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Thiefs Reckoning: A Deadly Game of Revenge and Betrayal in the Shadows of the City Chapter one A Thief’s Beginning I remember the first time I watched Petri’e practice picking pockets. He was using a mock person that was dressed in merchant clothes. There was tiny bells sewn into the suit of clothes and they rang if he did it wrong. I was lying on the floor in the next room looking through a small hole. I was only twelve and he had taken me off the streets. We were in the attic of the thieves guild. I had followed him up from the apprentice floor. Preti’e was a journeyman pickpocket. I had spent the last two years as a helper in a blacksmith shop, but the blacksmith had been killed when he was kicked by a horse. I did pick up the skill to make small edged weapons as well as slim throwing spikes. Eight weeks later I squatted beside a vegetable cart and watched the market crowd. I finally stood and walked into the crowd. I followed close behind a couple of merchants as they walked unsteadily. When they staggered into another merchant I slid closer. My left hand moved as my right brought the tiny, razor sharp hooked bladed knife up and sliced the leather thong holding the merchants belt pouch. My left hand swept the pouch down and into the inside pocket sewn into the waist of my pants. I continued walking and made my way to the other side of the market square. I squatted down against the stone wall and went back to watching. My left hand slipped into my inside pocket and moved behind me to tilt a brick and slide the stolen belt pouch behind it. It was a couple of hours later that I slipped into the guild house. I moved through the crowd to the kitchen counter. …but everything was about to change
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Thiefs Reckoning: A Deadly Game of Revenge and Betrayal in the Shadows of the City
Chapter one
A Thief’s Beginning
I remember the first time I watched Petri’e practice picking pockets. He was using a mock person that was dressed in merchant clothes. There was tiny bells sewn into the suit of clothes and they rang if he did it wrong. I was lying on the floor in the next room looking through a small hole. I was only twelve and he had taken me off the streets.
We were in the attic of the thieves guild. I had followed him up from the apprentice floor. Preti’e was a journeyman pickpocket. I had spent the last two years as a helper in a blacksmith shop, but the blacksmith had been killed when he was kicked by a horse. I did pick up the skill to make small edged weapons as well as slim throwing spikes.
Eight weeks later I squatted beside a vegetable cart and watched the market crowd. I finally stood and walked into the crowd. I followed close behind a couple of merchants as they walked unsteadily. When they staggered into another merchant I slid closer. My left hand moved as my right brought the tiny, razor sharp hooked bladed knife up and sliced the leather thong holding the merchants belt pouch.
My left hand swept the pouch down and into the inside pocket sewn into the waist of my pants. I continued walking and made my way to the other side of the market square. I squatted down against the stone wall and went back to watching. My left hand slipped into my inside pocket and moved behind me to tilt a brick and slide the stolen belt pouch behind it.
It was a couple of hours later that I slipped into the guild house. I moved through the crowd to the kitchen counter. I picked up a bowl of stew and a hunk of bread before heading to a vacant table. I was wolfing the stew down when under master Gerg walked up with two other under masters. He sneered, “Pic, a noble lady was robbed in the market square today.”
I glanced up, “I do not steal from ladies.”
He snarled, “Put them on the table, Pic.”
I looked at them and pulled six merchant belt pouches out and put them on the table, “See, no lady’s pouch.”
He grinned reaching for my stolen pouches, “Not bad Pic. I will just…”
I shifted and moved, my hands blurred, the left stabbing a tiny strait bladed knife into his left hand as my right stabbed another into his groan. I yanked my right hand to the left cutting his privates as he screamed. I was off the bench with my left hand striking into his throat in a small neat slice.
I crouched facing the other two men as he fell to the floor with a geyser of blood coming from his throat. The huge guild common room was suddenly deathly silent, “Guild law! No one steals from another guild member in the guild house.”
The two under masters shifted, moving hands away from daggers, “we are neutral Pic.”
I looked at them and then bent and cut the belt off Gerg. I slipped the tiny knives back into my sleeves and slipped the belt pouch off. I pulled the fancy Drimmin dagger with a milk white stone handle and tucked it behind my belt. I retrieved my stolen pouches and then the bowl. I walked across to the kitchen counter and put the bowl up.
I looked around and walked into the masters hallway. I walked into the counting room and crossed to the desk, “I had good luck Master.”
Master Toni smiled and turned from the painting he was looking at, “Show me, Pic Jason.”
I grinned and slid the six pouches across the desk. I watched as he poured the coins onto the desk. He counted and split the coins and pushed the larger pile back to me. I pulled my own meager belt pouch from another hidden pocket and dumped the coins into it. I smiled at Master Toni, “Thanks Master.”
I left and went up onto the apprentice floor. The Apprentice Master scowled, “you should be out working Pic.”
I grinned, “I finished early.”
I stepped into the small room that was mine and looked around. I had learned a harsh lesson shortly after I got here. If you slept to soundly you did not hear the Apprentice Master sneaking up. If you did not hear him, he beat you with a stick. I had taken another way out. I stepped onto the bed and jumped up. I pulled myself onto the wide beam and shifted around to lay down.
I still slept lightly and when the normal sounds of the guild house changed my eyes snapped open. I listened and realized I had drawn the dagger from Gerg. I turned my head slowly towards the door. It opened slowly and quietly and a black clothed assassin stepped in. He stood still with a long curved Drimmin Shamshir sword in one hand. He pulled a Tarantine fighting knife with his other hand and moved towards the bed.
I silently rolled off the beam, the dagger stabbing into the man’s neck severing his spine. My other hand slapped over his mouth to keep him from calling out. I landed and pulled the man down with me. He was convulsing as I pulled the dagger out and stabbed up into his brain. I twisted it and pulled it out.
I felt his twitching body to remove his belt. I slipped the Shamshir back into its sheath and put the sword belt over my shoulder with the belt pouch slipping down against it. I picked up the Tarantine and moved silently to the door. When I stepped out I saw the body of the Apprentice Master. I had only taken a few steps when another man stepped out the door near me.
My actions were more reaction as I swiped across his throat with the Tarantine and then stabbed up under his chin with the dagger. I let him down as quietly as I could and took his belt with belt pouch, Tarantine knife and Drimmin Shamshir. Whoever they were they had quality weapons. I glanced at two apprentices as they stepped into the hallway, “Go up and out the roof exit. Use the guild route and stay away until a master comes for you.”
I turned away and moved to the Apprentice stairs. I sheathed the Tarantine and let a throwing spike drop into my hand. I slipped down quietly and stepped into the journeyman hallway. An assassin half way down the hall turned. I brought the throwing spike back and threw as Blacksmith Johansen taught me. The assassin grabbed at his throat where my spike had struck.
Before I could move closer another assassin stepped out of a nearby door. Unfortunately for him, he looked towards the other assassin and stepped towards him. I took two quick steps and stabbed through the base of his head. I yanked the dagger out and let him fall before moving to the other assassin. He was lying still as I pulled the spike out and took his belt.
I checked the rooms and removed the belt from the assassin I had stabbed. I started down the stairs towards the main floor and a black clad assassin stepped into the stairwell. I did not even have to think as my hand flicked the throwing spike down toward the assassin. The assassin’s head snapped back with the spike through his eye. I moved down swiftly as I pulled another spike.
I moved past the dead assassin and brought the dagger around and through the wrist holding a sword. I twisted up with the dagger and slid under the arm as it straightened. The dagger came out and I stabbed through the man’s armpit and into his heart. My other arm whipped up and back as I sidestepped and then I threw. The assassin moving quickly down the hall staggered as my spike slammed into his chest.
I pulled the belts off my shoulder and tucked a Tarantine in my belt. I moved to the counting room and looked in the open door. An assassin was trying to pry Master Toni’s lockbox from the wall. I pulled a spike and threw it in one motion. The spike slammed into the back of the assassin’s skull. I turned and moved toward the corner of the hall with the other hallway leading to the large common room.
I had just reached the corner when an assassin walked around it. He did not have his knife or Shamshir out and his eyes widened. I swiped across his throat as he stepped back reaching for his Shamshir and knife. I followed as he staggered into the other hallway holding his throat. When I came around the corner another assassin was in the common room, he turned and started running towards the main doors.
I pulled a throwing spike and threw, following after it. The spike struck the running assassin low in the middle of his back. He sprawled out as he fell and I reached him as he was trying to reach the spike buried in his spine just above his waist. I knelt and stabbed through his ear. His weapons were much better then the other assassins.
Both the Drimmin Shamshir and Tarantine had black Onyx hilts. As I was pulling the spike out of his spine, I felt another dagger between his shoulder blades. It was a slim double edged dagger with a six inch blade, it had a pale blue stone for a hilt. I took everything he had and then went to the alarm pull. I yanked several times and began retrieving swords belts.
I ended up with ten swords, Tarantines and the one blue hilted dagger as well as their belt pouches. Most of the Masters including the Guild Master had been killed as well as most of the journeymen and apprentices. Master Jariss was the master who took over as the new Guild Master with several other under masters that shared his sadistic ways.
Chapter two
Pay Back
Two years had gone by since that night. I was the best pick pocket in the city. I only worked a few days every week and was very careful who I stole from. One of the things Master Jariss had changed was the way the guild dealt with merchants. Before, a merchant could purchase his belongings back for a price. Now he could do the same thing but for a very large price, he could demand the thief and get him.
Those that were turned over were usually seen hanging from one of the marketplace walls. Even though I never officially trained as a house breaker and lock pick, I learned everything there was to know. I no longer slept in the guild house even after Master Jariss made doing so mandatory. When one of his new masters had confronted me, I had pulled my Onyx hilted Tarantine and thumbed the edge of the blade, “Make me.”
Even in the silent common room my meaning was clear. Everyone knew who had killed all the assassins. Master Jariss was sitting across the room and his lackey looked at him. I glanced at Jariss and he was red faced but shook his head. Several times since then I have had one of the masters try to follow me as I headed out to find somewhere to sleep.
Petri’e was one of the few journeymen to live through the assassinations. It was not long before he began learning the art of house breaking and lock picking and began teaching me on the sly. Jariss had accepted a commission for the return of a merchant’s stolen goods. He had also accepted a commission to turn the thief over to the merchant’s guild.
I had been working for a friendly blacksmith on the side for the last couple of days. When little Sofie slipped into the shop wide eyed I knew it was trouble. Sofie was very smart and like me she refused to officially train for anything beyond picking pockets. She was thirteen but looked much younger.
She moved near and whispered, “Jariss turned Petri’e over to the merchants.”
I looked at her and then carefully put the dagger shank I had been working on back in the furnace. “When?”
She was looking around but the blacksmith was busy with a large horse he was shoeing, “The day before yesterday.”
My eyes narrowed, “Is he on the wall?”
She looked into my face, “They strung him up this morning.”
She looked away, “They beat him and cut him up good Jason.”
I closed my eyes, “The theft was just supposed to be a small one. Jariss was the one to set it up.”
She cleared her throat, “They left a note saying that from now on they would treat every theft the same way.”
I looked at her and then nodded, “Stay out of the all the marketplaces. They will be looking for anything.”
Sofie nodded, “I still have plenty.”
She hesitated, “What are you going to do?”
I smiled as I turned to the forge, “Now, why would I do anything?”
Sofie touched my shoulder, “Make sure they pay a lot.”
I nodded, “I am sure something will happen.”
When I turned around Sofie had slipped out. I went back to work on the dagger thinking that it was time the merchant’s guild learned what a true thief could do. While I worked, I saw one of Jariss’s tame masters hanging around watching me. I nodded to myself, time Jariss learned a lesson too. When I finally finished, the Blacksmith was grinning, “Not bad Jason. I always get good prices for your work.”
I smiled as I dressed, carefully placing throwing spikes and tiny knives. I slipped the pale blue hilted dagger into the sheath hanging between my shoulder blades. I was only wearing the Drimmin dagger as my visible weapon. I slipped out of the shop and moved through the market place. I noticed a few more merchants just hanging around looking eager as they stared at everyone.
I moved down an alley and halfway down I exaggerated looking around before slipping into a slip through. I knew Master Baker would follow and after a few feet jumped and caught a brick sticking out of a wall. It took a couple of seconds to pull myself up onto a spar sticking out from the wall. I reached up and pulled down a small narrow tube.
I squatted down on the spar and waited. I did not have long to wait as Master Baker stopped at the opening to the slip through. He did not even pause before starting down the narrow way. He moved past me and I aimed the tube and blew. He jerked and grabbed the back of his neck and then pulled the tiny dart out. He looked at it and then looked behind him.
He shook his head and took two steps before his legs buckled and he fell. I waited another few minutes and then returned the tube to its hiding place. I climbed back down to where Master Baker lay. I took his belt pouch and then pulled him back to the alley. I found an old piece of twine and tossed it over a thick beam. I propped the dead Master against the wall and put the twine around his neck and let him go. I slipped away and moved through the city.
It was late that night as I stared at the large building next to the one I crouched on. I had been sitting against the brick chimney and napping and now it was time to move. I carefully extended a plank and then another. I placed them together and moved across. I attached the hooks for the rope ladder to the side of the building and moved down to the window I knew was never closed.
I slipped inside and quietly moved across the small linen closet to the far door. I listened and then silently opened the door and peeked into the hall. I moved down the hall away from the wide stairs leading down. I was almost at THE END
A Thief’s Beginning
I remember the first time I watched Petri’e practice picking pockets. He was using a mock person that was dressed in merchant clothes. There was tiny bells sewn into the suit of clothes and they rang if he did it wrong. I was lying on the floor in the next room looking through a small hole. I was only twelve and he had taken me off the streets.
We were in the attic of the thieves guild. I had followed him up from the apprentice floor. Preti’e was a journeyman pickpocket. I had spent the last two years as a helper in a blacksmith shop, but the blacksmith had been killed when he was kicked by a horse. I did pick up the skill to make small edged weapons as well as slim throwing spikes.
Eight weeks later I squatted beside a vegetable cart and watched the market crowd. I finally stood and walked into the crowd. I followed close behind a couple of merchants as they walked unsteadily. When they staggered into another merchant I slid closer. My left hand moved as my right brought the tiny, razor sharp hooked bladed knife up and sliced the leather thong holding the merchants belt pouch.
My left hand swept the pouch down and into the inside pocket sewn into the waist of my pants. I continued walking and made my way to the other side of the market square. I squatted down against the stone wall and went back to watching. My left hand slipped into my inside pocket and moved behind me to tilt a brick and slide the stolen belt pouch behind it.
It was a couple of hours later that I slipped into the guild house. I moved through the crowd to the kitchen counter. I picked up a bowl of stew and a hunk of bread before heading to a vacant table. I was wolfing the stew down when under master Gerg walked up with two other under masters. He sneered, “Pic, a noble lady was robbed in the market square today.”
I glanced up, “I do not steal from ladies.”
He snarled, “Put them on the table, Pic.”
I looked at them and pulled six merchant belt pouches out and put them on the table, “See, no lady’s pouch.”
He grinned reaching for my stolen pouches, “Not bad Pic. I will just…”
I shifted and moved, my hands blurred, the left stabbing a tiny strait bladed knife into his left hand as my right stabbed another into his groan. I yanked my right hand to the left cutting his privates as he screamed. I was off the bench with my left hand striking into his throat in a small neat slice.
I crouched facing the other two men as he fell to the floor with a geyser of blood coming from his throat. The huge guild common room was suddenly deathly silent, “Guild law! No one steals from another guild member in the guild house.”
The two under masters shifted, moving hands away from daggers, “we are neutral Pic.”
I looked at them and then bent and cut the belt off Gerg. I slipped the tiny knives back into my sleeves and slipped the belt pouch off. I pulled the fancy Drimmin dagger with a milk white stone handle and tucked it behind my belt. I retrieved my stolen pouches and then the bowl. I walked across to the kitchen counter and put the bowl up.
I looked around and walked into the masters hallway. I walked into the counting room and crossed to the desk, “I had good luck Master.”
Master Toni smiled and turned from the painting he was looking at, “Show me, Pic Jason.”
I grinned and slid the six pouches across the desk. I watched as he poured the coins onto the desk. He counted and split the coins and pushed the larger pile back to me. I pulled my own meager belt pouch from another hidden pocket and dumped the coins into it. I smiled at Master Toni, “Thanks Master.”
I left and went up onto the apprentice floor. The Apprentice Master scowled, “you should be out working Pic.”
I grinned, “I finished early.”
I stepped into the small room that was mine and looked around. I had learned a harsh lesson shortly after I got here. If you slept to soundly you did not hear the Apprentice Master sneaking up. If you did not hear him, he beat you with a stick. I had taken another way out. I stepped onto the bed and jumped up. I pulled myself onto the wide beam and shifted around to lay down.
I still slept lightly and when the normal sounds of the guild house changed my eyes snapped open. I listened and realized I had drawn the dagger from Gerg. I turned my head slowly towards the door. It opened slowly and quietly and a black clothed assassin stepped in. He stood still with a long curved Drimmin Shamshir sword in one hand. He pulled a Tarantine fighting knife with his other hand and moved towards the bed.
I silently rolled off the beam, the dagger stabbing into the man’s neck severing his spine. My other hand slapped over his mouth to keep him from calling out. I landed and pulled the man down with me. He was convulsing as I pulled the dagger out and stabbed up into his brain. I twisted it and pulled it out.
I felt his twitching body to remove his belt. I slipped the Shamshir back into its sheath and put the sword belt over my shoulder with the belt pouch slipping down against it. I picked up the Tarantine and moved silently to the door. When I stepped out I saw the body of the Apprentice Master. I had only taken a few steps when another man stepped out the door near me.
My actions were more reaction as I swiped across his throat with the Tarantine and then stabbed up under his chin with the dagger. I let him down as quietly as I could and took his belt with belt pouch, Tarantine knife and Drimmin Shamshir. Whoever they were they had quality weapons. I glanced at two apprentices as they stepped into the hallway, “Go up and out the roof exit. Use the guild route and stay away until a master comes for you.”
I turned away and moved to the Apprentice stairs. I sheathed the Tarantine and let a throwing spike drop into my hand. I slipped down quietly and stepped into the journeyman hallway. An assassin half way down the hall turned. I brought the throwing spike back and threw as Blacksmith Johansen taught me. The assassin grabbed at his throat where my spike had struck.
Before I could move closer another assassin stepped out of a nearby door. Unfortunately for him, he looked towards the other assassin and stepped towards him. I took two quick steps and stabbed through the base of his head. I yanked the dagger out and let him fall before moving to the other assassin. He was lying still as I pulled the spike out and took his belt.
I checked the rooms and removed the belt from the assassin I had stabbed. I started down the stairs towards the main floor and a black clad assassin stepped into the stairwell. I did not even have to think as my hand flicked the throwing spike down toward the assassin. The assassin’s head snapped back with the spike through his eye. I moved down swiftly as I pulled another spike.
I moved past the dead assassin and brought the dagger around and through the wrist holding a sword. I twisted up with the dagger and slid under the arm as it straightened. The dagger came out and I stabbed through the man’s armpit and into his heart. My other arm whipped up and back as I sidestepped and then I threw. The assassin moving quickly down the hall staggered as my spike slammed into his chest.
I pulled the belts off my shoulder and tucked a Tarantine in my belt. I moved to the counting room and looked in the open door. An assassin was trying to pry Master Toni’s lockbox from the wall. I pulled a spike and threw it in one motion. The spike slammed into the back of the assassin’s skull. I turned and moved toward the corner of the hall with the other hallway leading to the large common room.
I had just reached the corner when an assassin walked around it. He did not have his knife or Shamshir out and his eyes widened. I swiped across his throat as he stepped back reaching for his Shamshir and knife. I followed as he staggered into the other hallway holding his throat. When I came around the corner another assassin was in the common room, he turned and started running towards the main doors.
I pulled a throwing spike and threw, following after it. The spike struck the running assassin low in the middle of his back. He sprawled out as he fell and I reached him as he was trying to reach the spike buried in his spine just above his waist. I knelt and stabbed through his ear. His weapons were much better then the other assassins.
Both the Drimmin Shamshir and Tarantine had black Onyx hilts. As I was pulling the spike out of his spine, I felt another dagger between his shoulder blades. It was a slim double edged dagger with a six inch blade, it had a pale blue stone for a hilt. I took everything he had and then went to the alarm pull. I yanked several times and began retrieving swords belts.
I ended up with ten swords, Tarantines and the one blue hilted dagger as well as their belt pouches. Most of the Masters including the Guild Master had been killed as well as most of the journeymen and apprentices. Master Jariss was the master who took over as the new Guild Master with several other under masters that shared his sadistic ways.
Chapter two
Pay Back
Two years had gone by since that night. I was the best pick pocket in the city. I only worked a few days every week and was very careful who I stole from. One of the things Master Jariss had changed was the way the guild dealt with merchants. Before, a merchant could purchase his belongings back for a price. Now he could do the same thing but for a very large price, he could demand the thief and get him.
Those that were turned over were usually seen hanging from one of the marketplace walls. Even though I never officially trained as a house breaker and lock pick, I learned everything there was to know. I no longer slept in the guild house even after Master Jariss made doing so mandatory. When one of his new masters had confronted me, I had pulled my Onyx hilted Tarantine and thumbed the edge of the blade, “Make me.”
Even in the silent common room my meaning was clear. Everyone knew who had killed all the assassins. Master Jariss was sitting across the room and his lackey looked at him. I glanced at Jariss and he was red faced but shook his head. Several times since then I have had one of the masters try to follow me as I headed out to find somewhere to sleep.
Petri’e was one of the few journeymen to live through the assassinations. It was not long before he began learning the art of house breaking and lock picking and began teaching me on the sly. Jariss had accepted a commission for the return of a merchant’s stolen goods. He had also accepted a commission to turn the thief over to the merchant’s guild.
I had been working for a friendly blacksmith on the side for the last couple of days. When little Sofie slipped into the shop wide eyed I knew it was trouble. Sofie was very smart and like me she refused to officially train for anything beyond picking pockets. She was thirteen but looked much younger.
She moved near and whispered, “Jariss turned Petri’e over to the merchants.”
I looked at her and then carefully put the dagger shank I had been working on back in the furnace. “When?”
She was looking around but the blacksmith was busy with a large horse he was shoeing, “The day before yesterday.”
My eyes narrowed, “Is he on the wall?”
She looked into my face, “They strung him up this morning.”
She looked away, “They beat him and cut him up good Jason.”
I closed my eyes, “The theft was just supposed to be a small one. Jariss was the one to set it up.”
She cleared her throat, “They left a note saying that from now on they would treat every theft the same way.”
I looked at her and then nodded, “Stay out of the all the marketplaces. They will be looking for anything.”
Sofie nodded, “I still have plenty.”
She hesitated, “What are you going to do?”
I smiled as I turned to the forge, “Now, why would I do anything?”
Sofie touched my shoulder, “Make sure they pay a lot.”
I nodded, “I am sure something will happen.”
When I turned around Sofie had slipped out. I went back to work on the dagger thinking that it was time the merchant’s guild learned what a true thief could do. While I worked, I saw one of Jariss’s tame masters hanging around watching me. I nodded to myself, time Jariss learned a lesson too. When I finally finished, the Blacksmith was grinning, “Not bad Jason. I always get good prices for your work.”
I smiled as I dressed, carefully placing throwing spikes and tiny knives. I slipped the pale blue hilted dagger into the sheath hanging between my shoulder blades. I was only wearing the Drimmin dagger as my visible weapon. I slipped out of the shop and moved through the market place. I noticed a few more merchants just hanging around looking eager as they stared at everyone.
I moved down an alley and halfway down I exaggerated looking around before slipping into a slip through. I knew Master Baker would follow and after a few feet jumped and caught a brick sticking out of a wall. It took a couple of seconds to pull myself up onto a spar sticking out from the wall. I reached up and pulled down a small narrow tube.
I squatted down on the spar and waited. I did not have long to wait as Master Baker stopped at the opening to the slip through. He did not even pause before starting down the narrow way. He moved past me and I aimed the tube and blew. He jerked and grabbed the back of his neck and then pulled the tiny dart out. He looked at it and then looked behind him.
He shook his head and took two steps before his legs buckled and he fell. I waited another few minutes and then returned the tube to its hiding place. I climbed back down to where Master Baker lay. I took his belt pouch and then pulled him back to the alley. I found an old piece of twine and tossed it over a thick beam. I propped the dead Master against the wall and put the twine around his neck and let him go. I slipped away and moved through the city.
It was late that night as I stared at the large building next to the one I crouched on. I had been sitting against the brick chimney and napping and now it was time to move. I carefully extended a plank and then another. I placed them together and moved across. I attached the hooks for the rope ladder to the side of the building and moved down to the window I knew was never closed.
I slipped inside and quietly moved across the small linen closet to the far door. I listened and then silently opened the door and peeked into the hall. I moved down the hall away from the wide stairs leading down. I was almost at THE END
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