The Merchant of Sanukawa (Novella) (Thieves of Askaria Book 1) Page 3

  “Have… have we lost them?” Adusa asked, hunched over beside him.

  “I think so,” Rishi gasped back. “I can’t hear them anymore.”

  “We should have gone over the rooftops.”

  He shook his head. “These patchwork buildings would never support our weight. I…”

  The thief trailed off and motioned his friend to silence. He cocked his head slightly to one side, listening intently.

  “How can they be this tenacious?” Adusa asked after a while.

  “The traffic here is thinner. We’ll lose them easily in the main streets. Let’s go.”

  He only made it a few paces before a figure stepped into their path, joined a moment later by several more. With the harsh noon light behind them, the newcomers were visible only as silhouettes. Silhouettes who wore armour.

  “Captain, it’s them!”

  “Not again,” Adusa groaned.

  Rishi let his feet do the thinking. They decided to turn and flee back the way they had come.

  “After them!” a woman’s voice ordered.

  Putting their heads down and pushing their tired legs to their very limits, the thieves raced back into the twisted maze of alleys, and ran headlong into a wall of guards.

  “Not good luck at all,” Adusa pouted.

  Pouting was about all he could do. His hands and feet were bound, and a length of stout rope tethered him to the wall. He tugged speculatively at it. The cord was tied securely at his wrist and at an iron ring set into the wall. The knots might be undone, but not without attracting the attention of the guards. Perhaps later. He settled back against the stone wall and took in his surroundings.

  The low-roofed little building consisted of a single long and narrow room, one end serving as a prison cell while the other acted as guard house. A line of the sturdy iron rings had been mortared into the wall at regular intervals all along the prison side. Rishi and Adusa were currently the only occupants.

  The trio of soldiers who had escorted them here were stood clustered around a table at the far end of the room, busily rifling through their captives’ belongings. They had been at it for some time, most of it spent trying to uncover the many hidden pockets of Rishi’s vest. Even Adusa was awed by the sheer number of daggers and the huge array of tools and implements that it had so far yielded.

  Staring at them forlornly, Rishi sighed. “I had it so neatly organised.”

  Adusa strained to hold back his mirth—and failed completely.

  “Quiet down over there!” shouted one of the guards, a burly man with a scowl.

  He ambled over to the prisoners, brandishing a handful of Rishi’s lockpicking tools triumphantly. “You won’t be laughing much longer cur,” he barked, punctuating the sentence with a boot to Adusa’s ribs. The thickset soldier then waved the lockpicks at them. “You thieving scum can’t deny your crimes. I know what these are,” he grinned. He seemed extraordinarily proud of this.

  The carefree thief had never had much practice in concealing his amusement. This is perhaps why the horselaugh that came next was so easily able to escape his lips. If pressed though, Adusa would have had to admit that he hadn’t really tried.

  The guard delivered another sharp kick. “I’ll soon have that insolence beaten out of you,” he sneered. A meaty paw made a grab for a fistful of Adusa’s hair, but instead wound up resting awkwardly on his close-cropped head. Growling, the warder retrieved the fist and buried it in the prisoner’s abdomen.

  “Corporal,” said a commanding voice from the doorway. “If an officer of Their Majesties’ Royal Guard were to inflict violence upon a lawbreaker already in custody, would not that officer become a lawbreaker themselves?”

  “Y-yes Captain,” the big guard stammered, springing up to salute.

  The captain’s gaze drifted slowly over the three men. She too wore the uniform and lacquered breastplate the soldiers were outfitted in, but where the corporal had two gold slashes painted upon his breast, hers was instead emblazoned with three gold stars.

  “Did you find the goods they stole from the councillor’s home?” she asked, shifting her attention to the two guards beside the table.

  “No Captain Sumana. They must have hidden them,” one of them reported, saluting, then motioned toward the table. “We’ve found only weapons and thieving supplies. Enough to outfit a whole gang of thieves.”

  Captain Sumana strode over to the two foreigners. “I must commend you two for having the audacity to steal from the home of His Excellency the Honourable Councillor Kovit,” she said. Her expression however offered only disdain.

  Adusa answered her cold gaze with a broad smile. “Oh? We didn’t get the opportunity to meet our host. You give him a lot respect. Are you in his pocket?”

  “You insolent rat!” she yelled, anger colouring her face. “I am Captain of the Royal Guard, and answer only to their highnesses, the king and queen.”

  Her flash of temper was quickly brought under control. When she spoke again, her calm and authoritative tone had returned. “Thieves are never treated to leniency in Sanukawa, but for you two the judgement will be particularly harsh. The man you stole from is the chief of the City Council, and second only to their majesties in the people’s affection.”

  “Ah, so it’s the magistrates who are in his pocket?” Adusa asked, still wearing his infuriating smile, but Sumana would not be baited again.

  “Councillor Kovit is an honourable man, a concept likely unfamiliar to vermin like you,” she said, looking down at them. “In his role as a merchant and community leader both, he has gained a reputation for fairness and treating people with respect—no matter their station in life. A great many feel they owe him their prosperity. Though the councillor has asked the justices many times to remain impartial, they’ve not yet once shown his enemies any mercy.”

  “A simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed,” Rishi commented drily.

  Sumana shot him an angry look, but didn’t respond.

  “We will find where you hid the councillor’s wife’s family heirloom,” she said instead. “Until then, enjoy your last taste of life above ground.”

  With that she turned from them and walked back to the doorway.

  “Have they brought him?” she asked of the guards.

  “Yes Captain. The escort is waiting with him outside. The interrogation waits on your order,” answered the corporal, saluting again.

  “Good. Bring him in.”

  The corporal hurriedly trotted outside, and returned leading another prisoner—a grizzled man with a stoic expression. The prisoner’s long, wide-sleeved robe was creased and stained, and his unshaven face looked to be in desperate need of a wash. Looped around his wrists was the same strong cord the thieves had been bound with. He was a lot less dishevelled when Adusa had last seen him, but his gaze was no less proud. The corporal led the Shen warrior to a table at the centre of the room then pushed him down onto a small stool.

  “Name?” Sumana demanded curtly from across the table.

  He silently held her gaze for a time then answered, “I am called Chatri.”

  “Why have you abandoned your duty?”

  The warrior’s eyes hardened, but his voice remained calm. “We have not abandoned our duty.”

  “A lie! The Shen are sworn to guard the North. Yet here you are in the city.”

  “Only the men have come,” he responded. “The women of the Shen uphold our pledge in our stead.”

  Sumana seemed to consider this for a while. “This may be, but your pledge is hollow. You have forsaken your people and betrayed your king, who your treasonous band instead seek to murder. I know not what evil has turned you from an honourable path, but you may still find some redemption in helping us stop this. Tell me, where are your allies?”

  Chatri’s mask finally fell. “It is the king who has betrayed the people!” he shouted at her. “The king’s high taxes are starving the farmers, and he refuses to hear the pleas of their emissaries!”

  �
�I will hear no slander against the character of their majesties!” Sumana growled back, the intensity of her voice rising along with her anger. “The king has raised no taxes, and no emissaries have come. You lie!”

  “The Shen made a vow to the kings of old, but our covenant was not with them, it is to the people of the valleys and fields of this land,” Chatri snarled. “To uphold our duty, we must be rid of this rotten king!”

  As he shouted the last word, the warrior pulled a small blade from the hem of one of his wide sleeves and sliced through his bindings. In one lighting fast motion he leapt to his feet and threw the table over onto Sumana. Giving the surprised guards no time to draw their weapons, he shoved past them and dashed out into the street.

  “After him!” Sumana shouted as she struggled out from under the table, before charging out to join the chase herself.

  The thieves sat alone in the now quiet jail.

  “They should have known to check for a hidden blade,” Rishi said as the sounds of the pursuing guardsmen died away.

  “Naïve,” Adusa agreed, withdrawing a thin dagger from his boot as he spoke. Slicing through his bindings, he glanced over at his companion. As he’d expected, the other man was holding a similar blade. “How many daggers are you still carrying?” he asked curiously.

  Rishi laughed. “Even I lose track. Well over a dozen.”

  The sun was well past its zenith by the time the thieves made it back to their inn. Rishi couldn’t help but feel a little relieved as the blocky, stone building finally came into view.

  “We met some interesting people today,” Rishi said, once they were safely back in their room. “Entertaining too,” Adusa smiled, easing himself down onto his bunk.

  “That they were,” he agreed, running his fingers through his thick beard. “People so obsessed with honour as they, are often terrible at listening.”

  His tall companion nodded. “It seemed clear that neither of them were lying.”

  “Already convinced the other is a villain, each heard only their own words,” Rishi mused, sinking down onto his own bed. “I wonder if they caught up to with him eventually.”

  “That man? He ran like a starving plains cat after prey. They’d never catch him,” Adusa laughed.

  Rishi chuckled. “Despite their complete inability to hold onto their captives though, the constabulary here are surprisingly competent. I would never have expected them to catch up with us so fast.”

  “You must not have stolen from an important person before,” his companion replied, grinning. “It is a bit of a concern though,” he continued in a more serious tone. “The whole guard will be out looking for us now. We’d better get this job over with soon.”

  Rishi nodded. “Just as soon as we have the real gem we’ll be away. Let us do as we planned. We rest until dark and then return to the house of the good merchant Kovit. We’ll see this finished tonight.”

  The jarring screech of cats fighting in the street outside cut through Rishi’s slumber. Silently cursing them, he rolled over onto his side. A fraction of a second later something slammed heavily into his mattress. The thief’s eyes jerked open in shock. Looming over him in the dark room were the indistinct shapes of several darkly dressed figures. A quick glance to the side confirmed his next thought. Beside him on the mattress, in the very spot he had lain until a moment before, was the protruding hilt of a dagger.

  His muscles driven by instinct and rage, Rishi kicked out at the nearest. His foot caught the assassin squarely in the chest. The other two would-be killers hovered uncertainly for a moment, then seemed to regain their nerve. Their target was still unarmed, and there were two of them. They rushed forward.

  Rishi jumped back onto his haunches to meet the attack. The closer of the two had the hood of his black robe thrown back, revealing a gaunt face and a shaved head. Sneering, the man lunged at him with a short sword. Rishi swung aside, deftly avoiding the blow. The dextrous thief then calmly gripped the man’s wrist with one hand while plucking the dagger from the mattress with the other. His momentum still carrying him forward, there was nothing the assassin could do to avoid the dagger as it was plunged into his chest.

  As the man breathed his last, Rishi shoved him back into his comrade. They went down in a heap. The thief then stepped over, stole the sword from the man’s limp grip, and buried it into the last assassin’s neck.

  “Is that all of them?” Adusa asked quietly, still on his bunk.

  Rishi rose back to his feet and looked over to see Adusa sitting with his mace in hand. Beside him, across the foot of the bed, lay the unmoving form of the figure Rishi had kicked earlier.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  Adusa stretched leisurely. “We’d better be going then. I doubt we’ll be able to get any more sleep.”

  Nodding, Rishi began to dress. “We need to do something about them,” he said, motioning toward the dark forms. “Someone may find them.”

  “The room has a big closet. Let’s shove them in there,” Adusa suggested, pulling on his own clothes.

  His boots on and his daggers stowed, Rishi lit a small candle then moved to help his friend deal with the cloaked assassins.

  “I’ve seen this one before,” Adusa said suddenly as they grabbed hold of the first corpse. “He’s the man who discovered us in Kovit’s hall.”

  “You’re sure?” Rishi asked incredulously.

  “Positive,” his friend assured. “I got a good look at him them. It’s the same one.”

  They hurriedly stuffed the man into the closet, followed soon after by his fellows.

  “This Kovit is starting to seem like a very interesting man,” Adusa remarked as Rishi pressed the closet door closed.

  Rishi had to agree. “Captain Sumana was right about one thing,” he said. “Kovit has a lot of friends.”

  The roaring din of Sanukawa’s nightlife dying out behind them, the thieves left the bustling main avenues near the river and picked their way through a series of smaller streets. After several wrong turns they finally came to a narrow canal, the pale moonlight reflecting off of the smooth surface of the water. It was a part of an extensive system of waterways which carried goods between the many warehouses of the city and the large river that ran through it, from where they were ferried on to the smaller towns higher upriver or to the deep water harbour at the river mouth.

  “Is this the right one?” Adusa asked, turning onto a narrow path that wound along the water’s edge.

  “I believe so,” Rishi answered.

  The maze of looping streets and unexpected dead ends had robbed Adusa of his sense of direction. He could still tell which way the orb was, but that was no help in navigating the maze-like streets of this city.

  “The course of the canal is closely matched to where the gem lies. I expect this will flow right past the back of the manor,” his friend elaborated.

  “I hope you’re right. We don’t have the time to be getting lost.”

  “If this isn’t the canal we saw from Kovit’s hall, it must flow into it,” Rishi assured him.

  Adusa was still not convinced. “I’m not even sure it was a canal. All I could see through that window was light reflecting off of water. It could have been a pond in the rear garden.”

  Rishi shook his head. “The reflection lay beyond the rear wall. It must have been one of the waterways,” he said, and then added, “We’ll not find easy access through the front, not after the commotion we caused there last night. The rear wall is our only option.”

  The tall man nodded begrudgingly. He began to pick his way down the canal path. It was overgrown with the bushy shrubs and weeds that seemed to sprout from every unpaved space in the humid tropical city. Before long the buildings they passed behind started to look familiar, then finally they came to a tall whitewashed wall, peaked with long spikes, and with small portholes showing the garden beyond.

  “There it is,” Rishi smiled, clearly happy to see his deduction proven accurate.

  Adusa only grun
ted. He wordlessly drew the rope from his coat once more, then hooked it over two of the spikes. Repeating the easy climb, the men were soon standing on the lush, green lawn inside the yard. Ahead of them, the big windows at the rear of the house showed the dimly lit interior of the hall, quiet and unoccupied.

  The garden at the rear was as neat as the front. At his feet was a line of large stone slabs, part of a pathway that had been set into the lawn. Winding around carefully trimmed bushes and beds of colourful flowers, it connected the mouth of the alley to a small outbuilding, set in the shadow of a beautifully flowering, black wattle against the far wall.

  Adusa led the way as they cautiously advanced down the path, alert to any sign of the guards. A few yards from the alley, he veered off to the shelter of a small mangosteen tree. They waited there motionlessly for a time, ears and eyes straining to pick out any sign of the patrolling guard they had encountered before—but the alley remained deserted.

  The soft murmur of hushed voices suddenly found his ear. He glanced over at Rishi, meeting the other thief’s eye. The voices weren’t coming from the alley. With discovery imminent, they rushed out into the alley, running with a crouching gait and making as little noise as possible. The kitchen door was just ahead. He pressed down on the lever again. This time it remained stubbornly shut.

  “This way,” Rishi whispered to him.

  Rishi was halfway up the wall, nimbly climbing the rough brickwork as if it were a ladder. A darkened window above the kitchen door had been left open a crack. The voices still growing louder behind them, Adusa scrambled after. In moments the window was pried open. The bearded thief quickly slipped through then held it open as Adusa clambered after. He breathed a sigh of relief as Rishi pulled the window shut, right before the voices reached the corner.

  Dropping the heavy drapes back into place in front of the window, the thieves were at last able to catch their breath and take in their surroundings. They were in a large study, richly decorated with dark wooden panelling and polished hardwood flooring. A long bookcase nearly covered one wall, rarities and ornaments dotted among the dozens of hard-backed volumes on its shelves.