Part 2: New Friends

The second book that I stole from Costa described techniques used by the Keepers in stealth situations. Reading over some of them, I could see how Costa was able to get the drop on me before. That wasn't going to happen again. Then there was another aspect to this book that was a little disturbing to me: Other than a few variations on some outdated concepts, I felt like I was reading a few chapters out of my own personal handbook. Of course I wasn't the only thief who knew how to use the environment to his advantage, but I liked to think that I was the most adept at it. This book was almost suggesting that I these things were ingrained in me by someone.

The Queen of Beggars?

No. I refused to believe she was that good at manipulating me.

So far, nothing I had learned about the Keepers had encouraged me to be one of them, and I wasn't going to seek out the Queen or Costa for answers. I started making regular appearances at the House of Blossoms and became an unofficial member of Madame Xiao-Xiao's exclusive book club. She must have felt it was better to give me free access to her reading room so she knew where I would be when I was in her territory.

Eventually, Xiao-Xiao didn't mind my surprise visits to her private study. She even started trying to convince me to give her Blossoms a try. I'm sure they were the ones who were eager to give me a try, but I wasn't interested in sharing the same bed as the aristocrats.

The madame finally approached me with a businesswoman's look in her eye. "Are you sure I can't interest you in anything the House has to offer? Violet and Tulip would be more than happy to service you; in fact, it would be their honor."

I looked up from the lectern I was standing behind to see two of the House's Blossoms trying to flirt with me from the room's entrance.

"I bet it would be." I dropped my attention back to the books open in front of me. "But you look like you have a much better offer for me."

Xiao-Xiao smiled at my keen observation and waved the girls away. They were only a little disappointed. "I have a job for you, Mister Thief."

"You can call me Garrett."

"Ooo, we've built that kind of a rapport, have we? I am deeply honored." She approached the desk and leaned over it as if her chest had anything to offer as a distraction from the tomes. "I need a necklace."

"Ellis' jewelry store is close by. You might want to ask where he gets his merchandise before making a purchase."

"If only I could bottle your wit and wear it like perfume." She stood up straight and paced the floor. "Lady Arlington has a rare necklace of purple saltwater pearls. I have tried asking her nicely and even not-so-nicely to part with them. She seems completely unmoved by my money or threats."

"So you'd like me to accept your generous financial offer on her behalf?"

She stopped pacing and put a hand over the book I was reading. "After all the time you've spent here, nose in my special area, you're going to charge me for this?"

I looked at her with a smirk. "Your special area is musty and poorly hidden, and I rarely work for free."

"Fine." She withdrew her hand. "Bring me the pearls and I'll pay you what I was going to pay her. You are such a cunt tease."

I left the House with all the details of the job and started working my way north. In a way, I was eager to do a job for Madame Xiao-Xiao. She had never called on my services before—mainly because I had stolen from her and made it hard for her customers to feel their valuables were safe in her care. But this had the potential to be a very profitable relationship. For the first time in a while, I really started to feel like my life could be normal again.

I made it all the way north of Stonemarket before the feeling of being followed played on the back of my neck, prompting me to stop in an empty watch tower to take a look around. I didn't see anyone at first but a flash of movement drew my attention to the Thieves' Highway. I always expected to see a few professionals working their way across town but this figure was moving in my direction and closing fast. I thought about waiting to see what that person wanted—that is, until they extended a baton from the side of their cloak.

The figure was smaller than Costa and had a female shape, but the cloak and baton told me she was one of his agents. I guess he wasn't satisfied trying to ruin one of my jobs; he also felt the need to send someone after me. I climbed down the tower and dropped into a side alley nearby. There was a door in the alley I could use to escape and continue my business.

Just as I reached up to start drawing, a metal clasp struck me in the wrist and my hand dropped like dead weight. I couldn't move my arm at all. The clasp was made out of steel and there was a pattern of glyphs moving around its surface. I looked at the mouth of the alley and saw a taller cloaked figure reloading a modified crossbow with another steel ring that he intended to shoot at me.

I turned and ran towards the other end of the alley in time to knock the smaller agent into a wall in passing. When I rounded the corner into a back alley, I peeled the glyphs off the clasp on my wrist to restore the use of my arm. It was an amazingly effective combination and I wished I had time to study it. The woman came around the same corner at sprinting speed and I had to pick up the pace.

I didn't think Costa was that upset with me for refusing his offer. The two agents hunting me worked together to chase me down better than any member of the Baron's Watch. I used a wall to jump high enough to scale an elevated windowsill and the woman repeated my actions without faltering. The taller agent turned out to be an impressive shot. He was halfway down the back alley and still managed to get one of the clasps around my left ankle before I got over the roof's edge. I fell forward face-first but to my surprise, I landed in a thick bed of grass and flowers that just happened to be growing in my path. It was out of the ordinary but I didn't have time to reflect on it. I barely managed to roll over in time to block a baton strike from the woman who was chasing me.

Her hood flew back during the strike and I found myself looking up at someone who couldn't be native to The City. Her thin face and slanted eyes reminded me of some of the sailors that sometimes enter port with cargo from the east. She looked as surprised as I did to see greenery growing on the Thieves' Highway—I took that opportunity to grab her by the arm and slam her into the roof tiles next to me, then sat up and reached for the cuff around my ankle.

As soon as I pulled the glyph from that cuff, another was fired onto my right wrist. I looked up to see the bowman reloading at the edge of the roof. In that fraction of time, his partner recovered enough to grab me from behind and return the favor of slamming me down. I reached up to defend myself and another clasp caught me on my left arm, rendering me without either. The woman put her knee in my chest and matched the sneer on my face as she brought her baton down to knock me out.

I was going to have to find a gentler approach if this was how people felt after I knocked them out with my blackjack. My left eye was swollen shut and a blinking pain radiated from my temple. I was upright, but I couldn't bring my arms down to my sides. My wrists were pinned to the wall I stood against and an iron belt pressed my back against the stone. I was in a dungeon with iron bars separating my cell from a hallway. This was certainly new. I had been arrested before, but no one had ever held me in something like this.

Voices and footsteps echoed ahead of my visitors. I could recognize Costa's but the person he was speaking to had an unfamiliar accent and deep cadence. I closed my eyes and lowered my head so I could eavesdrop a little.

"Yes, Tai Jun told me about the grass. Thank you for being so swift in your capture, Botsan."

"It was an an honor to set foot in the land of our beginning, but now I must return home. The sands churn and I must prepare for what is to come."

"Thank you again. If you need any help, send word to me immediately."

I looked up to stare at them through the bars. Botsan was the agent carrying the crossbow. With his hood down I could see that he was dark, like a living shadow. He and Costa clasped each others' forearms in a parting gesture, then while Botsan walked back the way he came, Costa turned to me and leveled his fond expression into a frown.

"There was an era where Keepers had all the time in the world to make things happen. Our ancient ancestors listened to the primal ley lines and published their whispers. Our interpreters would read the notions out loud, and the translators would repeat their words in our modern tongue so that we could understand what was happening around us. But times have changed. Society evolves and we must evolve with it, no matter how much we might want things to stay the way they once were."

I stayed quiet. He couldn't have brought me all this way for some history lesson.

"You have no idea how important your city is to us, Garrett, and how much of an honor it is to be asked to take on the role of its Keeper. Where you come from is where it all started. Our oldest order dispersed when the primal was cut off in your region, but they never forgot where they came from and made sure that we wouldn't, either."

"If it's such an honor, then why don't you accept it?"

"I accepted my station a long time ago and there is no changing that." He shook his head to dismiss a vague sign of regret. "The primal in your city was dormant, Garrett, but now that it has been awakened, we need someone there at all times to keep it in check. If that is not going to be you then we'll just have to find someone else, but you don't get to leave here—not until we purge the power from you so you can stop wasting it on your misdeeds."

"Is that what this is about?" I scoffed. "I didn't want the primal. Not when it lodged itself in my eye and not when that witch's stone started invading my dreams. You can have the power if your plan is to let me go afterwards. Do whatever you have to do to stop haunting my life."

"Right. Because that's all this is about, isn't it? You." He moved so close to the bars I almost thought he was going to walk through them. "The man the Queen of Beggars described to me sounded far better than this. A petty thief, yes, but one who wandered The City in search of a girl he wasn't related to by blood, just to save her from being sacrificed by a bunch of fanatics. Who went to the Maw and back to avenge children taken from all walks of life."

"I didn't go to the Maw by choice," I grumbled. "You and the Queen of Beggars tricked me into getting killed!"

"You are letting your little upset over being dead—which you are no longer, I might add—escalate into a needless tantrum, LIKE A CHILD!" Costa's voice elevated into a bark but after he slammed his palm into the bars of my cell, he calmed down. "I have already apologized for my part in that and I'm sure she would as well if she were here, but what would that change? What does bearing the weight of her perceived betrayal do for you, Garrett? It may make you feel right about trusting no one and being alone, but one day I hope you will wake up and see just how stagnant that way of thinking really is."

I had nothing more to say to him. I closed my eyes and got as comfortable as my restraints would let me. Costa marched off to cool down but I was sure he'd return eventually to take the primal. Then I would be free to go home.