The Annourian Chain
an excerpt

The Thieves of Haven

His thin shirt made a flapping noise in the strong breeze above the city, but Tumbra ignored it. He glanced at the others clustered around him on the roof, and Nightwine nodded his agreement. That was all the two of them needed to communicate, and Tumbra followed the girl down the street. The rest of the crew would stay behind to keep an eye out for the O.A. It didn’t pay to underestimate the O.A.

Especially when they were angry at you, he thought to himself with a grin. Nothing brightened his day as much as pissing off the Orphan’s Army. Bunch of cheeky bastards, he liked to say.

It didn’t take him long to figure out the girl didn’t know where she was going, and that she was drawing the wrong kind of attention in the bargain. It was almost full dark out now, and the city curfew was very strict. It frowned on late-night wanderings. The guards were starting to notice that she wasn’t in a hurry to make her way home. He ground his teeth and muttered a few choice curses at the form he was shadowing.

“There’s no choice, I suppose,” he said, and jumped off the roof into a shaded alley, away from the prying eyes of the Empress’s spies and soldiers. He picked his way back to the street, timing his entrance onto the main thoroughfare.

And his timing was perfect, yet again, he thought. He picked up speed, concentrating on looking like he was late and it was making him angry, and he grabbed up the girl’s arm as he walked past her. She let out a squawk of indignation, but he was already dragging her up the street with him and chastising her in a loud voice.

“Don’t you know papa is gonna be sooo mad when he finds you ain’t home yet? You knows you’re ‘posed to be home by dark. What’re ya thinking?”
He gave her arm a shake and caught a soldier trying to hide a grin behind his hand. That was good. Better to be laughed at than put in jail.

He relaxed his grip on her arm a little; he could tell by her face that she had picked up his hint and was playing along for now. But he could also tell by the set of her features that he was going to have some explaining to do when they got back to Haven.

For now, he kept up a steady stream of belittlements and fake admonishments from their fake parents. No one arrested them, and Tumbra had to work hard at keeping a straight face. He had always said, for anyone who would sit still long enough to listen, that the Empress would spit if she knew just how easy it could be for an enterprising soul to get around her stupid laws and edicts. And Tumbra was the very essence of an enterprising soul.

They were getting close to the center of town, and he pulled the girl down one of the market’s side streets, past the closed shutters and empty tables. While the curfew was mainly for the younger residents of Jacen’s Port, only the very rich or the very low stayed out in the streets after dark. But if a soldier decided to question them about where ‘home’ was or why they were still out and they’d be in the clutches of the Church of the Empress before he could blink.

He raised his voice and began to shake the girl as they came to the edge of the marketplace, and crossed Lyndee Avenue towards the slums. No one watched them, though, so he changed directions and dragged her through the winding, uphill streets of the industrial complex.

The air here was thicker, full of soot, and the pavement beneath him was black with it. The buildings were built close together and towered above the road, creating absolute darkness in the streets below pierced by retangles of light from the factories as workers continued in the night.

He took her to the oldest section, where half of the factories were shuttered and closed. The Haven Industries building was at the top of the cliffs, a decrepit, abandoned old warehouse that was built by an eccentric aristocrat who had no concept of transportation. The business had closed shortly after it began, and new, enterprising souls had taken over the use of it.

“Ah, home sweet...whatever-it-is,” he said, as he lead her around to the back of the building.

The back of the building was pressed close to the city wall; there was barely enough room for them to squeeze through. Tumbra let go of the girl’s arm and put his ear against the wall. He could hear Nightwine and Elah laughing, and in the background, Barton and Runkle making muffled clatterings and clinkings in the small kitchen. The rest of the crew must still be out on patrol.

He rapped the code on the wall and waited. And waited. And waited some more. He pressed his ear against the wall again, but everything was silent and still. Then he heard a faint sound, something that sounded like a giggle coming from above him, and he stepped to the side just fast enough to avoid the rock. He looked up just in time to see Elah’s face disappearing behind the ledge on the roof.

“They’re real jokers,” he muttered to the girl, who was looking in horror at the size of the rock. Her look said she wasn’t amused, either.

The door hidden in the wall swung inwards, and he and the girl stepped inside the lair.

Barton and Runkle were busy putting out bowls of steaming soup and hot platters on the table, and he waved an enthusiastic hello. They ignored him and continued setting the table.

Nightwine shut the door behind them, and the girl jumped. He checked her face to see if she was ok, and couldn’t help but notice the drawn features. But Nightwine was talking now, and it was best to listen when he talked.
“...attention?” he was saying.

He took a guess and shook his head no. Nightwine relaxed, and Tumbra grinned. Sometimes he could read his brother like a book.

“What’s her name?” Nightwine asked.

“Dunno,” Tumbra said, “didn’t have time to ask her yet, did I? Just got here, didn’t I?”

He pulled his coat off and slung it on the floor, piling it with the other outerwear beside the door, then sat down at the table.

“What’s for eats?” he asked Barton, who frowned and went on ignoring him.

“Well?” Nightwine prodded.

“Oi,” Tumbra said to the girl, “what’s yer name?”

“Who are you?” she asked.

He had to give her credit. She didn’t look nervous or worried; she looked almost like an aristo, standing in the middle of the room like they owed her something and she intended to get it. Her hood was up, so he couldn’t make out much of her features, but she looked real young. Too young to be traveling alone. And now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing anyone come in the gates with her. He frowned. Something was wrong here.

Nightwine was glaring at him and the girl, a scowl playing on his face. For the first time, Tumbra realized his older brother was almost an adult, and would be moving on before long. Once he graduated to the adult crews, Tumbra would be in charge. That’s why he’s leaving this up to me, Tumbra thought, and felt a cold lump of fear fill his stomach.

The girl was staring straight ahead, her hands clasped in front of her stomach. He debated his choices, and sighed in frustration. One by one he pointed to each of the crew members and gave their names, and then sat back and waited. The others picked up his cue and sat down with him at the table. Needly and Yahya still weren’t back yet, so their seats were open, so there was room for the girl to sit when she’d had enough. Ignoring her completely, the group started filling their plates and their bellies. It was quiet at first, but bit by bit they started telling each other the small bits of gossip they had picked up over the day.

The girl stayed where she was for a while, but when she realized they weren’t paying any attention to her, she started to move around the room a little, exploring the lair. Tumbra watched her out of the corner of his eye, chewing and swallowing the stew and bread without thought or taste. A small part of him regretted his lack of attention to the food before him, but he was engrossed in watching the small creature poking around the rumpled bedding and picked up the knickknacks littered around the room.

The smell of the food must have compelled her to join them, and she sat down without a word at the table. The conversation never paused, and Tumbra poured her a ladle of stew. She nodded her thanks and took a hesitant spoonful. He noted that it must have agreed with her, because she wolfed down the rest of the bowl and helped herself to three more and a half a loaf of bread. And she still finished before the rest of them.

He shot a look around the table and the conversation tapered off. Soon, everyone had turned to face the new girl. Most of the crew looked curious, but Elah was shooting daggers. Tumbra tried to puzzle out why, but gave it up. Girls had never made much sense to him, and especially Elah and Yahya. Better to let them work it out between themselves. Getting in the middle only makes you a target to both sides, he thought, and then pushed everything else out of his mind to focus on the new girl. Anything less could be fatal. For him, and his crew.

The girl didn’t seem nervous, which impressed him. Most people would be getting twitchy right now, faced with five strangers, sitting in their home and eating their food with nary an introduction. But she was unfazed, still wearing her cloak, her hood still up to shade her face from a sun that no longer shone outside, and her hands pressed together in her lap. It was starting to annoy him.

“What’s yer name?” he asked.

Nothing. He waited, because most people hated the sound of silence and would fill it eventually, but she was not one of those people. He scrutinized her face, but with her hood up like that, he couldn’t see her eyes. And then it occurred to him that she had been silent from the moment he had appeared to drag her through town. It made him wonder.

“Hey, ya deaf? Or dumb, or sumfin’?” he asked her.

“No,” she said. That was all. She didn’t say anything else or move away from the table. So he repeated the first question. There was that silence again, and for a few moments he didn’t think she would answer him.

“Diana,” she said.

Well, she wasn’t a thief then. A thief would have a false name, and it wouldn’t sound like any ol’ regular name like Diana. And she had enough sense not to give out any more of her name than that, so she wasn’t a country girl. They always had the brains of chickens. But she had come in through the gates, so she wasn’t from Jacen’s. There weren’t many towns in this part of the world still, even though the Empress was always pushing to expand, but there were a few. She’d have to be from one of them, but now he’d have to pinpoint which one.

He chanced a quick glance over at Nightwine, but that worthy only shook his head at him and pointed at the girl, this Diana, again. Ok, so there wasn’t going to be any help coming from that corner.

“Why’re ya here?” he asked her.

“My ma sent me to find someone.”

Well, whatever had held her tongue before, it seemed to have loosened it’s grip. A little. Little by little, he dragged some half-baked tale about being sent for an old family friend because her father had died and now mom needed help on the farm or something. Oh, pieces of it were probably true, like he believed her dad had died recently, but most of it was crap. He didn’t know how he knew it, either, but he did. He looked around the table, and was dismayed to see most of the crew had swallowed it whole. Even Elah was looking friendlier.

He wasn’t sure what to do about her. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about her, and he had a strong suspicion that it was something he did need to know. He was almost positive she wasn’t an Orphan. But he couldn’t decide if it was better to throw her out, or wiser to help. He took a deep breath and looked around the table again before leaning in and nodding his head.

It was the signal the crew had been looking for, and they took their leave from the table one by one, each saying hello to Diana before heading off to their other duties. When they were alone, he sat and stared at her, willing to wait her out this time. She’d caught his curiousity, and he’d dangle on that hook until he got what he wanted. He wouldn’t find out today or tomorrow, maybe, but he would eventually. And in the meantime, she’d be right where he wanted her. Where he could keep an eye on her.

For now, he’d show her the ropes. Teach her what to expect. And find out where she would draw the line. She hadn’t said how long she would be in the Port, or where she expected to stay. She didn’t seem to know how to find this man her mother had sent her for, or any idea how to go about finding him. The longer he watched her, the more sure he was that she needed help, and that she wasn’t the sort to go around asking for it. He considered his options, and decided to play her game her way.

He stood up from the table and swept his arm towards the door, offering her a silent farewell. She looked up sharply at his face, and the hood edged back just enough for him to finally see her eyes. He couldn’t tell if they were brown or green in this light, but he could read her fear in them plainly enough.

“Wait,” she said. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look stern.

She opened her mouth to speak, and hesitated, her mouth opening and closing like a fish while she searched for the right words. Her careful calm was cracking, but not so obvious that the rest of the crew would notice if they were watching. She was good, whoever she was. But she’d broken first, and that was all that mattered. For now.

“Where were you planning to stay?” he asked her, keeping his voice low.

“I hadn’t thought that far in advance,” she said.

He nodded and looked around the room, really just not looking at her. He wanted to make it look like he was thinking over a tricky situation. And it was disconcerting to look directly at her face. With her hood pulled back, he could see just how young she looked, and it was strange to see such cunning in a child’s eyes. And he had grown up with the urchins, for Sophie’s sake.

He could feel her starting to fidget in her seat, and he frowned slightly, as if he’d thought of something bad. She stopped moving again, like she was trying to keep his attention off her. It was an effort not to grin and give up the ghost. He let her suffer for another few minutes, and frowned down at the floor. It didn’t take much acting to make him look like he thought this might be a bad idea; it probably was, but he wasn’t about to let her go until he got what he needed.

“You can stay here,” he said. “If you like.”

“Thank you,” she said, and it was her turn to look at the floor, not wanting to meet his eyes.

“For a price,” he said.

“Of course.”

He had expected a little haggling on this account, but he shrugged it off.

“If you haven’t got the cash, you can earn it working with the crew.”

“What is it your crew does, exactly?”

He almost choked on his laughter. Either she was a really good actress, or she was just that naive. It sobered him to think he couldn’t tell.

“We’re thieves,” he said. “And if you want to stay with us while you look for this friend of the family, you’ll be one, too.”

And he left her at the table to think over her situation. He jerked his head at the stairs as he walked past Nightwine, who followed him up to the lookout post. The main portion of the building was open space interspersed with tall shelves, but the back fourth of the building had housed lockers and a break room downstairs, and two offices on a second floor. To get to the lookout post, you had to go through the first office and into the second, then pull on a string in the closet of that office to get the sliding ladder to the roof.

Like most of the roofs in the industrial complex, it was covered with the wilting remains of old crates and boxes that had been haphazardly stacked to create cover for hiding thieves and barriers to slow down anyone chasing them. The footing was treacherous, because the roofs were covered with the remains of older materials that had deteriorated over the years, and it had a tendency to slide under your weight if you didn’t know how to walk on it. Running was impossible unless you’d had a lot of practice, which Tumbra and his crew had. But for now, he just wanted a quiet spot to talk to his brother.