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.”
I want to know about that pendant as well. Why did her father give it to her if they risked so much after steeling it? And what was Ella going to do with that knife before the other guy showed up?
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