Thief's Fall

by C. Greenwood

  Once inside the gray walls of Selbius, the old feeling of being trapped closed in on me. I couldn’t forget that the last time I had been in this place, I had nearly had my arms chopped off by a cruel gang of thieves. Then I had nearly been murdered by the man with the scarred chin. I wasn’t eager to encounter any of them again.

  Luckily, as I joined the crowded press pushing through the market area, I saw no familiar faces. But that also meant I saw no sign of Ferran or Ada either, not that I had really expected to. Ada was too sensible to bring Ferran out into the open now. Not unless our enemies had moved on. I suspected if she and Ferran had escaped our pursuers at all, they had gone into hiding. I had a couple of ideas about where to look for them. I would start with the last place I had seen the pair.

  With that plan in mind, I bypassed the market square and took a broad street leading slightly uphill. Here, there was less noise and the crowds thinned out. The houses to either side of the road became grander. Elegantly shaped hedges lined the way. In the distance far ahead, I could see the stone edifice of Selbius castle, home to the praetor of Ellesus, rising at the top of the hill. I had no quarrel with the praetor of this province, but neither did I have any reason to go up to his castle. Instead, I turned off the road just before reaching the Temple of Light, a tall structure with graceful lines and swooping arches.

  I passed the tiny walled garden where Ferran and I had once met a young priest named Hadrian and cut across the temple’s open lawn. It was a rolling patch of green dotted with trees that seemed strangely small after the great trees of Dimmingwood.

  Beyond this place was a water cemetery surrounded by a screen of hedges. It was here that Ferran, Ada, and I had split up, me drawing off our pursuers while Ada and Ferran fled through the public gardens behind the cemetery.

  I circled around the pool of still water, with its eerie monuments rising above the surface, and pushed through the hedges. The public gardens of Selbius spread before me, an elaborate layout of flower beds, splashing fountains, and slender trees and shrubs, many of them twisted or trimmed into the shapes of animals. I followed a pebbled path lined with glimmer-stones that soaked up the sun’s rays and stored them for night. I passed a small roofed pavilion and a maze of hedges, but neither seemed a likely place for Ferran and Ada to be hiding. The gardens had too many visitors, I decided. Ada would have taken them someplace less open and visible. She would have gone underground.

  I knew what that meant. I was returning to the under-levels.

  Retracing my steps down the main road, I was so lost in my concern over Ferran and Ada that I forgot I too had enemies.

  That fact was brought suddenly home to me. As I drew even with an intersection where a great sundial stood between the meeting streets, a familiar face approached me in the crowd streaming from the opposite direction. Innards freezing, I stared.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I recognized the man in the dusty greatcoat. The battered hat pulled down over his brow did nothing to hide the distinctive birthmark that stood out like a livid stain down one side of his face.

  I didn’t know him, had never even heard his name. But I had seen him once before, amid a crowd of taunting thieves who had been howling for my blood. He had been at the thieves’ den that awful day when the thief king had nearly severed my arms with the infamous Thief’s Bade. I had been caught thieving in guild territory and would have paid a terrible price if not for Ada’s timely rescue. Now here it was, one of the many faces I had dreaded encountering again.

  Our eyes met at the same time. For an instant a jolt of fear shot through me. Then the man’s gaze moved on. In another second, he passed me in the crowd, going the opposite way. I turned and stared after him. Perhaps he hadn’t recognized me. I was, after all, dressed differently now. And it had been some time since we had last seen one another. There was no reason he should remember me.

  All the same, I pulled my hat low to shadow my face and dodged off the main street, following a series of smaller lanes. When I looked back, no one followed. Good. Relieved but still shaken, I continued on my way. I had been lucky this time, but I mustn’t be caught off guard again.

  I still wasn’t as familiar with Selbius as Ada was. But I had gotten to know the common district a little the last time I was here and so found my way to the beggar’s quarter without difficulty. After lifting aside a heavy sewer grate, I ducked through the entrance to the under-levels and made my way down the steep stairway.

  The cavern below was as I remembered it. A cluster of filthy hovels and camps, eerily lit by the perpetual glow of green glimmer-stones cemented into the walls. If anything, the mass of humanity crowded into the vast shared space looked hungrier and more piteous than ever. They also looked dangerous now that I suspected many had connections to the thieves’ guild. Any one of them might sell me out for a price.

  Yet I had no choice but to walk among them. Ferran and Ada might be down here somewhere, and I was desperate to lay eyes on my brother and assure myself he was unharmed. I couldn’t get the memory out of my head of how helpless he had looked when I was forced to abandon him to Ada’s care.

  As I scanned the gloomy space, I saw no sign up Ferran or Ada. I walked between the makeshift tents and ducked my head, uninvited, into the open shelters, earning me threats and curses from the disturbed inhabitants. But my brother seemed to have vanished. My heart sank. It was becoming more and more clear that something had happened to Ferran. If he were safe and free, surely he would be here. Ada had no place else to take him. Or did she?

  Just as I was about to give up hope and abandon my search of the under-levels, I recognized a familiar figure sitting on an overturned keg in front of a garbage heap. The broad-shouldered youth had his head bent to his work and a long staff resting across his knees. As I drew nearer, I saw he was busy with a knife, sharpening the tip of the wooden staff into a point. I guessed the purpose was to turn it into a more dangerous weapon.

  I hesitated. This rough boy was little older than me but considerably larger and stronger. The last time I had seen him, he and a gang of his friends had tried to rob Ada and me of our few possessions. In the end, the matter had been settled in a duel. I had beaten the boy but left him uninjured. In return, he had vowed not to trouble us again and had even helped me out once by keeping a protective eye on Ferran. I wondered if he might have seen anything of Ferran and Ada since I left.

  Warily I approached him. Promise or no promise, I wasn’t completely certain he wouldn’t fight me all over again. And I might not win this time.

  He looked up as I neared. I could see by his expression of mild surprise that he recognized me.

  “You again?” he asked. “I thought you lot were gone for good.”

  “I thought so too,” I said. “And yet, here I am again. Have you seen my brother around?”

  “The little one?” he asked. He shrugged and returned to whittling at the sharp end of the staff. “What notice do I take of other people’s business?”

  Seeing that I would get nothing from him for free, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the last of the hard biscuits Brig had given me back in the woods village. I had been saving this one for later, but it was worth giving up if I could get news of Ferran.

  “I’ve been separated from my brother and the girl we were with, and I’m worried about their safety,” I said, tossing the biscuit in my hand to get his attention. “It would be a relief to know their whereabouts and whether they’re in any trouble.”

  The youth’s knife fell still, and he stared at the biscuit. Food was currency in the under-levels, where half the inhabitants were starving.

  “Come to think of it, maybe I’ve seen something of the boy,” he admitted. “The silver-haired skirt he was with stands out in a crowd.”

  I knew what he meant. Ada’s Skeltai ancestry gave her distinctive coloring and sharply pointed ears. No matter how she disguised herself, she would never quite blend in. At least it was a relief to know she was still with Ferran. My
brother wasn’t alone.

  “Then you know where they are?” I prompted.

  “I have connections who may know more.”

  “Good.” I tossed him the biscuit. “Take me to them.”

  He caught the food in midair. “You’ve got yourself a deal, stranger,” he said.

  “Call me Rideon.”

  “Then you can call me Kinsley.”

  I doubted that was his real name, suspecting the rough boy was too slippery to stick to any identity for long. But I didn’t need to know more.

  “Kinsley, lead on. I’m right behind you,” I said.

  He set aside his work and stood, reminding me again just how tall he was. Luckily, we weren’t fighting over Ada and my possessions this time. Now that he had the food, I half expected some sort of trickery. But he gave no trouble, willingly leading the way out of the levels and up the steep stairs toward the surface world above.

  I followed but not as happily as I would have a few minutes ago. I was being taken to a source that could lead me to Ferran. I should be pleased. But when Kinsley had reached out to catch that biscuit, his sleeve had fallen down to his elbow and I had seen something that chilled me. A large pink X stood out vividly against the pale skin above his wrist. I knew that brand—the symbol of the thieves’ guild.

  * * *

  I had no idea where we were going, but considering the company, I wasn’t surprised when we went to a particularly disreputable-looking area in the common district. My guide introduced it to me as the ragged quarter and advised me to hold tight to anything I valued. Since I had no purse and nothing worth stealing, I wasn’t particularly worried about pickpockets.

  That was as well, because the dirty-faced urchins and half-grown toughs hanging around the lanes we passed looked us over with expert eyes, as if deciding whether our pockets were worth their time. Apparently, we looked too poor to bother with. Or maybe they were warned off by the old bloodstains I had never quite managed to wash out of my tunic and breeches since the encounter with Mad Mael. For whatever reason, no one troubled us as Kinsley led me past the lowest sort of lodging houses and their surrounding dingy courtyards.

  The evening shadows had begun to stretch long. Or maybe it only seemed that way because the tall buildings to either side of us were casting shade over the alleys and yards. Drying laundry fluttered on lines strung between houses. Women leaned out upper windows, emptying chamber pots or tossing other refuse into the cobbled streets below. Perhaps that accounted for the foul smell of the place and the dirty puddles we splashed through as we went.

  Kinsley stopped in front of a shabby building whose upper two stories bowed out over the lower level, nearly touching the houses to either side. With such unsound construction, it looked like it might collapse at any time. I assumed it was a tavern or gambling den, judging by the raucous noises spilling out the windows and front door. But the spine-chilling animal snarls and yowls coming from inside were harder to account for. A wooden sign swinging from a metal arm above the door depicted a snarling wolf’s head and proclaimed this The Ravenous Wolf.

  It didn’t have the looks of a place I was eager to enter, especially not with the inhuman growls and screams coming from within. Then too, I didn’t have a lot of trust for my guide now that I knew him for a member of the thieves’ guild. I had followed him this far because I was desperate to learn news of Ferran any way I could. But I wasn’t eager to turn my back on him. What if he was leading me toward a pack of thieves from the guild? Plenty of them still wanted to carry out the thief king’s recent threat to cut off my arms and toss me into the lake for the fish.

  Still, what choice did I have? Beneath my cloak, I surreptitiously gripped the handle of the short knife Brig had given me back in the village. Then I followed Kinsley’s broad back through the doorway of The Ravenous Wolf.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Inside, I nearly choked on clouds of smoke and a suffocating heat that came from two roaring fireplaces. The cavernous interior was as crowded and rowdy inside as it had sounded from out on the street. There were tables and a long counter before us, but most of the noisy patrons who filled the place to bursting were packed around some sort of entertainment in the middle of the room. There was shouting and money changing hands. Through gaps between the spectators, I caught a look at a shallow pit. I couldn’t see exactly what was in it, only glimpses of gray fur and flashes of glowing eyes. Snarling and yowling sounds confirmed two massive beasts were fighting for the crowd. The excited onlookers were too busy betting and cheering for their favorites to pay any attention to Kinsley and me entering the place.

  I hung back from the cruel spectacle. I had no liking for the unnecessary killing of beasts. But my companion pushed his way to the forefront of the crowd and began shouting in the ears of a couple of men I supposed were the contacts he had spoken of. I didn’t like the look of either of them.

  While I waited for him to return with information, I took a seat on a bench in a shadowed corner farthest from the blazing fireplaces. Already sweat was rolling down my back. I wasn’t sure if it was the heat or the nervousness over what I might find out. I had come this far to learn Ferran’s fate. But what if the truth wasn’t to my liking?

  I signaled a passing serving girl and asked for a cold drink. It didn’t occur to me until too late that I had no money to pay for it. Luckily, the girl didn’t seem to have heard my order anyway. For some reason, she just stood at my elbow wordlessly.

  For the first time, I truly looked at her.

  “Ada!”

  The silver-haired magicker girl was the last person I expected to see before me, holding a tray of battered tin mugs.

  She looked as stunned as I felt.

  “Rideon! What are you doing here?” she exclaimed.

  She took in the marks on my neck and the faint bloodstains still on my clothes. “What happened to you? Ferran and I waited in the hedge maze behind the water cemetery all night, but you never came back.”

  I quickly explained how I had nearly been killed by the men who pursued us and how I had been forced to make a desperate dive into the lake, nearly drowning. I finished with the part where I was fished out of the water by a kind stranger, carried downstream, and left on the banks of Dimmingwood. I didn’t mention my magic amulet or go into the story of Mad Mael and the days spent recovering from my wounds. I was becoming uneasily aware of how Kinsley and his companions were watching us from across the room. Maybe this wasn’t the best time and place to discuss all that had passed since we were last together.

  I changed the subject. “Where’s Ferran? Is he all right?”

  “He’s safe and nearby,” she assured me. “We haven’t seen those men who were chasing you again. Not since the night we all split up. I think they must have given up the search and left town.”

  I didn’t tell her one of them wasn’t alive anymore. The man with the red beard couldn’t have survived the arrow through his neck. It was a relief to know those two enemies weren’t around to give more trouble. But that didn’t mean our worries were over.

  “I’m not sure this is a good place to talk,” I told Ada. There’s at least one member of the thieves’ guild here, and I suspect more are nearby.”

  “Yes, I think you’re right,” she admitted. “I’ll take you to Ferran. We’ve been staying here for several days in a room upstairs. A friend arranged free food and lodgings for us in exchange for my work.”

  I hadn’t realized she had any friends in the city. I thought her people lived in one of the woods villages. Before I could ask questions, she led me away through the crowded room and out a back door. It was a relief to escape Kinsley’s watchful eye. I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t spying on me for the thieves.

  Outside, we stepped into a yard surrounded by a low stone wall. Twilight had fallen, and the yard was dimly lit by a single lantern above the door of a nearby shed.

  A young boy sat in the golden pool of light, rolling a handful of colored glass balls across the cobble
s.

  “Ferran,” I called to him, joy washing over me.

  All my fears of the past days melted away upon seeing my brother again. I was so relieved I even forgot to use his false name, Ardeon, as I usually did in front of Ada.

  His face lit up when he saw me. But he remembered better than I did. “Rideon!” he cried, running to throw his arms around me.

  For a moment we two last remaining members of our family just stood there, overwhelmed at having found one another again. Then I held my little brother at arm’s length and looked him over. He seemed healthier than when I had last seen him. His face had filled out, and color had returned to his previously pale skin. The old dark circles beneath his eyes, gained during years of illness in the tower, were only faint shadows now.

  I turned to Ada. “Thank you,” I said. “You’ve taken care of him well.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t?” she challenged. But she looked pleased.

  Ferran interrupted, tugged at my arm. “Come and meet someone new,” he said. “You’ll like her.”

  “You’ve made a friend, have you?” I asked, puzzled, as he led me over to the shed where he had been playing. It didn’t look like anything but a rough storage space. I didn’t see who could possibly be inside it.

  My first clue came from soft panting, scratching sounds on the other side of the door. Ferran slid a bolt at the top and cracked the door open.

  “Meet Ilan,” my brother said.

  Ilan was a lean black-and-tan hound dog with long droopy ears and a waving tail. Her eyes were bright and friendly, but she cringed a little as Ferran reached out to pat her. She looked as if she were more accustomed to being kicked than patted. She also seemed underfed, her hide clinging tightly to her bony frame.

  “Is she one of the fighting beasts?” I asked doubtfully, thinking of the vicious animals that fought in the pit for the crowds.