by Isabo Kelly
Outside, the city had begun preparing for Autumn’s End, a festival celebrating the end of harvest, the coming of winter, and the beginning of a new year. Citywide feasting and merriment, gaming and entertainment lasted for a week. On the final night, bonfires would light the streets, children would run around in costumes “banishing evil spirits”, and adults, in ghoulish masks, would gather into the streets to sing and dance in the new year.
Shopkeepers had begun decorating the fronts of their stores. Banners and ribbons hung from windows and balconies. Over every door, a harvest bundle of wheat, oats, and corncobs wrapped in raffia ensured a prosperous new year. The king would hold the official opening ceremony the following afternoon, and Autumn’s End would begin.
As she made her way to the Screeching Hawk, Vic watched with growing anticipation as trains of people filed into the city. Nearing Lower Market, she was forced to stop as several richly adorned carriages passed her on the street. Nobles from the surrounding provinces would be staying as guests of the king and queen during the festival. Vic’s fingers twitched at the thought of so many heavy purses flowing into her city.
Mar accosted Vic the minute she walked through the door of the Hawk. “What have you done to him?” she demanded.
“To who?” Vic took a step back, surprised by the woman’s venom.
“General Marin,” Mar hissed. “That’s who. What have you done?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vic guided the puffing barmaid back to the bar where Peggy stood grinning. Peggy was nearing her sixty-fifth year, making her a sort of matriarch to the patrons. She might move a bit slower than she once did, but age hadn’t dampened her wit or her wicked sense of humor.
“How can you say that?” Mar continued. “Marin’s been in here every night for the last week. And I’m giving him every opportunity for a little fun, but does he take it? Not so much as a pat on the butt. In fact, he’s not looked crooked at any of the girls. And that’s not like General Marin.”
Mar had apparently heard all the same rumors as Vic. “What makes you think that has anything to do with me?”
“Because when I can get him to talk beyond a few pleasantries, he’s always trying to find out about you.”
“Really?” Vic couldn’t hide her surprised grin.
“Yes, really. So what’s going on?”
“Nothing, Mar. We’ve a business arrangement. Hole business.”
“That’s a lovely cloak,” Peggy said. “New, isn’t it?”
Vic wrinkled her nose and nodded.
“There,” Mar declared, pointing at Vic but looking back at Peggy. “I told you there was something between the two of ’em.”
“How do you know the cloak is a gift, Mar?” Peggy said reasonably. “Maybe Vic bought it herself.”
“Yeah. Right.” Mar moved away from the two women in disgust as an early customer whistled for attention.
Peggy’s laugh turned suddenly serious when she looked at Vic. “Word’s on the street already. About last night.”
Vic nodded. “I thought it might be.”
“You all right?”
“Little cut on my arm. Other than that, I’m fine.”
“You killed the one. And Bagger will be laid up for months. Charlie’s demanded the Hole turn you over. He’s threatening a war.”
Vic dropped her head into her hands. “All this over a bloody gambling pot.”
“It was a big pot,” Peggy said matter-of-factly.
Vic groaned. She had to acknowledge, if only to herself, that it wasn’t the size of the pot that had gotten her into all this trouble, it was the size of her ego. She just had to get that third Devil’s High past Joe, didn’t she? Couldn’t have let well enough be. She sighed and looked at Peggy. What a mess.
“I think he’s more angry because you killed one of his men.”
“Well, what did he expect me to do? Let his thugs take me to who knows where and beat the life out of me? Did he really think I’d just let myself get ambushed?”
“Honey, I’ve not a single idea about what Big Charlie thinks. All I know is what he does. And right now, what he’s doing is threatening an all-out war with Thieves’ Hole.”
“Damn. Have you heard from Gip?”
“Matter of fact, he figured you’d show up here eventually, and he hoped you’d land here before the Hole. He says to stay in deep hiding for the next couple of weeks. Don’t come back to the Hole. He’s gonna tell Charlie he doesn’t know where you are, that he can’t find you. So you need to stay good and hidden. He also says to avoid every Hole member but Ren.”
“Why?”
“He knows Charlie found out you’re a woman and that’s how he tracked you down last night. He thinks maybe someone in the Hole is playing both sides.”
“Damn,” she breathed again. “Jacob said something like that last night, but I didn’t want to believe it was possible.”
Peggy raised a gray brow. “Jacob, is it?”
She grinned and her gaze danced away from Peggy’s knowing smile. “Hey, I was on my way to see him for business reasons. Just happened to be good hiding place after my fight.”
“Um hum.”
“Listen,” Vic quickly changed the subject, “I’d better get out of here so I don’t bring Charlie down on this place. He’s probably gonna have someone posted here for the next few weeks.”
“Oh, he’s already got someone here.” Peggy nodded to an unconscious lump in the far corner of the room.
Vic’s mouth dropped open. She snapped it closed and swallowed. “He’s not…”
“No. He’s alive. Just drugged. He won’t even remember. We’re gonna fix him up real nice in a room with one of the girls, so he won’t care that he can’t remember.”
“Peggy, you’re my hero.”
The older woman smiled pleasantly. “One last thing, honey. Gip says no spy work until this thing with Charlie’s handled. Jacob,” Peggy emphasized the name, “will either have to wait or find himself a new spy.”
“But he’s already paid half the fee.”
“Gip figures whatever you’ve got should cover what you found last night. Don’t frown at me, girl. I’m just giving you the message. You’re not to do a thing but hide until Gip tells you to come out. When he can, he’ll relay messages through Ren so you’ll know they’re clean. This place will be too hot for me to help you. He said you’d know where to meet Ren.”
“Yeah. We’ve got a spot.” With a deep breath that was almost a sigh, Vic said, “All right, Peggy. I guess I’ll see ya when the air clears. Stay good.”
“You, too, honey. Stay standing.”
As she started toward the door, Peggy called, “And if you see him, give our regards to the general.”
Out in the streets in the middle of the day, Vic suddenly felt exposed. She knew the city well, better even than others in the Hole. But Charlie had found her once. And now he knew she was a woman.
A train of white-and-gold carriages passed across the road two blocks from where she skulked in a doorway, and an idea turned up her grin. She sprinted through a labyrinth of side streets to Upper Market, only stopping long enough to pick up a few pouches of stashed money.
In a richly appointed Upper Market dress shop, she set down a small pile of gold kern for a new, hand-tailored gown. “I’ll need a hairdresser as well,” she told the head dressmaker, who, after seeing the easy way she laid down her gold kern, hurried to do her bidding.
The young apprentice fitting her for undergarments stared openly at Vic’s knives and her bandaged forearm, but said nothing. For all they knew, she was a high paid mercenary or bodyguard. And anyone with that much money and that many knives was best left alone.
While two ladies worked on fitting the dress she’d chosen, the thief decided to add a few new knives to her battery. She’d lost a good throwing dart last night, and with Charlie hunting her, it never hurt to have a few extras at hand. As the final stitching was completed, she sauntered out into the market to find a
weapons dealer. She returned to the dress shop with a second ankle dagger and two new throwing darts.
The requested hairdresser made a fuss over her thick curls and fawned over the length of her lashes. She pulled Vic’s hair up into a bun, leaving curling tendrils framing her face and neck. Then she proclaimed in loud terms that there wasn’t a more beautiful woman in all of Karasnia.
Vic listened with the air of someone used to being told such things, to maintain the illusion of wealth and power. People asked fewer questions if they thought you had wealth and power. Considering her weaponry and the wound on her arm, the fewer questions she was asked, the better.
Then she tried on her new dress and looked into the mirror. The dress was made of wine-colored velvet, pulled in snugly at her waist then opened down the front of a long, full skirt to reveal a silky cream underskirt. The sleeves loosely hugged her arms to below the elbow then more cream silk belled to hang just below her wrist, where it collected in a loose ruffle. The silk perfectly disguised her wrist dagger, but she’d have to practice drawing it with that ruffle in the way. The neckline was cut high at the back and low in the front, showing her curves to good effect. A disguised strip of extra material down the back helped hide the bulge of her neck dagger and covered the laces that crossed her back. The head seamstress was so eager to please, she’d even procured a pair of calf-high burgundy suede boots with just enough room for Vic to hide her calf daggers.
“It’s beautiful,” she said to the anxious dressmaker. “You’ve done a splendid job in so short a period of time. I may have to return for another.” The lady, a bigger woman than Vic by about three inches and forty pounds, bowed graciously. Bundling her old attire, Vic decided this had been worth the expense. Even knowing she was a woman, Charlie’s people would have a hard time recognizing her in this outfit. The gown was also the perfect disguise for something else she had to do. She gave the seamstress an additional gold kern for her hard work and strolled into Upper Market looking remarkably like a visiting noblewoman.
Chapter Seven
Jacob grinned at the young couple walking toward him. “Well, it’s about time you two got here,” he said. “Tiya, you look as remarkable as ever.” He took the young woman’s hand and kissed it gently.
He was, as ever, struck by her ethereal beauty. In the time since they’d first met, her hair had turned from golden blonde to near white, and her blue eyes had cleared to the color of the sky. But her smile remained the same. A smile that still had the power to speed his heartbeat.
Glancing sideways at the giant of a man with her, Jacob said, “You don’t look bad either, boy.”
“Thanks, old man.” Kevin smiled and slapped Jacob on the shoulder.
The acting Baron of Fordin, a former King’s Own himself, was ten years Jacob’s junior and one of the few men taller than Jacob. He was also one of the best friends Jacob had ever had.
“What do you mean ‘it’s about time we got here’?” Kevin asked through a half frown, his green eyes narrowing. “Autumn’s End doesn’t officially start until tomorrow.”
“Can you blame me for being anxious to see this lovely woman?” When Kevin’s scowl deepened, both Jacob and Tiya laughed. “Okay, so I was looking forward to seeing you, too, boy. How’s the barony?”
“Holding together nicely, thank you.”
The three stood talking in the middle of the King’s Own wing of the palace. Jacob had been on his way to meet Baron and Baroness Fordin after receiving word that they’d arrived. The couple had managed to find him first. “Tiya.” Jacob grinned at the young woman whose hand he still held. “How’s Merig?”
“The same,” she said. “Deeply involved in an old text from before the Ducal rebellion. He sends his best.”
Jacob looked back and forth between the two, trying not to grin. “And how’s the little one?”
Tiya beamed. “She’s wonderful. She’s sleeping in our suite now. You’ll come by later to meet her?”
“Of course. And she’s as lovely as her mother I’ve no doubt.”
“As a matter of fact,” Kevin said, “she has her mother’s hair and eyes, but she has my nose.” He grinned proudly.
“Well, that shouldn’t hurt her too much,” Jacob said with mock seriousness. Tiya coughed to hide her chuckle, but Kevin simply shook his head and smiled crookedly. Jacob let his suppressed grin out again. “Is her power under control?”
Tiya nodded. “One of the first things Merig taught me after she was born was how to shield her.”
“But,” Kevin added, “the instant she’s old enough, she’s learning how to control herself. Old man, you should have seen the damage she did to the nursery the first time she got hungry and we weren’t right there.”
“Babies are like that,” Jacob said diplomatically. “How does Aaron like his new cousin?”
“He thinks she’s too small to be very useful,” Tiya said. “But after she wrecked the nursery, he decided he might like having her around.”
“And Lady Badgen?”
“She’s doing very well. She misses you, however.”
Jacob raised his brows and tried to look innocent. “Me?”
Kevin snorted. Tiya nodded and said, “I believe her exact words were, ‘Please send that lovely Jacob Marin my regards.’ You were so kind to her after Edward…I think you’ve earned her admiration.”
Jacob was about to answer when a soft voice brought his attention around.
“Yes?”
He dropped Tiya’s hand and stared, open-mouthed. “Victoria? What are you... You’re wearing a dress.”
Vic grinned. “It’s new. You like?”
“Yeah, I like. How did you get in here?” He couldn’t look away from the startling beauty of his little thief.
“What? Are you kidding?” She snorted in a less-than-ladylike way. “With all these nobles moving in and out of this place? I just walked through the front door.”
“No one stopped you?”
“Oh, one rather handsome young guard stopped me. I looked at him with panic-stricken doe eyes and said, ‘My lady has requested I fetch this to her right away. And I’ve been away too long already. My lady gets very angry if I’m late.’” She fluttered her lashes and spoke in a higher, softer voice, her hands clutched around a small rose-colored vial.
“And that worked? He didn’t even ask who your lady was?” Jacob was caught between admiration for the thief and annoyance at his guard.
“He sent me along with a pat on my arm and a compassionate smile. So I guess it worked.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Did you get his name?”
“I don’t want him to get into trouble. It wasn’t his fault. I am very good at what I do.”
Her unblinking confidence almost made him smile. “How did you know where to find me?”
“I wandered a few corridors then asked the first guard I found. I said my lady had a message for General Marin and asked where I might find you.” She shrugged. “The guard found this an ordinary enough request.”
Jacob scowled back at Kevin when the young giant started to laugh loudly.
Tiya smiled, visibly struggling against her own chuckle.
“I’ll have to put more female guards in the front of the palace during these festivals,” Jacob mumbled.
“Oh, the guard that gave me directions was a woman,” Vic answered pleasantly.
“All right, little thief, I give. But I will talk to my guards after this. Now, did you break into the royal palace just to prove the vulnerability of the King’s Own or did you have a specific reason?”
She turned serious in an eye’s blink, and concern clenched his gut.
“Specific reason. Business,” she said, flicking a glance at the couple still watching their scene.
Jacob considered his friends a moment then decided against including them in the discussion. But at a raised brow from Tiya, he realized he hadn’t introduced the newcomer. “I’m sorry. Lady Tiya, Lord Kevin, may I introduce Victoria Flash. V
ictoria, Baron and Baroness Fordin.”
Vic’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She dropped into a deep and remarkably graceful curtsey. “My Lord Fordin, Lady Sorceress,” she said to their feet. “I’m honored.”
Kevin smiled and took her hand, raising her to her feet. She had to crane her neck to look into his face. He was nearly a foot and a half taller. “The pleasure is ours, Victoria,” he said.
Tiya took the young thief’s hand next, and when Vic would have bowed her head, Tiya took her chin, meeting her gaze. “It’s an honor to meet anyone who can cause Jacob so much trouble,” she said with a conspiratorial grin.
Vic swallowed visibly but smiled back.
“If you two wouldn’t mind,” Jacob said, taking her arm. “I do have to talk with Victoria in private. But I’ll call on you later?”
“Of course,” Tiya said. Her gaze flashed from the young woman to Jacob, then back again. “Good day, Victoria. I hope we’ll meet again soon.” Kevin took his wife’s arm, and they walked back toward the guest wing. Tiya glanced back once and smiled before continuing on.
Jacob watched them walk away then turned to look down at Vic. She was still staring wide-eyed after the retreating couple.
“I didn’t realize who you were talking to,” she breathed. “I wouldn’t have bothered you if I’d known.”
“They’ll be here for the rest of festival so we’ll have plenty of time to talk. What business?” Jacob said, leading her by the arm down the hall toward his rooms. The brush of velvet beneath his fingers made keeping his mind on business increasingly difficult.
“Has to do with last night,” she said, nearly whispering.
Jacob nodded, but didn’t question her further until they were in his sitting room. He offered her a seat on a settee by the window and sat next to her. “What’s happened?”
“Seems Big Charlie’s more upset about me killing one of his guys than I would have thought. He’s threatening an all-out war with the Hole unless they turn me over.”
A sudden surge of fear tightened Jacob’s throat. He took hold of her hands where they lay clenched around the rose vial in her lap. “The Hole’s not…” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.