Lawful Good Thief
Page 9
"It'll be ok. This is my bodyguard. He can be trusted. I'm going to go talk to my father. Please don't mention this visit to anyone."
"Um." He sounded doubtful.
"Don't worry. My father will agree."
Angela led Corishm below. She could hear the arguing and winced.
"I still don't understand why you left her there to begin with!" her father shouted.
"I didn't have a choice!" Jamil shouted back.
Corishm grabbed her hand as she went for the latch. "We could just grab your stuff and go. The night watch won't realize what's happened until after we're long gone."
She shrugged and shook her head, opening the door. She stepped inside. Her father, Jamil, and Jayden were standing near the table arguing. "Hello, Father." She smiled winningly. "There are some things I've wanted to tell you before and couldn't."
Her father suddenly had that age-old speechless expression every parent gets at least once - that of being thrilled to find his child safe, while being furious at his child's behavior.
Jamil kept his wits, though. "Please tell me you did not just break out of the dungeon!?"
"Hardly," she replied. "That would have been suicide. I merely explained my side of the story and the guildmaster let me go."
At Jamil's incredulous stare, Corishm added, "It's true. I was there." All thieves were liars. She silently rained blessings on Corishm.
"And who the hell are you?" Jayden turned on Corishm.
"He's my bodyguard," Angela explained readily. "I promised Stevenson and Jamil I'd have an escort if I left the ship at night again. Jamil was with me until I reached my destination and this man was kind enough to bring me back here." This caused Jamil to turn purple.
"Please tell me you aren't a thief," her father begged Angela.
"I'm a guildmember - some are thieves and assassins. I'm an expeditor of sorts, more of an administrator of late. I know you want me to be a lady, all refined and the like, but I'm not."
"You aren't a guildmember anymore. I won't allow it."
"I don't need your permission. I belong to the Guild and have for a long time. I had to do something. We were starving! You promised you'd come back and you didn't. You stopped sending money. The Guild gave me a job."
"Crime isn't a job!"
"I tried working at the docks helping with the fish hauls. I came home smelling like I'd washed up on shore dead and I was only given one copper for a week of labor. It wasn't enough for food. Mother tried making dresses, but that depended on ladies of wealth coming through town and that didn't happen frequently enough. The day I brought home the first coins from the Guild, she had been considering prostitution. I couldn't allow that."
"She would never! I know her!"
"Yes, she would have. Oh, she wouldn't have accepted coins from thieving. She would have become a whore first - that's at least honest work. So I lied about the money. I said the school teacher gave me things to do."
"And I bet you think I should be happy you at least went to school?"
She exhaled sharply, knowing her words were causing pain. "School? I went to one day of school. They wanted coins for books and supplies. Coins we didn't have. Everything I know - all the reading, the languages, everything, I learned in the Guild."
"Well, that's all in the past now. I'm your father and you are done with that life. I'll provide for you now." He turned to Corishm. "You can go. She'll have nothing to do with any of you ever again."
Corishm merely crossed his arms and shrugged. Corishm and Jamil exchanged glances. They knew it wasn't that simple, even if Angela did want to leave the Guild, but the intricacies of Guild laws, apprenticeship and geases, and politics were not generally discussed with non-members.
"I don't need a father. Or a provider. Or whatever else you want to be that tries to dictate my life. I'm leaving the ship and going home - that's Merryweather, not here. Jamil, you explain it to him. I'm done." She turned and strode out of the room. Corishm followed.
"Quickly," she whispered, "He'll give chase and I want all my things." She dug through her cabin, roughly throwing the silks aside, briefly lamenting the outfit she would not have. She tossed all but the dagger and poisons into her pillowcase, now a makeshift sack. It bulged with the charts. She lashed the dagger and small box containing the poisons to her waist.
Her father arrived midway through this packing, watching silently. Jamil stood behind him. When she was done and stepped back into the drawing room, he said, "You don't have to leave. I'll take you to Merryweather, if you really want to go there. It's wrong of me to not accept you for who you are. This is just not what I envisioned. I'll adjust. You need to give me a chance to learn who you really are. Give us a chance."
Her heart wrenched. The lost child in her wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and have the father she'd always dreamed about. She had responsibilities though and another father to protect. "Merryweather is blockaded by sea. You should wait at least six months before you sail there. I'm going by land. I'll also be better protected if you and the crew never mention seeing me tonight. It's better if everyone thinks I'm still trapped in the dungeon."
He winced. "Take Jamil with you, then. He's been my friend for a long time and has defended my back more often than I can count."
Angela knew she'd likely need the extra fighter and nodded. She said to Jamil, "Get your things. We leave immediately."
* * * * *
After a brief delay, Jamil joined Corishm and Angela on the pier. He glanced around, "Where is she?" Jamil couldn't believe he'd let Jason talk him into this.
"I'm here," whispered Angela, "I'm wearing a ring of disguise. Show us the way, Corishm?"
Corishm did not hesitate. He spun and stepped briskly along the dock. Jamil was forced to jog to catch up with them. All three slid into the shadows as soon as they reached the buildings, weaving through a mix of narrow alleyways and dark street crossings. They arrived at a stable.
Jamil could barely hear Corishm when he leaned close to Angela and breathed, "Lord Behr only planned for us. The two farthest horses are ours. We'd likely be pursued if we took another. If we wait until dawn, we could buy one if you want."
"Lady Thomas will ride with me," Jamil offered quickly, his hushed voice sounding unnaturally loud by comparison. The last thing he wanted to do was steal anything, let alone something as valuable as a horse. The owner would surely track them. While Angela may think that being a guildmember was merely a job, he knew that most thieves were killed outright when caught with no potential for mercy.
Infuriatingly, Corishm looked at Angela to confirm this. At her nod, he proceeded to saddle the horses. Corishm also went back into the tack room and came out with saddlebags. Jamil took one and its weight confirmed that it was fully loaded. Jamil secured it to the saddle. After some shuffling, Corishm took Jamil's and Angela's gear to more equally distribute the weight. In silence, they mounted. It was obvious that Angela had never ridden before. He pulled her back into his chest to balance her.
Jamil directed his horse to follow Corishm's and they left the safety of the town, heading southward into the night. In another fifteen days, the moon would be full, but for now, the half-moon barely shed enough light to see the dirt road. The dense trees, full with summer leaves, made the road even darker. He wished he were back on the ship, not riding toward a life he had left behind many years ago.
It was unfair of Jason to ask this of him, and stupid of him to agree to it. The girl riding with him was a sworn, likely geased, Guildmaster's apprentice, and Jamil knew the Guild's atrocities intimately. Once he knew she was an apprentice, he also knew that she must have had a hand in sinking that ship. Jamil had tried to explain, but Jason had insisted that a child raised by Amy had to be inherently good and any misfortune was merely accident or self-defense. Jamil's objections had finally succumbed to Jason's pleading eyes, 'You're the only gift it seems I can give my daughter. Please, for Amy, for me. You know that life. Rescue her?' Even i
f he convinced her to leave the Guild, that geas was a problem. How was he to save a geased apprentice from the Guild when he had barely been able to save himself? And now he was headed back into it.
They rode through dawn and as the heat of the day started to rise, Angela removed the ring and returned to her own body. And how had she gotten that ring, Jamil wondered. He knew Guildmaster de Behr had one; it was one of the things he was famous for. The value for such an item was incalculable. For someone who claimed to be just shy of starving due to a lack of coins, she certainly had a remarkable bit of wealth. She apparently even had enough coins to afford a hired bodyguard, horse, and traveling supplies. The story didn't ring true. He gritted his teeth at the pun and tried not to think about his legs that were starting to ache. He hadn't traveled by horse in many years.
In front of him, Angela shifted, leaned forward slightly, and called out, "Are you on night-hours, Corishm?"
Corishm looked back over his shoulder, yawning, "I'm on whatever hours you want to keep, Milady."
She muttered to herself, "That didn't answer the question." Then, louder, she said, "We stop here then."
Corishm halted his horse and Jamil had to rein in his lest he run into the back of Corishm's.
"Is there a trick to getting off this beast?" she asked Jamil.
Corishm appeared at their side and lifted her off. She wobbled and grabbed the saddle. "Oww. Will I ever walk right again?" She stretched her legs and stumbled away from the horse, not expecting an answer.
Jamil swung his leg over and dropped off the horse, too, equally sore.
"I'll pick a spot off the road for camp," Jamil said.
Angela nodded at him. "I'm going to go find a suitable bush." She hobbled off in search of a spot to relieve herself.
Jamil began to survey the surrounding area. It suddenly occurred to him that he'd seen Corishm before. "Weren't you in the group of men who took Lady Thomas to the dungeon?" In other words, one of Guildmaster de Behr's apprentices.
Corishm paused from digging around in one of the satchels. "I thought you recognized me back on that ship." He went back to rummaging in the bag. "How long have you been an independent?" He gave up trying to free the groundcloth from the bag and just dumped the contents on the ground. He reached for the other saddlebag.
"I haven't been in the business for many years now." Jamil decided on a likely location, off the side of the road but not too far. "We'll set up over there."
"If she says we do. It's her party." Corishm dumped the other bag onto the pile for the first. Jamil saw that the gear was of the finest quality.
Angela returned. "That's a fine choice of camps, Jamil." She glanced at the pile of gear. "That'll never repack." She grabbed the groundcloths and took them over to the grassy area Jamil had selected and shook them out.
Jamil retrieved his pack and pulled out his blanket. In the heat of the day, it was more to keep the bugs off. They propped up their two tarps for shade.
When they sat down for food, a dried fruit and granola mix, Jamil discovered he had forgotten dishes. To his embarrassment, Angela quickly said they'd make do with two sets.
After some arguing, Jamil took first watch, Angela second, and Corishm third. Midwatch was always the worst because it interrupted the sleep cycle. Neither Corishm or Jamil was happy with that arrangement, but Angela merely reiterated that it was her party. "Wake us if it looks like trouble," she told Jamil.
Jamil took the sword Jason had shoved into his hand as he left the ship and began sharpening it. He looked over at the sleeping pair occasionally. How much did Jason really know about his daughter? It could have all been lies, from the very first word. If she hadn't looked and sounded so much like Amy and Jason, he would have wondered if she truly was his friend's daughter.
About an hour into watch, Angela started thrashing about and sat up, terror and bewilderment apparent in her eyes for a moment before she fully woke up. When Jamil moved to get up and come over, she shook her head and waved to him reassuringly and lay back down, rolling to face away from him. He was far from reassured. He himself expected to have nightmares with recent activities dredging up old, foul memories. Maybe, though, just maybe, if she was able to have nightmares, her soul was not lost to the Guild?
When he went over to wake her, she merely opened her eyes and sat up before he even touched her. Her eyes were red and puffy. Had she actually slept at all? Jamil lay down on his blanket, rolling his cloak up under his head as a pillow and tried not to think.
Early into Angela's watch, she heard horses. She put on De Behr's ring and waited, not waking Corishm or Jamil. They were, after all, close to Behr, and it was mid-afternoon. Four riders passed and while she waved a greeting at them, they did not stop or show any unnatural curiosity or interest.
As the days passed, they settled into a routine, each taking on a fair share of necessary tasks. Traveling at night, they let their eyes adjust to the darkness and trusted the horses' night vision. During the days, they started to pick camping areas that were farther from the road and where they would not be observed by travelers. They either skirted or slipped through several small farming settlements without disturbing the residents.
* * * * *
Corishm and Angela rarely spoke and never volunteered any information about themselves as they rode. Jamil found he missed his fellow sailors more than he ever thought he would.
As he spent more time with Angela, he began to sense her underlying fatigue and realized her silence was caused by increasing apprehension. Not one of his shifts went by that she didn't have nightmares, sometimes crying out, and always waking up. While Corishm never mentioned it, Jamil thought she probably did the same on his shift. Jamil began to realize Jason was right - his daughter needed to be rescued. She was just a terrified little girl bravely trying to do what she had to.
He went to wake her for her shift. "I'm not completely tired yet. Let's talk for a bit, eh?" Jamil suggested.
She gestured toward a spot far enough away from Corishm that they wouldn't disturb him. After they sat, she peered at him inquiringly.
"You know I stopped being a thief a long time ago."
"But you were Guild at one point. I saw your tattoo while you were washing your shirt yesterday."
"Yes, but I couldn't take it anymore." Jamil thought about the best way to explain she needed to leave the Guild. He settled for bluntness, "The Guild's not good for you."
She didn't reply and stared back blankly. The set of her shoulders and her body language implied she wished he'd shut up and go away.
Jamil ignored this, thinking instead of her nightmares and silent desperation, and continued explaining, "Every horrible, hateful thing happens to you, every bad thing you've ever done, every embarrassment you've ever suffered, it all weighs down on you, crushing what's left of the innocent child that used to exist, extinguishing every joy you might try to experience."
She looked away, presumably at some sound down the road he hadn't perceived.
Jamil kept talking. "I wanted to be free again. I wanted to go skip rocks across the water and delight in the simplicity of watching the rings. I wanted to go look into the eyes of a beautiful maiden and feel worthy of her love. I couldn't do that in the Guild. I hated myself and what I'd become." He picked at a stick. "I didn't want to live like that. Your father showed me that I didn't have to." He snapped the stick and threw it. "Change is tough. It doesn't happen overnight and your routine and reactions are habit and need to be different, but I tell you, it makes for a much happier, much better life. And it can be done. Your father loves you and he just wants joy for you. You can let him help, too."
Not looking back at him, she said harshly, "You should get some sleep. We've another long night of riding ahead and we need to be more wary as we're passing closer to Vrolt territory."
"All right, I will, but remember that you can create your own life. You have other options besides the Guild. And you don't have to go at things alone, either."
* * * * *
During the next week, they passed a small family stopping for the night on the side of the road. The family eyed them warily and even their young boy had been awakened and was holding a small dagger. Angela, again wearing her ring of disguise that she'd put on the moment they'd spotted the firelight in the distance, merely nodded and made no threatening gestures. They rode past without stopping.
Angela wondered if her mother, equally young when her grandparents had moved out to the farm, had been given a dagger as a last defense should anything get past her parents. How had her mother made the journey back to town alone? They frequently heard wolves howling in the dark and sometimes large creatures, perhaps bears, tearing through the brush. All three of them carried their weapons drawn at all times now.
Two nights later, they were thankful to have had their weapons ready. Out of the darkness sprang five large wolves in a coordinated attack. Two each sprang at the horses and riders, while the fifth launched itself into the horses' path. The horses reared up and Angela tumbled sideways and off, rolling. Jamil reached for her but missed and thus distracted, was pushed off the horse by the other attacking wolf. Jamil and the wolf landed on the ground with a thud, the wolf on top. Jamil hacked at it with his sword.
Corishm stabbed the one that came at him and it fell back with a howl, running off. The horses were not so lucky. The other two wolves tore at the horses' legs. Squealing in terror and pain, both horses went down. Corishm leapt free. Angela ran toward the one attacking Jamil's horse and threw her dagger into the base of its skull. She didn't slow as she jumped over it, pulling out her dagger and throwing it with deadly accuracy at the lead wolf that was now also ripping at Corishm's horse. Corishm joined her and they made short work of the other wolf at his horse. Jamil shoved the now dead wolf off himself.
"Are you hurt?" Angela asked, walking back to Jamil, and offering him her hand to pull him up.