The merchant's haul had been followed closely by two more prosperous attacks and as a result, Will decided to give his thieves a week off. Just as the revelries had gotten under way on their second day of relaxation, James burst into the Raven were most of the celebrations were being held, followed closely by one of the older members of the tricksters court, known as the professor. The boisterous crowd fell silent as the two men hurried towards will. Evan how had been standing by the bar, hurried over to hand his brother and Professor cold mugs of water. The two men gulped down the contents. James set his mug down giving a quick nod of thanks to his brother. Leaning closer to will he said, "They kidnapped Gabrielle and the daughter of the Duke of the North." There was a collective intake of breath as the room reeled with the audacity of Roger and his upstart group of thieves.
The country was ruled buy a king, who was greatly influenced by his four dukes; North, South, East and West. Although he land ruled by the four was roughly even, the Duke of the North held the most power. His boarders encompassed two of the countries largest port cities as well as the countries most fertile farmland. Will met John's eyes which were burning in rage. Quickly Will scanned the room, nodding at those men who would help him teach Roger a lesson he would not soon forget. "'Skews me ladies and gents, we've got to take care of a slight problem," he said as he motioned for cooper the barman, "the rounds on me." Slipping out the back door into one of the many smaller rooms off of the main room. He was followed by his den hand chosen men and one lady, known as Doll face for her stunning good looks. Waving for them to take a seat around the scrubbed wooden table he passed in front of them. The room was silent except for the muffled noise filtering in from down the hall.
"Doll, I need you, Pick and Eric to find out where they are keeping Gabrielle and the Nobel." Will had chosen Pick and Eric for their non-descript appearances and stealth. Doll, with her stunning red hair, would go along to provide a distraction.
"We need to know their location as soon as we can so that we can get the Duke his daughter back before he brings the house down around our ears."
The group chuckled, quietly amused at the thought of the Duke of the North, who was notoriously clean, coming to the city and trying to find them. The Raven was a thriving bar which was guarded by the watchful eyes of the members of Tricksters Court. Anyone who was not welcome would have a hard time getting within two blocks of the place.
He nodded to the three as they slipped outside. Turning to the remaining group, he said "I need the rest of you to scourer our land and pick up anyone who doesn't belong. Find a partner from in here, or…" he said waving his hand towards the main room "out there. Make sure you take someone who you can trust your life to, because to pull this little trick off, Roger must have a few people inside our court." They all exchanged looks felling sorry for the poor souls who were interloping on their court, by the time Will got done with them, there would not be a lot to return to Roger. But it was their own fault, ignoring the previous fates of those who crossed him.
"Those of you, who find spies, bring them back here and deposit them in the far shed out back. I will warn Cooper what you will be bringing back."
As his people turned to leave, Will tapped Professor's shoulder before he could follow the others out.
"I have something else for you to do old friend." Will said.
Once the room was emptied Will turned to Professor, "I know who you are."
Professor smiled, his eyes merry behind their wrinkles, and said, "I know you do lad, it is your job to know."
Will smiled back, clapping his hand on the shoulder of the Duke of the East. Professors land was the most rugged quarter of the country, but also some of the most beautiful. His land bordered the Grand Mountains, which separated the country form the neighboring Silmet tribes, whose warlords had yet to cross the formidable peaks on their conquests.
"Your Grace," Will said "I need you tot tell North that we will get his daughter back as soon as we can. You might also want to bring bore weapons and men into the capitol from you estates."
At the raise to the Duke's eyebrows, Will explained, "Roger is up to something, and I have herd whispers that he is dealing with the Kyrin's."
The Duke let out a low whistle. Th Kyrins were raised from the cradle as solders, and whose loyalty could be bought by the highest bidder.
"Otis curse him" the duke said "How soon are you expecting trouble to come?"
Will was surprised by such strong words issuing from such a well bred man and answered, "I am not sure, but I could ask my thieves outside the capitol." Then after a pause Will asked "How is the fire steel coming?"
"Its not." Said the Duke scowling. "We cant get ours any where near as flexible or as strong as the blades from Kyrin. Any blade that we produce that is as flexible enough wont hold an edge for more than a few passes, and if we try to make them as strong as the Kyrins, they shatter at the first hard hit. If we could just get a good look at their blades then we might have a chance of duplicating it, but you know how secretive they are about that steel, and for good reason, normal swords look like children's toys in comparison. And the only soldiers of ours that have gotten close enough to get a good look at them are no longer in any position to tell us how they might have been forged."
Both men had seen glimpses of the famed fire steel whose blade was not the dull sheen of normal steel, but had fingers of light and dark steel which produced a sword sharper and stronger than normal blades which constantly broke under it's influence.
The Duke nodded in a preoccupied way and said, "I'll take care of North, just make sure you get those girls back…soon." He left through the back door and a few seconds later Will herd the clatter of horse shoes against the cobble stones.
Will strode back into the main room to talk to Cooper about the "guests" that would be arriving.
Later that night Will heard a knock on his door. He had spent most of the day questioning those spies that his people had managed to bring back, and had finally gone up to get ready for the next day when the knock sounded. His hand went to the hilt of the dagger that he kept at the small of his back and opened the door to find Doll and Eric standing in the hall. As he stepped aside to let them in he asked "Where is Pick?"
"We had a little encounter with Roger's men" said Eric as he sat down in one to the stools against the wall.
In response to Will's q questioning glance Doll laughed and said "Don’t worry your Majesty; they aren't in any position to alert Roger." A feral grin grew on her lovely face, and Will smiled in return, knowing that they had enjoyed themselves.
"Pick is down being stitched up by Cooper and his lass, who seems to have a talent for doctoring." She said.
Will knew that Coopers oldest daughter Melinda had been studying with a local healer and had shown a real aptitude for it.
"But we found them" said Eric "They are in a store room at a warehouse down by the docks. It’s the big one down on Waterfront, the abandoned one down at the far end of the row. But if we want to lift them from there, we will have to do it soon. We herd one of the guards saying that they were getting loaded on a ship in the morning. He didn’t say where they were headed though."
"How well is it guarded?" asked Will.
"They have guards on the streets and two inside the warehouse, but the idiots didn’t put anyone on the roofs, so that will probably be the best way in." Eric said as he shook his head at the stupidity of some people.
Doll nodded in agreement and added "We can escape from roof to roof if the girls are well enough to run."
"Well," Will said "then lets not waste anymore time, daylight is coming soon. Do you need that looked at?" He asked motioning to the cut on Eric's shoulder. Eric shook his head and heaved himself out of the stool to come and stand by Will.
"No" he said. "We'll have time to that later."
Will lead Doll and Eric down stairs, as they reached the kitchen they were handed a coup of strong hot tea by Melinda who said, "Drink."
Pick tried to sit up as they walked in, but was pushed back on to the table where he was lying by Cooper.
"Cooper," Will said "is Jon back?"
"No Majesty, he came back about an hour ago, but left as soon as he delivered his load in the shed."
Will swore under his breath, he had been counting on Jon's help to get the girls out, but they would make do with Eric and Doll. He could not risk taking any one else until he know his court was free of Roger's men.
He forced himself to set his mug down gently, curbing the impulse to use words that he shouldn’t in front of Melinda and Doll, although he knew Doll would scoff at his persistent and "unnecessary" as she termed it, politeness.
Motioning for Eric and Doll to follow him out of the yard he said, "It will have to be the three of us, they need to be gone by tomorrow, and with Rogers men slinking around…" he left off not wanting to loose his temper when so much was at stake.
Doll and Eric nodded their understanding and as they readied their horses he went to Stoneheart's stall, when he had acquired Stoneheart, he thought it a great joke to call him by the nickname given to one of the nations most celebrated Peace Keeper. Heart butted Will in the chest as he tightened the saddle straps and checked all of his weapons, making sure they were secure and easily accessible.
When he saw that they were ready he tossed himself in the saddle, the cloth muffled hooves making almost no sound as they galloped into the courtyard and out the gates. They made good time as they wove throughout the deserted city, finally arriving at the outskirts of Dockside. They left the horses tied in an ally with a red sash secured around the poll where they were tethered indicating to all of the cities underworld that these animals were to be left alone, then slipped into the road, slowly making their way through the deepest shadows towards the warehouse. A block away from their target, they climbed up to the roof of a shipping company, using a ladder that Eric, Doll and Pick had left earlier. Once on the roofs, they shed their dark cloaks to gain more freedom of movement and slipped across the roofs of Dockside, finally coming to the Cloth Guild's storehouse that neighbored the abandoned one at the end of Waterfront Street.
They stopped and crouched down behind the waist high barrier that encircled the roof.
"Eric, I want you to lead, you know the layout. Doll, I need you to stay up here and watch our backs." He hated having to put his people in more danger than absolutely necessary, but he had no other choice. Doll looked unhappy at the thought of being left behind but he knew that she understood the necessity of leaving a lookout behind.
Glancing over the edge of the wall, Will took note of the positions and movements of the men below. Motioning for Eric and Doll of get ready, Will waited until the men on the street were looking away, then sprang across the narrow ally between the buildings, landing and rolling to absorb the noise. The other two followed, making the most of the over confident guards below. Stooping low on the roof of the abandoned warehouse they slunk across the deserted roof, making their way to the stairs that led to the lower level. Reaching the door the pulled it open slowly to avoid any noise made by the rusted hinges, Will nodded to Doll as he followed Eric and slipped inside.
They crept down the stairs their custom fitted boots leaving only slight disturbances in the thick dust that covered the wood. Reaching the ground floor Will saw crates stacked all around the walls labeled in Kyrin. Through the dusty moonlight that made its way in between the cracks in the weathered planks of the walls he could read enough to know that the crates contained armor and small weapons as well as army rations, at this the growing unease in the pit of his stomach turned to a rock.
Quickly Will followed Eric to where he was crouching over a trop door nestled in the worn wooden floor. As they lifted the door, it opened onto a dark pit, whose darker than night shadows revealed no movement. Will swung himself through the hole and dropped onto the pressed dirt of the floor. Almost at once, he was assailed by a small figure who cam flying at his back from out of the dark. The fray was quickly joined by Eric and between them they pinned the struggling person against the wall. Through their silent but spirited struggle, Will noticed that the figure had never let him or Eric get close to the corner where he could see a dark shape was huddled. The struggling person slumped against the wall where it was held, and Eric, leaving their captive to Will, reached inside his pack to retrieve a small red-tinted lantern that he quickly lit.
Then, as dim light blossomed in the dank little room, Will tensed in surprise. The figure that he had pressed against the rough stone wall was the same young lady whose caravan they had stopped months ago.
