-Weeks prior to the attack on Moonfane Forge-

  Slouk crept out from the shadows behind the backhouse and slunk up underneath the shuttered window of a lopsided little shack of a dwelling down by the lake shore. He tapped on the shutters.

  “Clip,” he whispered through them. No answer from inside. It was too dark to see through the slits of the closed shutters if Clip was in there or not. Maybe she was asleep.

  Dawn was rising over Pasanhal town and there were guards all over the place looking for him. Slouk didn’t want to step into the open street long enough to pound on Clip’s door, lest a guard come up the street and spot him.

  “Clip,” he whispered again and rapped his knuckles harder on the shutters. “Damn it, Clip, if you’re in there, open up!”

  There was a stirring inside. He heard a stool knocked over and then a muffled curse. The shutters clacked open and then Clip’s doughy face was at the window. She peered at him with eyes squinting against the daylight.

  “Slouk? Ugh. What d’ya want?”

  “Let me in! Quickly. There’s a lot o’ heat on me.”

  “Alright, alright,” she said through a yawn. “Calm your skinny ass and come ‘round to the door.” She closed the shutters in his face.

  Slouk crept around to the door, looking to his left and right. The street was clear. That was good. When Clip opened the door, he pushed past her inside. “Thank you, thank you! I owe you one.” He looked around the room. “Is my sister here?”

  “Why would she be?” Clip asked, taking a peek outside before shutting the door softly and latching it. She rubbed her eyes and went to light a candle that sat on a rough table covered in little metal filings.

  “Because she was supposed to meet me here.”

  Clip shook her head. “I ain’t seen ‘er. What d’ya want? I’m tired. I was up most the night.” She picked up a blouse from the floor and pulled it on over her woolen nightgown, before righting the stool she’d knocked over and sitting. “Seriously, what are you doin’ here? You look like a rat with an alley cat on his ass.”

  “We fouled up a job pretty bad and the whole town guard’s out for us. But we earned a fat bag of coin in the process.”

  “And you brought that heat here? Shit.” She stood again and peeped through the window shutters.

  “Don’t sweat it, we lost ‘em,” he said. He looked for a place to sit, decided he was too jittery, and began pacing. “Do you see Bryne?”

  Clip shook her head. “Nope. Wait. Here she comes!”

  With a sigh of relief, Slouk sat down heavily on Clip’s bed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Oh, thank all spirits.”

  Clip opened the door in time for a young woman to slip through and into the now crowded little room. Again, she peered around outside before closing and latching the door.

  “Look at the pair of you,” Clip stated, shaking her head. “Now, Slouk I’d expect to be all wound up over some guards searching for him, but not you, Bryne.” She sized up the young woman. “Never seen you so pale. What kind of trouble are you in, anyway?”

  Breathing as though she had been running hard, Bryne sat down on the stool Clip had previously occupied. Before she could respond, Slouk touched her knee and asked, “You got it still?”

  The look Bryne shot Slouk was one of carefully constructed confusion. “Got what?”

  If not for the woman’s close-fitting trousers and blouse that put her womanly lines on display, she might easily have been mistaken for her brother. The angular lines of her face were so similar to Slouk’s that it was easy to mark them as siblings, right down to the dark eyes and brows, sharp nose, and wild black hair. The most notable difference was that Bryne wore her hair long to her shoulder blades, and had put decidedly more effort into mastering it into something presentable compared to Slouk’s bird’s nest. She pulled her loose hair back now, produced a thing length of leather and tied it in a tail.

  “Please don’t tell me ...” Slouk began, his face shifting from relief to despair.

  Clip crossed her arms and chuckled. “It was a good try, Bryne, but Slouky here already spilled the beans. ‘A fat bag of coin’, he said.”

  Bryne pinched her lips and kicked Slouk’s boot with her own. “Stupid.”

  “I didn’t think she’d let us hide here if we didn’t have nothin’ to offer!”

  “He is right about that,” Clip said through a yawn. “Not for long, at least. You think I want any city guards sniffin’ around my place? C’mon, Bryne, out with it. Let’s see it. Then we’ll discuss my cut of it, in exchange for you two gettin’ to lay low here.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  With another dark look at her brother, Bryne lifted the back of her blouse and pulled from her belt a leather pouch which she dropped on the table. “There. You can look to your heart’s content. And not a single one of ‘em clipped ... Clip.”

  “Nobody saw you slip in here?” Slouk asked.

  Bryne shook her head. “You know me better than that.”

  “Indeed,” agreed Clip, tugging the leather pouch open. “Bryne’s a shadow.” Peering into the bag, she whistled. “Shit. These are gold! How’d you two ever steal something like this? I thought you were more about takin’ horses.” She began removing coins from the pouch and clinking them into a neat pile on her table.

  “I said you could look,” said Bryne. “But that’s the beautiful thing. We didn’t steal ‘em at all. They were given to us fair and square by this rich merchant. Payment for a job that ... well, the important thing is we got away with the payment. Put those back in the bag.”

  Ignoring that, Clip went on stacking coins. She chortled. “Yeah. Slouk said you botched the job, so now the whole town guard is out looking for you two.”

  Slouk lay back on the bed with his boots still on the floor. “The heat’ll die down. Then we’ll sneak out of town and go somewhere else for a while.”

  “Mhm,” mumbled Clip. She produced a pair of sturdy metal shears and with them began snipping around the edge of one of the coins, creating a thin curl of gold.

  Bryne shot up from the stool. “Hey! What d’ya think you’re doing?”

  “Relax, Bryne. Sit down,” she said, finishing with the coin and putting the shears down. “It’s coming out of my cut for hiding you.” Without a thought for Slouk being in the room, she removed her blouse and nightgown, then threw on a plain green dress and shoes. “I’m just gonna have a little stroll around town and see what kind of heat we’re talkin’ about here.” She held up the newly clipped ringlet of gold, then made it disappear into her sleeve. “I’ll bring back some breakfast. Stay here. Don’t go out before I get back.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” replied Bryne. She sat down with a sigh of annoyance. “Why’d you mention the coin to her?”

  “Already told you.”

  Bryne swept up the stack of coins Clip had made. After a moment of consideration, she placed a single one back on the table, dropped the rest in the bag, and tied it closed. Slouk leveraged himself up off the bed to peer at his sister.

  “Don’t look so glum. We can go a lot of places and live high on the hog for a long time with all that. We could even start up our own little stables. Legitimately. Stop stealin’ horses.”

  Bryne disregarded the suggestion. “We fouled that job up bad. We made a lot of mistakes we shouldn’t have. That damned stable hand was one step ahead of us the entire time. We need to be smarter next time.”

  Slouk closed his eyes and was silent for a time. His racing heartbeat had finally settled in his chest. “Doesn’t matter,” he mumbled faintly. “No more doin’ jobs like that one, I say. We should stick to what we’re good at.”

  “Even if jobs like that mean more pay like this?” Bryne offered, hefting the bag of coins and giving it a shake.

  The door was thrown open so fast, it rebounded on its hinges. Slouk snapped his eyes open and sat bolt upright. Bryne was on her feet in an instant. It took the both of them a few seconds of panic to comprehend that it was Clip silhouetted in the doorway and not a town guard. As fast as she’d shoved the door open, Clip slammed it shut, and for a moment stood with her back to it. There was an odd smile on the woman’s face as she latched the door and then strode by Bryne to peep through the window shutters.

  “Spirits and demons, Clip!” swore Bryne.

  “Where’s the breakfast you said you’d bring?” said Slouk.

  “I changed my mind. I don’t want you two stayin’ here.” She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “You must’ve pissed off the wrong people.” Taking from her sleeve a rolled-up piece of paper, she unrolled it and slapped it flat on the table beside the bag of coins. “See that? That’s a bounty on your heads. And just look at the amount! A king’s ransom, if I ever saw one. Makes this little ‘payment’ of yours look like a couple coppers in a beggar’s cup. Forget the town guard, you two have everyone in Hold Pasanhal out looking for you trying to collect on that!”

  Slouk stood and came to peek over his sister’s shoulder at the bounty notice. Reading wasn’t his strongest skill, but he could recognize numbers. Seeing the amount on his head, and his sister’s, he blanched.

  “You’ll never pay your way out o’ that,” Clip went on. “You’re gonna have to leave Pasanhal. Hells, you might have to leave Kaldura! You can start with leavin’ my home. Right now. If anyone gets word I’ve got you two here, it’s my head on the block beside both o’ yours.”

  “You’re not serious!” exclaimed Bryne. “It’s broad daylight out there. At least let us stay until nightfall.”

  “Can’t do it, Bryne. And here’s the other thing ...” Quick as snapping her fingers, Clip grabbed the bag of coins off the table and backed herself to the door. When Bryne went to snatch it back, Clip produced a wicked little dagger. “Ah ah! Listen here. See that bounty right there?” she waved her dagger’s point at the sheet on the table. “I could’ve gone and turned you two in this very morning and collected all of that for myself. Much more money than this little bag holds. But I didn’t. So, this right here?” She shook the bag, making the coins rustle. “Consider it payment for me not doing that, and promising not to do it later. I’d rather not have to show my face to any town guards, anyhow, but your coin’ll help me keep that promise when times are lean.”

  “You fuckin’ backstabber!” Slouk sputtered. “You were our friend. We’ve worked together!”

  “We’re all thieves, Slouk. Word of advice: don’t take such risky jobs. But, here, I’ll throw you two a bone.” Clip smirked subtly, looking from Slouk to Bryne and keeping the point of her dagger casually raised. “I heard there’s somethin’ very hush hush bein’ put together. It sounds like a big job, and they’re specifically looking for people who’re good at sneaking around into places they shouldn’t be. Word is the pay is good. Real good. I’m passing that along out of the kindness of my heart. Could be something that gets you two back on your feet again.”

  Bryne stared daggers at Clip as she asked, “Who’s putting it together? How much is the pay?”

  Clip shook her head. “Soldier-looking folks. But not real soldiers. Not Kaldurans. Don’t know who they are. But word around the back ways is they were dangling the promise of gold, with a chance at other plunder, too. They’re supposed to be camped out in the flatlands out west. Go find ‘em. Or don’t. It’s all the same to me. But, now, it’s time you two left.”

  For a few tense moments, Bryne and Slouk stood stock still. Then, Bryne grabbed up the single coin she had left on the table and pocketed it. “You’ll get yours, Clip.”

  Clip wordlessly opened the door and gestured out with her dagger. She kept the bag of coins safe behind her back while Slouk and Bryne filed past her out to the street. The door was thrown shut behind their backs and the latch driven into place.