The Thief Dilemma I

The Thief Dilemma: Chapter One

“Who’s there?” The figure in the shadows asked in a deep, gruff voice. The arrow, half pulled on the tense string, hung poised in the air. The black hood hid his eyes, but his clean-shaven jaw was set. He shifted, growing impatient for a response. “Speak up.”

The two shadows in the corner shifted nervously. One stood up. “We- we sort of… fell… into the game…”

The thief’s eyes narrowed. “What game?”

Inching into a standing position, the second shadow whispered to the first, “Megan… I don’t think this is such a good idea…”

“Shut up,” the first shadow hissed back, “I’m thinking, okay?”

With caution, the thief moved his hand slowly to an arrow marked by a red feather in his quiver. His gloved fingers felt the texture of the fletch at last, and with a deft, lightning fast move, the first arrow fell to the floor, instantly replaced by the brilliant blazing fire arrow. Light from the tip cascaded into the room, showing everything. The thief’s eyes widened. “Little girls? Here?”

The first girl, with her glasses glinting with reflected light, squared her shoulders. “Excuse me? Little girls? I’m seventeen for your information!”

The thief lowered the arrow, but continued to stare in amazement, not so much at the two girls standing before him, but at the clothes they were wearing. They were so… so… bizarre… The bolder of the two wore a shirt that looked somewhat like a very short tunic, but with no belt, although she wore some sort of trousers underneath it. The tunic was a dark blue, almost black, with some sort of odd symbols on the front in a blood red. The trousers were fascinating as well, made of what appeared to be a very thick, coarse fabric, nothing like cotton or wool. They were a navy blue, and worn at the knees, so that in a few spots, the girl’s bare knees were visible.

The other girl wore similarly odd clothing, though her shirt on top seemed to be of a bit more elastic quality. Over that, the second girl was wearing a stiffer fabric shirt, with little red flowers splayed across it in no particular pattern. It was unbuttoned, and hung open loosely. Her trousers were not of the same fabric as the first girl’s were, but of a rather tan, though not remotely hide-like, cloth.

Both looked as if they’d fallen out of- well, the thief couldn’t guess where. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. He stood up, with a completely puzzled expression on his face. “Who did you say you were?”

“Um, well,” the girl with the dark blue tunic said, shifting a glance at her companion, “I am called Megan of- of Fog’s End, and this- this is my-”

“Sister,” the second one hissed.

“-sister,” Megan of Fog’s End added slowly, “She is called- um-”

“Daphne of- Haylin Crossings,” Daphne of Haylin Crossings put in with an air of confidence.

“Where do you come from?” the thief asked, still looking stunned. “You mentioned- a game, I believe.”

Megan of Fog’s End cast a nervous glance at Daphne of Haylin Crossings. “Well, you see- we- we were brought here, accidentally, by- by-”

“The Trickster!” Daphne put in avidly. Megan cast her a withering glare.

“The Trickster!” the thief hissed, “You were brought here to kill me then!”

“No, no!” Megan insisted, “No, Garrett, you misunderstand. We aren’t supposed to be here at all- we got sucked into your game- that’s all, we don’t know how but-”

The thief pulled the arrow taunt, watching the two girls with a furious eye down the shaft of the fire arrow. “Who are you to speak about Garrett, the master thief? Speak lively. If I release this arrow you’ll be killed instantly.”

The second girl squeaked, and immediately hid behind the first. “Megan! He’s going to kill us!”

“No, he won’t,” the first said, keeping her eyes right on him, “He’s right outside a guard house. I’m surprised you’d even think to pull out a fire arrow so close to a window! You aren’t Garrett, are you?”

The thief cast a quick glance at the window not far from him, extinguishing the arrow immediately in his quiver. He moved silently in the shadows to look out onto the street. “The guards are gone!” he whispered, almost to himself. “They’ve left their posts!” He turned his shadowed face back in the direction where the two girls had stood in full view a moment before. “How do you know such things? How do you know Garrett? Are you thieves as well, then?”

“Who is he if he’s not Garrett!” the voice of the second girl whispered in the dark.

“I don’t know! This is all so confused… Nothing’s right… This isn’t right! We’re not supposed to be in this game at all, Daphne! We’re supposed to be at my house, at the computer.”

There was silence for a moment, then something thumped on the stairs below. The unnamed thief turned toward the door. A shadow had fallen over the step. With a silent move, he knocked an arrow and drew the string back to his chin… waiting… alert. Someone outside fumbled with the doorknob clumsily. Finally, the guard threw the door open. The shaft hissed through the air and embedded itself in the guard’s chest. He fell as silently as the arrow had flown. A squeak echoed from the corner.

“He killed him, Megan!”

There was a shout downstairs, and the sound of many boots began thudding up the staircase.

The thief whirled his cloak about him, and edged onto the windowsill. He was suddenly aware of two figures pressing against him on the side. “What are you doing?” He hissed.

“You aren’t going to leave us here to be killed, are you?” the first girl asked, angrily, but with a hint of fear.

“You think it matters to me?” He growled back, “I have to save my own skin!”

The guards were getting closer. They were on the second story now.

“Listen, we won’t tag along with you or anything, but could you at least spare us a rope arrow or a slow-fall potion? Something to make us a little less helpless?”

“You really are thieves!” he exclaimed. “Fine, I can spare an arrow, but not a potion. You’ll have to make do with that.”

“What about your bow? Can we use it?” the second voice asked as the first took the rope arrow from him.

“You can’t have my bow!” he hissed, “You said you needed an arrow, so I’ve given you an arrow! I have to go now, I can’t wait for you to try and shoot it! You should have thought of that!”

“Fine, we don’t need it,” the first hissed back, “Come on, Daphne, let’s get out of here.”

The thief rolled his eyes, drawing the flask of blue liquid from his cloak. With a quick swig, he downed the contents, and turned, poised to jump out the window. But he hesitated, watching the two scramble in the attempts to tie the rope and arrow around the pillar of stone separating the two windows.

“Give it here,” he said at last, in frustration, aware that the slow-fall potion would be wearing off any minute. He slung the bow and shot the arrow into the wooden frame circling the building no more than three feet away from the window. “You’ll have to jump, but that’s all I can do for you. So go! GO!”

The first girl looked at the rope, her chest heaving. “It’s too far! We’ll never be able to jump that!”

The thief threw up his hands in exasperation. “Then die, alright? There isn’t much time, and there aren’t any other options unless you plan on fighting your way out bare handed!”

She swallowed hard. “Alright.” Squinting her eyes, as closed as they could be without impairing her sight too badly, she launched herself out of the window, catching the rope with a grunt. “It burns!” she cried.

“That’s why we wear gloves, you idiot! Get down! Now, you,” he growled to the girl Daphne, “Jump!”

The door burst open, and the guards shouted angrily. “He’s getting away!”

“Damn it!” he shouted, wrapping one arm around the girl’s waist, and jumping from the sill.

For a few moments, they seemed as though they were floating slowly down the first story, but suddenly, they heard a noise that resembled something like air being sucked out of a plastic bag, and they began plummeting toward the ground fast. The thief began swearing, as he positioned himself to take the blunt of the fall. They struck the ground hard, not rolling to break the impact. The thief grunted as his back slammed into the hard cobblestone street, and he winced at the shock of pain.

The guards’ shouts were muffled as they ran back toward the steps in the building. They could hear them coming down the stairs. The girl, Daphne, sat up, wincing at her turned ankle. “Are you okay?” she asked fearfully, casting a quick glance over her shoulder at the thief. He didn’t respond. “Megan!” she cried toward the figure leaping off the last few feet of rope. “Megan, I think he’s dead!”

“Is he breathing?” she asked, running over.

“Yeah- yeah, he is!”

“Then he’s not dead,” Megan groaned as she pulled his arm over her shoulder.

“You shouldn’t move someone if they’ve fallen like that!” Daphne said, “He might have broken his back! You could cause more damage!”

“Shut up! He’ll be dead if we don’t move him! Come on, let’s go!” Half carrying, half dragging, Megan began moving toward the open sewer system that flowed directly past the buildings. Daphne limped after her, casting worried glances back at the door of the building. She could hear the guards coming.

With a splash, the three figures landed in the clear, neck-deep water, and moved toward a shadowed area. “The guards won’t come down here,” Megan whispered, “If we stay put, they’ll eventually give up.”

“But what about him?” Daphne asked, casting a worried glance at the thief, who’s head was barely being kept above the water by Megan’s shoulder.

“I don’t know,” for the first time, Megan sounded worried. “Look in his pockets. See if he’s got a healing potion.”

Daphne dug around in the long folds of cloth in the cloak, turning up nothing but a small pouch of silver, a flash bomb, and a ring. “No potion,” she whispered.

“Well, he’s got some money- we’ll see if we can buy one somewhere…”

“Or steal one,” Daphne added slyly.

Megan smirked. “You’re getting into the game again.”

Daphne giggled, “So are you, Miss I-can-escape-onto-a-rope-arrow-from-a-window!”

Although tempted to laugh at the voice in which her friend made fun of her, Megan restrained, as did Daphne. There were voices not far from them.

“Come out, Me Taffers!” a thick-witted voice called through the ever-drawing night. “Here now! Here chickie, chickie.”

“What do we do if they hear us?” Daphne whispered.

“What’s that? Thought I heard something…” The guard drew closer.

Megan pinched Daphne’s ear and drew it close to her lips. “Not use to being heard yet, are you?”
“Ow,” Daphne frowned back, rubbing her ear once Meg had released it.

The guard above searched around for a bit longer, but after a time, the two girls heard his footsteps disappear into the dark streets. Megan sighed openly, shifting the weight of the nameless thief on her shoulder. His hood, in the rush to escape, had fallen back, and strands of his rather long, black hair had come loose from the leather thongs that had kept them pulled away from his face. For a moment, his head dipped into the water, and Daphne quickly got his face out again.

She looked at him for a moment, his damp strands sticking to his brow, and said in a rather soft voice to Megan, “He’s rather attractive without the hood, isn’t he?”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on! We don’t have time for that, Daphne! We fell into a computer game, remember? He isn’t real. In fact, he shouldn’t even exist. For some reason, the game is not centered on Garrett, as we’d thought. There are other thieves in this place, along with, no doubt, other dangers. The Trickster, if it was his fault, is only one. And while I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like this, I don’t think he had a hand in it…”

“What makes you say that?” Daphne asked, beginning to move toward the ladder leading to the main street.

“I don’t know… Here- hold on!” Megan hissed as Daphne’s hand grasped the first rung. “I can’t possibly carry him around on the streets. If the guards are still looking, we won’t be so lucky if they spot us!”

“Alright, alright! Follow me then, I have an idea where we might find some healing potion or something…” she began moving toward the other end, where the pipe system wrapped around a corner and out of sight.

Megan eyed the curve dubiously through her water-speckled glasses. “Do you have any idea where you’re going?”

“Sure I do!” Daphne growled, “I’m not incompetent. I played the game as well as you, you know!”

“This isn’t a game anymore! I’m guessing, but I doubt we have the option to start over if we DIE. And if I remember correctly, you DIED a LOT. Let’s try to keep this a little stealthier, and a little less- hmm- fatal. Could you try that, please?”

Daphne giggled, and continued to move forward. “I’ll try, I promise. Ouch-” she cast a doleful glance back at her companion, “And I’ve got something to tell you- things hurt here. I fell, twisted my ankle, and it hurts. Megan-” her voice trembled, “Megan, what if we can’t use the healing potions? What if it only works for game characters?”

The two figures in the back lagged a little, water lapping at their faces, and Megan, after some silence, finally said, “We have to find Garrett.”

The leader stopped, looking back. “What?” she whispered.

“We have to find Garrett. He’s the only one who might know if something strange is going on. He’s the only person we can go to, after all. The guards already instinctively hate us, and we’ve given them no reason to think we mean no harm, and the Hammers, or the Mechanists, or anyone else won’t believe us.” Megan stopped, lifting the thief up again, and shifting him to her back, clutching both his arms around her neck. “And,” she added, growled half choked by the man’s weight, “We have to find out how we got here. That’s the only way we’ll figure out how to get back.”

“Right,” Daphne agreed, then murmured, “Though you must admit, this is rather cool. Being thieves? Running around stealing things, killing people?”

“Daphne. This isn’t a game anymore. We’re not just killing poorly animated artificial intelligences. We’re killing people. Real people. With homes and families to go back to. And we’ve got homes to go back to as well. Who knows how long we’ve already been gone?”

“Maybe time froze in real life, and only five minutes will have passed or something…”

“And maybe it hasn’t, and our families are worried sick, and are positive something terrible has happened… what will happen to us if they turn the computer off? Maybe everything here will cease to exist, did you ever think about that?”

Turning her face away, Daphne watched the moonlight shiver on the surface of the water. “I’m cold,” she said softly, “Let’s get out of this water and onto the streets. We’re far enough from the guard house now.”

She led the way to the nearest ladder, helping Megan to hoist the unconscious thief onto the cobblestones above. Silently, she massaged her ankle while her companion worked to get their newest companion back onto her shoulder again.

“Sorry I can’t help you with him,” she whispered, struggling to her feet again.

Megan shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. You’re hurt, too. Just keep a sharp eye out for people. I won’t be able to move very fast with this guy, and you won’t move fast with that ankle. Doesn’t leave much room for stealth. Where are we going anyway?”

“To the pub on that corner,” Daphne pointed to the lights not far ahead, where there was a distinct buzz of commotion inside.

“Are you crazy?!” Megan hissed, “You think we can bring in an unconscious guy, prop him up in a chair, and not look conspicuous? Oh! And let me add, he already went white after seeing our clothes! We don’t fit in!”

“Calm down!” Daphne hissed back, her eyes glinting mischievously. “We aren’t going anywhere. I’m going to go in alone, you stay in this alley with him.”

“That’s crazy! You’re hurt. You can’t just go-”

A quick hand gesture killed the argument. “That’s right. I’m hurt- put him down here- so it won’t seem odd for me to go in and ask for a healing potion or two. Here, let me at him.” She bent down and undid the clasp of the thief’s long black cloak, and slipped off his boots. Then, after wringing out the water, she threw it over her shoulders, and switched shoes. When she pulled up the hood, her face was completely hidden.

“Hey, that’s not bad,” Megan said, “but still- you’re hurt-”

“I’ll be fine. I won’t get into trouble or anything. Besides, you’ve done your part helping him, now it’s my turn.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Oh, so that’s it. You want to do it so you can say you were the one to heal him or whatever silly ‘I saved you’ thing you can think of.”

“No, that’s not it,” Daphne hissed defensively, “I happen to feel that it’s my duty since he get hurt while trying to rescue me.”

“Sure, that’s it.”

“Fine,” she said in a huff, “don’t believe me, but it’s the truth. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t feel responsible if he’d been hurt on your account!” Megan didn’t respond, and Daphne straightened the hood. “Alright. This is it. I’ll be back before you know it!” With that, she began limping toward the pub.

****

And that's the end of the first half of Chapter One. If you simply CAN'T WAIT (which I doubt ^_-) until I post the next half, you can find all the way through Chapter 4, I believe, here: www.fanfiction.net/s/1793386/1…