Cada made her way to the edge of the alley she had been staying in for the past hour or so and peered around the corner at a local bakery that had made itself popular over the past few years. Even from more than fifteen feet away, she could smell the heavenly scent of pastries, cakes, and other baked goods coming from the open windows, making her mouth water. The place had many customers at the moment, but there was one in particular that she was waiting for. He usually stopped at this bakery every Thursday morning, just after the sun came up, but today he was extremely late.
She turned to her companion, Spud, who was leaning up against the wall of the alley, clearly bored off his ass and tired and waiting. He had pulled out a small notebook and was currently reading information that was handwritten on a page about halfway through the notebook. The small book had been written by Cada, who had given it to Spud so he could become more familiar with the common language of Arnoth, the city the pair had made their home in.
Cada tapped Spud on the shoulder lightly, causing him to look up from his reading.
"I'm going to go in there. He hasn't showed up yet. I'm going to see what's up."
He nodded his head and put the notebook away in the pocket of his dark green cloak. "I'll come with you in case something goes wrong."
Cada nodded, and peeked around the corner one more time before turning back to her companion. "Wait a few minutes before you follow. And sit far enough away so that it doesn't look like we're together."
He nodded again, and as Cada walked out of the alley, Spud took her place so he could better watch the street and the bakery.
Cada made her way across the paved road, being careful to not jostle anyone too much as she went against the flow of traffic. The street wasn't too crowded, but it still saw its fair share of daily commuters.
The bakery, known as The Morning Sun, was fairly large, decorated with lots of bright, golden yellow tapestries and curtains to seem welcome and inviting. It had been constructed out of a dark, almost chocolate colored wood, and the appearance of the bakery matched nicely with the appetizing smell coming from within.
As she walked inside, a bell on top of the door clanged to announce her presence, and the hubbub of voices from the many customers greeted her ears. There were tables scattered about the place, most of them taken by people enjoying the meals they had just bought. The counter at the back of the store was busy as customers were served and brought their food from the kitchen, which could barely be seen through an open doorway behind the counter.
Cada started to make her way to an open table in the back of the room, but as she glanced about the room, she quickly noticed, to her surprise, the very person she had been looking for. He was sitting at a table on the far side of the room, holding a book that, she noticed, he wasn't reading. His eyes were staring at the page without moving. Clearly, he had been waiting for her to walk in.
She made her way over to his table and sat down without waiting for an invitation. He made no move to acknowledge her presence, but she knew he would stop pretending to read eventually, and then they could get to the real reason she was here, so far away from her hideout on the other side of the city.
The bell on top of the bakery door clanged again, and she noticed Spud walk in and take a seat near the door. He didn't look over at her, but she knew he would be prepared if she needed help.
Eventually, the silence at her table ended when the man in the other chair sighed and placed his book on the table, not bothering to mark the page he was on.
"Cada," he said, looking up at her with a cold gaze.
"Recknar," she replied, her voice equally as icy.
"Let's get this over with, shall we?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
"You know why I'm here. The Sunswift brothers want the money you owe them. You hand it over, and this doesn't have to go any further." She glared at him, hoping to make her unsaid threat clear. He seemed to consider it, looking at the door as if contemplating the freedom his days would have if he just handed over the gold. Then he looked down at the table and chuckled.
"You and I both know that isn't going to happen."
Cada sighed, disappointed that she hadn't been able to change his mind so easily. "Well then, looks like we'll have to do this the hard way."
As she stood up, she heard more chairs than just hers scrape against the floor, and she looked up to see about a quarter of the bakery reaching for their weapons. She muttered a curse and looked across to Spud, who was tentatively reaching for the dagger he wore at his belt.
With at least seven people against them, she knew they wouldn't be able to get to Recknar unless they had some serious tricks up their sleeves. Which, unfortunately, they didn't. Cada moved her hands away from the knives at her belt and raised them above her head to show that she wouldn't be trying anything.
Recknar smirked at the obvious disadvantage she had. "I'm going to be leaving this city unharmed and with all my money. You can tell those halfwits who hired you that their coin was wasted."
He stood up from the table and grabbed his book, clearly ready to leave Arnoth behind. Cada saw something out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced over at Spud to see him take something out of his pocket. He gave her a wink and a small smile, and, raising his hand above his head, he quickly threw down whatever he had retrieved from his pocket.
As soon as the object hit the ground, it exploded into a mass of smoke that quickly filled up the entire room, causing customers to start coughing and running out of the bakery. Through the smoky haze, Cada could just barely see the dark shapes of people around her. Closest to her was the coughing form of Recknar Shadehand, who was using his book to try and fan away some of the smoke.
After having been on the street for so long, Cada had learned quite a few things that had helped her to survive. One of those things had been how to pick a pocket, and even though she hadn't been able to get Recknar to see sense, she could still rob him blind and complete the job that way.
She crouched down to where the smoke was thinner, and, using the confusion and chaos to her advantage, she snuck over to where Recknar was standing. Hopefully he would be too busy with the smoke to notice her hand reaching for his coin purse.
She wrapped her hand around the leather bag tied to his waist and gently pulled, feeling confident when she wasn't finding any resistance. Through the smoke, as she was pulling away, she noticed that instead of the standard leather loop that held the bag in place, there was a small chain looped around his belt. Feeling the slight tug at his coin purse, Recknar turned slightly toward her and smacked her hand away. He started to back towards the window of the bakery, away from her.
"Mayholm!" he yelled. "Have you and your men take care of these wretches!"
A shape loomed out of the smoke next to Recknar and raised something above its head. Thinking it was Mayholm, Cada rolled to the side, further into the cloud of smoke.
The figure brought the object down towards Recknar, and Cada could now tell that this was not Mayholm, but instead he companion Spud, with a chair in his hands.
Even though he was aiming for Recknar, Cada could tell that the heavy chair had pulled him off balance, and instead of smashing the chair on top of Recknar's head, as she was sure he had intended to do, he topped, and the chair smashed onto the ground a couple feet to her right, nearly on top of where she had been a few moments ago.
Recknar gave them one last look and sprinted out of the bakery. Cada cursed again and, with Spud scrambling to get up behind her, she ran out of the bakery, dodging people who were still flailing in the smoke as she did so.
The door had been left open by one of the bakery's staff to let out some of the smoke and panicking customers, which made for an easy exit. Ahead of her, she saw Recknar take a right out of The Morning Sun and start running down the street towards the Harbor. The crowds were still present, and she could see that Recknar was having a hard time maneuvering down the street.
She edged her was into the crowd at a sprint, not hesitating to gently shove people out of the way. Slowly, Cada began closing the distance, and soon he was within range of a well-placed tackle.
She shoved her shoulder into the left side of his back and used both of their momentum to grab the off-balance Recknar by the shoulders and swing him into a nearby alleyway.
She quickly ducked into the alleyway and reached for a knife as he scrambled to get to his feet.
Before she could act, however, she heard a voice from behind her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Cada turned to see Spud standing behind her, an arrow nocked in his bow and pointed straight at Recknar, who had paused in his scrambling and was now staring fearfully at Spud's weapon.
Cada retrieved a knife from her belt and flipped it in the air before coming closer to kneel in front of Recknar. His attention was now almost fully on her, with occasional glances at her companion.
"So," began Cada in a conversational tone, as if they could have been talking about the weather. "Are you going to hand over that money or what?"
He looked fearfully at their weapons once more, then reached frantically for his coin purse. Cada smirked, pleased that it had been relatively easy.
Recknar tossed the coin purse to Cada and made to get up as she was loosening the drawstrings of the leather bag. Behind her, she heard Spud take a step forward and say, "Not so fast. We need to make sure it's all there."
Cada stood up as she counted the coins. There were two large gold Drenns, about fifteen smaller gold pieces, five silver coins, and a small bronze coin from one of the many islands that were not too far off shore.
She nodded to Spud as she closed the coin purse, and he lowered his bow, allowing Recknar to run out the alley. Cada tossed the coin purse in the air and smiled at Spud as it landed back in her hand with a merry jingle. Chuckling at her jovial mood, Spud swung his bow into its place on his back and slid his arrow into its quiver.
"Well, I'd say that's a job well done," said Cada as the pair walked out of the alleyway.
"If you insist," laughed Spud. "We nearly lost him though."
"Yeah, but we didn't," she replied, a slight skip in her step.
As they walked further, the street they were on began to climb upwards, and the soon crested a hill from which they could see the Arnoth Harbor. A pleasant breeze was rolling in, a few clouds dotting the sky as seagulls swooped through the air. Even from this distance, Cada could tell that the Harbor was crowded, as usual.
In silent agreement, Spud and Cada turned left, away from the Harbor and towards their little ramshackle base, which was still little more than half a city away.
"How much was in the purse?" Spud asked.
"Probably all that he had. There was a little extra besides the Drenns we were asked to retrieve."
"I'm surprised you didn't give him a few coins so he could get out of here," said Spud as he slided sideways past a cart filled with fruit.
"Hey, just because I give a Drindel to every musician I see on the street doesn't mean I'm gonna give a slimy cheat some money that we could use. And besides, I'm sure he's got a stash somewhere. Only the rich keep all of their money in the same place."
"And the stupid."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Spud only chuckled in response as they made their way further along familiar streets. On this South End of Arnoth, not too far from where the mostly poor clashed with the mostly wealthy, and a reasonable distance from the main heart of trade at the Harbor, several market streets thrived with business. The street that Cada and Spud were traveling down at the moment was one of the less successful ones, but it still brought in quite a few customers, creating enough of a crowd where the pair would go unnoticed.
A few streets before their usual turning point, Cada grabbed Spud by the arm and pointed him down another street that was heading toward West Watch, away from their home.
Spud looked at his friend, confused about the sudden change in direction. "Forget something?"
"No, but clearly you left your wits back at the bakery."
He pretended to check his pockets. "Did I?"
She glared at him.
"What? What am I missing?" he asked.
"Someone's been following us for the past five blocks."