Ch 5 An Empty Coffer
Reven finally got tired of looking for the other thief and decided to do another major job, for his own amusement of course. He signaled his contact that he needed to buy some more information, the man arrived the next day to deal. He still didn't know the man's name and in fact he had a strong suspicion that Finald's true name was something other than what he used for his work.
"You have need of me" the man asked smiling, Reven had always paid him well for his part in every job they had worked together on since he came to Valdemar.
Reven nodded "I would like your suggestion for a good candidate for my attentions" he said to the other man.
"Well, there's a merchant on Forwald lane that's known to be a tightfisted, he's known to have money, though you'd never guess it to see his family".
"Sounds good" Reven said offering the other man a piece of fruit before taking a bite from his. "So, what's the layout" he said starting the session.
That evening Reven struck out again. Once on the roof he stripped off the shirt and packed it as before. It would serve to muffle his take, it wouldn't do to rattle at the wrong time. He was going to take Finald's advice to heart and be very careful here in Haven. He didn't want to end up in a Valdemaran prison or worse.
He took his time, enjoying the extra awareness of his surroundings he always had on a job. He also kept an eye open for the other. Occasionally he still saw other thieves taking the high road, but he was sure none were the one he was looking for.
He winced as he saw a man a couple buildings ahead slip and knock a roof tile to the street. He froze himself, melting into the shadows waiting to see if anyone noticed the man's blunder. He considered knocking the man off the roof himself on general principles, but no, he thought sighing to himself there would be the body to explain.
Eventually he finally made it to his quarry, it had a flat roof, something rare here in Valdemar. It appeared that someone had attempted a rooftop garden, but it only looked sad. Most of the vegetation was wilted or dying from the heat. He sighed as he saw the open door in the roof, what was it with people, you'd think they would realize that there was more than one entrance to a building and take measures to protect them, but he often found things like this door. He smiled slightly it did make things easier for him from time to time. He carefully made his way down to the room he had marked on the map his contact had given him.
Finally at the door he worked his way in closing it behind him, he walked silently to where the man kept his safe, once open Reven sorted through it's contents. He frowned, something wasn't right. There should have been more here than he was finding, then it occurred to him, everything here was a one of a kind piece of art or identifiable in some way, Reven grinned slightly. Ah, finally a sign of the other thief he thought to himself. At least now he knew the man was a local which was more than he had known before. If he had been one of Reven's kind it wouldn't have mattered what he took, it wasn't likely that anyone would be able to track it.
He gathered what he intended taking and put the rest back.
The next morning he sent word for his contact.
At the knock on the door he opened it and waved the other man in. "I've come across sign of the one you've been looking for" he said as soon as the door closed.
"You've seen him" he asked.
"No, the only one I saw on the high road last night was a disgrace to the profession" he said with disgust.
"Then what" the other man asked.
"I said sign, not sight" he sighed. "I must have just missed him, he hit my target just before me".
"Then he's truly independent, we don't sell information twice, he must have gotten it on his own" he shook his head. "That makes it harder".
"Well, I at least learned one thing" Reven said.
"What's that" his contact asked.
"He's local, without a network of consequence, he kept to the anonymous stuff, things that could be melted down and the like".
"At least that's something, I'll have to let Finald know about this".
Reven nodded and let him out before starting to hide away last night's take.
That evening he lay in bed trying to think about where his rival would end up next, he shook his head. He didn't know this city the way a native would, he thought perhaps his expertise was canceled out by the other's familiarity, for now at least he thought before he finally fell asleep.
Yeah, yeah I know it's short but I have to stop this chapter here. You'll understand why when you see the next chapter.
