Chapter 25 Cat Burglary part 1

I leaned back against the chair and sighed, only one day left and still no sign of Tamerian, if we didn't find him soon then Sarena would have to use her backup plan, we had been talking with Aldria, and if she vouched for Sarena then we could get a loan for the rest of the money I needed, but honestly that was not the ideal situation, and I was loathed to have another person take on my debt. As I sat there thinking of my problem through something came to me, something that seemed a little off…

“She wonders,” I mused, and hardly noticed when Bartel, Sarena, and Hamin all looked up from there alcohol at me. I took one more sip of the ice cold milk I had ordered savoring the smoothness as it slid down my throat and spoke my thoughts out loud. “She wonders how the Lady knew Tamreian’s name?” I glanced up at Sarena who was looking at me with deep concentration. “She knows the lady never asked for it...”

“It's always smart for an employer to know who they have hired,” Hamin supplied takin another gulp of whatever that strong liqueur he had gotten. “She probably had someone look into the four of your history and determine who you were.”

“That is possible,” Sari conceded, “But I am willing to bet there is more to it than that, you didn't see the smile when she said his name, we were so focused on the task even I didn't really catch it at the time but now that Rin mentions it is quite odd that she would mention the only other survivor like that by name...”

“She doesn't need the money,” Bartel said, leaning back and looking at the ceiling. “What she wants is discreet labor, people who will do what she says when she says it, so the money is simply a pretense used to blackmail people.”

“There has been no sight of Tamerian for the past ten or so days, he just vanished, walked out of a pub and disappeared,” Hamin said, rubbing his chin with his free hand. “I see where this is going...”

“Likely she would want a meeting with the only surviving member of your party that she could find, if not for the money then for the information,” Sarena added.

“And if Tamerian was already gone when Rin arrived,” I supplied, “then there would be no way for her to find him.”

“She also practically owns the Guildhall here, it is run by her brother, and most of the upper employees are in her pay, if the rumors we have heard are anything to go by...” which would explain why this farce of a con was still going on and had not been stopped, after all, corruption runs deep…

“So, the most likely reason we can't find Tamerian is that he has already been captured by others...”

“She believes so now...” I breathed out and looked around the table at my new companions. “Her question now is what should she do about it?” I asked looking at Sarena, she had her eyes narrowed in thought, the tip of her painted red fingernail tapping thoughtfully on her lip as she worked her way through something.

“Hamin, if Tam were captured would they lock him in the city lockup?” she asked.

“Not if they wanted to be secretive about it, you lock anyone up in there, even in the erm, more hight end lockups and I would have heard about it.”

“So Tamerian was not there was he? Meaning that if she had him it would have to be somewhere else...”

“Rin gets the feeling that woman is like a malicious kit, playing with its food while it is still alive and not eating it...”

“Yes, I agree, she wouldn't want a plaything so far away so the basement of her own house?” Sarena said.

“And with that line of questioning we have passed out of my jurisdiction,” Hamin said, making a rather flourished gesture over to Bartel who rolled his eyes but gamely did a little curtsy. “May I introduce you ladies to Master Bartel, Cat burglar extraordinaire.”

“Cat burglar?” I asked, looking over at Bartel.

“Yeah, it's my job to get into a place all stealthy like and make grab some things,” he paused and rubbed the back of his neck looking somewhat embarrassed. “I'm pretty good at it...” he looked at the two of us, “Honestly though, I don't think I can sneak two people into a house, I am good at getting things out of a location, not putting them in.” Sarena grimaced at that and nodded.

“Do you think it is possible to just get Rin inside?” she asked looking over at me. It was obvious to everyone that she wanted to go as well, but she was also a realist, she understood that I had a much better chance of finding what I needed and getting out without being caught.

“If she can sneak and follow instructions then I don't think it will be an issue,” he said looking at me.

“She is a cat,” I replied, “she was sneaking long before she was even talking.” my words had the intended effect, relieving the tension that had been steadily building over the past few minutes. No one said a word after that, everyone busy drinking and thinking…

***

The snowfall had stopped for the first time in almost three days, but the cold winter just would not release its grasp on the world. A small thin sheet of ice covered the world, making every movement that Bartel made a loud crunch that seemed like it would wake the entire town. I made sure to spread my paw pads wide to be sure that I didn't leave any footprints, after all, if we successfully accomplished this then we would be away with a good deal of either gold or valuable items, and perhaps even with a prisoner of our own, and if tracks were discovered it would be better if they were Bartel’s, seeing as there were thousands of people wearing boots, from men to elves to dwarves, but for all of the city that I had seen there was only one Khatan.

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I watched Bartel creep forward in a low crouch, and waited for him to get into cover before swiftly following him and reaching the position that he had just vacated. He gave me a cross look as I silently ghosted up beside him, clearly disliking the fact that I was moving much more quietly than he was, even though he was the master cat burglar...“She wonders why she has followed you around the building thrice, would it have not been easier and less risky to have one scout around while the other waits in position so not to expose either with twice the movement in the night?” his eyes narrowed at me before he gave me a begrudging nod. Even with my inherited ability to see in low light situations like this I still had trouble making out his form very well. He was wearing a grey suit that covered his entire body with the exception of his eyes which even now were staring back at me with a little hostility. The suit was somewhere between black and white, meaning it could and did blend quite well with well everything, it was not bright enough to be easily picked out in a dark area and not dark enough to stand out when the backdrop was snow. He reached up one finger slowly with a motion that didn't seem human and pulled down the corner of his mask to speak to me better.

“Casing the place is an essential part of burglary, normally I have days or even weeks to study things like the habits of the people inside, or the guard rotation, but I am currently trying to do this all right now on the fly, SO I would appreciate it if you would just let me figure this out,” he hissed, I decided not to answer, after all, he was the one who had done this before, the most sneaking experience I had was stalking my prey which was admittedly different than what we were currently doing.

Much much different.

“Look up there, second story third window from the right,” I follow his direction to the window and watch as the dim light of a fliering candle pass by the window. “Every fifteen minutes the light is there, indicating the guard there is on a roaming patrol,” he dropped his pack and dug inside, pulling out a sort of small bow around the size of his hand, except it also had a long piece coming off of the bow where a person would hold it, the piece looked an awful lot like half of a bracer that had straps on it, this observation of mine was confirmed when he laid the half of a bracer on the inside of his arm and used his other hand to strap it in place once it was there he flexed his wrist making sure the little bow did not get in the way of his hand movements and he used a small crank on the side of the device to draw the bowstring back until it clicked in place. He held his arm out straight and flexed his fingers, wrist up the fingers of his hand curling down to touch his palm where a small piece of the bow protruded. There was a soft twang as the bow sting snapped forward and he nodded in satisfaction, once again cranking it back and this time pulling out a small dart that smelled fowl. The next thing he pulled out of the bag was a bundle of rope with a three-point hook on it and a small set of metal rods in a rolled up cloth case, which he unrolled to check and make sure he had the ones he needed before he rolled them back up and put them in a pouch on the leg of his pants. He then pulled out a jar and carefully smeared some on the sole of his boots, making sure to first wipe away the snow so that he could coat them with the sickly whitish-yellow substance. He wrapped the rope around his torso, looking it over his head and below the arm on the opposite arm, making sure the point was resting against his back and not his chest. “Alright, here is the deal,” he said as he leaned forward and watched. “I am going to get us a line up to the second story, we will enter through that window there, I am assuming it is not a used a room, or that it is a rarely used room,” he said.

“She wonders how you know?” I ask looking at the window in question, it looked exactly like every other window to me…

“The pains have not been dusted,” he said, and I looked a little closer and sure enough he was right, it did look like the glass was a little less reflective than others. “Anyway, once I am up and have the window open I want you to get over there and climb up after me, and do it quickly,” he glanced at me, “I don't think I have to tell you to move quietly,” he smiled wryly, “You seem to have that one down pat.”

I nod and watch as he pulled up his mask before springing forward, crossing the twenty or so meters between us and the house with a strange motion that does not look like that of a human or another animal, and acting on a whim I looked slightly away from him, watching in my peripheral.

He practically vanished the movement irregular and studdered made it hard for me to track him when not looking directly. It would seem as though my brain was trained to look for a certain type of movement, categorizing it even without fully seeing it, meaning that this type of movement he was doing didn't register, and I had to really focus on tracking where he was…

Bartel pulled the rope off of his torso and let the hook dangle on a few feet of rope before he started twirling it in looping circles, suddenly he released the rope with one hand and allowed it to slip through his other, causing it to soar up and the hook to hit the roof with a muffled thump and start to slide down, he grasped it with his hand and jerked it rather savagely, causing the hook to sink into the snow-laden roof and bite into the wooden shingles underneath. He gave it another few tugs before nodding to himself in his odd jerky way and using almost only his upper arm strength he started hauling himself up until he planted his feet on the edge of the window sill, one hand still on the rope he pulled a dirk out of the sheat at his waist and slid it along the edge of the pane of glass. It seemed as though the blade got stuck on something but a little wiggling later and he put it back in its sheath and with a single hand smoothly slid the window up and disappeared inside without a sound.

Shaking my head in amazement I quickly did as he said and followed, I, unfortunately, didn't have the same upper body strength as he did, so it took me longer and I needed to plant my paws on the wall to aid with the climb, but soon enough I was up and in the house as well. Bartel carefully reached behind me and slid the window shut before creeping to the other side of the room and peering through the keyhole. Without even taking his eye away from the hole he motioned me over. “Ok, so this is the hard and dangerous part,” he hissed, his voice muffled by the mask. “Do exactly as I say are we clear?” I nodded, but then realized he wouldn't have been able to see me with his eye to the door like that.

“She understands,” I whisper near his ear.

“Good,” I could practically hear the smile in his words, “then let's do this...”