2. Chapter 2:
Chapter 2:
Once I got to my hovel, I realised that I needed to find out what the key was for. The symbol on the box told me that it must b something rather valuable, and so I made sure not to tell the two other thieves I shared the hovel with about it. I had never trusted them, and any mone I made was ultimately going to end up paying for my debts to them. I made sure to keep the key on me at all times, and hid the box by burying it underground.
I forced myself to go to sleep, the rush I felt from the heist and the discovery keeping me twisting and turning in my bed, the undercurrent of fear and speculation stopping my mind from going to rest.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than the other two, and tried to figure out what the key was the key for. My Team leader stopped my as I stepped onto the street. She was a large, burly woman who had been thieving with the guild for twenty or so years, She was apparently the best pickpocket in the entirety of the town, and was always mumbling something under her breath about not being able to move up the organisation because the 'old sods' at the top just refused to die. Her name was Quell. She scared me, especially when she got angry but even more when she seemed too friendly. Today, she seemed too friendly.
"Hello Stuvlok. Up early, are you?" , she said, looking quizzically into my eyes. "Yes, ma'am," I whispered, hoping that She had not found out about anything I had done yesterday. "We've received news that Welk has lost something of his. He has asked every petty thief to look for it. The winning thief gets an upgrade to his team's residences so there is a lot in it for us." She said, beaming. Her smile was crooked, and I rarely saw it. She had once told me that she fell roughly seven storeys once when burgling a house, and broke most of her teeth. She had to get an apothecarist to glue her bones together with Gordola Sap. "Thank you ma'am, I'll look for it. What is it exactly?" I tried to add a note of confusion into my voice, to seem more clueless than I actually was, but I was never an actor, so I doubt that it would have helped. "Well, it is apparently the key to the Central vault. Very Important as you will see. Welk says that he has put the servant of his that lost it to death, So it must be pretty neccesary!" She laughed. I found it vile to laugh at someone's death, but I managed to keep my mouth closed. "Well, get on then." The stern look had returned to her eyes, and I scampered off into the forest of winding paths that was the town of Darnaan.
I tried to contain my excitement. I now knew what the key was for, and I knew where the vault was (I had once visited it during my tour of the guild headquarters) and so was confident that I was going to be able to get what I needed. I arrived at the headquarters, subtly disguised beneath an otherwise ordinary blacksmith's shop. I entered, using the secret wink to gain entry and crawled down a narrow tunnel around the back and down into a large, cathedral-esque atrium.
The walls were covered in gold leaf, and each side had a gargantuan painting of one of the past guildmasters, encased in a large wooden frame. I needed to get down to the Vaults, and without anybody seeing me.
I crawled back up to the blacksmith's shop and thought for a while. Once I had an idea, I began to execute the plan. I went up to one of the fires the blacksmith had running, and used a stick to bring it to one of his wooden worktables. I waited for the flame to spread to the table and the burning red mass to engulf the table completely. I shouted out to the smith that there was a fire, before watching him run towards the tunnel and scream down it, telling everyone hidden beneath to get out. Once he was out of the way, dousing the fire with the pitiful supply of water he had around him, I crawled back into the tunnel, the thick black smoke clogging my nostrils and blocking my line of sight. Once inside, I hid behind a column, watching all of the thieves inside scramble for their lives.
Some pushed each other out of the way, others climbed on top of other thieve's shoulders and walked over their heads to get to the tunnel. All of the people in the headquarters seemed to be here. Perfect. I slowly made my way down to the vaults, climbing down the steps and being mindful not to get seen.
Eventually, I found myself in the grimy, dark corridor where all of the vaukts were kept. I walked past each one, trying out the key to no avail. Eventually, when I reached the last vault, the key finally turned in the lock. I heard a clunky click, then a snap as the lock on the door opened. I walked in, and saw... Nothing.
There was nothing here at all.
I was ready to give up, but then I saw a glint behind one of the stones in the floor. I pulled it up, and saw something beautiful. There was more gold in that hole than I had ever seen in my entire life. I picked up whatever I thought would be the most valuable, and then stuffed it into my backpack, and when I had filled it to bursting, I filled my pockets, then my shoes and then I stuffed even more in my clothes. Then I heard some chatter somewhere above me. It was distant and quiet, but distinct, and I realised that I had to get out of the vaults. I began to hear footsteps. I hauled myself out of the pit, and then closed it up again. I went over to the door and locked the lock, and I placed the key back into my bag. The footsteps began to get louder. I bolted out of the corridor, I ran towards the exit, just managing to barely avoid some clerks who were returning to the vault. Once I crawled out of the narrow tunnel, and felt the rays of the warming suns on my face, I could tell that life was going to be different - to be better after what I had just done. Miraculously, I did not feel the guilt that usually came with a theft. I had only stolen from someone with more money than they would ever need - and a thief themselves. I felt the wings of freedom growing from my shoulders already.
I raced home, careful not to lose any of the gold - there were necklaces, anklets, coins, bracelets, and a whole host of other decadent bodily decorations - that would all too readily fall out all the folds of cloth I had put them in. Back at the hovel, I put as much of it as I needed to pay back my debts into a small pouch, and fastened it to my belt. After I finished doing this, I went to take the rest to a courier service, who would take it to my village. I wanted to go back there after the long five years I had spent at the town, and see my father Sew again. I wanted him to build a big house with the money I had just acquired. He had always wanted to be able to retire - you can only keep tanning for so long - and so I hoped that the gold would let him.
When I returned, the two other thieves, Jer and Ghel, were on their respective beds, playing cards as usual. I walked up to them, and gave both of them exactly as much gold as I owed them. Jer looked up astounded. "How have you managed that?" He asked, dumfounded. "I think he must have stolen it." Ghel said, examining his stash of gold with awe. "Of course he stole it, idiot. He got lucky, that's all. What happened, Stuvlok?" Jer looked at me with a mixture of disdain and suspicion. I had never been the best thief, and he knew it.
"I mamaged to pickpocket a rather wealthy group of ladies, they hadn't a clue I was taking anything from them, what's it to you?" I told them. I began to walk up to the rest of the hovel - I had packed my bag and was ready to leave the next night, but I had some more debts to pay out before left. I had not told anyone where I was going because I knew that they would track me down if I was discovered to be the one who stole from Welk. Thieves were not allowed to steal from other thieves in the guild - if they found out, a price would be put on my head and none of the protections of the guild would apply to me.
A few years ago, I vividly remember a thief who had stolen a brooch from Welk as a joke being burned to death during a guild meet-up. Welk laughed all the way through. His laugh was louder than the poor man's screams.
You did not want to get on the wrong side of Welk.
As I walked into the hovel, a few old gamblers who were perpetually in the hovel, their faces matted with the grime lazyness brings, and their voices drawly and gruff because of the burning fluids they poured down their gullets. I plopped down small piles of gold to all of them, and bid them goodbye. I was done with gambling, at least with my money. They looked surprised, and tried to persuade me to stay, and play a round or two of some card game, but I was exhausted, and needed to go to sleep.
When I reached my bed, I crumpled into it and fell asleep. I needed to make tomorrow seem as normal as possible, so that nothing would seem amiss when I left.
The next morning, I woke and went off to do the thing I usually did. Thieving.
I saw a child carrying a load of crusty bread, In his pocket I could see some copper pieces poking out. I asked another thief in my team, the excitable and instinctual Hjar to distract the boy. They danged a scruffy little puppet in front of the boy. He stopped and laughed. I walked past, and took the copper pieces. This is the sort of theft that made me feel guilty - especially now that I did not need the money, but I continued for the sake of Sew. I knew that I only needed to do a few more hours of this before I could change the course of my life forever.
Another thief in my team, accompanied by Quell went up to a shopkeeper and asked them about something or the other, while I snuck in behind them, and stuffed a few frying pans into my clothes, and then walked out, tutting as if I had seen nothing of value in the shop. Nobody notices.
After this, we went to the Market to try and sell of some of the pans I had stolen, and some of the trinkets that Quell had managed to scavenge from the pockets of the townspeople. We managed to sell a lot of the things we has stolen directly to shoppers, and then unloaded it all at a local Guild storage space, where it would be sold by others.
That night, once the others were asleep and the hovel was empty, I carefully snuck out of the hovel. Now I needed to get out of the town.
The town was surrounded by a large wall, only open during the day, and never during the night. I would need to get over it.
I climbed up into the roof of a small bakery, and walked over the slate roofs for as long as I could, until i was as close to the walls as I could get. A tree peeked over the walls from the other side, and I used my rope to latch onto it. I made sure my bag was fastened to my back, and walked my way up the wall. Once I was at the top, I climbed onto the tree, and lowered myself down to the ground.
Freedom.