that. We're not really family, but you and your mother... You were really the closest thing we had to a family. Your mother knew we were all thieves, but she never said anything.
Anyway... I'm getting off track. Adams told us that if we struggled, you and your mother would be killed. So we let him have his men tie us up. General Adams commandeered a wagon from the village, threw us in , and started bringing us to the capital, to Rawlins. We were... fairly screwed. We had just managed to piss off the royals, which is why we were caught with a little more speed than we would otherwise have been. We were told that we were going to be brought back to the castle, questioned, and then killed. I can still see Adams, pacing in front of us, smirking... What an ass.
They started moving. To keep us down, to keep us from getting up and, I don't know, hopping out of the wagon, Adams had gotten a... I honestly don't recall, some kind of metal bar. I didn't know what it was then, and I never bothered to ask anyone. Anyway, Adex was with us... Do you remember him? He had an ivory hand back then. His old hand was crushed under the wheel of a wagon back when he was a real drunkard. He smashed his ivory hand against the meta a god few times, and eventually it broke apart. I guess it was old. He was able to slide his hands out easily then, the rope just slid over the stub he had at his wrist, and then he untied the rest of us very quietly so that the guards outside wouldn't hear us.
There were too many guards to allow us to just jump out, and there was no way of just sneaking out of a moving wagon, unseen by the guards surrounding us. We figured the only thing we might be able to do would be to wait until we got to Rawlins, and then try to escape. But to be honest... A lot of us thought we were done. What we had done was kind of a big haul so to speak. A grande Finale in all our eyes. We figured that your father believed so as well when he said that we should visit you and your mother. I think most of us were planning our final words. Heh. I remember planning to shout, “Eat it, cocksuckers!” from the gallows.
Our plans were half-assed and poorly thought out., more concerned with figuring out how we can cause more trouble for our captors than actually escaping. Your father was quiet though. We figured he had given up altogether. We tried to make our plans even more outrageous... Jesting a little, trying to cheer him up. We weren't really used him to being so down, so quiet.
We got tired though. You can only talk so much about a crazy escape when there's nothing you can do. Twilight came, the guards lit torches, and in the distance, we could see the outline of the city against the pale sky. Normally, it was a view I liked.
They stopped to eat, guarding us carefully, in shifts. Then, one of the younger guards came up, to talk to the other guards, I think. I'm not sure.
We didn't even notice that your father had done anything. We were concerned with other things. We were hungry by that point, and very thirsty. He moved quickly. Grabbed the guard, took his torch, and set the wagon alight.
Well, that got us moving! The roof caught fire surprisingly quickly, and we jumped out. The guards ran to put out the fire, and in the confusion, it took them a second to realize that we were out and untied. We had no weapons, no advantage. Your father, however, was armed with a flaming torch. He was swinging that thing around setting everything on fire, scaring all the horses. He didn't say anything to us, but we knew the situation for what it was. All the guards were focused on the one, half-crazed man running wild with a torch and trying to set everything on fire. It was very easy for us to slip into the woods and escape.
And... I guess that was that. We felt a bad, of course, for leaving him, but there wasn't anything we could have done. Unarmed and outnumbered as we were? We were lucky just to get away. We hid away in the woods until everything cleared up. We went back, and there were only the charred remains of the wagon we had been confined to. We made our way back to Rawlin- well no. I made my way back to Rawlins. Adex came with me, but the others didn't. A couple decided to go home, to their own “families” to see what was left of them. To their homes, a couple went to the islands. I think a couple even tried to go legit. I think one of the guys opened a shop or something in Rawlins. I've seen him a couple times in Rawlins, chatting to merchants, but I've never seen his shop.
And this is what I've done. I've built up a new gang of thieves.
***
“And you're not heard... from my father?”
Ella shook her head, “No... We looked though. Went to Rawlins, and went to every source I have. Nothing. I had assumed they'd have made a big fuss about his execution, but after a year, I stopped looking. I figured if he was still alive, he would have come looking for us.” She sighed, resting her gaze on Lissa, “I had one hope. You and your mother were gone. I thought maybe we went back and got you guys out of there. But I suppose that's not the case.”
