Elaine Cunningham: Honor Among Thieves

Fox lifted one brow. “I appreciate a defiant gestureas much as the next person, but-”

A board creaked overhead. Running footsteps beat acrescendo toward the cellar door.

“Fuggle!” the dwarf spat.

Fox sprinted toward the bulkhead door he’d pointedout to Vishni, the dwarf close on his heels.

Three men clattered down the stairs. Delgar wavedaway Fox’s dragon tooth vial, put his shoulder to the door, andheaved.

The wooden doors exploded upward, and the two friendsraced out into the bailey.

Vishni leaped to her feet, a pewter mead cup in onehand. Her form blurred. A blue-robed alchemist stood in her place,patrician disdain written on his face.

Fox glanced at Delgar. The dwarf looked slimmer,taller, and enough like the altered Vishni to be her brother.

Two of the servants in the mead tent now resembledthe fugitives. A flick of Vishni’s fingers created a phantom swarmof bees and sent them whirling toward her victims.

The men fled. The guards followed.

Delgar glanced at Fox, then down at his own longer,slimmer hands. “Something tells me I’m less handsome thanusual.”

“True.”

“On you, though, it’s an improvement.”

“Shut up and walk.”

Vishni fell into step with them. They strolled downthe hills toward the twin gates. Never had three alchemy studentsexuded more casual arrogance.

Never, Fox was certain, had the road out ofRhendish’s compound ever been longer.

Finally the black-bearded guard waved them throughthe gates. A trio of sighs escaped them.

“Good illusion,” Delgar said to Vishni.

She beamed. “It is, yes.”

“Better than the one that got me caught.”

The fairy boggled in mid stride. “Up ‘til now,” shemurmured.

Fox followed the line of her gaze and groaned. Threetall, burly guards stalked toward them, moving with the stiffprecision of clockwork.

And clockwork creatures were not affected byillusions.

“Run!”

Vishni took off like a jackrabbit, weaving her waythrough the crowd so effortlessly they might as well have beenstrands of meadow grass.

The dwarf ripped off the blue robe and hurled itaside. It cost him a moment, but Fox soon saw the sense of it.Holding up his skirts as he ran made him feel like a milkmaidfleeing a satyr.

Delgar shot past him and veered into a narrow alley.He came to a stop so abruptly that Fox plowed into him. Theexperience was not unlike running full speed into a tree.

The dwarf seized Fox’s shoulders, spun him around,and shoved him in the direction of a side alley. Metallic footstepsbehind them told him the reason why.

“How many of those things did Rhendish make?” Foxcomplained.

“Seven so far,” Delgar grunted, pointing to two moreguards emerging from a gap between workshops just up ahead.

They veered off again, hopping a low stone wall andtrampling a vegetable garden. Fox wrestled off his robe and wig ashe ran. An errant wind caught the robe, whisked it skyward, anddraped a scarecrow in alchemist blue.

Delgar grinned in appreciation. His smile droppedaway, though, at what he saw in the alley ahead.

Fox’s gut twisted at the sight in the alley ahead. Asmall woman in a dark cloak whirled and twisted, trying withoutsuccess to break free of the two men who spun her back and forthbetween them, like tomcats toying with a lone mouse.

She needed help. He couldn’t just leave her. But ifthey stopped, Rhendish’s clockworks guards would catch them.

Evasion or rescue: In Fox’s opinion, no one shouldhave to make that choice.

Inspiration struck, and with it the realization thatperhaps he wouldn’t have to choose.

There was, after all, more than one way to create anillusion.

“Head straight for them,” he told the dwarf. “Can youget the girl?”

Delgar sent him a cocky grin. “Don’t I always?”

They ran toward the embattled woman. Fox skidded to astop a few paces away, but the dwarf dipped one shoulder, scoopedup the woman, and kept going without missing a step.

The thugs howled curses and gave pursuit. Beforethey’d taken two steps, Fox crossed his arms, reached into hisopposite sleeves, and came up with a throwing knife in eachhand.

Two quick flicks sent the knives spinning toward thethugs. Steel found flesh, the first knife slicing across the tallman’s calf, the second burying itself hilt-deep in the shorterman’s left buttock.

Fox flashed past them at an easy loping pace. Thesounds of battle in the alley behind him brought a grim smile tohis face.

Rhendish’s clockwork marvels could do many things,but apparently they couldn’t distinguish between the two sets ofcriminals.

He quickened his pace and caught up to Delgar. “Itworked. You can let her down now.”

The dwarf slowed to a stop, a broad grin on his face.He gestured to the woman slung over his shoulder. “Are you sure?Because I could carry this little thing for- eeeeeOW! ”

Before Delgar’s surprised yelp died away, the womanlaunched herself forward, rolled, and came up onto her feet.

Fox caught her wrist before she could flee. She triedto jerk away. The sharp movement tossed back the dark hood of hercloak.

For many moments, the world swam and spun as Foxstared into a face that was grim, beautiful, and hauntinglyfamiliar.

“She bit me!” Delgar clapped one hand to hisbackside.

She responded with a string of lilting sounds thatgave Fox the impression of summer winds and liquid gold.

Delgar rumbled something curt and angry. The elf-foran elf she undoubtedly was-responded with a sweet comment thatbrought a flush of rage to the Carmot’s face.

The brief interlude gave Fox time to gather his wits.“I know you,” he said.

The elf shrugged and started to shake her head.Something flickered in her eyes. She reached out to touch hishair.

“Fox pelt,” she said.

A smile burst over the thief’s face like sunrise. “It is you! I wasn’t sure at first. Your hair and eyes are adifferent color. Of course, it was summer then.” He frowned as theobvious occurred to him. “Wait a minute-it’s summer now.”

“I was wounded in midwinter. Now that I am well andcan walk in the sun again, the Greening will come.”

Fox nodded and spun toward Delgar. “I grew up on themainland, on the edge of the forest. I wandered off when I wasabout nine. I spent the night in a tree, which seemed like a goodidea until I fell out of the tree and into the river. This elfpulled me out of the water, brought me home. She saved mylife.”

“And now you’ve returned the favor,” Delgar said. “Itall evens out, everyone can go home.”

The elf slipped her wrist out of Fox’s unresistinghand. “What he says is true,” she said. “Any debt between us ispaid. I have no right to ask for your help.”

It was on the tip of Fox’s tongue to offer it anyway,but the scowl on Delgar’s face stopped him.

“We should get off the street. There’s a safe placenearby where we can talk.”

“It’s safe,” the dwarf said, “because very few peopleknow how to find it. An enviable state of affairs, and one I wouldlike to preserve.”

Fox shot him a dirty look and offered his arm to theelf. She pulled up her hood and shook her head. “I do not want tocause discord among friends. It’s only. .”

“What?”

Her shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh. “I knowand trust no other human.”

“To do what?” the dwarf asked.

“A priceless elven artifact was stolen: a rose ofpale crystal that opens each morning with the dawn and closes atsunset.”

Delgar folded his arms. “So? Any garden rose can doas much.”

“This is more than a pretty toy,” she said. “This isancient and powerful magic. Such magic in human hands could bringcatastrophic destruction.”