Vene'sha ran the long, black cloth between her fingers. Silky smooth she thought, Very nice. The Necklace hadn't been in the Royal Treasury after all. It was in the cabinet drawer of King Jon's bedside table, so she had been informed. It's amazing how much a servant will tell you if you slip a bit of money their way, she thought, satisfied. A servant called Timon had told her.

She loomed over the King and Queen's bed like a shadow. She took out her best lock pick and began to work on the drawer's lock. There were different types of difficulty levels for locks, as her teacher had taught her;

a) Easy

b) Moderately Easy

c) Medium

d) Hard

e) Intricate



Those were the fancy titles, any way. As far as Vene'sha was concerned the real titles should be:

a) Lock? What Lock? (oh, you mean that metal contraption clinging onto the latch)

b) Oh, puh-leeze

c) Hmm, Interesting

d) Get a seat- this may take a while

e) Just wait until you're older



Vene'sha would give this lock a "d) Hard" It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't easy either. She blew a piece of hair out of her eye as she felt her lock pick click into place. Her eyes widened as she carefully opened the drawer. What the…she thought, frowning. There was no necklace- just a note! She gasped in horror as she read: "We've got you surrounded, Thief. Next time you should be more careful about who you ask for where the Loot is being kept.

~Timon

Loyal Palace Head-Servant"



Suddenly the lights flickered on in the room and who she thought to be King Jonathan and Queen Thayet asleep in their bed was actually the wildmage Daine and the famed Numair. She had been tricked! That servant Timon had set her up! The two mages jumped out of the bed, fully dressed. She shot up and began to head for the window but a magic spell twisted her legs and she dropped to the ground. The two mages stood tall over her. Despite everything, they looked sadder with Vene'sha rather than mad with her.

"So young…" Daine breathed. "I didn't know thieves this young would try a stunt like this."

Numair nodded, but didn't say anything. His spell held Vene'shas legs tight together.

Vene'sha's mind was racing, Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods! What am I going to do! I've got to trick them…

Vene'sha pulled a face contorted with pain, "Nggggggnh," she winced, "The spell! It's hurting!!"

Numair looked surprised, shocked even. Vene'sha felt the spell on her legs let go and instantly she was up and jumping out the window.



Kel shifted in her crouched position. The night was cold even though she had her thick clothes on. Nealan of Queenscove was a few metres away from her, shivering. He looked at her.

"Hey, Kel? This is pretty pointless, huh? I mean- we're waiting here for a thief that'll probably never in show up! The Stump is crazy, thinking to put up all the pages and squires as watchers around the castle grounds for some stupid thief…" Neal never got to finish, because at that moment the thief burst through the bush and ran straight into Kel.

Both Kel and the thief let out surprised cries as they tumbled in a mixture of arms and legs to the ground. The thief jumped up straight away, only to be brought down once again as Kel had grabbed her ankle. Neal sprang into action, and jabbed his knee on the thief's back. The thief cried out again, this time in pain. Kel could hear more people coming. In relief, she turned her head in the direction she heard the footsteps emanating from. That was a mistake; the thief did a well-practiced twist and evaded Kel and Neal both.



Vene'sha's heart was pounding. She had just run over Keladry, and worse still the whole thing was totally set up! There were actually watchers posted up! Gods, could the King have been more prepared for her? Probably not. Still, at least she knew to look out, now. She saw another figure crouched in the darkness. Another page, she thought bitterly and wounded away from the figure. The figure jumped up and gave chase. Waaay too slow, she thought, Don't these pages know how to sprint? She easily out-ran him. After a few minutes of running Vene'sha finally slowed down. She was now in the dark city streets. The thief bent over to catch her breath. Maybe she'd get away with this after all. She heard a bird hoot overhead and looked up to see an owl circling her.



"Found her," Daine informed her small audience. She brought herself out of the owl's body after thanking the night bird and stood up. "The thief is on Strones Street."

"Excellent," Lord Wyldon said darkly. "We'll trap her on either end. We've got the little bandit now."







Thanks for reading thus far. You asked for another chapter so I wrote one. I just hope more ppl will read this now. Special thanks to Gemma, Will, Saphron and emi for being the first to review my last story and telling me to write on! And an even bigger thanx to them if they continued reading. I'm looking for your stories so I can review yours! I'm pretty sure I reviewed your story, Saphron. Should I keep going?

C ya



Liaska