The Merchant of Sanukawa (Novella) (Thieves of Askaria Book 1)

by Raoul Miller

  The thief clambered up and stepped out onto the roof, breathing deeply of the cool night air. The long night and pitched battle had taken their toll. His body ached with exhaustion and his once pristine robe hung in tatters. He knew that, beneath its black colouring, the garment hid the stains of a substantial amount of blood—some of it his own. As Rishi came up behind him, he noted that the other thief had fared little better.

  Taking in his surroundings, he spotted a narrow footway, barely more than a plank, connecting the manor roof to the house opposite. “Thieves’ Highway until we find a way down?” he asked.

  “The Brotherhood’s highway might be more appropriate here,” Rishi chuckled, then said, “They’ve laid it out so neatly. It would be ungracious not to.”

  The thieves quickly skirted over to the next roof, then set off at a jog. They crossed speedily from building to building, the rooftops in the sprawling city being generally flat. Many were topped with small gardens or canopied courtyards. Wherever there was a small gap between roofs, they found another makeshift bridge.

  After half a dozen buildings they came to a tenement considerably taller than its neighbours, but here too they were greeted by a convenience. A skinny metal ladder had been lain against the wall. They hurriedly ascended, then, clambering over the railing that encircled the top, found themselves standing in a neat courtyard.

  Adusa nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice rang out from the darkness beside them.

  “Halt!” it shouted, a sound punctuated by the wooden clatter of quarrels being loaded into crossbows.

  The thieves froze. The pre-dawn light sparkled along the cruel barbs of a dozen or more crossbow bolts. Adusa cursed himself for his inattention. The soldiers of the Royal Guard were crouched in the shadows of doorways, chimneys and potted plants, covering every avenue of escape. They eyed the thieves watchfully.

  “When we received reports of men in black cloaks running across rooftops, I’d never have thought it would lead us back to you two,” came the voice of Captain Sumana, soon followed by the rest of her as she stepped out from the lee of a chimney and walked slowly toward them. “I wouldn’t have thought we’d see you again at all. You were fools to expect that we would not recapture you,” she smiled coldly. “Luck is finite, and you used up a year’s supply in that fortuitous escape from my cells.”

  Unable to think of anything to say that wouldn’t anger her, Adusa remained silent.

  “You are under arrest once more, and in addition to robbery, you are to be charged with escape from custody,” she said, stopping in front of them. Her eyes widened as she suddenly noticed the blood spattered onto their clothes and weapons, “…and it would appear murder as well,” she said softly. “You came from the direction of the chief councillor’s home. Don’t tell me…”

  “Wait, you’ve got it wrong,” Adusa said, raising his hands in defence. “We are thieves, not assassins. We’ve only fought in self-defence. There is a plot to kill the King. The assassins dress in black robes and…” He trailed off, remembering the robe he still had on.

  “What my friend is trying to say,” Rishi said, rescuing him from his floundering, “is that Kovit is the leader of a plot to assassinate their highnesses and seize control of the city. He has deceived the Shen into allying with him, and set them to attack the king and queen when—”

  “Enough of your lies!” Sumana snapped. “You stand here, two self-confessed thieves, armed to the teeth and soaked in the blood of… who knows who, and you expect me to believe that Kovit, a man who’s only ever acted with the greatest virtue, is conspiring to overthrow the crown?”

  “It’s true!” Rishi insisted. “I have the proof—documents detailing his illicit dealings and the schemes of his organisation. They call themselves the Hooded Eye, and worship a god by the name of Mask.”

  “You must think me a fool,” she said scornfully, then turned toward her soldiers. “Bind them,” she ordered, “and this time remove all of their weapons. Strip them down to their underclothes!”

  Several of the guards began to step forward to carry out the order.

  “Wait! The documents are right here in my vest. You’ll see we’re telling the truth!”

  “Gag them as well Sergeant,” she said to one of the approaching men, and then added, “and make sure you check their underclothes for weapons as well.”

  “It will go easier if you don’t resist,” the sergeant said to them, reaching for Adusa’s mace. He drew it out, then paused and peered at the dark man’s face for a moment. “I’ve seen you before haven’t I? Yes! You were the ones asking about the posters yesterday. I thought you looked suspicious. I should have dragged you in right then!”

  The stillness of the night was broken by the sudden clatter of dozens of footsteps on the rooftops behind.

  “What now?” the sergeant complained as he paused again. When the stocky guard looked up he saw a mob of fleeing figures, many wearing the same black robes as the thieves. They were running in a wild panic toward them, chased by the warriors of the Shen.

  “Is that the councillor?” Sumana asked uncertainly.

  The man in the conspicuous crimson and black costume and gleaming golden armour was running faster that he likely ever had before. His hood thrown back and the mask still absent, the question soon became rhetorical.

  “What on earth is going on?” she muttered.

  The mass had reached the ladder. In their haste to escape the furious warriors they all tried to climb at once, fighting each other for the rungs. Some abandoned the ladder and desperately tried to scale the wall instead. Their pursuers were quickly closing the gap.

  Rishi pushed the sheaf of files he had been carrying into the guard captain’s hands. “We’ve been trying to tell you,” he said, answering her question. “Kovit leads a Mask-worshipping secret organisation called the Hooded Eye, who meet in a hidden basement in the manor and dress in black robes. They tried to manipulate the Shen into assassinating the king and queen so that they could seize control of the city, but the Shen found out about their deceit and are now trying to punish them.” The thief finally took a breath, and then added, “Oh, and Kovit called you dim-witted.”

  With that he turned and bolted. Snatching his mace back from the sergeant, Adusa was only a pace behind. The soldiers just stood staring in bewilderment as the thieves leapt over the railing and disappeared over the edge. Rolling to lessen the impact of the landing, Adusa regained his feet and swung toward the street-facing side of the apartment building. He came to the edge and peered down. Just as he’d hoped—a row of balconies ran down the front of the building, all the way to the street below.

  As he hopped down to the first, he heard Sumana shout, “By the order of the Royal Guard, all of you stand where you are! You too, Councillor. Guards, if anyone moves even an inch you have my command to shoot them where they stand.”

  Very pleased to be out of their line of fire, and out of range of Sumana’s anger, the thief gripped the edge of the balustrade and started clambering down. He moved quickly from floor to floor, until at last he felt firm soil beneath his feet once more. Rishi dropped down beside him a moment later. Casting aside their torn robes, they paused to catch their breath.

  Adusa smiled over at his friend and, reaching into the deep pocket of his jerkin, drew out the glimmering stone of divine power. “Too easy,” he said.

  Stifling his laughter, Rishi looked back the way they had come. Sumana’s voice still carried down from above. “I think it’s time we took her advice and got out of here—before our luck really does run out.”

  Adusa nodded firmly. With the sun just starting to crest the horizon, the two thieves stepped out into the street, and set off at a brisk pace.

  “Tough looking bunch,” the old sailor remarked, gesturing with a thumb to a nearby poster.

  “Them? Oh indeed. Tough as you can find,” said his companion, a dockworker.

  “What they do?” the sailor asked around a hunk of tough grilled
squid.

  The pair were sat in shade of the blocky harbourmaster’s office, enjoying a small respite from the crushing midday heat while they ate their lunch. The wall beside them had been pressed into service as a makeshift noticeboard, and was plastered with a mishmash of advertisements, job listings, and notices—the newer posters stuck roughly over the yellowing and weather-stained paper of the old.

  “Nothing apparently,” the other man chuckled.

  “’ey?”

  “They was saying they tried to attack their majesties, but it turned out it was wrong. It weren’t them,” he explained, running a hand through his long, greasy hair. “It was really the head councillor who was plotting it.”

  “What?’ the sailor asked incredulously. “You mean the merchant, Kovit? He was tryin’ to kill the king ‘n queen? You sure?”

  “Aye. There’s this secret gang you see, and Kovit’s their boss. They hatched this big scheme to get them killed and rule over the city themselves.”

  “I can ‘ardly believe it. Everyone was always sayin’ what a good sort he is,” the old man said, shaking his head, and then gestured back to the picture of the grizzled men with the curved swords. “So these tough ones had nothin’ to do with it?”

  “Well not nothing,” the dockworker laughed. “Ya see, they was the ones that were actually gonna do the killing. But they would have only done it ‘cause the councillor was tricking them somehow. They learnt about it though, and attacked the gang instead.”

  “They killed ‘em?”

  “Oh aye, they were cutting them down, but see then the guard finds out about it, and arrests ‘em all instead. Kovit too.”

  “Ain’t that somethin’. Sound like the whole city’s fallen to chaos while I been gone. Only been a coupla weeks since we was last in port too.”

  His friend laughed again, enjoying the sailor’s incredulity. “Few weeks? All this happened in just the last few days. And that’s not all of it neither.”

  “There’s more?”

  “That there is. The city has been abuzz all mornin’. See the guard has this list with all the names and such of the gang, so they been rounding ‘em up. It were a really big gang. Rich and important folk too. Even justices. The Guard don’t care though. All of them gettin’ thrown in the cells. Jails are said to be already full to bursting.”

  The sailor just shook his head, and then asked. “So these ones in the picture, they in jail too?”

  “They the only ones that aren’t! Guard captain said they hadn’t actually done nothing wrong. She let ‘em head back to their homes upriver. I hear before they went the king even said sorry to them.”

  “The king did?”

  “Aye. In person too. Said them was treated poor, and it was his fault.”

  “Heh. Very humble your king, ‘ey?”

  “A man for the people he is,” the docker affirmed with a solemn nod. His gaze then shifted over to the quayside nearby, where a big trading sloop was anchored. “Looks like they ready to start the loading. Best be gettin’ on.”

  “So they are,” the old sailor agreed, raising himself up from the coil of heavy rope he’d pressed into service as a chair. “I should head aboard. They’ll be wanting me back at my post.”

  Still chatting, the two men set off toward the ship, where dockers and sailors were already swarming to get her ready in time for the evening tide.

  As they fell out of earshot, two figures in heavy travelling cloaks, their hoods raised to obscure their faces, got up from the low wall they had been sitting on nearby, and stepped over to the wall of notices. Their eyes were drawn to one of the new posters, the paper still crisp and white.

  “Looks just like us,” one of them said.

  “It’s a near perfect likeness,” the other agreed. “She really is too good to be working for the guard.”

  They turned and set off in the direction the sailor and dockworker had gone, toward the soon to be departing sloop. Gold lettering across her stern gave the vessel’s name as Shi Yun, and below it was the name of her home port—Lantau.

  Thank you for reading.

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  The Merchant of Sanukawa

  © 2016 Raoul Miller

  Published by RM Publishing Ltd, UK.

  Cover design by Lerato Semmelink.

  All rights reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, without the express written permission of the author.

  The Merchant of Sanukawa is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  THE MERCHANT OF SANUKAWA

  Book One of the Thieves of Askaria Novella Series

  RAOUL MILLER