Demonkin (64 page)

“I have mapped out our path,” he announced. “Follow me.”

Natia followed Chip through the maze of old furniture and stacks of boxes. It took just moments to reach the stairs, but Natia sighed anxiously as she thought about trying to retrace her steps. The fairy had made so many quick turns that she would have been lost without him.

“Douse the light and get into my pocket,” whispered Natia. “There will be soldiers at the top of the stairs.”

Natia truly didn’t know if her words were true, but she was not taking any chances. Once the fairy was safely in her pocket, she climbed the stairs stealthily. At the top of the stairs was another door, and Natia put her ear to it for several minutes. She heard nothing. Easing the door open a crack, she peered out. Distant torches lighted the room beyond, and Natia recognized the distinctive pattern of the floor tiles as matching the lobby of the building. She could not see anyone, nor did she recognize the room. She pushed the door open wider.

When the door was open wide enough for her to squeeze through, she did, and she found herself in a short corridor off the main lobby. She moved cautiously towards the lobby and suddenly heard distant voices. She immediately halted as she tried to determine the direction and distance of the voices, but she could not tell. She remembered the lobby as a huge room, and the tiles caused the sounds to echo strangely. She crept to the corner and peered into the lobby. Far in the distance, she saw the soldiers gathered near the front door. The short corridor that she was in was closer to the rear staircase, and that brought a smile to her lips. Still, the soldiers were standing in a circle, and that meant that at least some of them would be looking in her direction. Natia stared across the lobby at the rear staircase and wondered how she could get across the room without being seen. She decided to wait for the soldiers to do something other than stand in a circle and talk.

As the minutes dragged by, Natia eventually realized that the soldiers were not going to move anytime soon. If she wanted to cross the room, she would just have to do it. Steeling her nerve, the Knight of Alcea dropped to the floor. Angling towards the darkest patch of floor, she crawled out of the short corridor and onto the lobby floor. Gritting her teeth, Natia crawled ever so slowly across the tile floor, hoping that if she was seen, the soldiers would mistake her for a shadow.

Natia was halfway across the floor when the soldiers’ voices unexpectedly got louder. She glanced towards the front door and saw the circle breaking up. Frozen in terror, Natia could do nothing but stare at the soldiers. One soldier separated from the rest and headed for the front stairs. For just a moment, all of the soldiers appeared to be watching that one man as the voices grew more boisterous. Natia saw that as her only chance to avoid discovery. She swiftly rose and dashed across the remaining tiles as knives slid into her hands. She cowered under the rear stairs, waiting for the cry of alarm to echo off the walls.

For several moments, Natia held her breath, but no one shouted. Slowly her ragged breathing subsided, and she realized that she had not been seen. She heard footsteps above her, and vowed to remain under the stairs until they were gone. As she waited for the soldier to complete his rounds, Natia stared across the lobby. She frowned heavily and pressed her lips tightly together when she saw another staircase across the lobby from her. The staircase met the lobby not twenty paces from where she had exited the basement. She berated herself for not exploring the building more thoroughly before breaking into it, but she had expected to come in a window, not from the basement.

The soldier’s footsteps pounded on the stairs above her head as he descended to the lobby. Natia pushed herself further under the stairs to avoid being detected. The soldier turned at the bottom of the stairs and walked right by her. She could have reached out and touched his boot if she had had a mind to end her life, but Natia had no death wish. She watched the soldier return to the group near the front door. The gypsy princess remained hidden for several more minutes while the guards settled back into their social circle. When she felt that they were sufficiently absorbed in their male bonding, she slid out from under the stairs and quickly climbed to the second floor. She moved stealthily along the corridor until she reached the door to the chamber of Judge Julius. Using a thin piece of metal hidden in her belt, Natia picked the lock and silently entered the office.

She did not need any light to maneuver in the office. She had memorized the layout. Within seconds of entering the room, Natia had managed to open the desk drawer and grab the bright pink pouch with twenty-thousand in gold inside. She tied the pouch to her belt and retreated from the office. She didn’t bother to lock the door to the office, but she did close it. She retreated to the rear of the building, and used the far staircase to descend to the lobby level. Instead of having to crawl across the floor, Natia merely hugged the wall to return to the short corridor. Once there, she descended into the basement and let Chip cast another fairy light to find her way across the basement to the closet.

“Did you get what you needed?” asked Headman.

“I got it.” Natia nodded. “Thank you for your help.”

“We are off to the center then?”

“Not yet,” replied Natia. “I have one more stop to make first. You can come with me if you wish.”

Headman ordered his men to close up the entrance to the closet and then left with Natia. The gypsy princess led him across town to the home of Captain Beck. The thief raised an eyebrow as Natia brought out a set of keys and unlocked the captain’s door.

“And here I thought you copied the keys just to access the center. What are we doing here?”

“I will show you,” grinned Natia as she opened the door.

Headman followed Natia into the apartment. She walked to a corner of the room and moved a small rug. Under the rug was a large knothole in the wooden floor. Natia pried it up and took out a small pouch. Headman raised an eyebrow as he watched. When Natia reached under her tunic and produced a much larger pouch, one that was bright pink, the head thief of Giza could remain quiet no longer.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “I thought it was strange that you were taking the time to rob the meager belongings of the captain with so much at stake tonight, but actually putting something in his hide hole has me intrigued.”

“In that pouch is twenty-thousand in gold,” explained Natia. “It was just stolen from the office of Judge Julius. Make sure that none of your men accidentally discover it before the authorities do. It is the finishing touch on the framing of Captain Beck.”

“Merciful gods!” exclaimed Headman. “You are an evil woman. Even after they discover the children missing, they will believe that one of their own people is responsible for it.”

Natia merely grinned as she covered up the captain’s hiding spot.

“But won’t they tie you to him?” questioned the head thief of Giza. “You have been at his side the whole time.”

“Have I?” chuckled Natia. “He thinks that I have, but the truth is, I haven’t been with him much at all. No one from the center has seen me by his side. Even at the games, I separated from him quickly. The only place I have been seen with him is at the Tap and Keg tavern, and his favorite table is in a dark corner. He even went in alone to the city building tonight to supposedly find my lost shawl. I am sure the soldiers will remember him in the morning.”

“And you will remain free to come and go in Giza as you please,” Headman chuckled with a shake of his head. “You are good, Natia. Very good.”

“There are three more steps to my plan,” stated Natia, “and it is time to rescue the children.”

They exited the apartment, and Natia locked the door. They hurried across the city to the reeducation center. Natia slid to one side of the door while Headman banged loudly on it. No one answered the knock, so Headman banged again. Still no one answered. Natia came out of the shadows and unlocked the door with the key she had copied from Captain Beck’s key ring. She hesitantly opened the door and peered inside. Soldiers were all over the floor, sleeping peacefully.

“You go in and prepare the children for the road,” said Natia. “I will get the wagons to start arriving.”

Headman disappeared into the center. He moved to the farthest room where the oldest boys were housed and opened the door. Several of the elven boys looked up as he entered.

“Who are you?” asked one of the boys.

“I am an elf who wished I never had to stay in this center when I was a boy,” answered Headman. “Get everyone up. You children are going home.”

“Home?” frowned one of the boys. “What if we don’t want to return to Elfwoods?”

“Then you will stay in Giza and become a thief like I did,” answered Headman. “Tell me that you aren’t stupid enough to believe the lies the Federation has been telling you for so long. The Federation will never accept you as equals, despite what they say. They encourage you to abandon our people so that your defections will humiliate and weaken the Dielderal.”

“Sounds like you are speaking from experience,” taunted one of the boys.

“I am,” Headman admitted. The sadness in his voice was evident to everyone in the room. “I was one of the stupid ones. I wanted to be a warrior, and we all knew that the Dielderal had no warriors. What I didn’t know until much later is that there is no glory for an elf in being a Federation warrior. They use the elves, and they abuse the elves. When one of the elves dies, they do not honor him, but rather laugh at his demise. Is that really how you want to end your life?”

The boy’s face turned red, and he silently shook his head.

“Alright,” Headman continued with an authoritative voice, “this is how it is going to happen tonight. You boys will be in charge of making sure that all of the children are woken and dressed to travel. You are going to sneak out of the city in wagons, and the younger ones will be going first. Anyone who objects to leaving the Federation will be allowed to leave the caravan, but not until it is outside the city. This is important.” The thief paused for effect. “If the Federation is alerted to your escape, they will kill every single one of you. They will not pause to ask if you are desirous of staying here. So if anyone alerts the guards, he will not only be responsible for all of your deaths, but he will die as well. Do all of you understand me?”

The boys all nodded their understanding.

“Then let’s get moving,” said the thief. “The soldiers guarding you are all asleep, but they won’t sleep forever. Wake the other children.”

* * * *

Natia entered the warehouse where the games were being held. She wandered into the gambling room and stood far behind Captain Beck so he could not see her. The thief manning the table glanced at her questioningly, and she nodded exaggeratedly. Within minutes, the thief was replaced with a new man. The man who had glanced at her moved casually through the room and ended up alongside Natia.

“It won’t take long,” he said in a whisper. “The captain was losing fairly well enough on his own. He will be cleaned out in a matter of minutes. I even had to let him win a few just so he stayed at the table.”

“Thank you,” smiled Natia.

The thief wandered off, and Natia waited for the captain to lose. It really did not take long. Captain Beck rose to his feet in anger, toppling the chair he had been sitting on. Several men closed in on the captain, but Beck realized that he was protesting a little too loudly. He raised his hands and slowly backed away from the table. With anger on his face, the captain spun around to leave. That was when he noticed Natia standing alone against the wall. He stormed over to her.

“They cheated me. I know it.”

“Keep your voice down,” urged Natia as she guided the captain to a spot in the room where no one could hear them.

“Why should I keep my voice down?” blustered the captain. “I should call the city guards and have them close this sham down.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Something in the tone of the gypsy’s voice alerted the captain. “Why? I just lost all of your money. How can you be so calm about it?”

“I am not calm,” Natia replied in a calm voice. “I am terrified. You should be, too. We are both going to die in the morning.”

“What are you talking about?” Captain Beck asked anxiously.

“The gold you just lost belongs to a high city official,” explained Natia. “I only intended to borrow it. I thought you could double it and then I would put it back.”

“You stole that gold?” gasped the captain. “You can’t be serious. They will not let that go unpunished.”

“No, they won’t,” agreed the gypsy princess.

“Who did you steal it from?”

“Judge Julius.”

“The hanging judge?” gasped the captain. “You are as good as dead already. I will have nothing more to do with you. In fact, I should arrest you myself. I might get a reward for turning you in.”

“You fool,” laughed Natia. “Go ahead and arrest me, big man. You want to know what your reward will be? Do you?”

Captain Beck looked at Natia warily. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Who has been losing thousands of gold this last week?” asked Natia. “Has it been me? I don’t think so. So tell me, glorious captain, where did you get the thirty-thousand you blew at the gambling tables? Do you think I am going to hang alone? Go ahead, arrest me, you fool.”

The captain’s hand wavered near his sword, and Natia brought her hand up swiftly. Her hand held a knife, and she let the tip of it press against the captain’s belly. Captain Beck raised both hands and backed a step away from her.

“Let’s not get worked up over this,” the captain said softly. “Maybe I can find a way for you to get out of the city before morning.”

“You had better start worrying about yourself,” taunted Natia. “I went outside a while ago. Want to know who I saw?”

Captain Beck was sure that he did not want to, but he asked anyway. “Who did you see?”

“Colonel Fisker,” Natia smiled thinly. “He was looking for you. It seems he was aware that you were not at your assigned post. He did not seem happy about it.”