Business

Darach was furiously scribbling on his parchment when the heavy satchel landed on his desk. The gnome jumped several inches out of his chair and dropped his quill pen. He looked up to see the newest recruit, Tassa, as she called herself, barely holding in her laughter.

"I really wish you would stop doing that," Darach muttered as he looked for his quill pen, then realized it had rolled off the table. Before he could get out of his chair, Tassa had swept the pen off the floor and placed it on top of his parchment.

"All right Tassa," said Darach, using the name Sadira had given the guild, "what have you brought me?"

"See for yourself," said Sadira, pushing the satchel toward him, "my biggest catch yet."

"What is it? More fire agates and lynx eyes? Such rabble is not even worth my time."

Sadira only smiled and watched Darach expectantly. Darach sighed and opened the satchel. Once he peered inside, the gnome pulled the satchel closer and eagerly began retrieving gems and determining their worth.

"A very good catch," Darach admitted, "Jacinth, ruby, opal, black sapphire, and several kings tears. Who did you rob to get these? Yanseldara herself?"

"Lord Norvel was kind enough to part with them," Sadira replied smugly.

"Norvel, that thug of a merchant?"

"He's the one."

Darach chuckled, "You're very selective about your targets, only nobles and merchants."

Sadira only shrugged, "How much can you get off those?"

"I estimate I can get over fifteen hundred silver marks for these. That's over a hundred fifty gold marks. All in Cormyrean weight, of course. As with all other catches, two thirds of spoils are yours. What form do you want the payment in?"

"I'll take thirty silver marks and fifteen gold marks. The rest in gold crowns."

"A pleasure doing business with you," Darach smiled, "I'll have your cut in three days. The gems will need to be sold separately to avoid suspicion."

Sadira nodded, "In three days then."

"Aye Tassa, keep this up and you'll be able to retire with quite a fortune. But be careful not to flaunt the coin. Such vanity has led to the downfall of many industrious thieves."

Sadira walked with an extra spring in her step on the way back to the inn she was staying at. It was a much nicer inn than the one she had stayed at earlier during her stay at Elversult. It was a quiet night. The streets always bustled during the day but there were no such problems during the night.

One hundred fifty gold marks. Sadira found herself repeating the figure in her mind and wondered what she would do with so much coin at her disposal. Bahram had always hoarded most of his money safely away from the apartment.

He always claimed I would squander it given the chance. I probably would have too, just to irk him. Sadira smiled slightly and chuckled at the thought, then her smile broke. How can I be so callous to the dead? Even if it is Bahram, what is wrong with me?

Sadira shook her head and increased her pace, eager for sleep and escape from her own morbid thoughts.

When she heard the whistling approach of the dart it was already too late. Sadira felt the impact of the dart as it hit her shoulder only as a pinprick through a haze of dullness. She was still groping to find the dart when she lost feeling her hand. Soon, Sadira found she could not move a muscle. She tried to scream but even that was beyond her. Her eyes were the last thing to go, rapidly losing focus.

Vaguely, Sadira heard footsteps but, for all she could tell, it could have been one man as easily as a dozen and they could have been going in any direction.

"This is the girl?" the voice came suddenly from in front of Sadira and she would have recoiled from it if she could have.

"Aye, she's the one. She murdered her husband in cold blood. Cathal confirmed it himself, she's one of the children." A new surge of terror tore through Sadira. Who are these people? What children are they talking about?

"She seems harmless enough to me," said the first voice.

"Keep thinking that, next thing you know she'll split you open hip to shoulder."

"I don't like this."

"You don't have to. You're not even a member yet. If you keep doubting your superiors like this, you never will be."

"You had better be right about this."

"I am. Now let's go before we attract attention." Sadira had a vague sensation that she was falling, but never felt the ground meet her. Then she wondered if she would have felt the ground even if she had fallen.

"At least she can still move without completely losing her balance," said the first man.

"Aye, anyone who sees us will just think we're escorting a drunken lass home."