That night, they sailed on beneath the stars, with a brisk wind moving them quickly. Tavish thought he'd done a very good job binding and gagging Princess Oresa. He liked how she looked tied up with her orange hair across her shoulders. And he also liked that, lying against the side of the boat, she did not make any attempt at escape. She was scared but observing, and Tavish guessed she was smart.

Otherwise, the exact opposite of Tanith. A bit ironic. The swaying of the ship was a bit distracting, but he'd learned to deal with it years ago. He'd only felt a little sick during that time.

"Are you sure nobody is following us?" asked Lamech, sitting down on the steps leading to the upper deck.

Didn't he ever stop?

"As I said before, Lamech, that would be impossible," said Arkan, checking the sail. The horizon before them was in the twilight of the morning, and the clouds were clustering strong. The waves washed against them as a favorable wind sent them forth. "No one in Harlenor knows what we have done, and Isamu and his people are over in Sorn. Even if they know what is happening now, they can't get here fast enough."

"What about William?" asked Lamech.

"William has no connection to this woman," said Tavish.

"William has a lot of divine support," said Lamech, looking back. "And they might indulge him if he has a vendetta. They can cut travel times if they are angry enough. They've done it for you."

"Elranor is focused on the plague. Laevian created the plague. And Barden is hands-off except for natural disasters," said Arkan. "Farasa might, but she is on our side. If we are taken out, Baltoth will have radicals to deal with.

"Vanion can't represent Antion. And even if he could be alerted, what of it?

"We have moved at a breakneck pace, got off on a pre-planned ship on an abandoned pier in the dead of night. Even if he had our bearings, he would have to go up to Ascorn to find a ship. They don't sail at night, and most of them are on a war footing.”

"He could use Tavish's coves," noted Lamech. "And Baltoth favors House Gabriel; he respects them.”

"There might be ships there; the entrance is hard to find," said Tavish. "And it was guarded last I checked. If the Furbearers hadn't completely packed up-"

"They might not even be there anymore. For all we know, they've left," said Arkan. "And even if he catches the first boat off, after getting past all that and getting our bearings, he has to catch us.”

"William is good at climbing," said Lamech. "And has a great deal of endurance to have kept up with us."

"In full armor?" asked Arkan. "Who is he going to leave it with? Peasants he hardly knows? His servant? Even if he can rely on him, would he really come alone? Rush all this way on a chimera, go on a boat and keep after us?

"For this girl alone?"

"If he discovered the names of some of the merchants," said Lamech. "He might guess there was a conspiracy in Haldren. If I were him, I'd be paranoid.”

"Perhaps the Princess could have some hand in this?" asked Tavish. "Farasa might take her seizure personally."

"The Princess does not have any formal announcement and has many sisters," said Arkan. "Ergo, she is not of major importance. I don't actually think she's valuable.

"But someone might be stupid enough to think she's valuable. Maybe we can trick Isamu into destroying one of our enemies."

"It might alienate Farasa," noted Tavish.

"Damn Farasa," said Arkan. "She's been using Gabriel against us. This whole time he's been in exactly the right place at the right time to smash things.

"He's playing the Spear of Destiny here.

"We had a good thing going until she decided to plant Reg Hawkthorne in Ascorn. I believe she envisioned a kind of... revolution of order, where Antion took the same path as Calisha.

“As things stand, we end in stalemate."

"But are you sure nobody is following us?" asked Lamech.

"Why do you keep asking?" asked Arkan.

"Because there's a ship coming up behind us," said Lamech, pointing back with a smug smile.

Arkan looked up, and Tavish followed his gaze. Sure enough, there was a ship with only two crewmen. It was a small vessel that one man could handle and bounced along the waves nicely. Arkan went to the back. "...It's some random do-gooder trying to save a damsel in distress he thinks he has come across by chance."

"On a ship with Amenos on it?" asked Lamech.

Sure enough, there was Amenos. And with him was a boy younger than Tavish. He had long blonde hair and wore a ragged, travel-stained tunic. It was long defiled by the road and bore signs of mending. Yet he himself moved with confidence and at his side was a familiar black sword.

"Damn it!" said Arkan. "How the devil is keeping up with us?!"

"They must have had the pier watched," said Tavish. "Farasa could not have set this up right away. As you said, she turned on us in Ascorn."

"Some luck," said Lamech. "Both of you row! Row!"

They went to it at once.

It was the first time Tavish had seen Lamech worried, and the oars were pulled repeatedly. Oresa roused herself, but a glare from Lamech made her wilt.

"We could board and fight them," said Tavish. "We outnumber them."

"No good," said Arkan. "Both are dangerous. Some of us would die, and we can't afford to lose any reliable allies right now."

Tavish nodded, and while they started rowing, he raised his crossbow and aimed at Amenos. Amenos drew and pulled back a bow, and both launched at once. An arrow landed on the deck, whizzing over Tavish's head. His bolt landed in the stern. Trying again, he peeked over the edge but ducked as another arrow was launched. It lodged quivering an inch away from Tavish's foot.

Firing, this time at William, Tavish saw him hit the deck.

So it continued, and Amenos and William were kept ducking so that soon they fell behind. Now the three of them raced ahead, and Arkan stood up. "No more rowing. We need our strength."

"You know you'll be caught," said Oresa, pulling her gag off. "My Father is a mighty King of Kalthak. And Isamu will be coming after me soon. Cadas can track anything, and Urus has already deduced who did this and where they are.

"No matter what castle you take me to, they'll storm it."

"Perfect," said Arkan. "We can use you to start a war. Thank you for the information. Gag her."

"MMMPH!!" shouted Oresa.

On they went, and William and Amenos kept a distance behind them. It was a tense and silent race through dark waters. The wind was their only companion, and Tavish hated it more by the day. Almost as much as he hated pulling on the oars, this kind of labor was not his thing.

"I just don't think this strategy is worthy of us," said Lamech. "Kidnapping and such."

"Am I going insane?!" said Tavish, pulling the oars faster. "Or did a Blackguard just complain about a crime being beneath his morality?! You were not hired to be a bleeding heart idealist, you dark-armored psychopath!"

"It's a matter of professional pride," said Lamech.

"Not anymore, thanks to you," said Tavish.

"Wasn't Jehair a champion of the common people?" asked Lamech.

"I'd say the people have made their verdict," said Tavish. "That means we're not the villains.

"House Gabriel is ripping our empire to shreds, and we have to get him preoccupied before things get bad.”

"I can find work elsewhere," said Lamech. "Bretus is easy to get a high-ranking position in if you say and do the right things."

"As can I," said Arkan. "Do not think that your lineage makes you better than me, Lamech? Between the two of us, my operations have been the more successful. And you are the more obvious one to hang."

Stolen story; please report.

"Of all the necks on this boat, Arkan, you should most be concerned about your own," said Lamech, and his tone had hatred. His hand went to his sword, and Tavish went for his dagger.

"You need me much more than I do you, Lamech," said Arkan.

"I do not need you, Arkan," said Lamech. "And I owe you nothing."

"Oh, you do," said Arkan, grasping his spear. "You define yourself in opposition to the forces of 'good' whatever they are. You can't conceive of a thing for yourself. That's why you needed Karus.

"You never had any real plan to achieve what you wanted, aside from following orders and sewing chaos. So I put you in a position where you could do that without disrupting my plans. You have been well paid consistently by me, and I have never cheated you or gone behind your back.

“Don't insult my intelligence by saying that you don't owe me anything. You do. Just as you owe the man who killed your Father.

"What happened to your search for that murderer? Or were you just using it as your excuse?"

"You never cared about it," said Lamech. "Why bring it up now if not to save yourself?" Arkan was going to kill Lamech.

"Obviously not; it's not my Father. I knifed him ages ago after he threw a spear at me for outdoing his military record," said Arkan. "But you did at one point. You wouldn't have sold your soul for the power to kill him otherwise.

"You can't seriously tell me you've been looking for him this whole time.

"I gave you the world he was from and that he was in Harlenor. You know his face, so the answer has been right in front of you all along. Were you even trying to solve it? Could you have finished the job with a swing of your sword?

"So why did you wait?"

"You have a theory?" scoffed Lamech.

"It is because you were afraid," said Arkan. "You were afraid to take your revenge because you knew that revenge would be justice. You knew you'd be the hero if you took it, if only for a moment.

"So you played second fiddle to Tavish for years and let Gabriel rip your holdings to shreds. And you pretend as if none of it matters to you when people point out your failures. 'It's just money.' 'I care not.' But money is power, provided you know how to use it.

"If money has no value, it is not money."

"Then perhaps I should just kill you where you stand!" said Lamech, dropping his oar and drawing his sword.

"If you want to challenge me, Blackguard, you'd best be prepared to die," said Arkan, raising his oar in defiance. He was unarmored, and Lamech still flinched. Tavish dropped his ore in disgust.

And he said the kind of tone that you never wanted to disobey. The last person who'd tried it had been killed on the spot. Lamech held his gaze, but Tavish saw that his hand was shaking.

'Lamech is afraid of Arkan,' realized Tavish stopping himself from saying it.

"I just might," said Lamech. He hauled on his oar all the stronger.

"And I just might use you to patch things up with Furbearers," said Arkan. "Is that what you want?

"Be assured; I didn't just keep you on hand here because you're my son. I also did it because letting the Furbearers rip you to shreds might buy me passage. And Tavish right now is a lot more valuable than you."

Silence.

"What of Prince Aras?" asked Lamech, sheathing his sword.

"Good," said Arkan. "You've started to think proactively again. We're liable to lose all of the Thieves Guild's holdings in this continent.

"We became sloppy and complacent."

"What of Prince Aras?" asked Lamech.

"King Gavin prefers to administer from his castle," said Tavish. "Prince Aras likes going abroad. However, we have no communication; his job, as far as I can tell, is to wreck my plans when they don't go his way."

"Why not just ask?" asked Oresa innocently.

"It doesn't work that way," said Tavish. "If I go around sending reports to King Gavin on what I have to do, he is obligated to shut it all down. Do you think I work with a Blackguard so I can redeem his soul?

"I do nasty stuff to keep the criminal element in line and out of royal business. Lamech takes care of that stuff, and I keep him channeled on people who need knifing. Do you want me to send him back to where he was before?

"Murdering random corrupt officials for the greater evil in Antion?"

"No, thank you," said Oresa.

"And you, Arkan," said Tavish. "Before I entered things, Aras was planning to take you out personally. He would have rubbed you out years ago, damn the nobility if I hadn't said you'd keep things organized!

"Well, what do you call this?!

"If you had just murdered everyone who acted contrary to the Crown we'd be fine right now."

"Well, truth be told, spending all my time murdering people who trust me does not appeal," said Arkan.

"Oh, pitch the loveable rogue nonsense, Arkan," said Tavish. "We're professional murderers.

"Our job is to brutalize the criminal element into control by any means necessary. If you'd just done your job, none of this would have happened!"

"I wish you'd stop pretending like you were a grown-up," said Oresa. "You're not that much older than me."

"And in the space of five minutes, the Princess becomes a better criminal than you, Tavish," said Arkan. "The gentleman thief persona is not entertainment; it is essential. Even an illusion of culture and class can be of great use.

"Pure brutality has its virtues but doesn't work in the long term. I kept things safe for years by a velvet glove."

"You shouldn't have been keeping things safe!" said Tavish. "Your job was to engineer the downfall of your own organization! Why the hell do you think I deliberately made all those villages self-sufficient?

"The purpose of the Thieves Guild is to exterminate the worst of the criminal underworld. Then you will your own downfall. But you and the other noble elitist bastards weren't satisfied with that were you?

"You betrayed your own god and imprisoned him for ten years. Now you're surprised that he's engineering your downfall! If you'd just stuck by Elranor, we might have had a chance."

"That isn't my jurisdiction," said Arkan.

"You could have reigned in Cirithil with a few threatening words," said Tavish. "You didn't do that because you didn't care!

"You ruined the prospects of an entire nation because you felt powerful when everyone else was starving! Your children's children are going to be dealing with your screwups! And for what?!

"Because it was convenient? Because it was a little less troublesome to destroy the future of your species than putting a bit of effort in now. And when anyone tried to be a hero, you had only sneering excuses!

"'If we're going to have crime, we might as well have organized crime.' 'Vampires aren't a problem; they're just misunderstood.' 'Humans are the real monsters.' 'A King is just someone who chopped off more heads than another person.' And my personal favorite;

"'Beware of heroes!' Means that there's no such thing as a hero, so you don't have to feel bad counting your blood money!

"Well, you did it, Arkan! You successfully destroyed the very concept of heroism itself ! So who's going to save you?"'

"You're forgetting who you're-" began Arkan.

"Shut up," said Tavish. "There aren't any bosses anymore on this ship. The chain of command is done!

"I have never been your subordinate, Arkan! I've never been Elranor's subordinate, and I was never a servant of justice! I was a servant of my country, Harlenor, and everything it stood for.

"And now there is no Harlenor! Just a hodgepodge of evil races ripping the lower classes to shreds for fun. All while you mug bastards sneer at them from your manors!

"Well, it won't work! Because there's a King coming to set this place to rights. All despite your best efforts, you worthless servant! And it'll all be on your head, you selfish, conceited bastard!

"Cirithil and Jehair are done for! And I hope it's your home and family next!"

Arkan was silent. For the first time since Tavish had ever seen him, he was completely speechless. He opened his mouth, looked back to the ship chasing them silently, and then toward the land before them.

Turning away, Arkan looked suddenly forty years old. A man nearing old age who had only now remembered it. Finally, he turned around. "Anyone who threatens my home or family, Tavish, will die for it.

"Do you understand that?"

"Perfectly," said Tavish. "But it won't do you any good once the Heir of Kings returns. And they will now. The nobility have no credibility left, and they know it. They'll need her to make anything of this mess."

"Good," said Arkan. "Sir Gabriel is too late. We have reached the Cliffs of Torment.

"Even if he scales up that way, we'll be waiting. They can't stop us now."

The cliffs of torment soared skyway like jagged teeth out of a foaming sea. The storm clouds looked nearly ready to burst, and Tavish hated the idea of climbing in the rain. Closer they went, and into a little inlet that went nowhere but up. They leaped off the boat, donning gloves and moving Oresa out.

There was a rope hanging down, long-prepared in advance. It was designed to withstand all elements of magic. From the looks of things, it was in perfect condition.

They had gained some distance from William by now. And they took some time to rest as the boat slowly came closer. Finally, Arkan stood up.

"Lamech, you have the Princess," said Arkan. "Tavish goes first, then myself."

Tavish grasped the rope and secured his crossbow. Then he began to scale up as quickly as he could, hating it. Arkan had insisted they learn this, and only now did he realize why. Arkan had a somewhat mythical notion of what a thief was. It was disconnected from crime entirely. As he went up, a glance down revealed Lamech and Arkan behind them. Oresa was tied to Lamech's back like baggage, and up they went.

Higher and higher, yet an arrow shot near Tavish's hand, and they looked back to see William and Amenos nearing. This would be narrow. He scaled hand over hand, thanking him that he was the lightest. Yet an arrow hit the wall near him and another close at hand. Below, he saw Amenos and William scaling up after them quickly.

The cliffs seemed to stretch on forever, and no matter what they did, it did not seem to get closer. On and on, the relentless chase went, and Tavish's arms ached in labor. Yet behind him, he saw William gaining, going far above Amenos. Gods above, how did he scale so quickly? He was nearly at Lamech now.

At last, Tavish reached the top and leaped over ahead of Arkan. Knowing he didn't have a moment to lose, he moved to the rock where the rope was tied. Around them were many boulders and broken stones. And a little ways off were the ruins of an ancient Furbearer mill, once the most advanced of its kind. Its secrets of using the wind had long since been rediscovered. But it stood there nonetheless.

Kneeling down, Tavish began to undo the rope. He'd get it back after this was over. But Lamech came, tossed the Princess down like an unwanted package, and drew his sword.

"Wait!" said Tavish.

"Pride cometh before the fall," laughing Lamech. Then he brought his sword down and severed the rope in one swift stroke. It went over the edge and slipped away.

Arkan smiled. "They had just enough rope to hang themselves.

"Shut up," said Tavish, laughing despite himself. "That's not funny."

The Princess seemed to think this in terrible taste. Tavish, however, moved over to the edge and made sure Lamech wasn't behind him. Looking down, he saw William and Amenos still climbing. They'd fallen some distance but had caught themselves and were moving up. At this moment, the storm broke, and it began to rain.

"Lamech," said Tavish. "Take care of them. If you kill them, fine; if not, we'll make a deal."

"Fine by me," said Lamech.

Arkan looked to Tavish. "Let's get out from under the rain. We'll take the Princess to weather the storm and see what fate has to offer."

The rain intensified.

"Princess Oresa, consider this an opportunity," said Arkan. He picked her up and slung her over one shoulder. "Don't run off; these Furbearers are not fond of foreigners. The last batch used to live over there in the ruins."

So they ran for it as Lamech found a suitable boulder.