I’d been asked to steal for Vis before. The man had little in the way of scruples and seemed more than happy to encourage his low morals in those under his command. I had average looks and a build that made me more or less invisible anywhere but the Slums, and that, added to my lack of natural ability, made me the best choice for doing Vis’ dirty work.

No, that wasn’t fair, I thought as I made my way towards the palace. When my parents died, Vis had been the one to take me in, teach and feed me, putting a roof over my head. If it hadn’t been for him, I would have ended up in the Slums, which as things were at the moment, were by far the worse option. I could do a little stealing and tolerate a little abuse if it meant staying away from the areas of the city cordoned off for the poorest of the poor.

Then again, I was breaking into a noble’s house this time. Nobles had connections to mages much more powerful than Master Vis, and if the man himself was any indication, getting caught would result in a fate much worse than anything I would find the manor I called home.

“Just… don’t get caught,” Vis had growled to me as he laid out his plans. We looked over them by candlelight in that dark, dank cellar.

He had put together a surprising amount of intelligence on the house that he wanted me to break into. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Vis was no moron, and certainly knew how to do his research. Even so, I wasn’t sure if these plans and details had come from him. It all seemed rushed, and less than an hour after being caught, I was ushered off the manor’s premesis, with the hope that I had memorized everything that I needed to know before heading out.

Vis had seemed flustered. I’d never seen him like that. Even among other nobles, he had always seemed in control, witty, and calm. Whether it was because of his failed ritual before, or something else entirely, something had my master on edge, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

I brought my mind back to the present. I had always made a point of memorizing the movements of the guards in the area. Mostly just to pass the time, but also a useful mental exercise, as I had grown used to Vis using me for this kind of work. Knowing when the men in red and gold uniforms were making their rounds was probably why I had survived this long.

Small things always added up to big figures, I remembered reading somewhere. Had it been in the ‘Tale of the Sisters Three’? It was possible. Too long had passed since I had been allowed free rein of the manor’s library. Ever since I had tried to sneak into the section that contained the books on words of power, I wasn’t allowed in there without a chaperone.

I took in a deep breath, pausing behind a pillar as I counted down the seconds before the guards would be passing next. These weren’t the kind that patrolled the lesser areas of the city. Even the houses of the nobles were protected by the Emperor’s own Lancers, men of high training and discipline. They wouldn’t dawdle or distract themselves with conversation. It made sneaking around them difficult, but it also meant that they made their rounds at the same time each and every night, without fail.

Right on time, two men moved around the corner of the house. Their armor gleamed like it was cleaned and polished every day, and they marched in time with each other, never a step off beat as they came across the road. I sidled around the column in front of Lord Drake Pollock’s manse, keeping to the shadows as they passed, listening as their heavy boots crashed onto the cobbles, moving further and further away.

I pulled a smooth pebble from my pocket once they were far enough away from the entrance that I didn’t have to worry about them seeing me as I vaulted over the low wall that encircled Pollock’s house. I liked keeping the small rocks that I found at the edge of the Kaesor’s lake, the smooth, pretty ones. I liked the look and feel of them, especially the way that they felt warm even if left outside on a chilly night.

More importantly, though, I liked them for their weight, and how easy they were to aim and throw. It was odd how often that ended up being useful.

I hefted the weight of the pebble in my hand, staying low so as not to be seen by the guards that were patrolling the grounds themselves. These would be mercenaries, former soldiers in need of coin and lacking in the discipline of the Lancers, but still formidable for an eighteen-year-old familiar. I needed them distracted, and very far away as I made my entrance.

I peeked over the wall, seeing one of the hanging lanterns close enough for me to throw at, but not so close as to draw their attention to my hiding spot. I drew my hand back and flicked it forward, using my fingers to spin the flat pebble as it arced through the air.

There was a moment of satisfaction as I saw it strike the lantern hard, breaking the ceramic, spilling the oil over the grass on the ground, as well as the still-lit wick.

The fire that resulted hadn’t been what I had in mind, but as there was shouting and general pandemonium as the fire started to spread over the grass.

Nobody was looking as I smoothly vaulted the low wall, taking care to hide myself in the bushes and crawling over the ground to reach the house itself. With the fire starting to spread, there was no trouble in finding a door left open to slip into the building. My clothes were standard to servants of this area, the bland, grey robes that made sure that the people remained invisible to those they served.

I picked up a bucket that was left behind by one of the others and jogged quickly into the manse, following the routes that I memorized from Vis’ papers, which guided me through the maze that was Pollock’s house. It was massive, much more luxurious than Vis’ manor, and more difficult to navigate, especially as I was masquerading as a servant that was supposed to be helping fight the fire outside.

Sure, starting a fire hadn’t been my intention, but it didn’t look like it was causing too much damage, and was more of a nuisance to the servants and guards than anything else. I tossed a bucket I had been carrying as a disguise aside as I found the entrance to the basement.

Vis hadn’t specified what this parchment that I was supposed to steal even did. It was an artifact of magical importance, but more than just something to be looked at and admired. It was an item of power, that much was sure. I was certain that Vis would make sure to keep me out of the loop once the item was retrieved.

Should I make it back alive, that was.

The house was fairly deserted, and not only because of the fire. I had attended a couple of parties at this house with Vis, and it had always been humming with activity. It appeared that Vis’ intelligence that Pollock and his wife were currently staying in a house nearer the coast had been correct.

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It was odd that Pollock had a magical item in his possession at all. The topic itself was taboo, with most items being held by mages and men of power, and there had been no indication that Pollock was one of those. He was the son of a merchant who had done well enough for himself to purchase a place in the gentry, with the Emperor’s records being altered to show him as the descendant of some extinct house.

It was all too far above me for me to really give a shit about it, but it did raise the question of why there would be something of magical importance within the man’s walls.

The shouting faded almost completely as I made my way down the steps that led into the manse’s basement. I kept my eyes and ears tuned to the smallest sound or slightest movement. Sure, intelligence was all well and good, but the house being this abandoned, especially this close to something that was supposed to be incredibly valuable was making me nervous. There had to be of defenses set up around the house to keep me from doing precisely what I had just done.

Nobody expected their house to get robbed, which was kind of the point. Even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things had been going just a little too well. Something was bound to go wrong, and as I navigated the expansive maze that made up even the basement I felt myself grow more and more nervous.

Vis would kill to have a manse like this, I realized with a small smirk as I slipped inside the chamber that was supposedly where I would find the piece of parchment.

Again, the absence of any guards at all made me uneasy. The door was locked, but only by a bolt kept in place by a heavy but simple pin tumbler padlock. I pulled out the lockpicks that I’d brought with me, dropping down to a crouch. The lighting wasn’t the best, but these things were best done by feel anyways. Less than a minute later, the padlock popped open.

A three tumbler padlock. It was like they wanted someone to break in.

There were no torches or lamps inside, but those outside the room gave me enough light to find my way inside. There was a pedestal in the center of the room where a simple page of parchment lay.

There was a feeling in my gut telling me to get out. This wasn’t worth it. Something was going to go wrong, and I would end up in some dungeon being tortured for information. I could probably make a break for it. The forest was just outside this property. Sure, I didn’t know anything about scavenging, hunting, or anything involving survival beyond the comforts of the city, but it had to be better than whatever I had to face in here, right?

Wrong. I growled, shaking my head before heading into the room, looking around before picking the piece up.

It resisted my tug, almost like there was an invisible force around it keeping my fingers from reaching it, and then again, keeping it on the pedestal.

It had little strength, but the moment that I lifted the piece, a soft gong sounded somewhere. Not in this room, but close by. In the basement.

“Fuck!” That was all I had the time to say before I heard the stomping of boots. They had to have been nearby, to react this quickly, and whatever it was that had alarmed them of my presence made them move a lot quicker than anticipated.

It wasn’t long before there was a pair of men in full plate armor in front of me, each carrying a club in one hand and a torch in the other.

“Who the fuck are you?” one of the men asked, coming in closer.

“I’m… here to make sure that the parchment is kept safe from the fire outside,” I said quickly, not sure where the lie had come from. It wasn’t very good.

“That’s what we’re here for, dumbass,” the man on the left growled, approaching me. “Put it back and come with us.”

“I… cannot stray from my duties sir,” I said quickly, watching as they both started closing in. An idea was starting to form. I knew my way back up to the ground floor, and it would be a simple thing to get out over the wall and to the forest where I could lose all pursuers. All I needed to do was get out of this damned trap of a room.

The man on the right reached me before his comrade, nudging at me with his club. “Wait until Kruger gets his hands on you, worm,” he growled, reaching down to hook the club into his belt, assumedly so that he could have a hand free to grab and restrain me without putting his torch down.

I jumped into action almost without thinking. I wasn’t much of a fighter, but then again, I wasn’t trying to fight. I needed to get away, and that came a lot easier than actually having to beat these men myself. I reached out, grabbing at the man’s torch and shoving it into the face of his comrade, who screamed, stumbling back, dropping his own torch and club to bat out the fire that had caught on his beard.

Using the distraction, I pushed the first man into the wall behind him and vaulted the pedestal, sprinting towards the door, which I closed and bolted as soon as I passed through. There had been no access to the bolt from the inside, I noted, and that would keep my two friends occupied for the time that it took me to escape the grounds.

I could hear shouting as soon as I reached the stairs leading up from the basement, and it told me that my presence was discovered. It appeared that whatever had alerted the two to my presence had done the same to the rest of the guard. A few were still working to contain the flames, but there were guards starting to rush towards me.

I still had time. The manse was a maze, which was as much a disadvantage to them as it was to me. I circled around, away from them and in the opposite direction that I’d originally come in, and away from the other men making their way towards me.

I slipped out through one of the doors that had been left open. I could see the forest looming large just over the small, easily cleared wall. The dark trees were usually daunting, but right now they was a sight for sore eyes as I rushed through the bushes and over the paths, making my way towards the wall. Just a few feet away, I jumped, diving over the wall and towards freedom.

My hand, carrying the parchment, crashed into something just before it reached the perimeter. I felt my whole body pushed back into the garden that I was trying to escape. The blow knocked the breath out of me as I blinked, looking at the wall, trying to figure out just what it was that had stopped me from escaping.

I pushed myself back to my feet, hearing the voices from inside the house coming closer. My shoulder and arm were both hurting, but I shrugged the pain off for the moment, reaching for the wall once more.

And once more, my hand crashed into something, bruising my knuckles painfully.

“Fuck!” I cursed, pushing my hand harder against the invisible barrier. There was a bit of give to it. I heard the door that I’d used to leave the house open, and heard shouting as the men that came out saw me.

“Over there!” one of them called. “Tell Kruger to send more men!”

Kruger. I’d heard the name before, in the basement. These men’s captain, maybe? I shook my head, growling as the barrier continued to give, but too slowly.

I could hear their boots trampling the bushes and getting closer to me as, suddenly, the barrier gave.

I gasped for breath just in time to land hard on the top of the wall, feeling a jolt of pain as my ribs hit the edge.

No time to stop, though. No time.

“Fuck!” I growled again, pushing myself over the wall. A hand caught hold of my ankle just as I was about to pull away and I landed heavily on the other side.

My other foot lashed out, hammering into the jaw of the man that had grabbed me, hard enough to send him stumbling back, and forcing him to let me go.

I dropped to the ground outside the wall in a pile, wincing as the aches and pains all got worse.

Still no time!

I pushed myself to my feet again, not even bothering to look back this time as I started running towards the forest. If I could just make it to the tree line, I would be safe. Safer, anyways.

Shadows closed around me as the trees blocked out the waning moonlight. I didn’t stop, not even then. The voices were still behind me, and I didn’t think that the barrier would stop them from following me.

No, that seemed to be in place just to stop anyone carrying the damned piece of parchment. I took in a deep breath, feeling my legs burning. I still couldn’t stop. Not yet.