Thieves' Race

by Isaac Padgett

  "Shadowman?" I muttered to myself curiously, "I wonder.... No, it's not possible." I shook my head and walked beside Elroy. Like he said, this would be just like old times. Me, him, a mark, and a whole lot of excitement. And a splash of confusion, I guess.

  We reached the outskirts of the city, and I looked back, trying to find Elroy's house. Aether was there...and I was leaving her once again. Sighing, I turned and vowed I would never look back again. It was over. She'd be better off this way anyway.

  Aether

  I had to admit, while it was a bit expensive, the new bag was a lot better than any I had seen before. It had dozens of tiny pockets that could be buttoned closed, and the leather was of exceptional quality. It was a dark brown, almost so that it looked black and fit me snugly, having been tailored down to my size.

  It held all my food and a change of clothes, which I hoped would be enough for all that we had to do. Since then, I had been waiting around the hideout for Victoria to return.

  A few of the boys kept shooting glances at me, obviously curious about this stranger who had entered their area.

  A few of them even ventured close enough to ask my name, which I told them honestly. That seemed to satisfy some, but others, who seemed to know about the relationship between Jack and me, just got even more curious.

  Luckily, I didn't have to fend them off for long before Victoria came barging in through the door. They all scattered to do the things they were supposed to be doing instead of staring at me.

  "Good, you're here. I thought I'd have to go searching for you. Do you have food? Even better. I got some word that Jack and Elroy left town a few days ago, two, maybe three at the most. And they left on foot for some reason, so we'll be able to catch up easily enough on horseback. You have a horse?"

  I shook my head, "And I kinda doubt I have enough for one. Horses run pretty expensively, and I only got so much. Unless you're willing to spot me the coin for a horse, we'll be walking as well."

  Victoria stared hard at me for a moment, "Benny....screw it, never mind. We'll walk, I guess. I hope you can walk fast, girl; I don't have time to be held up. We have to catch up with them before they get where they are going, or else I'm screwed."

  "Why? Where are they going that we have to beat them to it? Is he taking Jack somewhere to hurt him?"

  She shook her head, "Kinda. I don't know. I honestly have no idea what he's going to do, which is why I'm worried. I don't want anything to happen to him; I couldn't live with myself otherwise."

  For some reason, part of me wasn't so sure about her explanation. There was too much of a hesitation, too much of a pause where she wouldn't meet my eyes. My gut told me not to trust her in this that she knew exactly where they were going and what they were going to be doing there. But why would she hide it? Was it something that bad?

  "So....are we going to be leaving anytime soon? I have everything I need to be leaving with me, so whenever you're ready to leave, we can go."

  She grunted, eyes still searching around the room, "You sure you can't afford....never mind, you have more at stake here than I do, that's for sure. So walking it is. Fine, let me just grab a few sets of clothes, and we'll be off."

  "No idea how far we're going? I only have one change of clothes and food for about a week." I grabbed the top of my bag and lifted it. It wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be, as stuffed full as it was.

  "My source said that Elroy seemed packed for a four or five-day journey, so hopefully, this will all be over before the week is out. If not, I've always been able to live off the streets. The woods can't be that much different."

  I didn't know about that. When I was with Jack, hunting and trapping seemed so easy; we were catching food left and right. But on my own, all that seemed to change. Living on the streets is one thing, but you don't have people throwing out food and giving money to beggars in the woods. It was all nature, and nature was probably the harshest mistress of all.

  I wasn't about to start arguing with her now, though. If she thought she'd be able to forage in the wild, I would let her try. Who knows, maybe she would be good at it. Better than I was, anyway.

  She disappeared into her room and returned with a bag of her own. Nodding to me, she walked to the center of the room and cleared her throat. Faster than I could think, the room was dead silent. Every person who had been rushing about had frozen in their tracks to hear what she had to say.

  "As some of you may know, I've been running things around here. For the next week or so, I'm going to be going after an old friend and won't be around much. I wouldn't leave if it wasn't drastic and if I didn't think you guys could handle a week on your own. Lord knows, we all spent plenty of time alone. You all know what to do and what needs to be done. Just do it. Make sure the place is still running when I get back, or there will be some major problems. Everyone understand?"

  When everyone nodded, she smiled, "Good. Now get back to work; I'll see you all in a week or so."

  Business continued as usual, though a few of the thieves looked worried and kept shooting glances over at us. Victoria grabbed my arm, "If you're ready, we should be going. As I said, we have a ways to go to try to catch up with them."

  She left, and I followed after, though I soon passed her. This time it was she who had to keep up with me as I hurried to find the one person I would travel across the world to be with and protect even if he didn't want me to.

  15

  Jack

  The first day turned out pleasant enough, with a few clouds for shade and a nice breeze to cool us off. The second day was blazing hot, and not a tree in sight to rest under. I could feel my skin burning from the sun and wished only for water.

  On the third day, my wish was granted, though far too much. They say be careful what you wish for. I woke to water splashing in my face just as it started to pour down in rivers.

  Elroy shouted over the roar of the wind and rain, "Come on, we still have to keep going! Maybe we will hit the edge, but we can't just stop!"

  I nodded, trying to shake the water out of my eyes, and made sure my bag was sealed tight. It wouldn't keep all the water out, but hopefully, most of the food would make it through. It was all wrapped up nicely in wax paper, though that would only do so much.

  Rain was practically going sideways, hitting hard enough to sting against our faces and arms. I saw Elroy close his eyes and turn away at least a dozen times, trying to protect his eyes.

  I had the same problem, though I found that by ripping a piece of my shirt gave me a strip of cloth thin enough to see faintly through it but offered meager protection. It wasn't like I could see much in the rain anyway, so this gave me some small comfort.

  After watching him suffer for a few minutes, I got his attention and showed him what I had done. The moment he realized what it was for, he sighed with relief, "Smart idea, Jacky boy!" He ripped his own shirt, one that probably cost the same as at least ten of mine, and did likewise. Together, we bent into the rain and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

  The mud sucked at our feet, almost as if it were alive, and wanted to hold us there, bringing flashbacks of another time nature tried to hold me down.

  "Elroy, we're going to have to find shelter of some kind!" I shouted, trying to be heard, "This water is just getting colder. We'll freeze or start getting hit by hail if we stay out here much longer!"

  He looked as if he were about to argue and then got hit by the first piece of hail. It was small, about the size of a pea, but it still fell with enough force to draw a pinprick of blood.

  "Fine!" He shouted back, wincing from the sting, "Find us a place, and quickly! Hopefully, this storm will pass over soon!"

  I knew it wouldn't but didn't say anything. Instead, I started looking for a particular tree. I didn't' know what it was called, but I had slept in it many times before.

  "Found it!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulder and hauling him towards the tree. It was large and looked normal enough until you looked up. The branches
at the very top were woven so close together; it was a roof, the leaves shedding the water and the branches below them offering support. Nothing but the largest of hailstones would get through.

  Where the branches first started, though, they were also close together, though in bunches of three or four, making these little nest holes. While not the most comfortable places, they would keep us off the ground, dry, and safe.

  I pointed these places out to Elroy and almost laughed at the hopeful look in his eyes.

  I helped him up into the tree and then followed soon after. After checking to make sure there weren't other critters already hiding there, I settled in to take a nap.

  "What in the blazes are you doing? You can't sleep!" The sound of the storm was muted by the branches, so his yell was loud enough we both winced.

  "I've been through storms like this before. It's going to last well into the night. It would be pointless to try to do anything about it. Just get some sleep; we'll start again tomorrow. We'll be a day later, but if we tighten our belts, we should be fine. There's no point in complaining, nothing we can do about it, Elroy."

  He glared at me before sighing angrily, "If you're right, then I guess not. Damn it all, though. This had to happen, today of all days. We'll have to try to make up the lost time on the road; this needs to be done and over with."

  I turned and looked at him, "Why is it so important that it can't wait a day?"

  He shook his head, "Let's just say, my life is on the line here, Jack. My life and my soul, I think. And we have to get there while the Master of the house is still out with his hunting party. Otherwise, our job will be a whole helluva lot harder."

  He grumbled for a while before drifting off into an uneasy sleep. I lay there, staring up at the canopy above, and listened to the rain beating its way down to the earth. It was peaceful at that moment, so relaxed, I hoped it would never end.

  I found myself breaking my promise to myself, looking back the way we came and wondering if Aether was being treated well at Elroy's house.

  Aether

  I thought for sure once the hail started, Victoria would let us take a break. I was wrong, however. In response to my request, she took out two stiff plates of leather, "Hold this over your head; it will keep you from being brained by the bigger chunks. Other than that, we have to keep moving. I don't know if Elroy will stop, and we have to make better time than them."

  I grumbled, "You still haven't given me a good reason as to why. You just say you're worried, but not about what. What are you so worried about? What is it you think Elroy wants Jack for?"

  She looked back at me, or at least, that's what it looked like through the pouring rain and hailstones, "All I know is that Elroy wanted Jack for some job he had to do. Something old that he was supposed to get done a long time ago. That's why he's rushing this so much; he seems to be far past a deadline of some sort."

  "Deadline? For what, do you think?" Victoria already seemed to know more than she had said she did, so I guessed she knew everything. If I could get her to reveal it little by little, she might not even realize what was happening.

  She glanced over at me again, "I don't know. I told you that before. I just know what my eyes and ears could get to me, and they didn't have much time to gather information. Why all this interest? We just need to get there and get Jack. Then you two can go on and be together or whatever it is you guys have planned."

  The bitterness in her voice was impossible to mask completely, and for half a moment, I felt sorry. And then I remembered it wasn't me stealing Jack from her, just taking back what had always been mine.

  "Whatever. But must we persist in this weather?" I practically pleaded, feeling yet another rap against the leather plate above me as more and more hailstones started to fall.

  She shook her head, feet still plodding on, "I told you, we can't afford to take a break. If there is a chance that Elroy and Jack are still walking, we can't risk it. They already have a lead on us; if we let that lead grow any larger, we'll lose any hope we have of getting there in time."

  I sighed. Getting there in time for what? Every step I took, every word I heard from Victoria made me worry more that there was something going on here that I didn't understand. And that something could be the difference between life and death, for more than just me.

  And a small part of me was afraid that this whole situation involved more than just me and Jack. Something about it made it seem like a whole lot more was at risk, like the fate of the world, or some such thing. And I'd learned over the year Jack had been gone to trust my gut.

  I heaved a breath out and murmured, "Jack, whatever you do, watch your back."

  Jack

  The storm was gone by the following day, having passed sometime in the night. I was awake long before Elroy even began to stir, but I didn't bother to wake him. With him trying to rush us in the storm, I felt making him a tad late would be just revenge.

  Elroy wasn't used to sleeping in these trees, so he had the reaction most people had their first time. And that was, upon awakening, almost rolling straight out of the branches. Usually, that wouldn't be too bad, but the side he had chosen in the night was one that hugged a steep hillside. He would have tumbled down amongst rocks and brambles and been torn to pieces.

  Luckily, or not as it were, he caught himself in time and stared down towards the ground, "Why the hell did I let you talk me into this?" He grumbled aloud before trying to pick his way across back to my side of the tree.

  "Because otherwise, you'd have been brained by a chunk of ice along the way. Admit it; stopping was the smart idea."

  He grumbled, "I'm not gonna admit anything. But we need to go; I slept in too late." I grinned but kept my mouth shut—no need to push his buttons any more than our delay had already pushed them.

  The ground was still basically mud with a few rocks and dirt mixed in. It sucked down our feet, though not as bad as the day before. This time it was bearable, if only just.

  I felt a cold breeze across the back of my neck and heard....well I didn't hear anything, but it almost sounded like someone whispered, "Hurry."

  Elroy's face went whiter than snow, and he yelled at me to get moving. I didn't know if it had to do with the voice I had thought I'd heard or if he just realized how much time we had lost. Either way, he was acting a lot stiffer and pressured. I had to wonder what exactly it was that drove him to do what he did.

  He wasn't acting like he used to before a heist. Back in the day, he would get calm, collected, and a little bit excited. Now he just seemed afraid and rushed. He was driven, really.

  "Elroy," I stopped at the base of the tree, waiting, "What's driving you so hard? Who has a hold on you that's making you so desperate?"

  He looked at me with nothing but surprise, "I... No one! I'm my own man! No one has any sort of hold on me! Now get moving, or I kill you, and Aether dies with you!"

  I held up my hands and started to walk back towards the path but continued to speak, "I know you, mate. We've been together a long time, and I know how you are and think. Something is wrong.... I just don't know what."

  He walked beside me, pace set quickly, "I.... I just need to get this done, and it'll be fine. Once we finish the job, I won't owe anybody anything, and I'll be safe. We'll be safe. For a while, at least."

  I nodded, quiet for a good quarter of a mile, "This thing we're stealing... Do you think it will have an effect on people's lives? You think that...whatever it is, will hurt people?"

  His face closed, and I knew he wouldn't give anything else, "I don't really care, as long as I ain't the one getting hurt. Move it, now." He shoved me in the back, snapping my head back.

  "I'm walking; I'm walking. I just wanted to know. Is that such a crime?" My query was met with silence, so silence it was. We walked miles that day without a word being uttered, though I grunted as I rubbed my neck. Night fell, but Elroy drove us hours past the fall of the sun.

  When we finally settled down to sleep, Elroy seemed mo
re relaxed, "We should reach the outskirts of his manor sometime tomorrow, midday. You should prepare yourself for the heist for tomorrow night. Then, this will all be over; you have my word."

  I nodded and started to unroll my bedroll, "Right. Get this done with, and we're done. Finished. Me and you will never see each other again, hopefully."

  "Jack..." He began softly, and I looked over at him, "When I told you I didn't know what we were stealing, I lied to you. I know a little bit about what it is. What I know is that it's a weapon of some sort. I'm not sure of what kind, but it's supposed to be something that will help my... the person who hired me in some war he has planned. That's all I know, honest."