by Beth Alvarez
His feet hit the ground and the loose stones shifted beneath him. The river did not run all the way to the cliff—at least, not this time of year—and the narrow shore seemed like paradise as he sank to sit and catch his breath once more.
The shadows began to lighten. Hints of color tinged the sky and, uncertain, Tahl forced himself to get up. His legs quaked beneath him and he staggered a few steps, but by now, half the emperor's army had to be on the way to the river's north bend.
Injured and defeated, Tahl slipped in the debris and put a hand out to steady himself against the cliff.
The first rays of light spilled over the horizon and across Tahl's face. He raised a hand to shield his eyes and a glint caught his eye.
At the edge of the water, the river lapped at the crown.
Chapter 9
Delicate paper maps formed a pile of rolls on the bed. Someday soon, Tahl would replace them with fine quality parchment. Most of his maps were ones he'd drawn himself. The guild would need something finer than that.
All of his belongings—previously stashed under floorboards and inside walls—had been gathered onto the bed. Piece by piece, he sorted them into bags.
A familiar thumping of someone on the ladder to his loft reached his ears. The hatch in the floor creaked open. He'd never oiled the hinges, simply because their groaning complaints meant no one could sneak up on him while he was home.
Niada's head popped through the hatch. “You're here.”
“Where else would I be?” Tahl offered a tired smile. No matter how his body ached for sleep, he couldn't spare the time.
She crawled into the loft and closed the trap door. “I don't know. On a gallows in the plaza?”
“I didn't know you had so little faith in me.” He folded his heist shirt into his favorite bag.
Her eyes followed it. “Where are you going?”
“That's a secret. For both our safety.” A hint of apology colored his tone, but Tahl didn't look her way. He'd gone to the temple to beg for healing the moment he'd made it back into the city, but healing only took care of wounds. It did nothing for the exhaustion that came from a harrowing night. The dark smudges under his heavy eyes would make her worry. “I'm not leaving. I have a guild to lead, remember? But it's safest if you don't know where I sleep anymore.”
Niada made a soft sound of understanding. “The posters are already up. How did you get back into the city?”
“The cave connected to the sewers. The bear was out. I saw it in the field.” If he hadn't, he never would have dared take the tunnels again.
“Where's your uniform?”
“Ditched it. Paid a beggar to bring me some clothes.” Tahl paused. After today, the beggars would be as big a threat to him as anyone. Most would happily share his whereabouts for a few half-mites. “How big is my bounty?”
Nia shrugged. “One hundred thousand pims.”
“Ah.” That was disappointing. He would have thought swiping the crown from the pillow beside the sleeping emperor's head would be worth more.
“It makes you the most wanted man in Orrad's history,” she added.
Tahl brightened. “Does it?” He'd never paid much attention to wanted posters. He was a thief, not a bounty hunter. He grunted. “Ah, posters. That reminds me. Do you still have that letter I gave you? The instructions for today?”
She nodded and wiggled the crumpled envelope from her pocket. “Do I need to read it now?”
He held out a hand and she crept closer to deposit it in his palm. The wax seal was still intact. Satisfied, Tahl ripped it into pieces.
Niada's mouth fell open.
“No need to leave incriminating evidence. We're together, so I can just tell you now. I wasn't sure we'd have a chance to meet up again, I didn't think I'd be able to get back into the city immediately.” He squeezed the torn bits in his hand and willed them to burn. Magic tingled in his senses, but as always, he wasn't strong enough in his Gift to summon a flame. Instead, he stuffed the paper into his pocket.
“Makes sense,” Nia agreed, though she eyed him with suspicion. “What do we do next?”
Only a few things remained loose on the bed. Tahl gathered all of them and jammed them into his pack. “That's the easy part. Start a rumor among thieves that the Ghost's guild is open to new recruits. That's the first part of your next job. You working in the taverns should let you seed rumors without anyone suspecting you. We'll need to establish a secret meeting point, somewhere we can easily escape from if the guards catch on.”
“What about the caves?” she suggested.
Tahl lifted a brow.
“Prospective members have to find the caves from the sewer system,” Nia said. “We hang out in that big cavern on certain days of the week. If the guards make it in, we can escape through the tunnels. They won't follow us if they see the bear.”
“That's a ridiculously unsafe idea,” he said. “It'll work.”
Nia flashed him a grin. “I'll start sowing rumors tonight. I just have one question.”
He motioned for her to ask.
“Can I see it?”
Tahl grinned to hide his hesitance. There was definitely something magic about the crown, and he was reluctant to let anyone else touch it until he'd had a chance to figure out what it was. He knew Nia well enough to be certain a look wouldn't satisfy her. “Trust me, you will. I need to move while the market's busy. Easier to hide in the crowds. I have one more job for you, though.”
She perked up, eager to contribute.
“I need you to try to find information on something.” He spoke slowly, unsure how to explain what had taken place. He'd paid so little mind to the situation when it happened; all he'd cared about was escaping alive. It wasn't until his long trek home that he had time to reflect on the situation. “There was a mage in the castle.”
Her brow furrowed, but she waited for him to go on.
“Whoever it was, they helped me.” In the grand scheme of things, it had only bought him a few seconds, but those seconds could have been what saved his life. Tahl hated to admit he hadn't done it all on his own. “I think... I think it was the queen.”
Nia gaped. “Why would the queen help you steal the crown?”
“I don't know. There's a lot I don't know.” Admitting that, too, stung. “I don't even know why she's called the queen when she's married to the emperor. But she had the chance to call the guards on me and she didn't. She let me escape without a word, and then I think she was the one who opened the balcony doors. I don't know why. I want to find out.”
“So gather information on the queen.” Niada nodded. “Got it.”
“Thanks.” Tahl shouldered the bag of his most valuable belongings, the crown stashed safely in the bottom. He'd have time to investigate what magic it held in coming days, while he waited for the rumors to take root. “If you can, meet me in the basement of the Queen's Museum tomorrow night.”
“I will,” Nia said as she watched him tie his maps into a bundle and slide them into a sack. “Just promise you'll be careful between now and then.”
“Nia,” he replied with a grin. “When am I not?”
Her gaze settled on the scar under his right eye and it was all he could do not to laugh.
“Fair enough.” He swung the last bag against his back and patted her shoulder as he crossed to the trap door to the stable below. “You just worry about your part for now. I'll see you tomorrow.”
“He's coming,” Niada whispered. The soft plink of water dripping into a puddle somewhere punctuated her statement.
Tahl tried not to roll his eyes. “Took him long enough.” The longer he sat in the dank of the underground, the more his nose itched. He hadn't realized he had any sort of allergies, but using the cavern as a rendezvous point made him glad they'd opted to use the museum's basement as a headquarters instead.
“Be nice,” Nia chided. “Not everyone is as skilled as you.” She wasn't one to praise him often. That she did now made Tahl grin.
The sound of someone in the corridor reached him now, too. Niada sat on the terraced stone outside the end of the sewers, close enough to hear anyone coming long before their steps echoed through the cavern.
“Good thing we didn't include a test of stealth,” she grumbled.
“To be fair, I don't think they'd be able to sneak up on you.” She'd praised him, now it was Tahl's turn to repay the favor. “You've come a long way in your training the last few weeks.”
A hint of color rose into her cheeks, but she did not reply. A light glowed in the depths of the tunnel and they both grew quiet as it drew near.
A figure came into sight. A young man with a calm face but a nervous, halting step. Given that he'd come looking for Orrad's most wanted criminal, Tahl couldn't blame him for his trepidation.
“State your business,” Nia ordered when the youth reached the end of the tunnel, her tone as flat and disinterested as could be.
The thief stared at her, confused. “I'm here to see the Ghost.”
Niada turned her head to peer into the darkness. Uncertain, the thief lifted his lantern and followed her gaze.
Light spilled across the high table of stone where Tahl lounged and glinted off the jeweled crown he wore.
The thief's mouth fell open.
“You found me,” Tahl said, mimicking the flat quality of Niada's tone. “What do you want?”
The young man swallowed hard and lifted his chin. “I want in.”
A spark of amusement lit Tahl's eyes and a smirk twisted the corners of his mouth. “I thought you'd say that.”
Don’t Steal from Demons
A Westkings Heist Short Story
Chapter 1
"Tahl!"
The sharp whisper made him tilt his head, but Tahl still crunched into his apple before he answered. "Yeah?"
A number of thumps and a low grunt came as reply. Niada's head popped up above the edge of the rooftop and she grimaced as she dragged herself onto the shingles. "I need help," she panted.
"After an ascent like that, I'd say I agree." Tahl swiped a bead of juice from the corner of his mouth with a fingertip he then licked clean.
Her nose crinkled as she crawled closer. She was a little more graceful on top of the bakery, but everyone inside had to know she was there. "I'm serious." Her hand went to her pocket, for something stashed inside. He raised a brow when she withdrew a bundle of cloth.
"I took this earlier," Nia said, "but not on purpose. I missed the mark's purse and got this out of his pocket instead."
"And you decided it was worth keeping." He bit into his apple again.
"Well, no, it's just... every time I get ready to drop it..." A hint of worry furrowed her brow and she shook her head. "I'm not superstitious, okay? I promise I'm not, but there's something weird about this thing, and every time I try to drop it somewhere, something happens."
Tahl squinted at the bundle as she extended it toward him on a flat palm. He wiped his hand on his trousers and folded back the fabric around whatever it was, revealing the most unremarkable knife he'd ever seen. He considered it for a time, trying to decide if she was messing with him. From the way concern pinched her face, it seemed unlikely. "What made you decide to bring it to me?"
"Because if anyone in the city can escape it, it'd be you." She inched closer, thrusting the wrapped knife toward him as she crawled, desperate for him to take it.
He rolled his eyes and reached to pluck it from her hand.
The moment his fingers brushed the hilt, a jolt of power shot through his arm. Tahl yelped and jerked his arm back. The knife tumbled from Nia's palm and bounced off the roof.
She squeaked and started down after it. As her foot swung over the edge to search for holds, a glint of metal caught Tahl's eye. He lunged after her, snagged her by the back of the shirt, and dragged her up the roof.
"Hey!" Nia kicked, but her legs were too short for her to connect with him from that angle. He hauled her over the roof's peak and shoved her down until they both disappeared behind it. Below, a half-dozen booted footsteps marched into the narrow street in front of the bakery.
"She came this way," a man's voice said. "I'm sure of it."
"Guards?" Tahl whispered, so close beside her ear he was sure no one else would be able to hear him.
Nia nodded once and hunkered lower against the shingles. She gripped the ridged wood so tightly, her knuckles grew pale.
"Were they following you before?"
She hesitated, then rocked a hand from side to side. Not a helpful answer.
"Either they were or they weren't," he whispered before he slipped away. Unlike Nia, Tahl's movements on the rooftop were soundless. She scuffled after him, the toes of her shoes knocking on the edges of all the shingles she passed. “I think they saw me take it. Every time I think I've gotten away, I try to drop the knife and they show up again.”
Tahl motioned for her to join him behind the chimney. “That just means they followed you, numbskull. You have to be sure you've shaken them before you try to drop it.”
“But I have!” Nia protested. He hushed her with a sharp gesture and she tucked her chin into her chest, sulking. When she spoke again, it was little more than a whisper. “I took this from a mark on the east docks.”
That was enough to make Tahl's brows climb. Perched near the west gate as they were, there were few places farther away she could run. As far as he knew, he was the only thief in Orrad the guard might find worth following from one end of the city to the other. Why would they pursue her so relentlessly?
He rose just enough to peer over the peak of the roof and watch the guards disappear. Then he flicked his fingers in a signal for Nia to stay put.
Her lower lip jutted out, but she didn't follow as he slid down the roof and dropped from its edge to alight soundlessly in the yard. The knife hadn't gone far; Tahl spotted it almost immediately, its wrappings lost and its blade stuck in the earth. He flexed his fingers, unsure he wanted to touch it again.
Had Nia felt that power? She wasn't a mage, so she shouldn't have. Still, she'd brought the knife wrapped. Curiosity tingled in his fingertips as he swept the cloth from the dusty ground and draped it over the blade's hilt.
When his hand brushed the pommel through the fabric, he felt nothing.
“You're an unusual thing, aren't you?” he murmured as he wiggled the knife free from the dirt. Whether he intended to talk to the blade or just mumble his thoughts aloud, he didn't know. It wasn't as if he'd never talked to inanimate objects before, but this one gave him an eerie feeling.
Nia descended from the roof a shade more gracefully than she'd climbed it in the first place. “What do you think?” she asked as she dusted off her boyish breeches. “Is it cursed?”
“Why'd you wrap it?” Tahl glanced down at his hands, then looked around his feet. He'd been eating an apple. What had he done with it? He didn't remember putting it down, and he didn't see it, either. That the prick of magic in the blade had been enough to distract him meant nothing good.
“It gave me the creeps when I touched it. I don't know why. It felt better after I wrapped it.” She scrubbed her hands against her hips as if to remove a sensation the knife had left behind. A look of concern pulled her brows together. “It's not cursed, is it?”
Tahl snorted. “Unlikely.”
She didn't appear convinced. “But there's something funny about it.”
“Yes.” He turned the knife in his hand, studying the way the light glinted off its edge. Even without touching it directly, magic buzzed in his senses.
“Is it dangerous?”
For a moment, Tahl wasn't sure how to answer. The shock that had traveled up his arm hadn't been pleasant, but he hadn't held the blade long enough to know if it was dangerous. He wasn't willing to touch it again to find out.
Yet without touching it or exploring its energy, he had no way of knowing what the magic did. He frowned, unsure what to do next. There didn't seem much point to touching it. It wasn't li
ke he'd had any more luck sussing out whatever the crown he'd stolen did.
“Don't know,” he said at last. He almost stuck the knife into his belt, then thought better of it. Instead, he wrapped the square of fabric around it more securely and fished a piece of string from his pocket to tie it closed.
The action made Nia wrinkle her nose. “So that's a yes.”
Tahl touched a hand to his chest. “What, you have that little faith in my powers of deduction?”
“You dropped it,” she replied dryly. “Considering your incredible lack of slippery fingers, I can do my own deduction from that.”
Fair, he thought with a smirk, though he was unwilling to concede that out loud. He kept the knife in his hand and turned toward the street.
“Where are you going?” Nia asked, trotting along behind him as he started walking.
Tahl waved the little bundle. “To give it back.”
Niada almost tripped over her feet.
“You're going to do what?” Nia squeaked.
“To give it back,” Tahl repeated. “It's pretty obvious you don't know what you have, here.”
She hurried to match his longer strides. “Some kind of cursed blade that's out for my blood?”
The suggestion was so odd he had to stop and squint at her. He certainly hadn't felt that in that single shot of magic that lanced up his arm, but he also hadn't taken the time to analyze what it had done. Whatever it was, it hurt, and that was enough for him to conclude the knife wasn't worth the trouble.
A sheepish look flitted over her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand.
“You can't just fence magic items,” he explained as he ducked into an alley so narrow, he could hardly walk without his shoulders brushing the walls. Slim as he was, he could fit into almost every nook and cranny he'd run across in Orrad. But he wasn't done growing. He couldn't count on every passage being easy to traverse forever. The stablemaster back in his home city of Ashor had sworn he would fill out in his early twenties, when his shoulders widened and he started growing a man's muscle. Or, that was what the stablemaster had called it.
