The Thief's Gamble

by Juliet E. McKenna

'Look, it's not like Vanam here,' I reassured him. 'Nearly everything's built of stone for a start.'

  Fremin looked unhappy. 'They'll hang you for it, just the same. Money and goods are at risk.'

  'I could always raise a fire from a safe distance,' Shiv observed. 'Are you looking for a diversion?'

  I nodded. 'The trick here is not just getting the job done, but getting away with it afterwards.'

  'Can you do it?' The worry on Darni's face was a surprise.

  'I'm not sure,' I said frankly. 'I'll need to find out much more before I can tell you. So, Fremin, or do you prefer Frem?'

  'Frem's fine.' He relaxed a little more and I smiled at him; it wasn't his fault he was as much use as a eunuch in a brothel.

  'How does this merchant fit in? What's her business and status?'

  'She deals in furs and cloth; she buys furs from upriver and wool from Dalasor. She has a deal going with a family who do the weaving and fulling, and then she sends the cloth south to Tormalin as well as selling to trappers and the like when they come down from the hills. She also imports linen and silks from Tormalin and Aldabreshi.'

  'Rich?'

  'Very. Still quite young, not yet thirty certainly, and she's very pretty.'

  'What do you know about her personal life?'

  'She's a widow; her husband was one of the clothier family but he died of septic lungs last winter. She's being courted by a handful of men at the moment, all in the same sort of businesses and high up in the guilds.'

  'How did you find all this out?'

  'I found out where her servants drink and got friendly, asked around, the usual thing. I told them I'm making enquiries for a group of goatherders who are looking for new markets.'

  Shiv must have seen through my gambling face. 'Is this looking too difficult?'

  'Well, we have the kind of prominent citizen who will be able to call in all sorts of favours when she has a problem, such as the theft of a valuable necklace, for example. More than that, five powerful men are going to be eager to help out as a way of getting between her sheets. People will be asking questions as soon as she misses the piece and I'll bet they'll all be looking for the short southern lad with blue eyes and brown hair who's been asking so many questions and dresses in last year's Relshaz fashions.'

  Frem looked a little sick and I felt sorry for him, especially when I saw Darni's expression.

  'Next time, take the time to find out as much as you can just by watching. Be a beggar, filth and all, or, better yet, a madman. People might remember there was some imbecile drivelling on about the blue cats following him about, but they won't remember your face.'

  'Is that what you do?' Shiv asked curiously.

  I grinned at him as I sat back. 'Oh, I have a very nice line in looking for my lost children. I insist they must be around somewhere and people come out with all sorts of useful things when they're explaining why they can't be in this house or that. Once I've got all I can, I start getting odder and odder, explaining that one of the children is a goat and the other's a piglet. They can't get away from me fast enough.'

  'Are you going to try that here?' Darni looked dubious.

  'No. I'm staying well clear until the actual job. Frem, you can do one last thing for me then you're on your way home. Meet your drinking pals again tonight and find out all you can about these suitors. I especially want to know who's losing the race, and if she's fallen out with any of them over anything recently. Spend as much as you need to, tell them all you've made top coin on a deal for the goats and you're going home tomorrow. Book yourself passage down to Tormalin first thing in the morning and make sure you're seen getting on the boat. Pick a fight with someone on the docks or something.'

  'I'll do that with you.' Darni clearly meant to reassure Frem but he looked as if he'd rather take his chances with a docker.

  'Shiv, there must be wizards here. Can you find out what they do and how the guilds regard their activities? If you're going to be using magic, I'd like to know what the Watch are likely to make of it.'

  He nodded. 'I can do that.'

  'Right, I'm off out to see what I can find out for myself. I need to get a feel for the place before I can come up with any sort of plan.'

  'I'll come with you.' Geris rose to his feet.

  'I'll be less conspicuous on my own, trust me.' I'd be less conspicuous with a mule painted green but I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

  'This is a rough town. It could be dangerous,' he objected.

  'I can look after myself,' I said as gently as I could. 'I've been doing this kind of thing for a long time now, Geris.'

  'If Frem's heading back to Hadrumal, I want to send a report. I'll need your help with that,' Darni stated firmly. 'You and I can stay here, then if Livak needs us to create some kind of diversion later, our faces won't have been seen too much.'

  Geris brightened at that. I made my escape and left unobtrusively through the stable yard. I decided to walk; Darni had taken the stitches out of my leg a couple of days earlier and, although it was tender, I'd have more freedom on foot.

  I breathed more freely the further I got from them all. Working at someone else's orders still felt oppressive, and it was good to feel at least the illusion of freedom once again. The faintest suggestion of hopping on a ship hovered around the back of my mind, but by now the challenge of the theft was just too enticing. This was going to be the most difficult job I'd ever tackled on my own, and I stifled a sharp regret for Halice, Sorgrad, Sorgren and Charoleia. If I had them to work with, I'd be in and out with half the lady's wealth and she wouldn't even know it. No point cursing over a rotten egg.

  I strolled through the town, keeping a careful eye open to avoid anything that might get me noticed. The invisible woman, that's what I wanted to be. Now there was an interesting idea; now I was working with a wizard, I could have all sorts of advantages not open to the ordinary wall-crawler. I would have to ask Shiv more about that.

  I was looking for some part of this city less obviously under guild control; in most coast towns it would have been the docks, but with trade the reason for Inglis' existence, that seemed to be the most tightly controlled area of all. I wandered apparently aimlessly, a trader newly arrived, seeing the sights. It was certainly an interesting place; metalsmiths of various sorts each had their own quarter, copper, silver, gold. Close by were gem-buyers, cutters, jewellers and craftsmen. Furriers and tanners worked together, their workshops well downwind of the clothiers and tailors whose warehouses formed most of the central district, interwoven with all the other trades of a major town. There were fruit-sellers, butchers, potters, carpenters, and all were doing brisk trade. Their customers ranged from harassed mothers in plain smocks towing reluctant children, to elegant ladies in flowing silks fawned on by obsequious merchants. Pedlars with trays of trinkets and food wove among the crowds.

  I had more trouble spotting the pickpockets and cut-purses. I thought I saw one; I didn't catch him make the lift itself, but he started moving away from his victim faster than the general pace of the crowd. As his face turned towards me, I saw the expression of a rat in a bear-pit; not what the dogs are after but something they'll kill all the same. I scanned the square covertly for the hounds and saw several lightly armoured men circulating round the shops and stalls. Something else struck me. You'll find a Rationalist or two in most places these days, arguing that worshipping the gods is pointless in the modern age. Not in Inglis, it seemed; now was that policy, or just a sign that new ideas had trouble travelling this far?

  I kept moving and finally found the horse fair. This was more promising; festival garlands of fruit and flowers still hung on some doors and lay in the gutters. If these people weren't so conscientious about their street-cleaning duties, they might have a more relaxed attitude to other things. I saw a priest actually handing out alms of bread and meat here too; his shrine was as unusually well kept as all the others I had passed but he was the first religious I'd seen in Inglis without a collecting box. The
re were a few inns across the broad dusty expanse of the sale meadow. The Rising Sun was obviously a brothel and the Cross Swords could only be a drinking den and nothing more. The Eagle promised better and I wasn't disappointed. There was plenty of merriment but no obvious drunks and a lively game of runes was being played to one side. I left them to it; no one wants to chat and gamble. There were tables with White Raven boards by the window and I looked for a vacant seat; I like playing Raven but neither Darni or Geris knew how. Shiv did, but after a few games I could tell he was not really keen, which makes sense when you think about it.

  There was an empty seat across from a tall, wiry man with the dark curly hair and olive skin you see most often in southern Tormalin. He sat, seemingly relaxed over a goblet of wine, not a care in the world. I knew better; I could see the alertness in his eyes as he scanned the horse traders and every passing stranger.

  He was wearing a business-like sword and sitting half-turned so that nothing would get in his way if he needed it in a hurry. Alert but not predatory, he struck me as interesting.

  'Are you looking for a game?' I gestured at the board.

  'I'll oblige you if you want to play.' He straightened up and beckoned to the potman.

  'Do you want to play the White Raven or the Wood Fowl?' I began sorting the well-worn pieces.

  'Whichever. Wine?'

  I nodded and began placing the trees and bushes on the board. Let's see how good he was.

  'Interesting,' he murmured and I sat back to sip an excellent Califerian red as he selected which birds to set out in the open.

  'Just arrived in Inglis?' He did not look up as he set out apple-thrushes and pied crows, a polite man just making polite conversation.

  'This morning.' Why should I lie when there was no need?

  'Downriver?'

  I shook my head and leaned forward to study his layout before placing the raven on the board. It was deceptive in its simplicity and he'd kept back corbies and owls for the next play; this might be one white raven that did get driven out of the forest if I was not careful.

  'Are you in from Tormalin then? What's the news?'

  Now why did he want to know where I was from? 'No, I came along the south road through Dalasor. I'm up from Ensaimin. How about you?'

  'I came up the coast from 'Formalin; I'm running some errands for a few people. I've been here ten days. Perhaps I can help you out, tell you where to find a good inn, the better merchants.'

  'That could be useful.' We understood each other nicely.

  We played a few rounds and I forced his songbirds off the western edge of the board before he used the hawks to drive me back.

  'It's a long trip from Ensaimin,' my new friend observed, refilling my goblet. 'What brings you here?'

  'Looking for new opportunities, the usual.'

  'It's not a town that welcomes individual enterprise, if you get my meaning.' He glanced up from the board and I could see his friendly warning was sincere.

  'It looks very well organised to me,' I observed as if agreeing. 'I hear the guilds run all the services, the Watch and so on.'

  'That's right and they do it very well. The Watchmen aren't the usual bunch of losers with a mate on the town council; the guilds hire out of Lescar each winter when the fighting slows down. They're well paid and well trained; there's plenty of money moving round Inglis and the guilds are very keen that everyone knows it's safe.'

  'Do they patrol regularly? How good are they at following up on trouble? Suppose I got my room rifled, for example?'

  'They patrol everywhere, dawn to dawn. What trouble they don't catch, they hunt down, and I'm pleased to hear they can't be bought off either. They have wizards working with them too.'

  'A pretty thorough lot by the look of the gibbets. Does everyone get hanged, or do they have a lock-up as well?'

  'There's a keep where they dump drunks and so on.'

  'Nice to know the streets will be safe to walk at night.' We both sounded thoroughly pleased with the situation. I betrayed myself with a clumsy move and nearly fell to a hidden group of owls.

  'I've not seen many Forest Folk this far east.' He drank his wine and sat back as I studied the board; things were looking increasingly complicated.

  'Oh, we get about.'

  'It must be a bit of a nuisance, everyone able to pick you out by that copper-top of yours.'

  I grinned despite myself. 'Oh, it's surprising what you can do with herbal washes. I can be as black and curly as you if I need to be.'

  He smiled back appreciatively. 'I bet you'd look good in it too. The best I can do is shave my head and grow a beard.'

  That made for an interesting picture. 'Had to do that often?'

  'Now and again. I'm always interested in new opportunities, like yourself.'

  We each made a few more moves.

  'Blond must be a good colour for hair if you need to dye it.' He was very good; it really sounded as if it had only just occurred to him. 'Not that you see real blond very often.'

  'No.' I gazed round the bar at the usual variety of middling brown and darker heads and beards. 'That maid's colour is straight out of an alchemist's crucible for a start.'

  'You know, I don't suppose I've ever seen more than a couple of really yellow heads together.' Casual conversation over a friendly game, that's all it was, wasn't it?

  'I met someone on the road who said they'd seen a whole troop with corn-coloured hair.' Fair exchange; he'd told me the important things about the Watch. Anyway, I'd be interested to know the reason for his curiosity.

  'Oh? When was that?'

  'A couple of days before Equinox, just before the drove-road that turns south to Lescar.'

  He studied the board, seemingly intent on his next move, but I'd bet I'd have seen an Almanac if I'd been looking through his eyes.

  'How are the cattle looking this year?' He made a swift move and boxed my raven in.

  'Pretty fair, the rains kept the grass good through the summer.' So our yellow-haired attackers were not the ones he was interested in.

  We continued the game and chatted idly about incidental things. It was a good contest and I eventually won, which pleased me more than I expected.

  He rose and offered me his hand. 'Thanks for the game. Have a good stay; Inglis is a pleasant town, as long as you don't attract the wrong sort of notice.' He flicked the raven with a finger.

  I finished my wine and left a few moments later. Finding the lock-up was easy enough and I studied it for a while before making my way to the district where Yeniya the merchant lived. Despite what I'd said to the others, I wanted to see it for myself. I was glad I did, when careful pacing of the streets and studying the roof-lines suggested her luxurious three-storey house backed directly on to the trading-house she owned in the avenue beyond. I'd have bet all my noble coin on there being a connecting door, and I marked it down as a potential route in or out. I was starting to see a workable plan.

  I spent the rest of daylight studying in just as much detail a weaver's guild-house, the farmers' market and two more private houses and in striking up conversations and a game of runes in a couple more inns. I have absolutely no idea if I was being watched but this was neither the time nor the place to take chances. I made my way back to the others with my purse nicely full just as the bells of the city were sounding the first chime of the night. It was so comforting to hear them again after so long in the wilds; town bells mean civilisation, hot water and decent food.

  'There you are!' Geris struggled to conceal the extent of his relief and I was touched at his concern.

  'I told you I'd be fine.' I gave him a quick kiss. 'Now, let's get some dinner and when the others get back we can do some planning.'

  My incidental winnings bought us the best meal in the house and we were laughing and flirting over the end of the wine when Frem and then Shiv reappeared. It was the most natural thing in the world to retire to our parlour with spirits and liqueurs but once the door was locked behind us, it was down to
business.

  'So, Frem, what do you have to tell us?'

  It turned out that Yeniya was playing all of her suitors with a skill that made me glad she'd not taken up the runes professionally. They were all keen, eager and convinced they'd be cutting her hair for Drianon within the year, if not sooner. In the meantime, she was negotiating contracts for her various businesses to increase her already considerable wealth.

  I grimaced at this news; I could not see how I could turn any of that to our advantage.

  'There was something more.' Frem took a drink of wine. 'There's a nephew of her dead husband who's been making trouble. He took a case to the jurists' guild over the will. He reckoned his bequests were too small and wanted more shares in the business.'

  'Did he have a case?'

  Frem shrugged. 'That's hard to tell, but he's been telling anyone who'll listen that he only lost because one of the key judges is after Yeniya's hand.'

  I grinned; that was just the sort of thing I had hoped for.

  'What are you planning?' Geris asked curiously.

  'Never mind, I'll tell you later. Shiv, what can you tell us about the wizards?'

  He frowned. 'They're well enough respected and fairly represented in the usual trades, but they have to be guild members just like anyone else. I have to say, I think they will have divided loyalties. My authority will make sure they turn a blind eye to anything we do - none of them will point the Watch our way, for example - but I don't think we'll get any active co-operation. Any wizard stepping over the line here is on the next boat out, never mind where it's going.'

  'That shouldn't be a problem,' I reassured him. 'Just as long as you can do some magic without everyone pointing the finger.'

  'What do you want?'

  'If I get myself locked up by the Watch, can you get me out and then back in again?'

  'Yes, if I have time to study the building.' Shiv was looking intrigued.

  'Can you make me invisible?' This was the big one.

  'Yes. It'll last about two chimes - will that do?'

  'Good enough.' I leaned back in my chair and smiled at them all. 'I think we can start planning now, gentlemen.'