The Finest Steal

It was a beautiful sight, the benighted streets of Tianachi. Torchlight glistened in the narrow, muddy streets. Wood and stone houses rose two or even three floors, with clothes lines stretched between windows while the flags of the queen, the goddesses and the local chariot racing teams flapped on rooftops. Taverns spilled light and soft noise onto the perilous streets, but their glow paled in comparison to the shaft of yellow that poured from the temple. Half again as high as the tallest house, the temple rose proudly in the middle of the city, a great sandstone trapezoid with firelight gushing out through the marble columns that bookended its entrance. Their fire was the only one in the city that burned gas that issued up from cracks in the earth. That was how the priestesses liked it. On the hills toward the edges of the city, centuries-old castles stood defiant against the newness around them.

Lusio took it all in from his room in the tower. Cool night air played with stray strands of his short, midnight-black hair, but he stayed warm inside his buttoned shirt, waistcoat and leather gloves. The spice of his candle drifted pleasantly through the room, opposed only by the flowery scent that wafted in from beyond the city.

The door clicked, then groaned as it swung open behind him. Lusio did not turn to look.

"Brother," said the woman who entered. "Your messenger has returned. She told me that the Asmaä cartel is has sent out an emissary, and she isn't meant for us. It seems you'll have to correct this."

Lusio faced his sister, who stood with her arms folded and her face etched in stone, a convincing imitation of her mother. The pressure of inheriting the Alvárez family estate, along with all of its interests, obligations and secrets, had made her sourness all the more convincing.

Lusio's pale face dimpled with a smile. "That," he said, "is their mistake. I'm off. You'll see me by first light."

With only that, he stalked out of his room, down the spiral stairs to the stables, where the stable-girl had prepared a wagon for him. He lay down in the bottom of the wagon, where she covered him heavy-looking sacks, then she hitched up her favorite two horses and sat up to drive. It was a ritual they had perfected over years of Lusio's nighttime escapades.

Through a gap in the boards of the wagon's rear, Lusio watched as his home, Redshiver Castle, faded behind the rise. That castle was the smallest in the city, but its network of power and influence was the envy of nobles everywhere. It was widely believed that Lusio's sister, executor of the estate, personally ran a network of spies that pulled the city's strings from the shadows. In reality, she did indeed have spies, but Lusio was her secret weapon. While the city slept, he crept through the darkness, a wildcard in the nobles' never-ending struggle for dominance.

Several minutes into the town, Lusio crawled to a two-foot gap in the floorboards, squeezed himself through and dropped onto the street, catching himself on all fours. Without standing, he crawled into a corner, up a wooden barrel and onto the roof of the house. From there, he watched as the stable-girl turned a wide corner and began back to Redshiver castle, her task completed.

Lusio stayed low, knowing that his dark outfit did little to hide him against the brilliance of the stars, and even less against the dull grey of the wooden houses. On silent feet, he ran and jumped, making his way over the tallest buildings, were people were least likely to look. His first destination was in the slums, but he did not go directly there. First, he found the arena.

The arena, an oval half as tall as a castle but easily a mile long, was the only structure in the town proper that could rival the temple in age. Once built as an artificial lake where an ancient people had worshipped their ocean goddess, it had long ago been drained and cleared to serve as a chariot racing track. Each of the major houses sponsored a chariot team, and so did some of the bigger trading guilds from the ports to the east. There were even some priestesses who believed that the clergy should have its own racing team. They, of course, had been silenced; a priestess' creed, after all, was to be above the petty affairs of the world.

For whatever reason, the arena was circled by a trench six feet deep and two-thirds as wide, the perfect mode of travel for a rogue in the night. After a furtive glance left and right, Lusio leapt to the ground, scuttled across the street and slipped into the trench. In a few peaceful minutes of light-footed jogging, he covered more distance than he could in half an hour of sneaking across rooftops. At the end of the perfectly straight ditch, where it sheared right in a square corner, Lusio peaked up over the edge, scanning the streets. Thankfully, they were empty.

One more dash across the shadowy road, and Lusio was in the slums. The streets became a tangle of footpaths, houses stacked on top of houses in disjointed angles, and wooden catwalks shared the sky with clotheslines. Cats prowled through the corners. Human eyes watched him from inside the shanties, but did nothing to stop him. Each resident cared only that he did not rob them.

In the darkest patch of the slums, Lusio slipped into a room whose only entrance was from above, and which was lit only by starlight and the candle-glow that issued in from the cracks in its decrepit walls. Here, he sat and waited for his contact.

"I'm already here," she said.

Lusio's spine straightened like a whip pulled taught. He peered into the dark, silently demanding that the author of the voice show herself. In one step from a shadowy corner, she did.

From head to toe, darkness shrouded her. Her clothes were all dark, but smeared with what Lusio optimistically assumed were pigments, giving her a mottled, unclear shape. Her padded-soled boots made her silent, her many cloth pockets held her stolen possessions in a band across her chest- separate so they wouldn't rattle together- and her hands hid beneath black cotton gloves. A black scarf coiled around her neck, underlining her leering grin. Everything she looked at, she designed to steal, and now she was looking at Lusio. Brown hair, which she blackened by soot, hung in a protective curtain around her head.

"Amita!" snapped Lusio, regaining his composure. "Where did you come from?"

"You told me to meet you here," she said, grinning through him- not at him, but through him. "So I did."

"Listen, I have a plan."

"Ah," she threw up her hands. "Lusio has a plan. We're saved."

"Listen, will you? My sister's estate is being threatened."

"It's always your sister's estate with you, isn't it?"

His eyebrows sheared low. "Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. And until the day when men can run estates, it will continue to be that way, because my title and my fortune are all I have in the world!"

Amita put out her palms. "Touchy, touchy."

"The threat," he tried again, "is an alliance gone sour. My sister was lined up to enter a trade agreement with House Asmaä, the one that was taken over by the merchant guild recently. We were even going to marry me into their family if it went well."

For the first time, Amita perked up. "You? Married to those evil old hags?" She shook her head, hair waving back and forth. "Terrible waste of man-flesh."

"You'll be pleased, then. Our spies caught the Asmaäs making a similar deal with Aurora, that sorceress from the north. Now our plan is to poison Aurora and make it look like some other house is responsible so we'd drive the Asmaäs into our arms."

"Hmm," Amita counted on her fingers, as if she couldn't keep track of all the factions at play. Lusio knew better. "It's devious. It's cruel. I love it."

"Then our first step is to go to the apothecary in Tophoe. I have a deal with the cellar girls, and they can supply us with whatever we need."

"Good. I know how to get us there."

"Then lead the way."

"Whoah, whoah," said Amita, not moving. "Hold it, cavalier. You owe me something."

Lusio clopped back down to the ground. "What?"

"Remember last time, when you were in a snag, and you wanted me to call in one of my biggest favors to get you out. I said, 'Then you owe me a kiss,' and you said, 'By the Guardians, I'll give you two.'"

Lusio went pale. Now that she mentioned it, he did remember that.

"Now I'm collecting." Amita took a silent step towards him. "Get ready for me, boy."

She didn't wait for him to be ready. She mashed her face into his, trapping his head with her left hand, forcing him into her lips. She sucked as if he was the best bottle of wine she'd ever tasted. Her eyes closed, and her right hand found its way down to his rear. She gave him a hearty squeeze.

Lusio jumped, but could do nothing. Her mouth smothered his, and she had him trapped helplessly between her hands. He could only stand straight and try to shrink as her right hand kneaded his butt cheeks. He lacked the strength even to close his mouth.

Finally, Amita released him, smirking as he staggered back against the far wall. She tittered like a girl half her age. "You're so easy."

He wished he could deny it. Instead, he said, "That was more than a kiss." Dazed as he was, his voice lilted more than he had wanted it to.

"I'm a thief," said Amita simply. "I take what I can get."

"Take however you like, I'm done promising my body to you."

"Not yet," she sang. "That was only one kiss. You owed me two, remember?"

Arguments jumped in Lusio's mind. 'That was only an expression!' 'You were imagining it!' 'It means nothing!' Finally, he tipped his head down and said, "Fine."

Amita let out another one of her girlish laughs. "Ooh, you're a treat, Lusio. The biggest, juiciest fruit that ever fell into my lap." She lingered on the innuendo. "Now if you want to get to Tophoe, follow me."

In an instant, she was up and over the wall, and Lusio had no choice but to follow.

For all of her speed, Amita was not reckless. She was creative in ways that made Lusio flush with jealousy, and she knew little things about the city that Lusio could never hope to. She ducked through a house that turned out to be abandoned. She ran along a stack of barrels, skipping the one that had no lid. At one point, she walked directly in front of a hooded woman who slouched against a wall, blowing puffs of smoke. The hooded woman ignored her.

In the end, they reached a run-down stable near the edge of the city. Tophoe was an outriding farm village that served the city, and to get there discreetly meant chartering a wagon. Amita knocked furtively at the stable's doorway, then invited herself inside. Lusio followed.

Past rows of stalls, a woman sat in the far corner of the wooden room, scratching something into a wooden block, lit by a solitary candle. A few seconds after Amita and Lusio arrived, she stood.

She was black, a rarity for peasants this far west. But clearly, she was from this city, wearing the simple, humble tunic and red sash that characterized commoners of these parts. Her smiling mouth and sweet, deep-set eyes were the first thing that Lusio noticed, followed quickly by her muscles; clearly, this was a woman accustomed to hard work.

"Amita," she said, with no discernible accent, "it's good to see you again. How did..." her voice drifted off as she laid eyes on Lusio. She straightened her back. "Your lordship, sir..." she began, her face broadening with a smile that Lusio did not like. "You are most welcome here, sir."

"His lordship and I need to get to Tophoe," said Amita, pronouncing 'lordship' with sarcastic weight. "Take us there, and I can get you that payment we've been talking about." Her voice dropped furtively. "You know the one."

"Oh, excellent!" She hopped to work. Within minutes, she had a wagon and horses hooked up. Perching herself in the driver's seat, she watched, still with that disquieting grin, as Lusio climbed into the back to be covered in hay. Amita sat beside Tama, and with a light snap of the reins, they were off.

"So, Tama," said Amita, "How's business holding up?"

"Smooth as a broadsword," Tama replied, as she guided the horses onto the road to Tophoe. "The constables came by last night."

"Whoah. What did they want?"

"They suspected me of harboring criminals, which is absolutely not true." She sat up with fake indignation. "I harbor rabble, delinquents, scoundrels and rogues, but never criminals."

"Which of those am I?"

"You? You're a friend."

"Aw..." Amita's shoulders climbed, and Lusio could sense her smile even from behind. "So how much did it take to pay off the constables?"

"Nothing. I didn't have any customers at the time, so I let them look all over, and when they saw no one, they left me alone. It's lucky I wasn't hiding anyone, because I hear paying off constables is dicey these days. It seems a lot of the new ones can't be bought."

"Ha! Speaking of which..." Amita, pointed off to the roadside. "Over there looks good. What do you think?"

"It's a little out in the open," Tama hesitated. "But I think I like that. We'll stop here."

"What's going on?" hissed Lusio. "Why are we stopping?"

The wagon pulled off the road, its wheels bouncing on grass, then Amita dismounted into a round clearing bordered by thin white trees. "Lusio, you'd better get out of there."

Lusio vaulted out from under the hay, then brushed himself down and straightened his hair. "Where are we?" he tried again.

"Nowhere special," said Amita, with a taunting grin. "Just someplace that's far enough from the city. See, Tama isn't doing this for free."

"That's right," said Tama, shifting eagerly on her feet. "You are my payment."

"What?!"

Amita folded her arms. "In return for bringing you to Tophoe and back, she gets to have her way with you. So you'd better strip, unless you want to stand here all night."

Lusio fumed. "My body is not yours to sell!" he thundered. "Not to anyone, do you understand me?"

"Well, I did anyway." She walked around behind him, and her hands clutched his wrists, squeezing them together behind his back. "Of course, if you'd rather not pay, we can always head back to the city. But since you didn't even pay your way here, we'd have to leave you tied up against one of these trees." She whispered hotly in his ear, "You'd be a snack for the highway robbers. How's that sound?"

Lusio said nothing. He swallowed, shocked by how strong Amita's hands were.

"Tama," said Amita, "you'd better get his clothes off. It looks like he's not going to do it himself." She scoffed. "Noble boys! They want everything done for them."

"You know me, Amita," said Tama, "I'm happy to oblige." Creeping up to Lusio, she put her hands on his chest and let them sit there for a moment, feeling the supple black cloth and Lusio's deep breathing beneath it. Then she slid off his vest. Amita had to release his hands, but still Lusio didn't dare move. Once again, the females had him cornered.

Patiently, Tama undid his buttons, one by one, starting with the one at his neck and going down, each time revealing a few more inches of his tight, clean-shaven chest. Eventually, his shirt fluttered to grass, leaving him bare from the waist up.

For a whole minute, Tama stood back, eating him with her eyes. Amita took to the opportunity to fondle his butt, and he clamped his lips tighter, but said nothing as her fingers pushed and pulled at his flesh.

Finally, Tama went to work on his buckle, sliding his belt away and tossing it behind her. With a hungry gleam in her eyes, she pulled his leggings down.

Then her face went cold with shock. Dismay soaked her features as she stared at the steel chastity cage enclosing his cock, kept there by a fearsome-looking padlock.

"He's chastened!" Tama complained.

"It's to keep him a virgin," said Amita regretfully. "He gets really bitchy when you try to take it off."

With his virginity threatened, Lusio found his courage. "Don't bother trying to get it open," he said. "It's been tested against the finest picklocks in the world. I'm only marriageable as long as I have my virginity, and they've developed a way to test for purity. So I have no intention of losing mine to a low-born."

Tama looked past him, injustice in her eyes. "Amita, you didn't mention this. You know I'm trying to get pregnant, right?"

"Oh." Amita's disappointment was palpable. "Actually, I forgot about that. But he can still pleasure you." She slapped his bare butt. "Come on, boy, on your knees. You're going to have to do this the hard way."

Lusio hesitated, but then knelt, the threat of being left to highwaywomen sill fresh on his mind. He looked up at Tama.

Tama perked up a little. Undoing her trousers, she slid them down, revealing a womanhood dripping and ready. Lusio could smell her arousal from a foot away.

Tama stepped up, gentle putting a hand on the back of his head. Lusio extended an uncertain tongue, contacting her flesh with a slow, gentle brush.

Tama shook, moaning behind closed lips.

Lusio looked up, not expecting such a reaction, then before she had to tell him to, he kept going. His tongue made waves over her womanhood, causing spasms with every pass, making her fingers dig into his head.

To keep it fresh, Lusio tried everything else he could think of. He kissed the skin around her slit. He breathed hot air into her sensitivity. He got his lips around her nub and gently sucked. Books that no one knew he owned had told him women loved that.

"Yes!" gasped Tama, in a rising voice. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Lusio pulled his head away as she gushed. Thin juice erupted down her legs, which trembled as she panted. It took her half a minute to take her eyes off the ground.

"Good, isn't it?" said Amita.

"So good... he's a natural."

"Yeah. Well, get your pants back on. It's time to get going." She patted Lusio's back. "Good job, slut."

On that, Lusio remembered to be angry. Gathering up his clothes, he faced her, looking as authoritative as he could manage. "This is the last time I work with you," he snapped.

Amita did not look surprised. "You expect me to regret it now? No way." She jumped up onto the driver's bench. "It's not every day you get to whore out a noble."

As he replaced his clothes, Lusio acknowledged silently that his cock strained painfully against his chastity cage. As much as he resented it, his body was ready to be taken. That precarious metal contraption was the only thing protecting him.

Once had had crawled under the hay, Tama set the horses moving again. Poking his head out from under the scratchy stuff, he peered straight ahead, watching the swollen hill of Tophoe grow in his view. Farmhouses appeared, then a cluster of buildings that constituted the center of town.

"Get ready, boy," whispered Amita. "See that green banner? As soon as we pass that, you slip out and do what you've got to do. We'll be waiting down the road to take you back."

Lusio did not respond, and they did not press him for an answer. Instead, he crouched, then slipped neatly out onto the ground as the cart passed by the green banner of his destination, the Tophoe Apothecary. With an unnecessary glance over both shoulders, he ducked into the wooden building.

A lone candle lit the inside of the apothecary, leaving half the floor coated in thick darkness. Lusio felt his way, not daring to move faster than a crawl, until he reached the stairs to the cellar. With each step, darkness crept closer in around his eyes. Then it retreated again.

In the cellar, where grand old barrels waited in a rack on the wall and new barrels lay on their sides the middle of the floor like enormous hay bales, a few candles stood scattered about, bathing the whole room in uncertain glow.

To him, this was a familiar place, where the apothecary conducted all of its illicit business. Already, Lusio had purchased many poisons here, and they had never once failed him.