Ch 4 Rumors
The past week had been profitable for Reven, he had struck five homes, careful to scatter his targets throughout the city. It would only be stupid to concentrate on one area, then the guard would concentrate there as well, though he did remember one summer he had done that deliberately, then when they had set the trap for him he had struck another area entirely. Back then it was more of a game for him. Now he was careful to keep quiet about his activities.
He walked down the road, eventually he would head down to exile's gate, but he was in no hurry. And the habits of a lifetime were hard to break. He could hardly believe it, he had seen no other thief from his brotherhood here. There were rich picking here and the lack of competition was a little unnerving. It made him wonder what they knew that he didn't.
He backed up, the stone of the storefront hard at his back as the crowd cleared way for the rider. He watched curious. Another of those white uniforms, they were rather common here and they always seemed to have white horses. At first he had thought it was a conceit of the crown, he had seen worse than that in his lifetime, but when he had asked his contact he had learned the horses weren't actually horses.
Oh a magical construct he had thought at the time, expensive but not unheard of, but when he had said this to the other man the strangest thing had happened. His face went blank and when he finally started talking again, it was as if the last sentence had been erased from his mind. It made Reven's hair stand on end. It was enough to remind Reven about the rumors he had heard about Valdemar driving mages insane. It was then he had decided not to use his own meager mage gift.
He laughed to himself it wasn't as if he used it much anyway, it left traces and in the empire at least they were expert in tracing these back to the maker. He had learned a lot there, the few times he had worked within their borders.
"Master" the voice whispered in his ear. He turned to see His contact from the Inn.
He nodded and waited for the other man to tell him what he needed to say.
"Finald wants to speak to you" he finally said as the crush of pedestrians dispersed in the rider's wake.
Reven looked at him in surprise, usually he would never see the middleman at all.
"He needs to talk to you" his contact said.
Reven nodded and followed the man, it seemed that following a twisted path was the norm here too, if he hadn't memorized the city he would have been lost after the third turn they made.
Finally the found their way to a small building near the edge of Exile's gate, it tried hard to look prosperous but it just looked tired, as if it were about to give up the fight. They walked through the alley behind the building to a door set in the wall. It was one of those doors that could only be opened from the inside, perhaps a wise idea in this neighborhood Reven thought to himself.
His contact rapped a code on the door as Reven looked on, interested.
The man saw his look and said "It changes every day, you'd never be able to come in this door without one of us and this door is the only way to Finald".
Reven nodded, the door opened to the biggest man Reven could recall seeing and he had seen many men came through the door, he could barely fit his shoulders through the doorway to look at them and he had to stoop to avoid hitting his head.
"Finald's expecting us" his contact said.
The man nodded and without a word he held the door open for them and followed at their heels. Reven could almost feel the man's breath heavy on the back of his neck, he appreciated a good tactic and he thought this doorkeeper was an excellent way to keep visitors behaving themselves.
The steep and narrow stairway grated on the nerves of a man used to the open skies of a city. Reven's shoulders had tensed slightly before the way opened into a larger hall with a series of doors down it's length. At the fifth door the man gently touched Reven's shoulder, stopping him. He knocked on the door and at the muffled voice inside, opened it and gestured for them to enter.
At least he didn't enter after them Reven thought ruefully, he was a little surprised at this tiny office, he would have thought Finald would have gone for something larger, but then again maybe not he thought looking at the figure in rags before Finald's desk. He didn't always deal with the guild and it was probably wise not to advertise his wealth.
Reven waited for Finald to finish his business with the beggar, at least he assumed it was a beggar sitting in the chair in front of the desk. He wasn't really surprised to see one here in the office of an information dealer. People never noticed them and they were everywhere, even in the better parts of town.
Finald looked up with a frown and waved the child out, waiting until the doorkeeper walked them back down the hallway. Then he turned back to Reven "You've gotten careless".
"Careless" Reven asked.
" Hestern's place was robbed last night and now there are rumors that there's a master thief in Haven" he said in an irritated voice.
"I wasn't out last night" Reven said with a frown, maybe there was competition after all. It would keep him on his toes anyway.
"What" Finald asked, disbelief in his voice.
"It wasn't me, ask your man" he said pointing at his contact.
Finald shook his head "Great that's all I need an outsider".
"It's not my problem" Reven said carefully.
"It could be" Finald said. "If he makes it too hot for you" he started to say.
"There are other countries" Reven said, unconcerned.
"You have to help me, you've been bonded" he said.
"My contract is over, anything I do now is extra and has nothing to do with the bond" Reven said, an irritated tone to his voice.
He looked at the worried look on Finald's face "Alright, all I can promise is to keep my eyes open and if I see the upstart I'll warn him off" he said with a sigh.
"Thanks" Finald said with relief. "We can't risk the attention of the Herald's" he said.
"What is it with these Herald's anyway" Reven asked.
"They have mind magic and can see into a man's mind, they also have the truth spell. If one of them gets you you're dead" Finald said with a shudder. His contact had nodded at everything Finald had said.
I guess not all magic is banned here he thought to himself "They'd have to catch me first he said, besides I'm familiar with the truth spell and there are ways around it".
"They can force a man to tell the truth, I saw it once" the contact said.
Reven wasn't sure about that but he wasn't as familiar with mind magic as he was with true magic, he'd keep an open mind.
The rest of the week he mostly just did the roofwalking only occasionally doing an actual job, he had started to get curious about his rival and as he had promised he kept his eyes open.
