The next months were some of the best of Lyra's life. She learned much from Zari and the other guild members and quickly was cutting purses as if she'd been doing it her whole life.

She learned there was a hierarchy in the guild and it didn't take long for her to start to move up it. She quickly graduated from the level of the errand boys and pickpockets, mostly younger kids, and soon was one of the hounds. The hounds were the footsoldiers of the thieves guild, providing blackout and manpower to bigger heists, or being assigned smaller individual ones.

Most heists were planned and organized by Raldo, but some were commissioned by outside parties. Not all were in Taka and Lyra visited a few of the neighboring Jarldoms on guild missions. She also learned about Morganna, the matriarch of the largest trade family in Taka.

Morganna was a high nosed aristocrat who looked at the guild with contempt, but also was their most frequent patron and the buffer between them and the law. As lenient as Taka law was, the Jarl did have to at least commit to some efforts in eradicating the guild. Morganna ensured that those efforts never stuck. She was a necessary evil for the guild but that didn't stop them, including Lyra, from wanting to stick a dagger in her eye.

Everything was going wonderfully until Morganna contracted the guild to rob a ship.

The owner was a well known, but never convicted, pirate who had recently taken to robbing Morganna’s smuggling vessels. Unable to report the thefts, she was determined to see the hand of the law land on her enemy.

So, she paid Raldo to steal the vessel's shipping records and slip them into the dock commissioner's office. It seemed an easy job and he assigned Geryl, Zari, and Lyra to it. If there was anything smugglers weren't cheap about, it was locks, so as much as Zari hated it, Geryl 'Quickfingers' was leader of the job. Zari was the emergency muscle and Lyra and her little handy bottles were to take care of the guards.

It was a nearly moonless night, the silver sliver in the sky doing little to hinder the team's movements. Carefully, they made their way to the dock where the ship was, currently set to unload legitimate goods. As they’d accounted for, there was a guard seated at the bottom of the ramp and one pacing the long deck.

Lyra snuck up, tipping her bottle onto a rag. She got behind the chair, quiet as a mouse and quickly slipped the cloth over the man's mouth and nose. He flinched but after a moment slumped over. Geryl let out a muffled sneeze, to account for the man's movement in case the other guard was watching.

With bated breath, they watched the pacing of the second guard, timing their ascent onto the boat. This one Zari took care of, slipping behind him and using the old fashioned sap. She placed the still form down and took his helmet off, placing on her own head then took over his pacing while Geryl and Lyra padded over to the cabin door. The captain's room was where the ship records should be.

The guild's eyes and ears reported both the captain and first mate were out drinking the night away, leaving the room empty. Raldo had suspected they'd leave another guard in the cabin, so Lyra readied another rag prepared to hand it to Geryl who was larger and would be able to charge the guard and administer the drug more effectively.

Geryl's hands fiddled at the lock for only a few moments before the quiet click sounded. Lyra saw the flash of white teeth as Geryl grinned and she passed him the rag. Smoothly, he flung open the door, charging in with Lyra behind him.

She hit the floor hard. She glanced up to see Geryl, rag in hand, wrestling with two men. A third was on the floor, knocked down from Geryl's initial charge. A heavy foot landed on Lyra's back.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Well, well, well. Looks like our information was right. Go get the one outside."

The man sitting on the floor jumped up and ran out. There was a shout and the sound of a splash. Lyra guessed Zari had bailed, jumping off the boat. Geryl and her were on their own.

The two men successfully wrestled Geryl down and tied his wrists. One pulled out a sword and held it at Geryl's neck as the other came over to Lyra. The foot raised up and the man quickly tied Lyra's wrists as well. She turned her head to see her captor.

He was a grinning Duskar, a gold tooth showing. His loose white shirt hung open in the front, showing off a myriad of tattoos. His hair was a mess of braids with colorful beads. How he convinced anyone he wasn't a pirate was beyond Lyra.

Walking over to Geryl, the pirate pulled a long dagger out and used it to lift his chin. "Now tell me, did Morganna send you?"

Geryl smiled, "No, sir. Just got lost we did. Thought this was a floating brothel—"

The captain punched him. Geryl looked back, his face bleeding but his smile still there, his eyes glinting dangerously.

"Don't make me ask again. Did Morganna send you?"

"See now, there you did just ask again." Lyra heard the crack and Geryl's nose bent, blood pouring from it.

"Yeah, she did." Lyra spoke up. If they got locked in the brig, she wanted Geryl conscious to get them out. The captain turned to her, standing and nodded at the man above her, who yanked her to her feet.

"Ah, the little girl who puts men to sleep. So the bitch did send you. What was her plan exactly?"

He leaned forward grinning. Lyra tried to think of the best thing to say, when something caught her eye. The man's shirt had fallen open more as he leaned and she saw a familiar bear nestled in the myriad of tattoos. Gods.

The captain noticed her distraction and grabbed her hair, yanking her face up. "See something you, like my pretty? Perhaps later you'll see them all."

If he was one of Bryn's men, Lyra knew that even if she told him everything, there was a good chance they'd kill her and Geryl anyway. But if she didn't...she hesitated, she had gone so long cutting ties with her father it made her feel like she'd failed to think of using his name now.

The captain slapped her. "I'm not a patient man."

Lyra spat some blood from her lip to the floor, mind made up. "Sorry, I was admiring that bear tattoo."

The man straightened as if struck. His eyes narrowed as he looked over her again with more interest. Lyra noticed Geryl behind her glancing at the exchange, confused.

Lyra, hating herself for doing it, said, "You'll find a similar one on my right shoulder. He does like to mark what's his."

The captain, eyes blazing, stepped over and used his knife to rip open Lyra's sleeve. The bear, carefully hidden for so long, shimmered in the lantern light.

"It's fake," the captain hissed and Lyra let out a dry laugh.

"I wish. You think working with him is bad, try being his daughter."

The captain's face turned red with rage but he waved his hand. "Let her go."

The man behind Lyra untied her and she rubbed her wrists. "My companion too."

The captain gave her a wicked grin. "I see no mark on him."

Lyra nodded, consenting to this fact. "True, a trade then. Give me until morning to come back with an offer for him. Unharmed."

The captain glanced at Geryl. "We can get any information we want from him for free."

"Not much. He's here for his hands not his brains. The person you'd want for interrogation jumped ship. I know where to find her." She shrugged. "You can still try, but you won't get much and damaged goods are worth less."

Geryl gave her a disbelieving look but she ignored it. The captain rubbed his chin for a moment before finally agreeing. "You have until dawn. Now get off my ship."

Lyra nodded and walked out unhindered, feeling the cold sea breeze on her exposed arm. As much as she tried to block it out she heard Bryn's voice. ‘It'll protect you, but also expose you to enemies.’