The Prince of Thieves Ch. 05

Hey, it's Useli! Sorry for the wait. I had some computer issues that I had to take care of. Be sure to review, and let me know if I'm doing things right or screwing up somewhere.

- - -

The male grunted a bit as he swung down, supporting his weight entirely with his arms and slowly lowering himself as close to the balcony as possible before dropping silently. Atlas knelt and removed from a pocket within his tunic a set of lock-picks. With speed and skill born from years of practice the tumblers all into place and the lock opened with a soft 'click'.

Tucking away the useful items he quietly opened the door and swept inside the manor. It wasn't perhaps the wisest thing to be robbing the nobility of Atlantis, however they need for money outweighed the risks. Glancing over at the grand four-poster bed dominating the room he rolled his eye's.

He takes what he can from the room. A few precious necklaces, rings, and a small coin purse of gold. Hearing them stir, the Prince makes an exit through the closest door and out into the hallway of the manor. 'Damn,' curses the Prince silently. 'This is why I hate this kind of work.'

The hallway was lined with many large windows, the moonlight bathing several beautiful oil-paintings that had been well taken care of and showed no signs of fading or deterioration. He moves forward as quietly as possible, eye's scanning every painting and silently wondering just how much a fence might pay to get his hands upon one of these masterpieces. That being said, he simply wasn't about to undertake the head-ache associated with attempting to find a buyer for such a unique piece of stolen art.

As he passed a door, he heard a noise within and immediately pressed himself against the wall only moments before the door opened. Though he'd done this kind of work nearly all his life...he couldn't quell the automatic leap in his pulse as a servant stepped out of the room, closed the door quietly behind her and departed down the hall in the opposite direction as Atlas.

Deciding that he had taken enough risks he sought out the nearest exit...

- - -

Illia was up before dawn spread it's golden wings across the sky. The amazon wasn't worried about Atlas, or the fact that he seemed to have disappeared. It wasn't that she was cold, rather it was a compliment to his perceived ability to handle himself no matter the situation.

She had left Nero sleeping at the Inn and gone to finish collecting what they would be needing for the crossing to Aer. By the time the sun had risen over the horizon the streets were crowded with people. That being said...she spotted the thief immediately despite the cover of the crowd.

Atlas approached, wry grin directed at her from under his hood. "I see you're still alive," she comments. "Did you find someone to translate that paper?"

"Unfortunately not," replies the Prince, scanning the crowd. "But I believe I know where Kale is hiding. Our best bet may be to take it to him."

"He didn't seem all that willing to assist us before we parted ways. Why would he have had a change of heart?" The thief's smile only grows at her words. "Is there something you're not telling me?" Illia met his eye's under his hood, which seemed to sparkle with amusement...and it only served to irritate her more.

"As I told you last night...Kale is rather interested in the Terin people."

"You think that'll be enough to motivate him?" Atlas simply offers a shrug. "Well...did that man, Lin, offer any assistance? Something to fall back upon?"

"He said he would line one up but I wouldn't hold my breath, Miss Illia." She noticed that the normally polite 'Miss' which he had attached to her name sounded teasing rather than respectful. As they walked she noticed him pluck an apple from a cart they passed, not bothering to see if anyone was watching his movements.

There's a loud 'snap' of the crisp skin as he takes a bite. "Am I to assume he was the one who sent those men?"

"Huh?" grunts the Prince, looking over at her. "Oh, yeah. Like I said...he'd sell me for a copper coin."

"Silver." He blinks in confusion. "You said, 'He'd sell me into slavery for a silver coin'." He rolls his amber eye's, a sparkle of amusement in them.

"Well, thank you for reminding me." He produced a second apple from that she had not seen him take and holds it out to her. "Have some breakfast."

"I'd hardly call an apple breakfast, Prince." She accepts the bright red fruit from him after a few moments and stops to stare at him seriously. "Are you sure that Kale will be willing to help us decipher this?"

"If he won't, then I'll just have to convince him, won't I?"

"Perhaps I should be the one to speak to him."

"Oh, ye of little faith. Just trust me, Illia. I'm sure that he'll be willing to help us..."

- - -

The sounds of quill scratching against paper was one of the only sounds in the room. The scholar was attempting to note the strange properties of the herb he had discovered. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he failed to hear someone approaching from behind. Though, even if he had been listening it would have been hard to hear the Prince until the man slammed his palm upon the table. "Kale!!" roared the man, nearly causing the scholar to jump out of his skin. "...Did I scare you?"

"Damn it, Atlas!" cursed Kale. "How many times have I asked you not to do that?!" He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself. "I believe you've scared me out of ten years of my life."

"Nearly a hundred, I believe." The Prince leans against the desk and smiles down at the scholar. "I need a favor, Kale."

"I can't." His lips twitch and then he shrugs.

"Suit yourself. If you don't want to read something written by the Terin people themselves then I'll find another scholar. It's for the best..." He approaches the window he had come through. "...you probably couldn't decipher it to begin with, Kale. Well, I'll see you around, then." Atlas had never seen Kale move so fast in the entire time he had known him, but he felt someone grasp his wrist.

"The Terin people? Ha! No one but I could ever hope to decipher anything written in their code."

"I'll take my chances. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble."

"Give me the paper, Atlas." The thief smiles inwardly and produces the paper. He hands it to Kale, who handles it as gently as a new-born. He returns to his desk and places the desk. Kale's eye's scan it with a look of sheer awe upon his face. "This is amazing! These...I...these are really Terin symbols, not imitations!" Atlas approaches, leaning over his shoulder and peering down at the paper.

"That's good and it puts my mind at ease, but...what does it say, Kale? This is what I need to know."

"You'll have to give me some time. It IS written in code, Prince. This is simply amazing! I've never seen any writing so well preserved as this..." While Kale is busy fawning over the paper Atlas places his hand on the desk beside the paper to show his ring. "I see your ring bears Terin symbols."

"Could you tell me what it means?" Kale sighs in what Atlas assumes to be exasperation.

"It means...Filium nox." The Prince is silent for several long moments.

"Let's just assume that I don't speak Terin, Kale." The scholar spares another glance at the ring.

"Roughly translated it means, 'son of the night'...have I satisfied your curiosity, now?" The thief nods and then leans up. "Good. Now, be quiet and let me translate this, would you kindly?"

"Guess I'll be right back, then..."

- - -

Atlas had come and collected them from the Inn, before taking them to meet with Kale. The room was quite as the scholar worked on the paper, pausing to scrawl something down on a piece of paper. Sometimes the words were elvish, sometimes they were dwarven. Nero wandered around the room, looking through papers and flipping through books. The Prince sat on the window sill, hood down and gazing out to sea.

Nero glanced over at Illia, the amazon busy reading one of the books from the large bookcase in the room. The boy sighed and wandered around the room in circles, eventually stopping behind Kale. The young thief stands on the tips of his toes to peer over his shoulder at his work. The scrawling of his quill ceases immediately and he looks back at Nero. "Do you mind, boy?" questions Kale. "I am trying to work."

"Fine," retorts Nero, wandering over to Illia. "What'cha readin', lady?" She turns the page and looks up at the boy.

"My name is not 'lady'," she tells him plainly. "Furthermore, you shouldn't address people in such a disrespectful manner. My name is Illia." He huffs and then approaches Atlas, who was on the verge of laughing.

"Bored, huh?" he asks. "Well, I'll tell you what..." The Prince produces a small puzzle box. "...I stole this on my way to pick you two up. Why don't you try to solve it?" He tosses the box to the boy who looked it over carefully before looking back up at Atlas. "What?"

"Why would I want do something like that?"

"I'll give you a gold coin if you can." That was all it took to motivate the boy into beginning the puzzle. He sat down cross legged in the middle of the room, scratching his head and moving pieces this way and that. Of course, Atlas had already solved the box so he could tell that it would take him quite some time to figure it out...it would teach him patience and planning.

"This is annoying!" complains Nero after several minutes of getting absolute nowhere with the box. Atlas laughs at the boys frustration.

"Always think two steps ahead, Nero. It's a difficult puzzle." The boy scratches his head and grumbles, moving and shuffling the pieces around.

"Calm yourself, Nero," councils Illia. "If you're frustrated, then you'll only make mistakes." The room is silence for several long minutes until Kale finally jumps up, laughing triumphantly.

"Ha-hah!" exclaims the scholar. "I finally cracked it!" The Prince approaches quickly, patting Nero on the head as he passes and standing next to the desk to look down at the paper. "My theory was correct. Their language DOES use elvish and dwarvish letters and characters but..." He pauses to point to several others. "...these are a kind of writing I've never seen before."

"Really?" inquires Atlas. "Care to venture a guess?"

"Something older then the elves." Kale shoves his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "At any rate, I suppose you're wondering just what this paper says." The Prince nods in agreement. "Well...at first I thought it might be just a story, but...it mentions you, Atlas."

"Me?"

"Well, not specifically you. It mentions a thief...one who would be worthy to receive 'The Blessing' and then receive something valuable." The Prince arched a single golden brow.

"What might that be? Gold? Silver? A gem the size of Nero?"

"It can't make out exactly WHAT it is. The last part is written in those strange characters." Kale sighs and scratches his chin. "I guess we'll never know."

"I know a way to find out..." The scholar looks over at the man.

"You cannot seriously be entertaining that idea. No one has ever found the city of Terin."

"Maybe they just haven't look hard enough. Anyway...they didn't have ME to help them, did they?" The Prince holds up his hand and looks at the ring. "Besides, there's no way I'm going to let this go. I wanna know how Ella found this ring, I wanna know what 'The Blessing' is and I REALLY wanna know what we might stand to gain."

"I'm in," calls Nero, jumping up and approaching. "Anything the Prince can do, I can do. What about you, Illia? Are you going to go?" Illia slowly shuts her book and looks over at them.

"Of course," she agrees. "My curiosity will not be satisfied with just that bit of information."

"All right, then," announces Atlas, picking up the paper and tucking it into one of the leather pouches at his waist. "Hopefully, we'll return to tell you of what we've seen, Kale. I'll be sure to write down what I can..." They headed for the door when Kale called for them to stop. "Yes?"

"I'm going, too," he says simply.

"Are you sure? It'll be dangerous and people will probably lose their lives."

"Fortunately for you, my dislike of violence is only triumphed by my love of knowledge." Atlas smiles and pulls his hood back up. "Just give me a few moments to collect some things and we can be off."

"Atlas," calls Illia. "Do you even have an idea of where we might be heading?"

"The Venators mountains, north of Aer. They stand between us, and the northern county of Majores. Legend says that the Terin people made their home in them..."

- - -

The Prince was gone...he had simply vanished and left them to meet with the guide at the city gates. Illia assumed that he went to steal something so she paid it little mind. Nero ran ahead of them, attempting to mimic the moves of Atlas as he climbed on several boxes and otherwise made a nuisance of himself to the other people on the street. The amazon snatched him up by the back of his tunic as he ran within reach of her again. "Stay still, boy," she tells him, pulling him to her side.

"Why?" he asks. "I'm not doing anything bad." She shakes her head as they approach who they believe to be the 'contact' that Atlas spoke of. Beside him stands a VERY tall man with skin as dark as ebony. He looks in their direction and acknowledges them with a nod of his head. Lin looks over as well and his eye's are immediately drawn to Illia, devouring her form with barely concealed lust.

"Well, hello," he says in greeting. "My name is Lin. What is yours, miss?" Illia quickly sizes up the man and decided that she didn't like him almost immediately. There was no particular reason for it but...it was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way. She felt she should be wary of this man.

"Illia. Is this man the guide?" questions Illia, receiving a nod in return. "Good. Then, I believe our business is concluded. You may go now." Lin grumbles a bit, but with nothing to delay his departure he leaves them. No sooner had he disappeared from view then Atlas made his appearance. The thief stepped out of an alley, hefting a pack loaded with supplies for their journey.

He stops in his tracks when he notices their guide. "Nizel!" exclaims the Prince. "So nice to see you again! You're looking well."

"Heh, long time no see, Prince," responds the man with a slight accent. "I had heard that snake Vergil led them to the Guild. I thought I might count you among the casualties."

"Not yet. There are still too many things I haven't done."

"Really?"

"Of course!" The Prince approaches closer and stops in front of the man. Only then did Illia and the other's truly see the difference between the two. Nizel stood at least a head taller then Atlas, and but seemed just as nimble. "I've stolen from a king...I have to steal from an emperor next."

The two shared a laugh. "Only you, Prince. Come. We must be on our way."

"Actually, we've changed our plans. We're not just heading to Aer. We need to go to the Venators mountains." Nizel nodded in understanding, hefting his tall spear to rest along his broad shoulders.

"I can take you. We'll be needing warm clothes to pass through the canyon, though. We can acquire those in Aer. Come, friend. We waste time standing about..."

- - -

"Kale," called Illia, attracting the scholars attention. "You know about his past...how do Atlas and Nizel know one another?" The man shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I can't say," responds the man. "I've only known him for a bit, and we have never traveled together before now, Miss Illia. I cannot tell you who he has or hasn't met." The amazon glances forward at the two, riding several paces ahead of the three of them. "Many smugglers use the desert to transport their shipments because of the danger involved. Someone like Nizel, who knows which routes to take, would be invaluable."

Illia nodded and turned her attention to their surroundings. The path they currently took was bathed in the afternoon sunlight, warming her skin against the cool breeze and the salty spray of the sea which crashed endlessly against the rocks. The amazon closed her eye's and just basked in it. The plaintive cry of the sea birds, the chirping of the small insects and the crashing of the waves served to put her mind at ease.

All seemed to be right in the world. Illia's eyes opened and her emerald gaze drifted to the Prince, sitting with his back ridged and his shoulders squared in his saddle. He had the look of a soldier...not a thief. The hours slowly passed by, and they had firmly left behind the city of Atlantis.

Dusk had spread it's wings across the world, bringing with it a myriad of colors to paint the sky. Still, they persisted along their path. The Prince had slowly drifted back and Illia now rode beside the young thief. Atlas reached up and brushed his hood back, slowly turning his head up to gaze at the painted sky. "Beautiful," mutters the thief.

"It is," agrees Illia. She shifted a bit in her saddle and then glanced over at Atlas. "What...exactly was your relationship with that woman, Ella?" The Prince smirks. He looks over at the amazon, eye's sparkling with amusement.

"Do you ask out of curiosity...or a more personal interest, Miss Illia?"

"Huh. I just figured I should know more about the wanted thief I'm traveling with." Atlas laughs at the suddenly very defensive Illia. "What's so funny?"

"Hmm. Well, it's not something I can exactly put into words."

"Were you...lovers?"

"It was more then that. For the time we had we shared everything we were with each other. There was nothing we kept from each other. She gave my life direction..." His face adopts a far off look, as if he were in another place entirely. A place on he, and Ella knew of. The Prince's eye's seemed so soft, so gentle. It was the way one looked at the person they truly cared for...and for some strange reason, it stung her.

It was a known fact that amazon women did not marry. With so few males among them, they were not afforded the luxery of a relationship. But it was obvious, even to her, that he had loved Ella like no one before...and like no one he ever would since...