Justify the Thrill: A Rock and A Hard Place
Thieves Prologue
Exempt From Sanity
1
The bustle of the city was not even the slightest bit unusual. The vendors set up their carts on the same street corners, and the same shops opened their doors. The same guards patrolled the streets, and the same crimes were carried out right under their noses. Not that it was difficult to miss. No one expected it of those who committed them. At least not the nobles who stood around and watched. A thief in their eyes was older, and experienced, toughened and malicious.
A short, dark haired boy darted through the already crowded streets. He moved as though he had lived there all his life, darting through the crowds with a practiced ease and talent. In one hand he clutched several rolled parchments, and had he not looked as poor as he probably was one would have assumed him a student.
Upon rounding a corner he sent an older gentleman and himself tumbling to the ground. He muttered a quick apology scooped up his maps and went on his way. He glanced over his shoulder at the guard near them, but everyone did that, guards made people paranoid. It wasn't until he rounded another corner that he pulled the small but heavy money pouch from his pocket and whispered, "Sucker."
"Did you get them?" an even shorter and scrawnier figure appeared out of nowhere behind him. Serious blue eyes tried to look over his shoulder as the other boy pulled back the hood of a cloak and ran a hand through short blonde hair.
"And a bit extra." The brunette held up the money sack.
The blonde rolled his eyes, "I swear, if you get caught for something as petty as stealing some guys purse I'll break you out and hang you myself." He snatched the money purse and shoved it into his own pocket. "Come on, and try to keep your hands to yourself the rest of the way back."
The two boys walked out of the alley and joined the throngs in the crowded streets once again. The blonde moved even faster than his taller counterpart. The made their way into a darkly painted building, The Pernick Tavern. Despite the early hour it was already crowded with men young and old, some of who were near being kicked out. The barkeep was a young man with a shock of longer blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He was arguing with one of the travelers over how much alcohol the man should have. Blue always won, the man would be out on his ass before long.
His grandfather sat near the stairs and nodded to the two as they passed, "You lot be good, you hear. I don't want to hear about you being caught."
"Yes sir," They chorused.
At the end of the hall there was a set of rooms that had long since been paid for. They were not rented out but made a home by the two young boys and their friends. The blonde neither knocked on the door, nor announced his presence and instead just walked into the room. Four young teenagers sat on the two beds the room held. Two taller boys, one blonde with a patch and the other dark haired with glasses. A dark haired and fair-haired girl sat across from them.
"You got the maps?" The blonde girl asked.
"I got the maps."
Within a minute all six children were gathered around one of the beds. The largest of the three parchments was unrolled on the bed before them. The map, though it was more a blueprint than a map, was a roughly drawn copy of the palace and its surrounding buildings. The stables, the prison, and the guards' cabins were specifically highlighted.
"I figured we'd probably go in above the stable. It won't be too hard to get in, and it'll be easy to hide if we need to get out or get stuck. So we just have to walk down that hallway and the staircase. That gets us to the hall-"
"Which is where we're going to start. Depending on how much is actually there we will or will not continue on to the next chamber. And remember, we only want the smaller things. It's not worth it if they'll notice it was missing right away. Jewelry, decorative daggers, jewels, gold coins, things like that." The second two parchments were rolled open over the first. One was a more elaborate map of the hall they would be working it, plus the staircase and their entrance and exit point. The other was a list of supplies. "Any objections." The blonde, despite being small and scrawny, was quite obviously in charge.
"It's a straight stairway and we've got one way in and out," the boy with the eye patch sighed, "Most wouldn't chance it."
"You want out?" one eyebrow curved upward.
"Hell no."
"Good, now listen up. We need to be ready by tonight. This is how we're going to pull this off…"
1
A/N: We're back. Are you happy? We realize this hasn't been updated in forever, and it probably won't be the most often worked upon story for either of us this winter. Anyway, we didn't like where the last one was going and decided to start over. The story will be in three parts. Here's the beginning of the first. More should be up soon. Hope whoever read this before leaves a review to tell us what they think of the new ideas.
Forever,
Exempt From Sanity
