Without a King (Greatest Thief 1, mxm)

Part Two - The Letter - Chapter Nine

Four Years Later

"Help me! Please help!" Ninavi's scream echoed across the marketplace. I peeked cautiously around the edge of the wall I was hiding behind. The red cloak billowed out behind her as she ran across the cobbled upper city street. She'd started to grow into it, but it was still slightly too big on her. Her hair was messy and tangled, but despite that, she still managed to look like a little rich foreigner, though her skin was too dark to pass off as a Telt. However, the marketplace was filled with traders and merchants from different kingdoms, so no one would suspect she didn't belong.

Ninavi ran straight into two men who had been walking slowly side by side, deep in discussion. The one she hit lost his balance, but didn't fall over. She clung to his arm desperately. "Please help me." She started sobbing, quite convincingly. "I lost my brother and these two boys, they..." She cut herself off with a shriek as Baisan and Castin ran around the corner. Castin's knife glinted in the sunlight as he used it to gesture towards Ninavi and the two men.

The two of them ran closer to Ninavi, only hesitating when they seemed to realize that she was with the men. Baisan stopped first and grabbed Castin's arm. "Wait." He was the better speaker of the two, so as planned, he took a tentative step closer to Ninavi and the men. "Excuse me, sirs. That's my little sister there."

"He's lying," Ninavi sobbed. She clung tighter to the man and tried to hide herself in his cloak. "They're chasing me. They tried to hurt me."

"You tried to hurt this girl?" the second man said. He drew a short dagger. "Go back to where you belong before we call the guards on you."

"No, no, sir... no need for that." Baisan held up his hands to show he had no weapons and walked backwards until he was next to Castin again. "We weren't trying to hurt her, were we, Cast?"

Castin shook his head and held his hand behind his back, like he was trying to hide the knife that had been so easy to see a moment before.

"No," Baisan continued. "No, sir. She took something from us, is what happened, sir."

"This little girl?" the man who was holding Ninavi asked. "She took something from you?"

"Yes sir, she did. That cloak is mine," Baisan explained.

"No, it isn't," Ninavi protested. "They tried to take it from me and..." she stared up at the man holding her with wide eyes. "And the ugly one with the knife said he'd cut me up if I didn't give it to them. But I ran away."

The three of them played their parts well. The two men didn't notice me when I snuck up behind them and slipped my hand into their pockets. The one holding Ninavi had a hefty little coin pouch, which I was more than glad to take from him.

"That was very brave," he told Ninavi gently. "You're safe now."

"She's lying, sir," Baisan said. "It doesn't fit her, see? It can't be hers."

"It's my brother's," Ninavi replied sharply. "Go away!"

I reached into the second man's pocket and was momentarily disappointed. My fingers only felt a piece of paper. I carefully pulled it out and slipped it under my own cloak along with the first man's coin pouch. A quick reach into his other pocket resulted in a small handful of coins. I made quick eye contact with Baisan and nodded before sneaking away and ducking back into the alley.

"Go away. Make them go away," Ninavi pleaded, tugging on the first man's arm.

"Leave," the man told Baisan and Castin sternly. "Or we will call the guards and you'll be thrown back into the lower city."