Jaide, named for her jade colored eyes, crouched low behind a dense bush along the narrow dirt path in the Thieves Forest. She looked over her shoulder at Strader, her partner.

"Stay right here." she whispered.

Staying low, she stealthily crawled through the underbrush, across the path, behind a broad oak tree. Jaide was a hybrid. Half human, half elf. Her elven grace gave her the ability to move from place to place, almost silently. Quite a large advantage for a thief. They awaited their victim's arrival. Their victim was an unknowing traveler nearing them with every step he took down that dirt path.

Jaide and Strader were really the only thieves in the Thieves Forest, but they were experts and had terrorized many who had passed through. And their victims had never been granted a clear look at their faces. When the horrified victims were discovered, the townspeople, after hearing the horrifying tales and counting the numerous victims, were led to believe the forest was infested with thieves, thus naming it the Thieves Forest. It was a place where many men were afraid to venture. But there was, however, the occasional traveler who was either more brave than the others, or had not heard the tales.

Jaide peeked around the tree, just enough to catch a glimpse of the approaching traveler, hoping that the shine of the sunlight on her rust-colored hair would not betray her. The traveler was walking swiftly up the trail, whistling a happy old folk tune. She took particular interest in the leather bag the man carried by a strap over his shoulder, imagining what riches it might be holding. Her excitment and anticipation grew as he grew closer. He was still at quite a distance, but it would only be a few more minutes before she could strike.

She pressed her back against the tree, waiting with her dagger in her hand. She signaled to Strader that it would only be a few more minutes. All that was visible of Strader's handsome face was his mouth and chin. His nose and his dark, grey eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of his green hood. Strader's heiratage gave him his own advantages. Strader was a halfling, little under three feet tall, so it was easy for him to hide. However, it made it nearly impossible for him to see over the bush he used as shelter from the traveler's line of vision. So when the time came to attack, Jaide signaled it to Strader.

The traveler had walked just a few stepps past Jaide and Strader without noticing either of them. Jaide jumped from her hiding place, ran up behind the unsuspecting man, and held her dagger up to his throat. The man let out a yell of surprise and terror, but he put fourth absolutely no struggle. He knew that the slightest attempt to fight his attacker off or to escape could send his head rolling across the ground.

Strader walked out from behind the bush, his face hidden from his victim, as always. "I'll be taking this." Strader said casually, taking the bag from the man's shoulder. Strader began searching the bag, taking anything that may be of value, and stuffing it in his own bag. Jaide backed the man up to a nearby tree and began searching his pockets, joyed with the valuables she was finding.

"Well well. Look at all this gold, Strader. Today has been very profitable." Jaide said with a smile as she tossed a small pouch, filled with gold, to Strader so he could add it to their collection.

She then took an emerald ring from the man's left hand. "No! Please!" the man begged, "You can have anything you want! Just not that. It was my daughter's. It's all I have to remember her by. She's dead now."

Jaide's dagger was back at the man's throat within a second. "Aww. Isn't that a shame." she mocked. "Well you'll be joining her soon if you don't cooperate!"

The man fell silent. Cooperate was all he could do. He was helpless. The two thieves stripped the man bare of anything he had that was of any value. His gold, his jewles, his linen, a string of pearls, his tools that were made from fine metals, and anything else they took interest in. And they were brutal and ruthless in the process. That's what made them expert thieves. Their lack of sympathy. Their ability to get a job done. To get from point A to point B, without stopping along the way to ask questions. Jaide barked orders and commands here and there to the man whose life she was threatening. Her rough voice fit her cold hearted profession. Finally she grabbed her rope and tossed it to her partner.

"Strader, give me a hand." she said. Strader tied the man's hands behind his back.

"Now get on the ground." she commanded their helpless victim, guiding him to the ground with her dagger at his throat once more. Strader then tied the man's ankles together, loosley so he could walk, but not run. Jaide helped the man back to his feet after Strader gagged and blindfolded him.

"Serves you right for being stupid enough to travel through the Thieves Forest." she said, mockingly. She turned the man around, to face the direction from which he had come. "Now I suggest you get the hell out of here." she said in the traveler's ear.

She gave him a shove in the direction he was to go. The man started quickly back down the path, stumbling occasionally. He couldn't see where he was going so he had to awkwardly feel his way from tree to tree, the best he could manage with his hands tied behind his back. He was no longer whistling a happy old folk tune. By the time he made it to the nearest town, if he made it to the nearest town, Jaide and Strader would be long gone. It took the two of them a while to add up the values of their loot, but it was certain they would be set in their ways for quite some time. Jaide looked through her green eyes at her partner. A triumphant smile spread across her face. She let out a chuckle as she proudly said "I believe our work here is done."