After the initial success in spying the sneak, the following days proved to be another string of disappointments. Fortunately, Cadryn began to detect a pattern: if he spotted the intruder, Felina would always insist on taking the lead ‘on account of his injuries’ but if she spotted them, well, ‘they were too fast’. The story always ended the same: the intruder escaped.

So Cadryn decided to try it alone, his prey tended to favor the western and southern sides of the citadel, the sides away from the road, and the toll house. Given that, he recruited Gita to aid him, telling Felina he wasn’t feeling up to climbing all over the Citadel, and that Silence recommended some bed rest.

After a quick ribbing, the former-thief was more than happy to take the day off. With Gita sticking to the shadows, and eaves, Cadryn took a crossbow from the barracks, settled into the foliage covered walkway of the Lower Gardens, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then, when he was on the verge of giving up, the horrible imitation of a bird cry bounced off the walls of the observatory at his back. Gita’s signal, the intruder was on the wall. Scanning the sky he spotted Gita, and hustling to that length of wall waved her down.

“Right under the south-western lookout,” Gita chittered happily. “Should I get the others?”

“Only if something happens to me, hang back and keep watch,” he answered.

With a chirp, Gita was gone.

Cadryn crouched low, and made his way along the edge of the lookout, keeping an ears to the edge of the wall. Then he heard it; the telltale ring of a climbing pick. He waited until it was close, but not so close that he’d risk a swing from the pick’s wielder. Then he popped up, and leaned over the edge.

There, two body-lengths down, was the sneak, a ten-story drop to the rocks below them. The head turned upward, and recognition dawned.

Sickeningly, Cadryn realized that must have been the face he made, just before Darcy shot him.

“Please,” the sneak said, winded from the climb, “Don’t shoot.”

“I won’t,” Cadryn replied. “You have my word on it, as long as you comply.”

The climber managed a quick nod in assent.

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“Now, climb the rest of the way up here, slowly, I don’t want you falling.” Cadryn eased to the side to give them free space to summit the wall. Up close, he realized how much smaller this kid was than him, younger.

“How old are you?” he asked, after the intruder was finally over the edge.

Gasping for air, they held out a fist, then three fingers.

“Thirteen? By the Gods, kid, what are you doing?”

Pulling down the mask that covered her face, Cadryn realized it was girl he was talking to. Loosening the scarf, springy curls of copper hair fell free from her head wrapping. Wiping her brow, she swallowed, and with a gasp, spoke. “Training.”

“For what?” he asked, suspecting the answer.

“Thievein’, obviously,” the girl replied, and coughed. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Guarding, I suppose you heard otherwise?” he asked, anger boiling in his gut. He raised the crossbow, “Who told you I wouldn’t be here!”

“Felina!” she yelled, holding her arms over her face. “This is bullshit! I paid!”

“Excuse me, come again?” Cadryn asked.

The girl cursed, and biting her lip, shrugged. “I paid her, after she caught me climbing, last month, at night. She told me I was dumb to do that, ‘easy way to die’ she said, much safer to climb in the daylight, especially if I paid her to show me the quiet places I wouldn’t get in trouble for being on.”

“So you weren’t sneaking in here for Darcy’s Gang?”

The girl blinked, chuckled, “Oh hells no, a demon take me, friend, I’ve nothing to do with those murderous whackadoodles. Mad, the lot of them, I just want to get good enough at climbing things to join a second-floor crew in the city. Felina said I have a shot . . . It’s the only way out a backwater like this for someone like me.”

Cadryn relaxed, this girl wasn’t some hardened killer coming for their lives. Leaning back against the wall, his shoulder began to throb as his muscles uncoiled. Above, the clouds seemed like white islands in a raging sea of blue. “There’s other ways out of a place like this,” he said.

Sensing the shift in mood, the thief-in-training took off her backpack, removed some dried fruit and cheese, and set it on a silk cloth between them. Cadryn took a swig of his waterskin, handed it to her, and watched with some dismay as she gulped down the remainder of his supply. Smacking her lips, she handed it back. “Thanks, I needed that,” she said.

“So I saw.”

“But you’re wrong,” she added, taking a bite of an apple. “There’s only three kinds of good work in the Imperial Army, and I’m not a priest, mage, or rich . . . so—”

“So you’ll take your chances on the other side of things? Come on. You have a family, friends? I can’t imagine they’d approve of this.”

“They don’t, but what child listens to their family at my age, did you?”

Cadryn crouched down, ate some roasted nuts, shrugged in agreement. “Fine, but don’t let me catch you climbing this again.” He stood, shaking off the tension.

“Deal,” she said, holding out a hand, “People call me Grey.”

“Cadryn,” he replied, shaking it.

“So, what’ll happen if you catch me? A spanking? Sharp note to my folks, throw me in the dungeons?”

“No,” Cadryn replied, hefting the crossbow from where he’d leaned it against the parapet edge. “I’ll shoot you in the face.”

Grey laughed, then her face went slack as she realized it wasn’t said in jest. “That seems a bit harsh,” she protested.

“That’s life,” he said, “outside the Veld anyway . . . you should be prepared for the consequences.”