Notes: 1) If you see this story anywhere but Literotica it isn't supposed to be there. 2) Because of shorter chapters, this is being posted in chunks.
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*Fifty-two*
Kwes tried not to laugh as one of the deserters thrust a bag of coins at Syreilla.
"You'll need money, Lady Rook."
"You'll need to cover your ears too." The other one swallowed and looked at the ground as she turned an offended look on the man. "I-Not-It's-"
"They'll attack you, Lady," the other one spoke earnestly.
"I know." Syreilla shook her head and sighed.
"She was a legendary thief when she was mortal," Kwes spoke up with a grin. "Lady Rook knows how to keep out of sight."
The one who had been stuttering, found his voice again, "If you-if you go to the right when you get in the gate Lady, those are the inns most people go to who want to join. They're cheap. Merchants and nobles go to the better inns on the left-hand side. It's-there's a market just inside the city gate and you have to go through to-"
"I remember. I've been here before. Can you still walk all the way to the temple if you keep out of sight?"
"No, Lady." He looked surprised. "There are gates and checkpoints."
"She's changed it since the last time my father and I robbed her temple!" Syreilla grinned and the deserters stared in disbelief. "This should be fun."
Kwes watched her peek into the purse and pull out a few coins, tossing them to the men.
"If you have to fall back on thievery again, don't kill anyone and
never
harm a child. Keep to that and put a feather in your pocket, I'll give you a little bit of luck. I don't expect you to become pious beggars, but you should learn to be better men or you'll have longer than you ever thought possible to regret it."
At her nod, both men bolted. He watched as she smiled at the little brown bird, "See what you can see," and sent it into the air.
"She'll do a little scouting for us and I'll help you as much as I can. You're going to need a distraction."
"Let's get inside and find a meal first." Kwes felt ready to get to work. "You can tell me about how you did this the last time as we make our way in."
She laughed and they stepped out of the tree cover and onto the road. "Last time I had to take a couple of runs at it. They had soldiers watching the streets from balconies but no checkpoints. I had to go up and over the rooftops. They still almost stopped me before I got to the puzzle temple. I like this place, it's a challenge." Her words rang true and he grinned.
Syreilla pulled her hair back making it look shorter and concealing her ears before she pulled a hood out of a pocket and donned it for good measure. He watched her kneel to adjust her boot and then rub her face. When she stood she tugged on her jacket and cloak adjusting their position and making herself look more like a young man than he expected her to be able to. Even her walk changed to a confident stride that looked masculine but still very natural.
"How long did you spend with our father? I don't think he taught me how to do that walk." He gave her a once over as she turned, grinning. Something about her seemed strange, as if she were lying without saying a word.
"I think he spent most of sixty years with me? But he had me learn from every good thief he could find too. I picked this up from a thief by the name of Daethra Vaylin. She used to cut my hair so that I could pass as a boy when I was too young to pass as a grown woman and then she taught me to pull up my hair so I could pass as either the way she did.
"A woman in work clothes gets noticed, a man doesn't. Sometimes you want to be a man to get into certain places or to pass unchallenged, and sometimes a woman can get into places easier. It's harder for a man to pass as a woman than it is for a woman to pass as a man. We had the advantage."
"I don't think I've ever heard of her."
"She was killed by a mage," Syreilla's brow furrowed, "well over a hundred years before you were born, Magpie. Everyone called her Vaylin the Knife, and she was quick with one if you crossed her, but not many knew she was a woman."
A stray thought escaped from his mouth, "I wonder if that was what they meant. They used to say, 'Don't take jobs for mages unless you're quicker than the knife.' I thought they meant don't take those jobs unless you're willing to risk getting killed instead of paid."
"Both I would think. It was a young mage that thought he could kill her instead of paying her. She was a friend and I took it personally."
He saw the flames in the depths of her eyes and nodded. There was no need to ask what had happened to the mage, he was sure he didn't want to know.
No one looked at them twice as they approached the gate and went into the market. Syreilla bought a handful of small dried sausages and happily tucked them into her pockets and he settled on some sort of buttery bread filled with gods only knew what and baked, purchased from a street vendor. Kwes bought two and gave her one.
They ate them as they made their way to the shabby inns on the right-hand side of the gate. He started toward one of the cleaner places but she grabbed his arm and steered him to the worst of them. Disreputable-looking men were loitering close to the door and he heard someone boasting about how many elves his brother had killed as they paid a few coppers to get a single room for both of them.
The floors were filthy as they were led to their room by a skinny boy of perhaps ten. Syreilla gave the child two coins and whispered in his ear before he left smiling.
"What did you say to him?"
"I sent him to get two of those bread things and told him to eat one himself. If he brings one back I'll split it with you."
"One was enough." Settling onto the bed he grinned at her, "To be clear, you're not going to drop me in a cell or-"
"That was Father, Magpie." She gave him an exasperated smile. "I do things differently."
"I want your word, you're going to let me steal these stones."
She broke into laughter and then inclined her head, "I give you my word, they're yours to steal. I'll be the distraction and keep her eye on me as much as I can. And to help you..." Syreilla gave him the coin back.
Kwes turned it over in his hand with a smile, knowing she meant it, "You're sure it should work now?"
"It will. Call for me if you need me, Magpie. I'll come, I promise you." The words rang true but he would have guessed as much, she'd come when he called and he hadn't had one of her sigils.
"It does look different, but..." He looked at it more closely. "You added a wreath and the hammer is blackened?"
"That's my dwarven banner. It should be blue, and the wreath green, but leaving the coin mostly without color makes it easier for people to see just a normal coin. The important part of it is the feather. That is my sigil."
He grinned at her, "The feather in the picture is the sigil and not the hammer and wreath? You can do that?"
"Why not? I have a feeling your daughter might turn the feather I gave her into a bracelet. The feather is what's important, the form or the designs with it can vary as far as I'm concerned." Syreilla laughed as he put on a thoughtful expression.
"It would be easier for her to carry around, not everyone sticks things down their fronts like you do."
"You can steal a bracelet off of someone's wrist, you'd have a more difficult time reaching your hand down my front."
"I'd call you dwarvish but I don't think they'd have two husbands and share a bed with both at once." Kwes tucked his coin away as she shrugged.
