Blade Archer ~ Sixteen
Feb. 21st, 2005 02:01 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Kael had just barely grown used to not having his older brother around when Elara followed the same route, leaving home with her own fiancé two full moons later. If Kael had thought it was quiet around home without Ynuk around, it was close to dead without either of his siblings. The three of them tried to keep up with their near-nightly expeditions, earning money for the three respective families, but even that began to tail off when Elara and Ynuk began to focus more on their spouses. Ynuk had even been talking of making an honest living.
Kael found himself involuntarily spending more and more time at the palace, training with whatever weapon he felt like picking up at the time, muttering curses every time his dagger or arrow hit the target.
“What’s so dishonest about thievery?” he muttered to Kelon one day, yanking his arrow free of the target with more force than was really necessary.
“Ye… shouldn’t really do that,” Kelon remarked.
“What, take money from people who’ve already got too much of it?”
The younger boy shook his head. “Well… that too, but I mean yanking the arrows out like that. Pull them from the head, otherwise they’ll bend and won’t fly straight.”
Kael blinked slowly, grabbed the fletching of his last remaining arrow and yanked it free with a smug grin.
Aen shrugged and removed his own arrows more carefully. “Yer loss,” he said cheerfully.
“I’m sick of arrows, anyway,” Kael muttered. “What’re you two like with daggers?”
The older boy shrugged modestly. “Not too bad, I guess. Better fighting with them than throwing them, though.”
“I’m better throwing them,” Kelon added.
Kael grinned, an idea forming in his mind. “Either of you ever mugged anyone before?”
Kelon’s eyes widened slightly and he shook his head sharply.
His friend gave a more casual shake of the head. “Nah, but I can see ye has,” he accused, nodding down at the scars lacing Kael’s wrist.
Kael rubbed them self-consciously. “Ignore those. They’re old, anyway. Look, me brother and sister have deserted me, so I’ve been on me own in getting money for me and Mama for two months. Ye going to help me or not?”
“Couldn’t hurt,” Aen agreed, then turned to the younger boy. “Ye in, Kelon?”
Kelon was still staring uncertainly at Kael’s scars.
“Would ye forget the Aeia-damned scars?” the blade archer said accusingly. “They only hurt when they cut them, anyway. It’s not like ye’re in agony the rest of yer life.”
“And… Losing a finger?”
“I wouldn’t know; I’ve never lost one.” He held up the aforementioned fingers, emphasising his point. “We’ll start tonight. If we get caught, I won’t make ye come again.”
“Promise?”
Kael spread one hand over his heart. “By the goddesses.”
That seemed to convince Kelon, and he grinned and held out one hand for Kael to shake.
Kael and his two friends sat in one of the alleys in the upper-class district. The raucous sounds of a nearby tavern contested against the grating of cicadas, and Kael sighed happily to himself. How he’d missed this! It was so much more fun than doing it alone.
“That one?” Aen whispered, pointing to one man who was striding up the street towards their alley.
Kael shook his head. “Not drunk enough,” he reasoned.
A few minutes passed before another man stumbled out of the bar. “What about him?”
The seasoned thief gave another shake of his head. “Too drunk.” He could sense Aen frowning in confusion behind him, wondering how a man could be too drunk to rob. “He won’t have half a copper left on him,” Kael explained, “Even if he didn’t have enough to buy a beer, he’d’ve gambled it all away in an attempt to get more, anyway.”
Aen nodded, then sighed impatiently. “Does it always take ye this long to even find someone?”
Kael grinned in the moonlight. “Ye could go for the next guy who steps out, but ye has to know who ye’re after. Otherwise ye end up either getting caught or not getting anything. Or both,” he added offhandedly. He yawned and stretched. “Patience is a virtue in this business.”
“Fair enough. What about that one?”
Kael squinted through the darkness to the man who’d just walked out of the tavern. He seemed unsteady on his feet, but not so much that he was falling over in the gutter. Just as he turned around though, Kael caught sight of an unmistakeable pattern on his shoulder.
“That’s the king, you idiot,” he muttered, grinning as he slapped the back of Aen’s head, then got to his feet.
Kelon, who’d been near-silent the whole night, stared at him in horror. “Ye’re not seriously thinking of mugging King Mithé, are ye?”
Kael snorted derisively and stretched again. “Aeia no—that’s a wish for death right there. We’re going to another tavern. If the king drinks here, then there’ll be police everywhere.”
Aen immediately sat up straight, whipping his head around as though the police were about to jump him from the shadows. “Where?”
“Relax,” Kael advised him, “They can only get you if they catch you in the act. It’s a great system,” he added with a grin, then began to walk out of the alley and head for another bar, one he knew to be a successful place of business. He and his siblings had grabbed many a rich bastard from around here.
“So now we wait again?” Kelon asked.
“That’s the one.”
“How do ye know there’s no police around here?”
Kael shrugged. “Ye don’t. That’s why we do this stuff in the alleys instead of in open streets.”
“How do we get ‘em in here though?” Aen whispered, still not convinced that he wouldn’t be caught.
In truth, that was something that had been troubling Kael for a while. In years gone by, Elara had simply flicked her hips a few times and the poor drunkards were tripping over themselves to follow her into the alley. Glancing at his two companions, he somehow doubted that would work tonight. What else could lure a man into a dark alley?
“Well?” Aen prompted.
Kael shrugged and settled himself against the wall. “Figure that out when we get there. Improvise.”
Kelon shifted uneasily. “I don’t like this,” he mumbled.
“Ye will when it’s over,” Kael reassured him, then grinned impishly. “That one,” he said, his voice having now dropped to a low whisper.
The target was a young woman who appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen years old, tottering unsteadily up the street in a line that could at best be described as ‘wobbly’. She sparkled at her wrists and neck with various jewels that caught the moonlight, so even if she had no coin left, there was always the jewellery they could sell. Perhaps not as easy as simply relieving her of her coin, but profitable nonetheless.
“Wait here.” Kael’s voice was so quiet now that he was just barely mouthing the words. “Now, women scream as soon as they’re grabbed, so Aen, grab her mouth first and get yer dagger to her throat. First sound she makes, draw a little blood. Not enough to make her make more noise, but enough to shut her up. Kelon, ye’ll be the one to relieve her of her riches. Wait til she’s halfway down the alley before you move, and keep an eye out for police. At my word, run, but in different directions. Meet at the eastern wall of the palace.”
The two apprentice thieves nodded to indicate they had understood. They both looked determined, but there was distinctly more enthusiasm in Aen’s face. Kelon was doing his best to hide his fear.
Kael grinned reassuringly at the younger boy, then strode confidently out of the alley and rested his back against the wall. The unsteadily-approaching woman hadn’t noticed him yet, so Kael gave a low whistle.
The woman stopped, swaying precariously on her feet as she looked around for the source of the noise.
“You shouldn’t be out alone,” Kael informed her, “Pretty young thing like yourself could get hurt.”
The woman seemed to focus on him, but just barely. “Oh, hello,” she slurred, “I din seeyou there.”
Kael shrugged indifferently. “Would you like me to walk you home? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I saw someone like you get the wrong end of the stick.”
“Oh, yes,” the woman agreed, swaying towards him. He couldn’t quite tell whether the swaying was because she trying to stay upright or whether she was making some vague attempt at alluring him. Whichever it was, it didn’t work, as she managed to get her foot caught on a cobblestone and tripped, falling inelegantly to the ground. “We woun’t won tha’ now, would we?” She held one hand up, smiling seductively at Kael.
Had the wall not been behind him, Kael would probably have taken an involuntary step back. How in Lin’s sweet name did Elara do this every night?
Reluctantly, he bent down to help the woman to her feet, struggling to keep a pleasant smile as she leant her full weight on him. “Here, I know a short cut,” he told her, slowly but surely leading her into the alley.
Sure enough, once he’d reached the halfway point in the alley, Aen slunk out of the shadows and gripped the woman’s mouth with one hand. She didn’t appear to notice until the archer’s cold, rusted blade pressed against her throat, and a small whimper escaped her lips.
As Kael stepped back to face her, he could see the awareness creep back into her face, washing the fuzz of alcohol away. Her eyes were focussed sharply on him now, a mixture of fear and hatred evident in them as she let out another whimper.
“Not a sound,” Kael warned her, raising a finger to his lips. “Me friends and me’re just going to steal yer coin and that fine jewellery ye’re wearing,” he informed her, just as Kelon’s light fingers began untying the coin pouch at her waist.
“Make a sound and we may take more than that. Yer life, perhaps,” he added, seeing that there was still enough of an alcoholic daze in her mind that she hadn’t fully understood the threat.
Aen shot a horrified look back at the seasoned thief, making it clear he had no intention. Kael shrugged casually, daring a wink to the other boy to let him know that whatever his intentions were, the woman had no idea. Aen grinned faintly, but still seemed a little uncertain.
She squirmed quietly, but froze as soon as Aen’s blade drew a few drops of blood from her neck.
“Good girl,” Kael complimented her, then glanced down at Kelon. “What in Lin’s name is taking ye so long?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.
“It’s tied tight,” the younger boy whispered back.
“So cut it!”
The woman squirmed again momentarily as Kelon glanced up at Kael, uncertainty still hovering in his face.
Kael rolled his eye. “Oh for the love of…” he muttered, then darted forward, whipped his own dagger out to cut the coin pouch from the woman’s waistband, then shoved it in his pocket.
“Run,” he whispered, then darted off into the night. He heard no footsteps behind him as he broke out of the alley, only the desperate scream of the young woman once Aen’s hand had freed her mouth. He spared a glance behind him, cringing and cursing under his breath when he saw nobody following. The idiots had run out of the alley the same way as they’d gone in!
“Aeia,” he muttered through clenched teeth, debating whether or not he should go back and help.
Before he was able to make a decision, a strong hand gripped his arm, and simultaneously he felt a cold one grip his heart. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
“Won’t be getting away this time,” the policeman informed him.
~ ~ ~
Chapter~ 2008
Total~ 27 242
Time~ 2hrs, 8mins
Total~ 36hrs, 45mins
Notes~ Ooh, suspense =0 Been a while since you've seen that icon, eh? Well, I've finally caught up with all my mini!fics, so I figure I should get Blade Archer finished. And there was much rejoicing *waves flag*
Kael found himself involuntarily spending more and more time at the palace, training with whatever weapon he felt like picking up at the time, muttering curses every time his dagger or arrow hit the target.
“What’s so dishonest about thievery?” he muttered to Kelon one day, yanking his arrow free of the target with more force than was really necessary.
“Ye… shouldn’t really do that,” Kelon remarked.
“What, take money from people who’ve already got too much of it?”
The younger boy shook his head. “Well… that too, but I mean yanking the arrows out like that. Pull them from the head, otherwise they’ll bend and won’t fly straight.”
Kael blinked slowly, grabbed the fletching of his last remaining arrow and yanked it free with a smug grin.
Aen shrugged and removed his own arrows more carefully. “Yer loss,” he said cheerfully.
“I’m sick of arrows, anyway,” Kael muttered. “What’re you two like with daggers?”
The older boy shrugged modestly. “Not too bad, I guess. Better fighting with them than throwing them, though.”
“I’m better throwing them,” Kelon added.
Kael grinned, an idea forming in his mind. “Either of you ever mugged anyone before?”
Kelon’s eyes widened slightly and he shook his head sharply.
His friend gave a more casual shake of the head. “Nah, but I can see ye has,” he accused, nodding down at the scars lacing Kael’s wrist.
Kael rubbed them self-consciously. “Ignore those. They’re old, anyway. Look, me brother and sister have deserted me, so I’ve been on me own in getting money for me and Mama for two months. Ye going to help me or not?”
“Couldn’t hurt,” Aen agreed, then turned to the younger boy. “Ye in, Kelon?”
Kelon was still staring uncertainly at Kael’s scars.
“Would ye forget the Aeia-damned scars?” the blade archer said accusingly. “They only hurt when they cut them, anyway. It’s not like ye’re in agony the rest of yer life.”
“And… Losing a finger?”
“I wouldn’t know; I’ve never lost one.” He held up the aforementioned fingers, emphasising his point. “We’ll start tonight. If we get caught, I won’t make ye come again.”
“Promise?”
Kael spread one hand over his heart. “By the goddesses.”
That seemed to convince Kelon, and he grinned and held out one hand for Kael to shake.
Kael and his two friends sat in one of the alleys in the upper-class district. The raucous sounds of a nearby tavern contested against the grating of cicadas, and Kael sighed happily to himself. How he’d missed this! It was so much more fun than doing it alone.
“That one?” Aen whispered, pointing to one man who was striding up the street towards their alley.
Kael shook his head. “Not drunk enough,” he reasoned.
A few minutes passed before another man stumbled out of the bar. “What about him?”
The seasoned thief gave another shake of his head. “Too drunk.” He could sense Aen frowning in confusion behind him, wondering how a man could be too drunk to rob. “He won’t have half a copper left on him,” Kael explained, “Even if he didn’t have enough to buy a beer, he’d’ve gambled it all away in an attempt to get more, anyway.”
Aen nodded, then sighed impatiently. “Does it always take ye this long to even find someone?”
Kael grinned in the moonlight. “Ye could go for the next guy who steps out, but ye has to know who ye’re after. Otherwise ye end up either getting caught or not getting anything. Or both,” he added offhandedly. He yawned and stretched. “Patience is a virtue in this business.”
“Fair enough. What about that one?”
Kael squinted through the darkness to the man who’d just walked out of the tavern. He seemed unsteady on his feet, but not so much that he was falling over in the gutter. Just as he turned around though, Kael caught sight of an unmistakeable pattern on his shoulder.
“That’s the king, you idiot,” he muttered, grinning as he slapped the back of Aen’s head, then got to his feet.
Kelon, who’d been near-silent the whole night, stared at him in horror. “Ye’re not seriously thinking of mugging King Mithé, are ye?”
Kael snorted derisively and stretched again. “Aeia no—that’s a wish for death right there. We’re going to another tavern. If the king drinks here, then there’ll be police everywhere.”
Aen immediately sat up straight, whipping his head around as though the police were about to jump him from the shadows. “Where?”
“Relax,” Kael advised him, “They can only get you if they catch you in the act. It’s a great system,” he added with a grin, then began to walk out of the alley and head for another bar, one he knew to be a successful place of business. He and his siblings had grabbed many a rich bastard from around here.
“So now we wait again?” Kelon asked.
“That’s the one.”
“How do ye know there’s no police around here?”
Kael shrugged. “Ye don’t. That’s why we do this stuff in the alleys instead of in open streets.”
“How do we get ‘em in here though?” Aen whispered, still not convinced that he wouldn’t be caught.
In truth, that was something that had been troubling Kael for a while. In years gone by, Elara had simply flicked her hips a few times and the poor drunkards were tripping over themselves to follow her into the alley. Glancing at his two companions, he somehow doubted that would work tonight. What else could lure a man into a dark alley?
“Well?” Aen prompted.
Kael shrugged and settled himself against the wall. “Figure that out when we get there. Improvise.”
Kelon shifted uneasily. “I don’t like this,” he mumbled.
“Ye will when it’s over,” Kael reassured him, then grinned impishly. “That one,” he said, his voice having now dropped to a low whisper.
The target was a young woman who appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen years old, tottering unsteadily up the street in a line that could at best be described as ‘wobbly’. She sparkled at her wrists and neck with various jewels that caught the moonlight, so even if she had no coin left, there was always the jewellery they could sell. Perhaps not as easy as simply relieving her of her coin, but profitable nonetheless.
“Wait here.” Kael’s voice was so quiet now that he was just barely mouthing the words. “Now, women scream as soon as they’re grabbed, so Aen, grab her mouth first and get yer dagger to her throat. First sound she makes, draw a little blood. Not enough to make her make more noise, but enough to shut her up. Kelon, ye’ll be the one to relieve her of her riches. Wait til she’s halfway down the alley before you move, and keep an eye out for police. At my word, run, but in different directions. Meet at the eastern wall of the palace.”
The two apprentice thieves nodded to indicate they had understood. They both looked determined, but there was distinctly more enthusiasm in Aen’s face. Kelon was doing his best to hide his fear.
Kael grinned reassuringly at the younger boy, then strode confidently out of the alley and rested his back against the wall. The unsteadily-approaching woman hadn’t noticed him yet, so Kael gave a low whistle.
The woman stopped, swaying precariously on her feet as she looked around for the source of the noise.
“You shouldn’t be out alone,” Kael informed her, “Pretty young thing like yourself could get hurt.”
The woman seemed to focus on him, but just barely. “Oh, hello,” she slurred, “I din seeyou there.”
Kael shrugged indifferently. “Would you like me to walk you home? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I saw someone like you get the wrong end of the stick.”
“Oh, yes,” the woman agreed, swaying towards him. He couldn’t quite tell whether the swaying was because she trying to stay upright or whether she was making some vague attempt at alluring him. Whichever it was, it didn’t work, as she managed to get her foot caught on a cobblestone and tripped, falling inelegantly to the ground. “We woun’t won tha’ now, would we?” She held one hand up, smiling seductively at Kael.
Had the wall not been behind him, Kael would probably have taken an involuntary step back. How in Lin’s sweet name did Elara do this every night?
Reluctantly, he bent down to help the woman to her feet, struggling to keep a pleasant smile as she leant her full weight on him. “Here, I know a short cut,” he told her, slowly but surely leading her into the alley.
Sure enough, once he’d reached the halfway point in the alley, Aen slunk out of the shadows and gripped the woman’s mouth with one hand. She didn’t appear to notice until the archer’s cold, rusted blade pressed against her throat, and a small whimper escaped her lips.
As Kael stepped back to face her, he could see the awareness creep back into her face, washing the fuzz of alcohol away. Her eyes were focussed sharply on him now, a mixture of fear and hatred evident in them as she let out another whimper.
“Not a sound,” Kael warned her, raising a finger to his lips. “Me friends and me’re just going to steal yer coin and that fine jewellery ye’re wearing,” he informed her, just as Kelon’s light fingers began untying the coin pouch at her waist.
“Make a sound and we may take more than that. Yer life, perhaps,” he added, seeing that there was still enough of an alcoholic daze in her mind that she hadn’t fully understood the threat.
Aen shot a horrified look back at the seasoned thief, making it clear he had no intention. Kael shrugged casually, daring a wink to the other boy to let him know that whatever his intentions were, the woman had no idea. Aen grinned faintly, but still seemed a little uncertain.
She squirmed quietly, but froze as soon as Aen’s blade drew a few drops of blood from her neck.
“Good girl,” Kael complimented her, then glanced down at Kelon. “What in Lin’s name is taking ye so long?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.
“It’s tied tight,” the younger boy whispered back.
“So cut it!”
The woman squirmed again momentarily as Kelon glanced up at Kael, uncertainty still hovering in his face.
Kael rolled his eye. “Oh for the love of…” he muttered, then darted forward, whipped his own dagger out to cut the coin pouch from the woman’s waistband, then shoved it in his pocket.
“Run,” he whispered, then darted off into the night. He heard no footsteps behind him as he broke out of the alley, only the desperate scream of the young woman once Aen’s hand had freed her mouth. He spared a glance behind him, cringing and cursing under his breath when he saw nobody following. The idiots had run out of the alley the same way as they’d gone in!
“Aeia,” he muttered through clenched teeth, debating whether or not he should go back and help.
Before he was able to make a decision, a strong hand gripped his arm, and simultaneously he felt a cold one grip his heart. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
“Won’t be getting away this time,” the policeman informed him.
Chapter~ 2008
Total~ 27 242
Time~ 2hrs, 8mins
Total~ 36hrs, 45mins
Notes~ Ooh, suspense =0 Been a while since you've seen that icon, eh? Well, I've finally caught up with all my mini!fics, so I figure I should get Blade Archer finished. And there was much rejoicing *waves flag*