Of Rogues and Mages

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Of Rogues and Mages

Postby Dorin » Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:39 pm

This is just a custom piece of fiction I wrote a month or so ago, and have tinkered with on and off. It lacks polish or thorough editing, so I apologize in advance if it comes off as a hard read. I'm trying to find my voice again, and a spark of passion to write, so I'm going to toss this out to the community for thoughts.

Since it's all my own ideas, ... err ... my copyright is mine?! Or something.

Anyway, do hope you enjoy, if it's good enough for some spit and polish, I'll work on actually finishing it. It's only an introductory scene, so nothing heavy going on. Just a foundation to start from.

Thanks as always for your input

Dorin
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Damn these moonless nights. It might provide for better cover in the shadows, but when one took the risks of scuttling across rooftops it could become extraordinarily dangerous when there was little light to navigate by. One loose tile and it could be a broken neck, or worse. Still there was no help for it.

But a short distance below, boots thumped across the main avenue, voices shouting and calling out alerts or commands back and forth along a line of folk. Lanterns and torches cast harsh shadows against building walls. They moved methodically up and down the tight alleyways and in every corner they could find to pick up the trail.

Damned if these folk weren’t persistent in their efforts to find someone. Seemingly they would leave no stone unturned in their efforts to seek out their quarry. Just what had she jumped into? This was no poor rabble of an underpaid, lazy town-watch. Most places they would hunt a bit then give up the chase until morning.

These folk were far more dedicated to their trade. The moment the first had raised the alarm the others were out in force but a brief stretch later. This was becoming less like a bit of cat and mouse with the local guard and more to a fight with a roused, angry hornet nest.

How long before they gave up the look on the ground and decided to turn themselves up toward the roofline? Sadly, they didn’t seem likely to just call off the hunt and go home for want of sport tonight. They were going to rip this place up by board and stone until they found her. Remaining in place on this roof wasn’t going to serve any good for much longer either.

A short breather was all she could manage for the time. The glare of light faded and the shouting broke up into more distant calls. Wonderful, they were gone, but they’d also broken into groups to better hunt. These people were no amateurs, unlike the last oh, what was it now … ten hamlets she’d taken to pilfering a bit of food and coin from?

Ah well, all life is a new experience. Hopefully, one she could escape long enough to enjoy again. It wouldn’t be much fun from the inside of a pit or some other foul dungeon. The idea of wallowing in filth and vermin till the local justice came round for her hearing didn’t hold much appeal. Nor did the simple fact she’d be waiting months to hear her sentence, oh not her guilt or innocence, just her sentence for theft.

The punishment was likely to be far worse than the nightmarish conditions of a prison cell. Probably several years of forced labor in the mines to the north, and that would be getting off lite. A shudder ran up her spine as she quickly banished the other potentials.

Better to not get caught outright. Then she could avoid all of the non-fun portions that justice implied. The things a person had to do in order to survive in harsh times. The things a person with no scruples or desire to fashion an ‘honest’ living for herself had to do, at least.

Casting a glance over the edge of the roof for any signs of life, aside her own, she was quick to swing her body over the edge and plop down soft as she could manage to the ground below. She was a small thing, even for a woman. Likely not topping five feet, adding even the short heel of her boots. To add to her height, or lack thereof, was a slender figure. It could not be mistakenly for a boy’s though, the hips were too generous, and her breasts obvious. Well they would be if they weren’t secured with a heavy wrap to prevent the painful motions of otherwise frantic motions and running.

It was late, well past the time when sensible folk were huddled in their beds dreaming of gold and warm bread. Or whatever dreams it was that filled the slumbering minds of those with enough moral sense to avoid breaking one of the most ancient of legal principles.

Take not what does not belong to thee.

A good thing to live by, if only to avoid the clutches of angry merchants and their hired swords. Yet, where there was a man making a living off the sweat of his brow, there was a man planning how to con him out of some portion of that living. Or there was a man who would just as simply snatch that living and run off into the night, whether it was his coin purse, his boots, or his ox. There was also the occasional woman in said profession too.

The lights of fires and lanterns were mostly snuffed out as the folk of this town made good their attempts to catch some rest before resuming their lives come the morn. Most of the buildings here were shops and businesses, with no people about to mind them.

It made clinging to the shadows so much the easier. Not having to duck under window panes and around open doors that might give hint to the passage of a thieving spirit near their dwellings.

Now if only she could remember which way was South, and which North, in order to make the best route out and away. There was only one main road that cut through this place. Raw ores and perhaps precious stones flowed out of the great mining camps in the mountains due north, while food and drink moved in from the south so those folk could continue to scratch their living out of the rocks.

North was no good. Nothing of civilization there for a great many miles, if memory served true not for many, many, many miles in any direction therein. South it had to be. Yet, she could pick not only a time on the new moon, but the clouds were a thick, woolen blanket tonight. The problem presented no stars by which to orient her direction.

Oh well, pick a direction and go. Escape was preferable to rousing one of the natives and asking. They weren’t likely to take kindly to the queries of someone wanted by the local watch on suspect of snatching a few valuables from someone’s business.

Her attempts to make good the reprieve and slip off were soon foiled by the muttering of voices and the return of lights.

Damn!

Why had they decided to turn back and search this stretch of road now? There was no time to bother with pointless question. Back to the rooftops and trying to remain out of sight. Even for her lack of stature, she possessed a surprising ability to leap. Taking hold of a firm piece of rafter and swinging up onto another building, with little time to spare.

A pair of men in good, oiled leathers came round a building, off an adjoining side road, bright lamps in hand. They swept them along with methodical pace. Scouting out every shadow and possible space their quarry might have squirmed against to hide. These folk were not simple town watchmen, no they moved with the purpose and skill of veteran soldiers. Given the glimpses of their equipment, all of good quality and well kept, they were a quality mercenary band.

This may just have been a very bad idea.

The lights rose and began to slide along the shorter buildings. Oh double damned it all. Her fortunes were looking poor tonight. At this rate she wouldn’t need worrying over where she was going. Finding the time for an escape was proving to be more hassle than it was worth.

No time to sit on the roof and wave when they spotted her. With all the grace she could muster, the thief skittered up the incline she was resting her laurels on and ducking down quickly on the other side. The beam of a lamp swept past and continued on.
If they didn’t spot her, there was almost the worry they would hear her. Suddenly finding herself in need of more air than she’d likely breathed in the last hour. Her heart thumped with adrenaline and stress of this encounter. Too close, far too close this time.

The men continued on past a ways, taking their time in this return search. Teeth grit and held tight for a moment as she fought to keep her breathing even. A few moments to let them move on then rising up and moving on. Ground level seemed to be out for the time. They could turn back around and march on her tail if she weren’t careful.

Using the center beam of the roof as a guide, she shimmied her way along. The building came to a sudden stop, butting against the wall of a taller one. Well, this could be a blessing in disguise, or a cursed interruption into the flow of her night. Even with excellent night vision it might as well have been a black void now.

Fingers slid along the rough clay and rocks that made up the sides of these buildings to find anything of use. It seemed uneven enough to provide a crude set of spaces for climbing. Shame she couldn’t make them out more clearly. Without bothering to worry over it, she found a few places with sufficient gaps between the wall and its binding mortar to haul up her body.

Too slow for her liking, but better cautious than slipping and crashing back down to the nice, hard roof she was trying to leave behind. That wouldn’t give her away at all, or leave her with bruised ribs and a possibly cracked skull. Praise the whimsy of Fate these buildings were old. No one had bothered to resurface the walls with fresh coatings of clay or paint. The stones were rough and broken in many places, not comfortable on the skin but much easier for gripping and scooting up.

More minutes wasted than she could wish to think on, she finally caught hold of a heavy beam and swung herself up once again. This time to a second level and further beyond the sight of her would be captors. Perhaps it would be safer to stick to the skyline for high road awhile. Better a chance to be out of sight and eventually find an edge to this town.

Soon she was sliding along with the best mixture of due caution and urgent haste she could find for her nerves. Moving along one roof, occasionally dropping down or climbing up as the case required. Spending as little time on the ground as possible. More patrols passed by, more time wasted in hiding.

This was becoming a most nerve wracking attempt to escape the right and proper authorities she had ever experienced. Her previous heists had been simple robberies in tiny hamlets. One or two night watchmen, easily distracted and avoided. Easily escaped.

Those places didn’t provide much for haul though. The local watering hole would have food and a bit of coin, but as a rule the rural folk didn’t have much worth stealing, and didn’t earn enough coin to risk taking it in the first place.

Farmers and some village artisans tended to hoard their meager earnings and keep them well hidden, if not outright protected. It wasn’t enough to bother with on the off chance one of the children rouse as her slithering through their home, only to wake their father. Pitchforks and plowing spades could just as easily kill her with a lucky strike as any knife.

Sadly, that scenario had not been a mere worry, but her first attempt to actually lift a few pieces of real silver from a village headman’s home had resulted in such an event. It seemed his mother did not take to sleeping well or long. So, when she’d found the strange woman in her house, sneaking bits of her daughter-in-law’s finest, and only bits of good eating ware, she’d done the sensible thing and screamed as loud as she could manage.

No, not bothering to make a theft in a place that couldn’t provide her with more than a few day’s worth of survival, ever again. As she was to discover now, however, it seemed the richer the place one robbed the more the owner paid to keep safe his belongings. Live and learn, and for now flee for your life.

Time was quickly wasting as her desire for haste had to be tainted by the desperate need for caution and stealth. Moving up and down various elevations and crawling over rooftops was proving to be tiring work. Her muscles were beginning to complain of fatigue. Dread think the horrid aches she was likely to feel come the morning.
Hells, she was feeling now.

How long has she been crawling on? Seemed like hours now, but she seemed to be making no headway. Dust and sweat to soak her brow, pains and aches from overexerted muscles, and feeling no closer to freedom.

Fate with all its whimsy, some might say capricious humor, others still might declare it outright maddening cruelty, decided to then inflict on her a moment of such random irony it would wind up forever changing the path of her life. Or so she would reflect in the weeks and months to come.

Coming upon a particularly large building, one of the few with a third floor, she found herself hauling her body over a high balcony that afforded a splendid skyline. Had she light enough, much less time, to enjoy the scenery at least. Her muscles could take no more without a rest.

It seemed everything burned, from biceps and thighs, right down to every rattling pant through her lungs. She meant to go over the other side of the balcony rail and drop down to resume her retreat from the jaws of this town’s justice, but she simply could not find the energy. A small rest was in order, just a short one mind.

Her hands fumbled around amid the barely defined shapes playing on the corners of her vision in the thick gloom. It wouldn’t do to wind up tripping over something, or some drunken manservant hiding on his master’s roof. Then her story could wind up ending with that dreaded comical failure.

She bumped something sturdy. A firm piece of shaped wood, upon inspection it resolved itself to the familiar form of a chair. Well perhaps fortune smiles every now and then. Ignoring the chattering portion of her mind that demanded she resume her flight, the thief could not help but submit to a moment of temptation and sink down into the embrace the seat offered.

It was hard wood with no adequate cushioning or leather cover, but the wood was worn so smooth she feared not rising with a backside full of splinters. While it might not be very inviting in terms of yield, like a good bed, it invited comfort in itself just to be off her feet a moment. Whatever oils were used to protect the frame from exposure were somehow soothing.

A hypnotic lull seemed to fall over her. Perhaps it was just the sudden crash of physical and emotional exhaustion, or perhaps some sinister spell woven into the very wood to help a troubled merchant relax away his woes in this wonderful contraption. All she needed was a warm, noonday sun and she could have blissfully napped right there.

Her brain began to fight for context. She still had to escape from the guards hunting her. She still had the evidence of her crimes on her person. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, to sink into the ever inviting arms of sleep only to awaken for her chains to be presented to her.

So fogged in the fight between comfort and panic she missed the sudden rise of light from interior room which adjoined to this platform. A candle’s thin circle of light, which quickly broadened to the glow of lanterns. Three voices could be heard coming to the closed doors, which were quick to swing open.

That shattered her reverie a bit too late. She hadn’t even bothered to find the energy to rise when she was suddenly caught up in the illumination. Her eyes locked on a sextet of others. Caution and panic assumed silence. Her process of thought careened wildly over some mental cliff, not to return in time.

They simply stared at one another. All too shocked to process this unintended and quite unwanted meeting.
All men. One was quite stocky, of comparable height to the woman standing on his landing. A balding plate, mottled and scarred. Long reams of black hair tumbled off around his visible crown. All braided and treated with treating oils, almost gleaming in the lights behind him. His beard flowed down to his chest, no less braided, woven through with rings and glittering gems.

She managed one brilliant observation: a dwarf, of some wealth and standing going by the near gaudy display of a small fortune woven through his hair. How many years would the average family have to work to amass such wealth? Nay, how many families would have to toil for how many years?

His clothes were fine cotton, made by highly skilled hands and with the purpose of showing off the wealth of the wearer. The shirt dyed a rich blue which few could have afforded, a black vest tossed over the top. His pants and boots were no less good quality. Still vibrant in color and with fresh press to them, even the leather on his feet well polished and shining faintly where it reflected light.

His companions was far less in terms of presentation. Human men, one young and one old. The elder seemed like something out of the old stories she remembered a child. He too had a crown bereft of anything save his skin, unlike the dwarf though little more than an untamed field of gray wisps ran the circuit of the rest of his skull. Beard little more than a ragged match growing down his chin, though his eyebrows were oddly thick in compare to the rest of it. The skin of his face showing the onset of wrinkles and deepening years.

His clothing though put him like something from the old stories of her childhood. They were but simple black robes one might see on any proper holyman. Yet, for some reason on the shoulders of this man they conveyed something all too much like one of those mythical wizards of ancient lore. Somehow it spoke of a warning, such an unassuming old man was more dangerous than he seemed.

The other was decidedly young, least in compare to the other two. Likely near her own age, if a bit more. Brown locks held tight behind his head with a thin ribbon. Handsome enough perhaps, if she had the time or mental traction to take note of it. He was unassuming and outright plain compared to the dwarf and the old man, simple dyed woolen shirt and leather breeches. Holding a paper lantern in hand as he walked with the others.

It was the yougest one who broke the silence, cracking a grin as his wits were the first to return. There was a burn of humor there, and the flash of a bit too much cleverness for her comfort.

“We were expecting guests this early?”

The dwarf coughed and shook his head, “No, you irksome whelp. Stow ye’r jokes, I’ve had three times as much of it from ye’r Da’ as I can stand. Don’t need it from you.”

The younger affected a look of hurt and a pout at the dwarf, sending the situation from uncomfortable and awkward to surreal. It also provided the mental break she required. They could shout, summon guards and put them fresh on her tail, and she still fatigued and no closer to her escape.

Amazing the power that a fresh fright can put to the blood. All sense of fatigue suddenly fled her body like a dark spirit being exorcised. Without needing a second bit of clarification, her feet took the hint and put on all possible speed to the other end of the rail. Height be damned, she had to get off and away before this became any worse.

The balcony resting comfortably on a side section of the second floor of this, quite expansive, building and provided a straight escape path. No time to stop and chat, friendly folk as they might have been. Important business to be about. Such as escaping with her proverbial goose intact.

The old man spoke something, she didn’t bother to try and ponder what. Likely a ‘stop’ or the like. If she’d given it a thought, it was strange how none of them shouted for the guard, or one went running off to report her being here. She had no time to worry on minor trivialities though.

In the corner of her eye though she saw it, a strange glow. Flickering, emerald green. It became all the more brilliant and then a hot burn ran through her flank. Her body all at once went into arrest. Muscles suddenly flexing tight and refusing to relax.
The girl went to her knees and looked stunned for a moment. She may as well have been leveled by a thunderclap or laid low by a solid impact to her skull. The result was rather similar in its end goal all the same.

Move! She willed herself, but her legs wouldn’t comply. They seemed to give out of strength and wished to follow the guiding intent of someone other than herself. May as well have been watching someone else command her body, like a marionette.

Fear found her then, a cold and shattering embrace she’d not felt before. This was … it was horrid and inhuman. To be so robbed of one’s own power, and with such ease at that. A cold stab of dread began to prick her heart. They would turn her over the watch, she would be jailed and her life essentially ended here.

All because she’d made the foolish choice to stop and rest when her endurance had given out. This whole adventure had been a course in the folly of stupidity and belief in her own wit. Win enough coin to live with some security for a few days. See how well that had turned out.

No! She couldn’t give in to those fears. They would drown her and sweep her away to a bad place. She was not captured yet. Whatever force had been put upon her had not sapped her last chance for escape.

The younger man moved in closer, likely to restrain her and make final her capture. All of them were quite stunned when the girl managed to not only move, but gain her feet. Her body staggered with the effort. A newborn animal struggling with its muscles for the first time. Still, it was a feat in itself that she could so rise and wobble her way toward the landing.

Those uneasy steps were quick to gain purpose and strength. If given but a few peaceful seconds she could have likely made good the effort to regain her control. Then made better the work to get free of this place, at the least.

The old man simply frowned and studied the girl with the most curious expression. Granted that spell had not been particularly powerful in its own right, there was little need to craft something of extreme force. He could well have stopped not only her legs but far more critical things as he heart or lungs. Not a good way to die, and not his intent. He’d used it quite successfully on many people in the past, only the most mentally hardened and trained could resist. Was this little waif more than she seemed?

Less for shock, the youth was quick to act before she either escaped or pitched herself over the rail and rolling off the second floor to enjoy the bone cracking embrace of hard ground. He did the sensible thing and toss himself bodily at the woman. The pair struck and hit the sturdy decking with enough force to make the dwarf wince.

Somehow they both retained their wind, and the ability to pit one another to a contest of strength. It went quickly from a struggle, to something as pointlessly hilarious as watching two siblings launch into a fracas over a toy. They rolled and struggled, snarling curses and orders at one another.

Teeth tried to bite as his shoulder. Feet kicked and flailed at one another. While she might be overmatched in terms of size, weight, and strength the girl was a spirited fighter. An experienced one too. She tried grabbing hold of fingers, hair and anything else she could gain a purchase on. Thrashing around with her full body like a cornered snake.

He muttered for her to calm down, which was a rather pointless gesture when he was trying to bodily restrain her. It just intensified her fury and increased the wild motions of her rolling and pitching. An arm gained enough freedom she got an elbow into his ribs. Wasn’t quite hard enough but it loosed his grip a bit.

Quick to try and exploit even this mild advantage, her legs rose and then swung her hips down violently. She suddenly sprang free when he had no choice but to release her, shove her away before she managed to land a very painful blow of his lower torso. Dread imagine how pain that would be.

She enjoyed no short victory though. No sooner on her feet than one was caught at the ankle and yanked out from under her. Crashing bodily atop him once more. They met face to face. She snarled at him and went to try and bite him again. His legs wrapped around her body firmly and she suddenly took a mouthful of leather for her trouble.

The woman blinked and frowned. He’d pulled a glove from his pocket and shoved it between her teeth in a respite from the sharp blades of bone she attempted to use on his flesh. The fighting paused a moment as they met eyes. He grinned, she glowered.

Spit out the gloves and they were at it again. Rolling end over end, tumbling and trying to gain advantage. Finally, the pair mutually succumbed to depleted energy and heaving lungs. Her adrenaline rush burned out. His own strength sapped by the sheer ferocity of her efforts. To mention nothing of the many bruises he was likely develop from fists and elbows, knees and feet that had struck him.

As the pair laid out, spent for breath and the need to recoup some of their energy, the dwarf and the old man sighed. Hands rubbing on temples or along the bare portion of their scalps. Comical as it might have been to watch, they had the problem of what the girl was doing up here and what prompted her to to flee. Obviously one did not simply climb three floors to sit on someone’s deck, uninvited at that. So she was into something less than savory.

Soon came a call from below, rattling everyone from the mood that had settled over them.

“Master Derro! What falls?”

The dwarf gave a low growl as he shot a quiet look around the group assembled on his deck. The girl sat bolt upright and looked about to flee again, but she’d not make any kind of progress with these three about her. She shot a look of abject fear to them, knowing the game was up.

Even if she knocked the blockhead who’s tackled her flat on his ass, she knew one of them had some odd power. What was to prevent him from using it again? For all she knew the dwarf had strange powers as well, or some ready weapon he could pluck and put in her back as she tried to run off. No, escape was not in the cards tonight.

The old man just put on a slow smile and looked to the dwarf, “I think we could make use of her, don’t you? Why make this matter go away quietly, I’ve no desire to see a young girl in the clutches of those hounds tonight.”

The four glanced to one another slowly, then three humans looks to the dwarf who grunted in annoyance and turned back into the house. His voice a rumble, “Too much wine, and stumbling old fools. I’ll deal with ‘em, but girl, ye’re lucky night s’us who found ya, and not ‘em rabid dogs on the ground.”

Then he turned away and moved into the house proper, snatching up a heavy pitcher of wine on the way and turning it up on his way down. He needed it as much for his nerves as effect for the watch. If he was going to tell them his guests couldn’t handle their alcohol as well as he, might as well have some of it in his system.

Leaving the trio on the deck to sort out the matter at hand. The old man help up a finger to his lips and made a couple sweeping motions with his hands. An odd shimmering dome seemed to fall over the surface of the deck. Giving an opaque shimmer to the air which faded out as it touched to ground of the floor.

Exhaling slowly, he took a firm posture, hand on his hip as he looked to the woman in their midst and spoke to her in a manner she’d remembered her grandfather scolding as a child. This man was just a sweep of nostalgia for tonight, and he seemed inclined on saving the skin of her ass from the fire, they’d only just met she was finding she liked him.

“We can speak safely now. I am Meyer, the young man you’ve become physically acquainted with is my apprentice, Rehan.”
The fellow gave a snort at the poor joke, coming to his feet slowly and stretching a bit. Stiff indeed from the bodily whacking he’d been given from flaying limbs. Getting a grin from the girl at the sight she’d done her fair bit of harm to him in turn. Never be said she didn’t give a fight when she had to, losing end or not.

With a slow roll of his shoulders and grunt, Rehan gave her a frown in turn. “For a small thing, you’re strong as an ox. You obviously don’t spend your time pining over romance and pretty fabrics.”

To which he was given a wider grin and a chuckle of delight. Not often she got praise from someone, even if it came in these odd circumstances. Well, they seemed inclined to at least keep her out of the lock up tonight. Though what price for their mercy?

“Call me Moon Cat, the finest thief this side of … wherever exactly it is that I am.”

The old man gave her another hard look, not taking her joke well. What they couldn’t trade professional courtesies? The woman stuck out her tongue, if he was to act the old man part, she might as well play the grandchild.

“My father called me Marisan. I still prefer Moon Cat, it carries much more weight … or it will one day, when I become a famous thief.”

“Well, Ms Moon Cat. While our host, the good Derro, uses his clout to send the guard scuttling off in search of you, why don’t you turn over what you’ve pilfered for the night.”

The girl was about to protest, not that she was in any position to make demands given her fate hung on being in their good graces, Meyer pressed a finger to her lips to still her objections.

“In return, your name can be cleared of this particular incident, and I can offer you far more profitable, and honest work in exchange. Do we have an arrangement?”

A grunt was the reply, not that there was much to ponder on the matter. She reached into a hidden pocket in her top and pulled out a small box. Something she’d spent a great deal of time and effort to acquire. Watching the comings and goings of the people working there, and investigating the security quite thoroughly. Her father would be proud of her, were he still a free man to brag.

No sooner was the box in Meyer’s hand than he let out a low groan and swept a hand through his hair. The old man dropped into the chair the girl had vacated earlier, holding up the box for both of them to see. It was a sturdy little cask, tough wood wrapped in firm bronze bands. Some kind of seal pressed into the surface on one side. The lock seemed particularly intricate and strong, even for something that was not much bigger than the man’s palm.

“Sweet merciful gods girl, do you have any idea what this is?” He didn’t bother to wait for her to so much as shrug. “You went and stole one of the minting dyes. They strike this against the fresh blocks of refined ores. It’s a mark of quality that assures the value to customers. You have no idea the trouble you cause with this, in the wrong hands.”

The girl had a twinge of a pout and curiosity run over her face. So it was not a thing of inherent value like gold … but, if she’d found the right customer it could be worth an untold fortune. Though it presented a problem, she’d no idea who the hell she could have unloaded it to. Oh she knew a few fences, but they dealt in easily passed off goods. Furs, tools, whatever it might be. None of them would have a clue what to do with the thing, she’d never get proper value for it. Her little dreams of the wasted fortune shattered though.

“If they’d caught you with this tonight, you’d would be rotting in the cells waiting for sentence. They’d likely have drug you off, cut your hand clean off, and tormented you … very slowly.”

A shudder ran up her spine in reply. Oh there had always been the worry of people doing her wrong for her crimes. She was, in theory, entitled to trial and a ‘fair’ hearing. Although, that was a relative word. One man’s fair was another’s stacked jury and biased judge. She’d no end to the horrors threatened upon her person as those she stole from screamed in vain at her back while she fled. Still, she’d stepped in it more than she’d bargained for tonight.

There were so many other professions she could have put herself into, or sought herself out a man and trudged by the common labors of other folk. Still, her father had but one skill to teach and he’d taught it well. She’d been helping him steal food and goods from a young age. It was the life she knew. Though her beloved father had long since been caught and bound into servitude far off from her when she was but a thing of ten or eleven summers. She’d no one else to turn to, mother and other family dead, so she’d gone about surviving the way she knew how.

With a slow force of will she banished the darker thoughts to the recesses of her mind and put on her most winning smile. “Well, what sir is your alternative proposal? You said paying … but you didn’t say anything about the dangers?”

Meyer chuckled a bit and nodded as he stood, “So I didn’t, I’ll let Rehan fill you in, he knows the details. I need to return this quickly before they know for certain this is what’s missing.”

She turned to the apprentice, largely silent through all of this, expectant for his share of knowledge on how she was to pay her debt in having another day’s freedom. Then she tilted her head to the side and spoke first. “Before we go about business, I have a set of demands … first, where’s the bath?”

----- ----- ----- ----- -----
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Re: Of Rogues and Mages

Postby Sunshine Temple » Tue Jun 09, 2015 9:40 pm

Okay, this got my attention.

Good start. I'll have to get some time to give it another read to give some more detailed commentary though.
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Re: Of Rogues and Mages

Postby ckosacranoid » Wed Jun 10, 2015 2:24 pm

Some type of fansty world to start. Sounds coll though.
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Re: Of Rogues and Mages

Postby Sunshine Temple » Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:51 pm

Good start. I do like the mental thinking on the rooftop, it does set the mood well.

Especially with the darkness and the risk of discovery mixed with the anxiety and urgency.

Hehe Moon Cat. Appropriate name really.

Good stuff. Definitely interested in more.
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