Honor Amongst Thieves

Chapter 2 – Wheeling and Dealing

Artemis was stunned. HER? No, she couldn’t be a thief, she was The Beautiful Aristocrat, an anonymous woman, a distant object of affection, never to be seen again. It can’t be her. All this shot through his mind in an instant. Out of his mouth came, “Well, it appears new introductions are in order, unless you wish to kill me now, of course.”

What in the name of Tahira is HE doing here? He’s just a wealthy merchant, a flight of fancy, nothing more. He can’t be one of THEM, could he? No, but, he has to be. Oh Goddess, this isn’t good. “Assuming you don’t try to kill me, and don’t rat me out, as a matter of professional courtesy, I believe I can let you live for this night, and I admit I find this situation as curious as I’m sure you do,” she said calmly but guardedly, flipping her dagger back around to the more conventional position with practiced ease.

Rest the tip of the sword on the ground, show you don’t mean to kill her, but be ready. “As you have given me leeway to live, I shall put myself at your mercy first. My name is Artemis. I’m sorry I cannot give you my full name, but I am sure you understand, given our mutual line of work. Still, I daresay you are more likely to have heard of me by my nom de guerre, the Black Ghost.” Aaaaaand bow low. See how she reacts to that!

Could this get ANY worse? Supposed to be an easy job, they’re all supposed to be out working the crowd, no one out here, taking the hard jobs, and here I am, running into the Right Hand Man! Oh well, nothing for it, sheathe the knife, you have that nice little miniature crossbow with the poison dart pointed right at him. “It’s true, I’ve heard that name. I’ve heard it name spoken with awe in the darker circles in town, and with hatred and grudging respect in the higher. I am impressed, if you are truly he, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My first name is Raven, and so I am called professionally, as well, a newcomer to your city.” Return the bow, show no weakness. I should kill him now. If Lanthander’s plan comes to fruition, he’ll be killed anyways.

Oh, not her. Please not her. Not the one that seems to pull all the hard jobs for the new group in town. Orders are to bring whoever they are in for questioning instantly. Oh Tahira, what’d I do to deserve THIS? First, sheathe the sword, you have the dagger palmed in your other hand if things get ugly. “I fear I have also heard of you, milady. You have caused me and my circle of companions a great deal of consternation. Unfortunately, we have been told to bring you back with us if we ever encountered you, and this may logically be assumed to be an encounter between us.” Ok, smart guy, now what? You’ve gotten close enough to her in your little speech without her noticing to be able to lunge at her and grab her, maybe, if caught off guard. Then you get the necklace, and the guild gets all the information it needs about the new gang in town. All you need to do is stop looking into her gorgeous eyes and do it!

He’s almost close enough to stab, the crossbow could kill him at this range even without the poison, and there’s no way he can unsheathe his sword quickly enough to somehow block it. “Yes, I agree, you have indeed encountered me, as I have encountered you, though I fear it will be more unfortunate for you than me, as we have been told to kill any from your guild who interfere with one of our jobs. Considering you are now a witness to my crime, I must therefore end your life to protect mine.” JUST DO IT, CRAZY! Stop looking in his eyes, look at his chest and put a dart in it! It’s the only smart thing to do! He’s close enough to stop you, to take the necklace and you back to his leader! Shoot him! Why can’t I pull the trigger?!

He should do it, now was the time. Lash out, punch her, knock her out. He was close enough to see the concealed hand crossbow aimed at him, to hear her breathing audibly, to…

Pull the damned trigger! She had to! He was too close! She could see her face reflected in his eyes, see the slight amount of fuzz above his lips, those lips close enough to…

Their lips met, and it seemed that Raglar the Merciless Himself had stopped his march to wonder at the pair of enemies pulled together by a force too strong and powerful for them to comprehend or resist. In that instant, that blissful eternity, both the Black Ghost and the Raven knew they would never be alone again, no matter where they went.

Reality made its presence known.

“THIEVES! Thieves in the house!”

Instantly forcing themselves to break away from the heaven they had found, Artemis and Raven found themselves facing a man hastily rebuckling his sword belt, presumably the man who had been making such a racket down the corridor previously. Thinking quickly, Artemis jumped from his position to the doorframe and, hooking fingers strengthened from months of practice on the top of the doorframe, swung out to land a jarring kick squarely into the guards lower chest. The man flew backwards a few feet, his lower back connecting squarely with the banister behind him, which he then proceeded to flip over. Landing and running over to the barrister, Artemis saw the man sprawled out on the feasting table below, hopefully merely unconscious. Killing was one thing he hated to do, even in self-defense, and besides, murder was the work of the Shadow Guild, the ones who took care of the truly nasty work of Tyro, not himself or his guild. Hearing more footsteps coming from various directions on the lower level, he turned back towards Raven, only to find her next to the open window, hanging off an outside rope.

“Wait a moment, you still have a necklace of mine, and I’d like to resolve how to deal with our encounter,” he said quickly. She smiled.
“Sorry, but I still think this lovely necklace is mine, but we must resolve who has stolen who’s heart later, for now I do believe we must disappear.” She seemed about to jump down to the ground when she paused. Turning back to Artemis, she blew him a quick kiss, then disappeared from view as she slid down her rope to escape.

Artemis smiled, then remembered where he was, how he looked, what he’d done, what was gone, and who the people were that would come for him and were most likely not going to believe that he in fact had not stolen the necklace at all. Running over to the window, he saw that Raven had managed to detach the grappling hook she had used to get in and was now disappearing into the alleys of the city. He smiled grimly. Exactly what I would have done, damn her. That meant that this window was closed to him, unless he fancied a good chance of a badly sprained ankle or worse, a definite no-no as he was most likely going to get involved in a chase. His only chance seemed to be the way he had come in.

Artemis turned as fast as he could and sprinted for the door. He moved so quickly he almost didn’t see the sword swung at him. Throwing himself into a forward roll, he heard the blade move the air above his head and land with a solid thud into the doorframe behind him. Using his momentum, he dove over the banister, turned a full somersault in midair, and landed on his feet on the table below, narrowly avoiding landing on the unconscious guard he had placed there moments before. Leaping off the table, he continued at his breakneck pace back towards the library. In his way stood one lonely guard, a lad of about seventeen by the look of him, and not nearly as burly as some guards Artemis had seen. There was nothing for it. Artemis dove, catching the lad off guard as both he and Artemis tumbled into the library. Artemis used the boy to cushion his fall and he thought he felt a rib crack in the boy’s chest. Rolling off of him, Artemis murmured a quick prayer to Tahira that the boy be alright, he was, after all, an innocent. At last Artemis dove through the window he had come in with, ht the ground rolling, sprang to his feet, and dashed off into the relative darkness of a beautiful moonlit night, back towards the guild headquarters. He had to find Terni.


“So the new gang was at work as well last night, eh?” said Old Terni the next morning, of course knowing the answer, as Artemis had already related the tale.
“Yes, and they are not to be trifled with, either. Like I said, they have been told to kill any one of us who interferes with a job. I fear a more ruthless gang of thieves, more akin to the Shadow Guild than our own, has finally arrived in Tyro.”
“How do you know this?”
“Raven told it to me.”
“Ah yes, who is this Raven, so we may spot them in the daytime?”
“Raven is a man, approximately six foot two would be my guess. He weighs between 190 and 220 pounds, has raven-black hair down past his ears, that would be why they call him Raven, I’m guessing, and has a scar on his right chin.” I can’t tell Terni the truth, he’d think I’d betrayed them all, and he’d be right, wouldn’t he?
Terni looked carefully at Artemis, questioningly, almost, then nodded and continued. “Very well, I’ll alert the contacts on the street to keep an eye out for him. If there are any sightings of such a man, I’ll let you know. Maybe we can get this Raven back, and your prize as well. By the way, if he did get the drop on you, as you said, how is it you are still alive to tell me this?”
“I used the turning-the-knife trick you taught me and managed to get my sword out. We were at a standoff, so we chatted for a bit. I was about to make my move when we were discovered. I took down the guard, and when I turned, he had gone.”
“Hmm, interesting.” Old Terni once again cast an appraising eye over Artemis, as if trying to see through him. “Very well, I have no more assignments for you today, you are free to go. I heard that Jerrie and Rumple were looking for you, might want to go see what they wanted.”


Jerrie and Rumple had been adopted off the streets when they were children. They had had no parents, nor memory of them, and had joined forces to survive before Terni had found them. Terni had named them, given them food, and they were in fact his first apprentices. Though they lacked the amount of natural skill that many of the others in the group had, they had trained long enough to be the equal or better of most of the others. Over time, they’re partnership had turned to deep friendship, then to love, until now it was almost impossible to find them separate, so much so that many in the group referred to them simply as Jerianrumple, all in one word. They had quickly become friends with Artemis, for they also delighted in the thrill of theft, rather than making money. Artemis found them on the second level of the guild hall, playing what appeared to be a game of King’s Cup, with betting chips substituted with vouchers for kisses.

“Ahem,” Artemis noisily coughed, as to interrupt what appeared to be the result of someone cashing in quite a few vouchers.
“Ah, there you are, Arty!” said Jerrie, disentangling himself from Rumple. “We were looking for you.”
“Yes, it looks like you were searching very hard,” chuckled Artemis, and he was struck yet again by how perfect a couple they were. Jerrie, a handsome man of about 24 years of age, stood at about 5 foot 10 and weighed about 140 pounds, with striking green eyes that always seemed to be laughing at life. Rumple was slightly shorter than Jerrie, about 5 foot 9, approximately, the same age, and weighed about 120 pounds. She had a nice figure, with light brown shoulder-length hair and eyes of a deep blue. However, it was not just that they looked good together, it was that they simply fit. Whenever anyone saw these two together, be it at meals, playing games, or on a job, one could tell that they belonged together. They could anticipate each other, and yet still surprise each other whenever they wanted to, so that they were as one, and yet the fire in the relationship was still burning brightly. I wonder if Raven and I could ever be that close…
“Uh oh, darling, it appears that young Artemis has acquired his 1000 yard stare again!” smirked Rumple. “You get the smelling salts and I’ll get a parchment to record his new ideas for target infiltration when he wakes up.”
“No, my love, this is a different stare. Unless my eyes deceived me, he was smiling, and he never smiles when thinking of new tricks.”
Embarrassed, Artemis turned his attention to the game in session so as to hide his expression. “Nonsense, Jerrie, I’m just letting my mind wander through the more outrageous of my schemes. Now then, what was it you two wanted to see me for?”
Jerrie and Rumple looked at each other and shrugged in unison. “We just wanted to see if you were available for a side job this afternoon,” said Rumple.
“Yeah, we heard there was going to be a noble’s caravan traveling through town late this afternoon, has something somewhat special with it,” continued Jerrie. “On one of one of the attendant’s fingers, there is a ring, said to be enchanted with enough magic to give any commoner enough dexterity to rival anyone in this guild. So we figure…”
“..what would it be able to do for one of the people in the guild?” finished Artemis.
“Right. Now, we only have one problem.”
“How do we get the ring off his finger?”
“Exactly. There’s no way he’d trust any of us long enough to give us the required time holding his hand to do a ring slip trick. You’re one of the best, but I doubt even you’d be able to pull it off in a simple handshake without getting noticed. So what do we do?”
Artemis began to think. He got his “1000 yard stare,” and he thought. And thought. Jerrie and Rumple knew better than to interrupt him while he was working over plans, but they grew bored, and resumed cashing in vouchers. Suddenly Artemis turned to them.
“You say you heard about this caravan coming? From where?”
“It’s all the news on the street, but we heard about the ring from a beggar,” replied Rumple. Artemis nodded. Beggars were usually the second most reliable source of information on the street, close behind the guild’s own dedicated information gatherers. The problem was, anyone could get any information from them, for a bit of silver.
“That’s good, that’s very, very good. Did he describe what this ring looks like?”
“Yes.”
“When will this caravan arrive?”
“Around midafternoon.”
“That doesn’t give us much time at all! If we want to do this, we’ll need supplies, fast!”


It being around the middle of summer, the sun was bright that day. Most of the people out in the town square, whether it be for buying, waiting to see the caravan roll in, or simply peoplewatching, were dressed in light clothing that still managed to protect most of their bodies from burning. Any who could afford them wore wide-brimmed hats, and it would be certain that any bird looking down upon the scene would have thought it quite confusing, as humans put objects that were similar in shape to mushrooms on their heads.
Artemis sat on a bench on the outskirts of the square, acting relaxed, but in truth eyeing the crowd carefully, waiting to get a hint of what was going to happen. Jerrie was over on the other side of the square, barely visible, and Rumple had walked into the city’s central pub to buy a bit of overpriced ale to quench her thirst. The caravan was a bit overdue when Rumple sauntered over to Artemis.

“How do you know that this will work?” she asked.
“Honestly, I don’t, but it’s the best hope we have, isn’t it?” he replied. She nodded.
“So, how was your ale?” he asked her in return, keeping up conversation to stave off boredom.
“Watered down, as always. They think customers can’t tell, but us “true connoisseurs” always know.” At this last bit Rumple threw in a snobbish air that Artemis couldn’t help but laugh at. “It’s odd, though. I’ve been in that pub many times over the past years, and they’ve never hired anyone outside the family to help with the work.”
“So?”
“Well, my ale was brought to me by a new person.”
“How do you know they weren’t part of the family?”
“You know how the Butterby family all have either very light blonde hair or very dark brown hair, depending on which side of the family you’re looking at?”
“Yeah.”
“This girl had the reddest hair I have ever seen.”
Artemis started, then stared at Rumple for a full ten seconds. Finally he burst out laughing. “So that’s the game, is it? I’ll be damned. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”
“Um, Arty?”
“Yeah Rumple?”
“Should I know what you’re talking about?”
“Nope.”
“Good. I’ll just head back over to Jerrie and wait for the caravan.”

They didn’t have long to wait at all, as the caravan rolled into the square only a few minutes later. The attendants began to mill about the square, buying, haggling, and generically doing things attendants do for nobles in marketplaces. However, one attendant, obviously the chief attendant, stayed next to the head wagon, ordering the others about when they needed it. On one finger there was a simple silver band with no markings on it whatsoever. Artemis saw this, and knew this was what everyone had come for. Time to go to work.


Finally, the caravan decides to show up, thought Raven, looking out. She had been busy all morning and afternoon, having begged the Butterbys to let her work there for a day, saying she was thinking of doing it for a living, but wanted to know what it was like first. She had served drinks, cleaned tables, and been called over and pinched more than once. However, the caravan was here, and that was about to make it all worthwhile.

Setting down her tray, she walked outside and spotted her mark. Slowly approaching him from behind, she began to act more like a barmaid than she had all day.

“Hello sir. May I interest you in some of this town’s finest ale?”
“Sorry, no,” he said, not even looking at her.
Coming around to the front, so that he COULD see her, and taking a light hold on the hand with the ring on it, she said, with a slight pout in her voice, “Oh, my, but you must be hot out here in the sun. Won’t you PLEASE come inside and share a nice drink with me? It will help cool you off.”
Clearly, now that he could see her, cooling off was the last thing on his mind. “Well, I…” he said, duty conflicting with desire for a little fun in his mind. He was fighting the internal battle so badly he didn’t even feel his ring start to come loose on his finger, Raven’s fingers continuing their practiced dance.
“I truly am sorry, my dear, but I do have a job to do, and I’ll get fired if I don’t do it properly,” he stated firmly but slightly longingly as he withdrew his hand from hers, not noticing it was now without a ring.
“Oh very well, I suppose if you must you must,” sighed Raven convincingly. “I’ll be here if you should ever stop by our town again.” With that, she turned and walked back towards the bar. When she was certain the attendant was no longer watching her, she turned and began to walk through the crowd on her way back to her guild. She knew that no casual observer would have caught the theft, but if the attendant missed it it would be best to be in a crowd to make her escape. It can be annoying though, when there are this many people to squeeze through. Ow! Ok, that one hurt. OW! Oh no! I dropped the ring! She looked on the ground frantically for it, and saw it about five feet away, lying in the dust. Just as she was about to go for it someone reached down and picked it up, then handed it to her.
“Your ring, miss,” the stranger said, his face partially covered by the hat, just as everyone else’s was.
“Thank you, kind sir. It was a gift from my father.”
“Just glad I could help. There are a lot of thieves in this city,” he said, patting her lightly on the back before turning and walking away. She sighed and began to walk back to her guild again. That was far too close. I almost lost the ring due to clumsiness. THAT would have been ironic. Just have to be more careful. And why, in Tahira’s name, does my back itch so much? Stepping into an alley, as scratching one’s back while walking in the middle of a street seemed a bit silly, Raven scratched her back where the strange man had patted it before, and found a note placed in the hem of her shirt. It read:

Dear Raven,
I just thought I’d give you fair warning before you presented the ring you now hold to your guildmaster. It is not the same ring you stole, just a plain, silver ring. I currently have the one you took, and am on my way back to my own guild hall. I do, however, give you full marks on your plan and execution. Your theft was perfect, and we only spotted it because we expected it. I’m sorry, my dear, although you have stolen my heart from me, you cannot have my ring.
Love,
Artemis

Raven didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. On one hand, she now had nothing to give to Lanthander, which was bad, as he had seemed to want this ring for the guild rather badly, but on the other this note seemed rife with tiny messages to her, messages that seemed to point to the fact that he held the same feelings for her that she held for him, even though her logical mind told her it made utterly no sense. She decided to focus on the latter, and resumed her walk back towards the guild hall with a smile on her face and her thoughts filled with Artemis.

At the other end of town, Artemis sat down, gave the ring to a jubilant Jerrie and Rumple to experiment with, and resumed his new favorite pastime, thinking of Raven.

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A/N: Looking for reviews as usual.