Part Two - The Letter - Chapter Nine

Four Years Later

"Help me! Please help!" Ninavi's scream echoed across the marketplace. I peeked cautiously around the edge of the wall I was hiding behind. The red cloak billowed out behind her as she ran across the cobbled upper city street. She'd started to grow into it, but it was still slightly too big on her. Her hair was messy and tangled, but despite that, she still managed to look like a little rich foreigner, though her skin was too dark to pass off as a Telt. However, the marketplace was filled with traders and merchants from different kingdoms, so no one would suspect she didn't belong.

Ninavi ran straight into two men who had been walking slowly side by side, deep in discussion. The one she hit lost his balance, but didn't fall over. She clung to his arm desperately. "Please help me." She started sobbing, quite convincingly. "I lost my brother and these two boys, they..." She cut herself off with a shriek as Baisan and Castin ran around the corner. Castin's knife glinted in the sunlight as he used it to gesture towards Ninavi and the two men.

The two of them ran closer to Ninavi, only hesitating when they seemed to realize that she was with the men. Baisan stopped first and grabbed Castin's arm. "Wait." He was the better speaker of the two, so as planned, he took a tentative step closer to Ninavi and the men. "Excuse me, sirs. That's my little sister there."

"He's lying," Ninavi sobbed. She clung tighter to the man and tried to hide herself in his cloak. "They're chasing me. They tried to hurt me."

"You tried to hurt this girl?" the second man said. He drew a short dagger. "Go back to where you belong before we call the guards on you."

"No, no, sir... no need for that." Baisan held up his hands to show he had no weapons and walked backwards until he was next to Castin again. "We weren't trying to hurt her, were we, Cast?"

Castin shook his head and held his hand behind his back, like he was trying to hide the knife that had been so easy to see a moment before.

"No," Baisan continued. "No, sir. She took something from us, is what happened, sir."

"This little girl?" the man who was holding Ninavi asked. "She took something from you?"

"Yes sir, she did. That cloak is mine," Baisan explained.

"No, it isn't," Ninavi protested. "They tried to take it from me and..." she stared up at the man holding her with wide eyes. "And the ugly one with the knife said he'd cut me up if I didn't give it to them. But I ran away."

The three of them played their parts well. The two men didn't notice me when I snuck up behind them and slipped my hand into their pockets. The one holding Ninavi had a hefty little coin pouch, which I was more than glad to take from him.

"That was very brave," he told Ninavi gently. "You're safe now."

"She's lying, sir," Baisan said. "It doesn't fit her, see? It can't be hers."

"It's my brother's," Ninavi replied sharply. "Go away!"

I reached into the second man's pocket and was momentarily disappointed. My fingers only felt a piece of paper. I carefully pulled it out and slipped it under my own cloak along with the first man's coin pouch. A quick reach into his other pocket resulted in a small handful of coins. I made quick eye contact with Baisan and nodded before sneaking away and ducking back into the alley.

"Go away. Make them go away," Ninavi pleaded, tugging on the first man's arm.

"Leave," the man told Baisan and Castin sternly. "Or we will call the guards and you'll be thrown back into the lower city."

Baisan said nothing to that. Instead, he just nudged Castin and the two of them ran off. Ninavi kept talking to the men while the boys ran into a nearby alley, and quickly ended up standing with me.

"Good?" Baisan asked.

"Not bad. Forty siyas." I handed him the coin pouch, to which I had added the second man's coins, and the letter.

"Paper?" Baisan scoffed, turning it over in his hand. "Why did you take this?"

"I already had my hand on it." I shrugged. "It might be important." I handed my cloak to Castin and held out my arms. "How do I look?"

"Rich," Baisan replied distractedly. "Go get her."

I punched his shoulder lightly before walking out of the alley. I was wearing a dark tunic and pair of pants I had stolen recently, along with some new boots Baisan had found for me. My dagger was attached to the belt I had bought about a year before. My hair was tied up with the old red ribbon to match Ninavi's cloak. My bracelet, the gold one with red and white jewels, also matched. I didn't look rich, but I easily looked like some middle class merchant's son.

When Ninavi saw me, she tore herself from the man's grasp and threw herself into my arms. "You found me!" she cried, clinging to me so tightly I had trouble breathing for a moment.

The two men looked over me suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"He's my brother." Ninavi smiled at them brightly. "He'll protect me from those ugly boys."

"What boys?" I asked, doing my best to sound concerned. "What have you been doing?"

"Some street children tried to attack her," the first man explained.

"But they saved me," Ninavi said. "They scared the boys away."

"Thank you." I nodded to the men gratefully.

"Are you sure you'll be safe now?" the man asked, addressing Ninavi. She had obviously won them over with her act.

Ninavi nodded. She loosened her grip on me to take my hand. "My brother will protect me. He has a knife too. They'll be scared."

"We're going to go straight to father," I told her. "He should be done selling everything by now."

The two men seemed satisfied that she would be safe. "Be careful," the second man said. "Those thieves are everywhere."

"They usually stick to the lower city," the first man added. "But these ones must be desperate for something good."

I smiled. "Thank you, we'll be careful. Come now, Ninavi." I turned and led her away.

We got home before Baisan and Castin because they had gone out to buy some food with the money our trip had earned us. We entered the old building and found that the other three members of our little family were also home. Ninavi went to sit by the fire, next to Stria.

"Good trip?" she asked.

"You should have seen these men." Ninavi started giggling. "They believed every word I said! It was great!" She enthusiastically started telling the story, interrupted only by questions from Stria.

The girls acted like I imagined sisters would, even though they weren't very alike. Ninavi was younger, dramatic and always bursting with energy. She enjoyed wearing flashy colours and had curly hair which she did her best to tame with hair ties. Stria was calmer, and tended to try to mother the rest of us, not that we minded. She was sensible, and while Baisan was the leader, there was no doubting who actually ran the building we called home.

The two other boys in the room, half-brothers Orrun and Leker, both greeted me with a nod. They were the only two who had joined the group after I had four years before.  Although the brothers came to us without any skills, it hadn't taken long to teach them how to be good thieves. I liked them. They looked up to me, unlike Baisan and Castin.

I joined them at the fire. "The other two are buying food. How did you three do?"

"Stria got some bread from a stall owner," Orrun explained. "Leker and I stole four oranges." He gestured at the little pile of food. "We were noticed before we could get more."

"We'll each get half," I said. "And the bread can easily be sliced into seven pieces. Baisan and Castin will probably buy some meat. It'll be a good meal." I picked up the loaf of bread and pulled out my knife to start cutting it into equal pieces.

There was a rustling from the door and we all froze until we heard Baisan's voice. He and Castin appeared in our room a moment later. Baisan was triumphantly holding a bundle wrapped in dirty cloth. "Another wonderful performance by our talented Ninavi. Look at what that money bought us." He knelt beside the fire and put down his bundle. We all stopped what we had been doing to watch as he slowly unwrapped it. Underneath the cloth was a whole cooked chicken, the smell of it filled the little room.

Baisan looked up and grinned at our expressions. "Amazing, isn't it? That plan was great, Finn."

"Ah well." I waved my hand dismissively. "Wouldn't have worked without your acting as well. We need conflict, after all."

Ninavi giggled. "I need some ugly boys to chase after me," she teased.

"Ugly?" Castin shot her a glare as he tossed my cloak at me. "You must be blind."

"I agree with her," Stria said. She laughed when Castin looked at her.

"None of us believe that, Stria," Baisan said. He took Castin's knife and began to cut up the chicken carefully. "We all saw you two together a few nights ago." His comment received more laugher from Ninavi, a blush from Stria, and another angry glare from Castin.

Baisan started handing out pieces of chicken, and so I handed out the bread. We fell silent as we ate our hard-earned food. It was one of the rare times we could eat more than one helping, and we relished it. Baisan kept cutting away at the chicken until there was no meat left, and then we ate the oranges the boys had stolen. By our standards, it was a feast.

After the meal, when we were all relaxing around the fire, Ninavi once again told the story of the two rich men. When she described Baisan's acting, the other boys all teased him, but he just grinned. Ninavi then moved on to me. "And then Finn walked out and they actually believed he was a Telt!"

"Maybe not a Telt," I protested.

Orrun tossed the chicken bone he had been chewing on at me. "And so Finn, the greatest thief, can pass as a Telt? What can't you do?"

"They didn't think I was a Telt," I said. "They thought I was some merchant's son."

Castin was sprawled out on the floor near me with his arms crossed under his head, so he resorted to nudging me with his foot. "Not going to protest the greatest thief part?"

"It's true, isn't it?" I replied with a cocky grin, even though my words were laced with sarcasm.

"Oh, that reminds me." Baisan reached under his cloak and held out the envelope I had stolen. "Here you are, my lord. Don't know why you want to keep it."

"It might be important," I said, taking it from his hand. "Information can sell." I angled the letter into the glow from the fire. It was made of nice paper, but the part that interested me most was a blob of wax holding it closed. Only important letters had fancy wax seals.

"None of us can read," Baisan pointed out. "How will you know what it's about?"

I paused. I hadn't actually thought that far ahead when I'd taken the letter.

"So the greatest thief made a mistake," Castin said with a grin.

I shook my head. "No. I know someone who can read."

Baisan took it from my hand and inspected the seal curiously. "Do you really think you can sell it? What if it's just a love letter?"

I shrugged. "I guess it could be. But it's worth figuring out, isn't it?"

"Sure, if you want to." He handed it back to me, already having lost interest. But I couldn't stop being curious, and besides, the letter seemed like a perfect push to do something I'd been meaning to do for ages.