NexLord: Dark Prophecies (21 page)

Slowly, so that he barely seemed to move at
all, Aerin rotated his head so he could look toward the
sound.  A guard on patrol inside the merchant’s grounds
stood a few feet away relieving himself on a bush. A few
moments later he was finished and moved away back toward the path
where he did his rounds.  Aerin finally breathed
again.  From his nose-to-stone position, he noted a
scuff mark
and knew which
direction his friend had gone.

As Aerin moved along the top of the wall he
soon came closer to the actual main building of the
Villa.  He slowed while listening and watching for signs
of guards.  Just as he was nearing a large tree, whose
branches spanned all the way from the wall to the main building,
Aerin noticed movement on the roof of the three-story
mansion.  He froze in position on the
wall.  

High above he saw Lor lower himself from the
overhanging eve of the roof.  Lor held onto the rain
gutter until he hung by his hands, dangling above the long
drop.  Lor swung around so that he now faced out from the
building.  Next, he bent at the waist and brought his
legs up until the tops of his feet hooked over the top of the rain
gutter.  Aerin’s heart
leaped
into his throat as he saw his friend’s hands
release their hold so that he was hanging from the high rooftop
held only by the tops of his feet.

Lor extracted a thin metal tool and then,
hanging from his bat-like perch, inserted it between the shutters
of the closed window in front of him and tripped the
latch.  As precarious as his hanging position seemed,
Aerin was amazed to see Lor remove an oil can and take the time to
drip oil into the hinges of the shutters before slowing pulling
them open.  With a graceful swing, Lor transferred his
weight off his feet and onto his hands, where they were placed on
top of the two open shutters. He swung himself down off the roof
and into the room below.  Just after he was clear, a
guard sauntered around the corner of the building and walked slowly
across the stone patio below the open window.

Aerin waited for the guard to move out of
sight around the corner of the Villa, before climbing onto the
thick tree branch that stretched over the wall.  Once up
he stood and followed it to the main trunk, then picked a good
branch and climbed up until he was slightly above the roof of the
main building.  He dropped to the roof, with a small
thump, and then paused to listen in case anyone had heard him and
given the alarm, but all seemed quiet. 

He felt his heart pounding, like a smith's
hammer, when he hung down from the rain gutter at the window Lor
had left open.  He couldn't talk himself into hanging by
his feet, as Lor had done, so he tried to catch the top edge of a
shutter with his foot.  Attempting to put his weight onto
the shutter caused it to move, and he lost it
again.  With his hands starting to sweat, Aerin decided
he was going to have to do something quick.  He started
his body swinging with the thought that he would just let loose and
swing into the room below.  He swung twice, to make sure
he had enough velocity to carry him in through the opening, then
let loose.  He hadn’t counted on his body continuing to
rotate, and so he found that he was flying into the dark room below
with his feet coming up into the air.  He tried to twist,
like a cat, to keep himself from landing on the windowsill and
breaking his
back
but found
himself only halfway around when he struck.  There was a
moment of pain and panic, as he tried to keep himself from falling
out the opening, but he lost the battle and started to pitch
headfirst out the window.

A hand grabbed the top of his trousers from
behind and stopped his progress, nearly yanking his pants off his
body.

A moment later, he was hauled into the room
and found himself on his back, the wind knocked out of him from the
impact on the windowsill.  Lor’s frown etched face looked
down into Aerin’s. 

“What are you doing?” Lor hissed in a quiet,
yet forceful voice.  

Aerin opened his mouth, but he still didn’t
have any breath to fuel his voice, so his lips moved without
sound.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lor demanded.

Aerin finally gasped in a breath, as air
returned to his empty lungs.

“I landed on the windowsill,” he explained in
a gasp.

Lor’s frown deepened, and he hissed, “I know
that
now keep it down, or the
guards will be all over us!  I asked what you think you
are doing following me!”

Aerin rubbed at his sore side, and answered
in a quieter voice, “You asked what I was
doing
and if I was all right.”

“Yes, and if you don’t hurry up and tell me,
I’m going to pitch you back out that window!”

“I’m following you.”

“Did you strike your head?  I
figured that out, now tell me why?”

“You’re here to rob the Merchant Master, I
came to stop you,” Aerin finally said, blurting it out.

Lor was speechless for a moment, and then he
released Aerin’s shirt and stood up.

Aerin got to his feet.

Then Lor turned on him, poking a finger into
his chest, as he whispered, “You listen to me close, what I do is
my own business.  I’m your friend, Aerin, but that
doesn’t mean I have to explain myself to you.  Now get
back out that window and leave me to my business.”

Aerin took a deep breath and steadied his
resolve.  “I can’t do that.”

“By the Dreadmaster, you CAN!  Do
you know what they do to thieves if they get caught? They brand
them… or worse.  Now get out of here before you get me
caught and they think you are part of it!”

“I’m not climbing back out that window for
two reasons,” Aerin replied.  “First of all, I am not
going to let you do this, and second, I don’t think I could make it
to the roof anyway,” he added in a rueful voice, trying to break
the tension between them.

Lor looked at him in disgust for a moment,
but his features finally softened.  “You probably would
fall, though I doubt you could break anything in that
bonehead
of yours.  Fine, I’ll get you
out on the ground floor.  Follow me, and for Ragol’s
sake, keep quiet!”

Aerin crossed his
arms
and didn’t make a move to follow Lor.

Lor stopped, frowned and came back to whisper
range.  “What are you waiting for, the return of the
King?  Come on!”

Aerin shook his head, “I’m not leaving
without you.”

Lor threw his hands in the air and actually
stomped around in a circle.

Aerin noted that it is hard to
stomp
without making any sounds, but Lor managed
somehow.

“YES, you ARE!” he exclaimed, actually
breaking his whisper for a moment, before realizing the volume of
his voice.

Aerin spoke in a simple whisper, “No, I’m
not.”

Lor grabbed Aerin by his tunic and tried to
pull him along, but Aerin used one of the arm sweeps they had been
taught in hand-to-hand
combat
and
knocked Lor’s hand free.

Lor scowled so deeply his eyes nearly
shut.  “What are you going to do now, fight me in the
Merchant Master’s bedroom?”

“If I have to.”

“Do you understand that we’ll both be
caught?  They won’t hesitate; punishment for being caught
red handed is administered immediately.”

“Yes, I know.”

Lor reached up and pulled his own hair in
frustration.  After a moment of gritted
teeth,
he relaxed and said, “Fine, do what you
want.  I have business to take care of, so you just keep
quiet.”

With
that,
Lor turned and headed for a chest of
drawers
while pulling a cloth sack from his pocket.

Aerin stood where Lor had left him, unsure of
how to stop his friend without calling the guards down on
them.  He moved over and tried to talk Lor out of it, but
Lor kept rifling the drawers in a quick and efficient manner.

“Lor, this is wrong.  There are
other ways to solve whatever problems you have.”

“It is none of your business.”

“Yes it is, you are my friend, and so
whatever problems you have I’m here to help.”

“If that were true you would get your sorry
ass out of here.”

“I can’t do that, not until you see that this
isn’t right.”

“That’s where you are wrong, this guy is so
rich he won’t miss any of this, but it could be life…” Lor stopped
himself, “…it could be important to my life,” he amended,
lamely.

“I understand, Lor, believe me, I do, but
there are other ways.  Let’s get out of here and we can
figure out a solution together.”

“Excuse me, I need to get to that cabinet,”
was all Lor said, having finished with the drawers.

Aerin moved to the side with a
sigh.  It was obvious that Lor’s mind was made up, and
Aerin couldn’t tell him he knew about Lor’s mother and sister,
without admitting he was spying on his friend.  Suddenly,
Aerin had a new idea.

He went to the bed and pulled down the cover
and then removed the top sheet.

Lor looked over at him for a moment in
puzzlement.

Aerin tied the sheet into a makeshift bag,
and moved over and knelt by a chest on the other side of the
room.

Lor came over and stopped
above
him before whispering, “What,
exactly, do you think you are doing?”

“Stealing stuff,” Aerin replied, putting a
silver picture frame he found into his bag.

If Lor’s voice had been angry before, now he
breathed fire, “You will stop that nonsense,
immediately!  I will not have you branded a thief on my
account!”

Aerin stopped for a moment and looked up at
Lor, “Look, as you so aptly put it a few minutes ago, what I do is
my own business.  I’m your friend, but I don’t have to
explain myself to you.”

“I see what you are up to; you think if you
start stealing that I will quit just to stop you. Fine… rob away,
thief!”

With that, Lor spun around and stalked out to
another room.

Aerin paused a moment, Lor was
right.  He had been hoping that Lor would leave with him
if he started to steal.  Aerin considered what his friend
was going through, his mother was
sick
and blind. He had a sister to support, and all
he knew Aerin was doing was trying to stop him from accomplishing
the only thing he could think of to help his
family.  Aerin felt ashamed.

He started going through the trunk in
earnest.

After a few
minutes,
Aerin had checked the rest of the room and
followed Lor out to the dining room, where they lifted the various
silver plates, eating utensils and crystal
goblets.  Neither of them spoke.

Lor finally looked at Aerin and said, “All
right, it is
time
we got out of
here, we’ve been pushing our luck for some time.”

Aerin nodded and followed Lor to one of the
side doors.

“I had intended to leave using the tree
again, but I don’t think you can get to the roof without making a
ruckus.  We’re going to have to sneak out between guard
rounds, and find a way up over the wall.”

Aerin nodded and then he knotted up his sheet
and slung it over his shoulder.

With a look at his eyes, Lor checked and saw
that he was ready.  He eased the door open a crack to
check the patio and path that led from the door.  They
had to cross the patio and enter a patch of grass before reaching
the shrubbery area along the wall; it seemed clear.

The two young thieves slipped out the door
and scampered across the openly exposed patio.  Aerin’s
bag of bootie thumped against his back and the silver pieces inside
clanked.

Lor looked over his shoulder, with big eyes
of reproach, but they kept going.

They reached the shrubs and wound their way
through the thick bushes into a small clearing at the inside edge
of the wall surrounding the Merchant Master’s
property.  Aerin looked up at the wall, estimating it to
be twice his height.  Lor dropped his
sack
and made a saddle for Aerin's foot by
interlacing his fingers, so he could give him a boost.

“I don’t think that will do it,” Aerin
whispered.

“It
will
if
you stand on my shoulders; now get a move on!”

Aerin hesitated, “You’re lighter than me, so
you should stand on my shoulders.”

Lor looked up at him in exasperation, “And
how are YOU going to get to the top of the wall after I am up?”

“I could say the same for you,” Aerin
replied.

“Trust me when I say I can get there without
you, now are we going to pitch a tent here, or are you going to get
off your fat ass before the guards find us?”

Aerin stepped into Lor’s hands and up onto
his shoulders.  He could just reach the top of the wall
with his outstretched hands.  He pulled himself up and
managed to swing a foot onto the top.  As soon as he was
steady, Lor gave a short, quiet whistle to get his attention, then
his bag full of loot was tossed up.  Aerin grabbed it and
set it gently on the top of the wall.  He turned to take
a look back down for his friend.

Lor’s sack was designed to act as a sling,
and he had it slung across his back to leave his hands and arms
free.  He was just considering whether it was worth the
time to remove it and toss it up to
Aerin
when he felt the hard grip of a hand grab him by
the shoulder.

Aerin looked down just in time to see the
guard grab Lor.  The man had a cudgel in his right hand
and Lor’s shoulder grasped in his left.  Aerin didn’t
even hesitate, he jumped.  He still held the knot of his
bag so he and the bag landed behind Lor and the
guard.  At the sound of the thump and
clank
that signaled his arrival, the guard
aborted his strike to Lor’s head with his cudgel, in order to see
what was behind him.