Chapter One
Through the Eyes of Marja Galiff
"So far I've gotten a pretty good haul," I bragged, patting the sizeable pouch hanging from my belt. "How about you, Kyube?"
Grinning widely, my friend brandished a large brown sack. "Not too bad."
I whistled in appreciation, then folded my arms and touched a finger to my cheek reflectively. "Maybe I should chuck the whole con artist gig and become a thief." Of course I would rather die than trade in the smooth living of a trickster for rough and tumble thief work.
Kyube laughed. "No way, Marja! You wouldn't last a day."
Well. She didn't need to be so blunt about it. I have my pride, after all. Even though I had no desire to enter into thievery, that didn't mean I wouldn't be amazing at it. "How do you know? Maybe I'm a Prodigy, like you and Knife," I sniffed indignantly.
Snorting, Kyube retorted, "You'd better pray you're not like Knife. There's not enough room in Pabra for two egos that size."
"I heard that."
I jumped and spun around. Standing in the shadows was Knife, a tall boy with spiky purple hair who always wore a sword strapped to his back. Kyube put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot in annoyance.
"You were meant to," she said, obviously irritated.
That idiot! Scaring me like that! Sometimes he makes me want to turn his sorry butt over to the Guard. Instead I kicked him in the shin. "Knife, you big stupid! I oughtta bite your stupid nose off! Stupid!" With each repetition of the word 'stupid', I gave him another sharp kick.
He grabbed his leg and hopped around, wincing in pain. Call me sadistic, but I have no problem admitting how much I enjoyed inflicting said pain. "Geez! Oy, Kyube, call her off, will ya?"
Suppressing a grin, Kyube shrugged. "Do it yourself. You are a Prodigy. 'A proud Child of Imber, Spirit Guardian of the Rain,' if I remember my lessons correctly."
"All that does is grant extra skill in a job. I'm not a monster tamer!" Knife narrowly avoided another kick. I shrieked furiously at this new outrage.
"So I'm a monster, am I? I'll show you, you horse's back end!!" I pulled a handful of my trusty steel darts out of my waist pouch, and tossed them fiercely at the swiftly retreating Knife.
Kyube chuckled, then said seriously, "He's right, you know."
"Oh, you want some too?" I brandished my darts.
She put her hands up in mock surrender. "No, I mean what he said about being a Prodigy. If you were one, you'd know by now."
What she said was true and I knew it. Prodigies were everywhere, and they could be just about anyone, but it usually showed by early childhood. I picked up the darts I had thrown at Knife. "I guess so. But it's not like a skill boost would do me much good in my job right now anyway."
Kyube shot me a glare of concern. "What do you mean?"
Oops. I hadn't meant to tell her. She worries about me, says I should find a new profession, like waitressing or something. Always says my hair and face are too memorable for my line of work. I can't help being mind-numbingly adorable. But she's right about my hair. Not many people in Pabra are fair-haired. For a moment I wondered if I could lie to make her feel better, but that wouldn't be right. Lies were for suckers--er, customers. "I mean that more and more of us are getting picked up by the stupid soldiers."
Cracking her knuckles, Kyube sat on the ground, and then dumped out the sack she carried. Silver coins and jewelry of all kinds issued forth, littering the ground. Glad of a chance to do something I love, I helped her count the coins and appraise the jewels.
"How many guys do you think we can get with this?"
Being the genius that I am, I'd already figured out what she had in mind, and added my own ideas to it. I leaned against the alley wall and counted on my fingers. "Well, we could probably bribe about four or five of the soldiers; their pay isn't that good--we'd have to hock the jewels first, of course, just in case they trace them back to the original owners. But I don't think we can get any of the thieves, considering how they feel about you." Being female in this city was basically right next to being pond scum, always had been. As Pabra's only lady thief, Kyube was rather infamous--the other thieves wouldn't let her join the Guild and they avoided her like the plague.
She shook her head dispiritedly. "Not good enough. There're always at least ten soldiers guarding the lock-up, and if there are a lot of your friends in there, we'll need at least one other person." For a moment she just sat there, thinking. Then a scowl of disgust crossed her face.
"What?" I straightened. Then a horrible thought hit me. "No, Kyube. There has to be another way."
She sighed. "If there is, I can't think of it. He's the only one who even talks to me, so maybe he'll help; if we put our money together."

We found him at Joro's Smithy, getting his sword sharpened.
"Lemme get this straight," he said as he paid Joro. "You want me to help you bust a bunch of con artists outta lock-up?"
Nodding, Kyube shoved the brown sack at him. Although she kept up a careful poker face, I knew she wasn't any happier about this than I was. Having to ask Knife for help was worse than pretending to be a simpering damsel in distress. "We can give you 200 lucre in coins and jewels. It's standard price for this sort of thing."
Knife stared at the sack for a moment, then handed it back to her. "I don't want your money."
I balled up my fists. Joro's presence was the only thing keeping me from slapping Knife senseless. "Why? Isn't our money good enough for you?" The look on my face made one thing crystal clear: 'Say no, and you'll be breathing through a series of holes in your neck.'
"Nothing like that."
"Then what--"
Kyube put a hand on my shoulder. "Never mind, Marja. Maybe Uncle will help us." She gazed questioningly at Joro.
The blacksmith shook his head, chuckling good-naturedly. "No way, poppets. I'm retired. Now get along, I taught both of you better than this. Go do your business outside."
As we left, I aimed a swift kick at Knife's shin. "If it's not the money, then what is it?"
He rubbed his leg, and shot a quick glance at Kyube before answering, "I don't need money. What I need…is a favor."
We eyed him warily. Men's 'favors' tended to run on the selfish side of things. Most likely he'd ask for something impossible, just to be spiteful, or something that would leave him with benefits and us with a big fat nothing. Kyube tossed her head nonchalantly. "What kind of favor?"
He shrugged. "Nothing major. I just want in on your next big scam."
Confused, I stared at him. This was a first. Thieves and con artists normally kept clear of one another--even Kyube and me teaming up was rare. "Why?"
"I've been watching the two of you. You're fearless. And I've got a feeling that your next big con is gonna be something to look forward to." Knife drew his sword and made a small cut on his thumb. "So is it a deal?"
Kyube pulled her dagger out of its sheath and made a similar cut on her own thumb; I did the same with one of my darts. We touched our bleeding thumbs together and spoke in unison:
"Bonded by blood, let not man nor beast, nor even the Spirit Guardians in the heavens sunder this contract." A small flash of soft white light circled our hands, and then disappeared. A Pact had been made.
A few moments and several arguments later, we made our way to the Imperial lock-up. Unlike most buildings in Pabra, which were built from stone or wood, it was made of a careful mixture of metal and magic, designed to thwart even the attempts of mages. Our beloved Lord protector reasoned that even magic users break the law. Of course, outside of the palace walls, "breaking the law" is known as "doing what you have to so's you can eat."
At any rate, whenever brawn proves insufficient, brains come into play. Concealing ourselves behind a dry, cracked fountain, our party of would-be rescuers formulated a plan. Since I'm easily the craftiest out of the three of us, I immediately took charge. "First of all, we need a diversion. Knife, can you make your voice sound like a soldier's?" He nodded. "Good. Okay, here's what we're gonna do…"
After holding a brief whispered discussion, we put our plan into action. Knife cleared his throat and called out in a rough voice filled with urgency, "Quick! There's been a disturbance at the East Gate. We need all the men you can spare!" Then he ran towards the East Gate, erasing any doubt of an emergency with the sound of his retreating footsteps.
We watched from our hiding place as nine of the ten guards ran in the direction Knife had taken. We ran to the lock-up, weapons drawn, ready to subdue the remaining soldier. But when we arrived, we were shocked to find him lying on the ground with a rock next to his head.
"Nice job, guys. He's got the keys on his belt. I can't reach 'em from here. Do us a favor, eh?" A raven-haired girl wearing a blue scarf grinned at us. She had bright blue eyes that were too big for her face, and was missing her two front teeth. I gasped--It was Nearly Mad Susan. Boy, if they'd caught Nearly Mad Susan, we were all in bad straits.
Snatching up the keys, Kyube quickly opened the lock-up door. People of all shapes and sizes poured out like so much water. Many paused to thank us, but were quickly reminded of the need for haste. When they'd all gotten away, we made our own escape.