“Talia,” I said, my voice the barest whisper of stunned disbelief.

My mystery thief was . . .

Her?

I felt my heart suddenly begin pounding in my chest, as though it hadn't been busy pumping blood a mere moment ago. That made some sense I supposed . . .

Most things stopped working properly when they were breaking.

Talia smirked.

“I'm 'pretty solid for a Talia', am I? Well,” she said with an arch little grin, “I do try to keep fit . . .”

Okay.

Angry now.

The wry look fled from her face upon seeing my newest expression, and I sent her flying back against the wall with a slight shove, knife still pressed against her bare neck, our faces inches apart.

“What in the name of Belial's gigantic backside do you think you're doing!?” I growled at her through clenched teeth.

“Helping you, obviously,” she sniffed, eyes disdainfully looking down her nose at the metal gleaming against her windpipe. “Of course, lately I've been asking myself why I bother . . . and that knife you've got really isn't clearing things up for me at all. I mean, honestly, it's like-”

“Help?!” I practically shouted.

“Yes. 'Help'. You're familiar with the word, I'm sure. I know it probably sounds dirty to you, knowing how you prefer to do everything yourself, but-”

“How?” I shoved her again for emphasis. “How is it you could possibly think that what you're doing – stirring up the others like this – is helping me?! Did you figure I needed practice defending myself against rich and angry Lords in the throes of a murderous rage?! Did you perchance think my life was too boring?!”

“Well, perhaps if I could get a full sentence in, possibly have that knife removed from my neck, I could explain what I-”

She froze, mouth half open.

Her eyes did the most remarkable thing, then. First, they widened with realization, accompanied by her mouth making a moue of surprise. Then, her eyes went very wide, and a ghost of a moment later they narrowed to slits and fixed me with a look of such intense anger that I momentarily forgot I was the one holding a knife.

I think she may have forgotten as well.

“Oh,” she said in a dangerous tone, shaking her head slowly as she curled her lip at me very un-prettily, fingertip pressed against my chest accusingly. “Oh, of course that's what you would think. You. Stupid. Ass!”

She started jabbing me with each word as she spoke, and she leaned forward angrily, seeming to grow taller as she did.

I found myself stepping back and not entirely realizing why, my knife-hand retreating slightly.

“Of course, that's just what you do - I'm only now starting to get it,” she pressed, continuing to inch forward. “You're just so brilliant that the first notion that pops into your head must be correct! You don't even have to stop to think. Like in my bedroom, when you automatically assumed that the books on my dresser were nothing more than a collection of tawdry romances, or flighty tales of make-believe, the kind that might be read by some silly girl!” She jabbed twice more, fiercely, emphasizing her last two words.

“Uh . . .” I started weakly.

“Why even consider the possibility that those books were useful? Perhaps valuable?” she said, continuing to needle my chest with her finger, “Or that their owner might have had a Lord or two in her family tree somewhere? Hmmm? Indeed, why bother? I'm just some dizzy keepmistress, after all!”

“I didn't-”

“And now you're in the middle of hunting this person who's been breaking into tall, impressive keeps – a fact, I might point out, that I had to bring to your attention – and when you find me out here, you of course assume that I'm the one stealing these things. You idiot!”

“Hey! You-” I began to protest.

“I don't even know which disappoints me more, honestly - how unbelievably unperceptive, thick-headed and arrogantly dense you've shown yourself to be, or the simple fact that it's taken this long for me to figure it out!”

“Now hold on a-”

“All this time,” she continued, finger pushing me backwards as her voice heated up with righteous ire, “I've been taking care of the endless stream of domestic strife that other Lords would give their eye teeth to be rid of. Handling people who don't feel valued, or who plot against you behind your back . . . making sure things run smoothly. Dozens of things! Despite what you may think, my life has been neither 'simple' as you so delightfully put it, nor has it been 'uncomplicated'.

“The whole time, for years now, do you know what I allowed myself to believe?” she said, her tone becoming biting and ironic. “I thought to myself, 'Vincent will notice these things, surely. He's a smart, sensitive man who takes great pride in knowing what goes on around him.' Even as recently as days ago, I was laboring under the misapprehension that you at least knew some of what I have been doing for you and why. Then, you come to my room, talking to me as if I were a naive child, because that's exactly what you believed I was!” she said savagely, her voice shaking the slightest bit. “And it dawned on me as you spoke - this wasn't rejection. How could it be rejection? All this time . . . you hadn't even seen me at all!”

I opened my mouth to stammer my objection, but the look on her face caused me to think better of the idea.

“And so,” she continued, “perhaps a little childishly, I decided that more substantial hints were in order, you being so unbelievably dense and all. Little things – the papers on your map, stealing your silver tea container, the hot lemon and towels that practically screamed that someone was watching you run around in the rain, for Baal's sake. None of it even made you blink! So, after practically showing you who the next target would be, here I am trying to catch him for you. I figure something that obvious might penetrate.”

“Catch him?” I asked, incredulous.

“Think of it as a farewell gift,” she said bitterly, before fixing me with an appraising look. “Perhaps I need to spell things out for you, even now, just to be on the safe side. I've been giving you far too much credit these past few years, after all.”

She took a short breath as she lifted her chin, looking me square in the eye.

“I am not some flighty, empty-headed decoration for your Keep, Lord Tucat, and you of all people concluding such a thing makes me angry beyond all reason. I've helped you on occasions too numerous to count, and through it all I received no reward other than my own satisfaction . . . the understanding that what I did was helping you in some way. And even though the experience of recent days has hurt my self-love more than you'll ever know, I still wished to help you see things to their conclusion before taking my leave of you, if only to show you who it was you'd spent all this time overlooking.” She put on a triumphant, proud expression. “Above all else I wish you to know that, Lord Tucat, for I am nothing like you've so callously and dismissively painted me in your imagination. I am not a vacuous young maiden hoping to be swept off her feet like in a theater play, nor am I some empty-headed, squealing caricature of a fairy-tale princess!”

There was a sudden noise, behind me and to the right. I spun and turned my head.

A pair of glowing eyes stabbed out at me from beneath the ragged shadows of a tattered hood, as howling wind whipped long gauze-like tendrils around the dark, spectral figure floating not six feet away from us.

Talia screamed.

I didn't have time to enjoy the well timed irony, as I was too busy being startled myself. For a whole second I just stood there, not knowing what to do.

Talia fell back towards the wall and pawed the air in front of her in a useless gesture of warding, letting out another strangled scream as she did. The figure's head twitched slightly at the sudden movement, and then the apparition I'd been staring at dropped a half-foot down to the roof with a light splash. It bolted away from us, towards the nook I'd originally occupied, away from the edge of the building Talia and I stood next to.

With a growl of effort I pushed myself away from the wall, knife still in hand, runnung after him as fast as my feet could carry me.

Whatever else this guy was . . . eccentric, theatrical, religious, drug-addled, there was one thing I knew for sure - he was damned fast. I mean, I'm no slouch when it comes to moving quickly, but this sopping wet mass of tattered rags made me feel like I was standing still.

He steadily increased the space between us, looking back once or twice, “eyes” producing a glow around his shoulder and briefly illuminating the falling raindrops around his face each time he did. The second glance, I realized, was in response to some shouting that could be heard from the street nearest the edge we'd both recently vacated. I heard the sound of many boots climbing up metal rungs.

Knights. They'd been right behind him.

I heard a few soft splashes behind me to indicate that Talia was at my heels, having recovered from her own surprise enough to give chase a mere second or two after me. At least, I hoped it was Talia behind me, and not something else totally unexpected.

At no point did I look behind me to make sure – I only had eyes for this thief, the one I'd been after since this all began.

My leg muscles began to complain about what I was forcing them to do, and I told them to shut the hell up and run faster. There was no way I was letting him get away this time.

The building we were on had another level to it. I noticed a high wall and even higher rooftop obstructing the path directly ahead of us, and I allowed myself a small grin.

Nobody does this sort of thing better than me.

The thief ahead of me noticed it as well. I watched as the tattered figure gave a lazy half-leap, without breaking stride. His theatrical rags fluttered downwards as his legs clawed at the air before him, as if still trying to run mid-jump. I damn near laughed aloud. He had started his jump far too early, and would slam into the edge of the angled rooftop hard, allowing me to overtake him. The thief might possibly even cripple himself, or knock himself unconscious.

Or so I believed.

I doubt this is a valid comparison, but, have you ever seen those street clowns? You know, the jugglers with the painted-on faces, and those trick balls that they toss around their outstretched hands improbably . . . and then they do that thing where they take one ball and toss it gently upwards, and for some inexplicable reason it just keeps going up and up and up?

This was just like that.

He didn't slam into the wall . . . as a matter of fact, he damn near overshot it. For a brief moment I found myself thinking “That whole 'running while you jump' thing really works!” as I watched him soar through the air for an inhumanly long time.

I was so distracted by the baffling height of his jump and the gentleness of his rooftop landing that I almost forgot I was running at very high speed towards a six-foot high wood-and-stone structure, about to reproduce the painful trauma I'd gleefully assumed he'd just been about to experience.

I leaped, and not too late. Not too early, either.

Seriously, it was one of my better attempts, and it exceeded my expectations. Perhaps it was a result of being so keyed up in the face of everything going on just then, but it was beautiful. I doubt I'll ever manage anything like it again as long as I live.

Landing smoothly into a sideways roll a mere second behind the rag-adorned thief, I sprang to my feet and continued running. It was so smooth an acrobatic feat, I almost couldn't believe it.

Neither could the fellow I was chasing.

He didn't have any sort of face I could see, and the rags hid most of what might pass for a body, but every bit of him just seemed to look confused for a moment, like he just couldn't believe I was somehow able to duplicate what he'd just done.

Still, he was faster than I was, and his recovery time was pretty impressive.

He sped lengthwise along the top of the steeply tilted roof, checking behind him every few seconds as though he possessed no concerns that we were three stories up, or that his next carelessly placed step might be his last. He ran as though his safety meant nothing to him, moving faster than anyone I'd ever seen, rooftop or no.

Forty feet or so later, the roof ended. He didn't acknowledge the fact whatsoever, but simply continued running until he ran out of tile to touch his feet down upon.

As he sailed over the edge of the roof, now a good twenty feet ahead of me, he spun in mid-air . . . glowing eyes flashing, and pointed a single finger at me as though he were some sort of wizard casting a spell. He slowly descended out of view, arm still extended out towards me in a pointing gesture.

Except, he wasn't exactly pointing at me.

He was pointing behind me.

I looked over my shoulder, even as I realized how stupid an idea that was, running on the very topmost part of a wet, slanted, tiled rooftop.

What I saw caused me to screech to a halt, which was even more stupid and dangerous than looking over my shoulder had been.

He'd been pointing to Talia.

She, not able to match the epic leap I'd done during that once-in-a-lifetime performance of mere seconds ago, was clutching the lip of the partition, attempting to climb it. One leg up and desperately clinging to the stone ledge, she was clearly experiencing difficulty, though doing her best to follow us.

I wasn't looking at her.

Four of Blackstaag's knights were directly behind her, running on the flat roof , their swords drawn.

I briefly looked to the spot I'd last seen the wraith. Three stories up, and he leapt off a roof. He could float, so maybe it wasn't all that dangerous for him. It would certainly be dangerous for me to try getting down to street level in a hurry, but I could still do it. The smart money said that I wouldn't be able to catch him, but I still had a chance.

I looked back behind me to Talia, who seemed puzzled. Blackstaag's knights were getting closer.

“Go!” she was shouting, though she'd clearly met her match when it came to obstacle climbing. “He's getting away!”

I tossed my knife aside with a clatter, turned around and ran back towards her.

A great many blistering curses escaped my lips in the few seconds it took for me to close the distance between her and myself. I heard her leveling some equally foul curses at me as she took my hand and allowed me to pull her quickly to the roof.

“What in Hades did you do that for?” she scolded angrily, once I'd pulled her up to the roof. “You could have had him! You were right behind-”

“Run!” I shouted, eyes fixed on Blackstaag's knights, who were mere seconds away.

She turned and, spying them for the first time, gave a startled squeak. Her hand, which had still been gripping mine, squeezed tighter.

“Come on!” I said, pulling hard on her arm, urging her towards the end of the roof where the wraith-like figure had disappeared from view. “We've got to move!”

Talia let go of my hand and started running along the top of the roof. I watched her carefully as she ran, only following behind her once it was apparent she knew how to navigate the rooftop safely. It was slick, and about the last thing I wished was to watch my keepmistress fall to her death.

Halfway to the edge I risked another dangerous glance behind me. One of the knights was just getting to his feet after being pushed atop the roof by his fellow knights, and it wouldn't take long for the other three to follow suit right behind him.

I hated this. I was scared.

I'm not usually scared, even when being chased by a bunch of angry individuals with swords. Oh, I can get worried, but that's not the same thing. Frantically trying to figure out what ingenious way you'll get out of your predicament is different from being scared.

Talia was with me, just as much at risk all of a sudden, and I had no idea what she was capable of.

And that had me very panicky, and very scared.

We got to the end of the roof in pretty good time. I could hear four knights now on the roof, running a good ways behind us. I frantically began considering different ways to get down, looking for opportunities I could use. I spied an excellent one.

“Okay, we're going to have to jump!” I said, pointing to a two-story rooftop nestled below us and to the right. Talia's eyes followed my finger and settled on the section of tile I was pointing at, and I continued with a nod. “It's going to be scary, but you'll have to trust me. What I want you to do is-”

She leaned back a little before taking a quick two-step run at the edge of the roof, leaping into the air.

My heart stopped for the second time that evening.

Talia seemed to hang there for an unnecessarily long time before finally collapsing onto the landing area I'd pointed to, hands gently touching the tiles beneath her for balance. She stood up, knowing enough to move a few feet to the side to make room for my own landing, looking up at me with wide-eyed urgency.

Wow.

Leaping after her, I landed gently in the spot she'd just vacated. I didn't need to use my hands for balance, and I felt a small surge of satisfaction at that.

It must have shown on my face, because Talia rolled her eyes fractionally before making a “Where?” gesture with her upturned palm.

I pointed as I ran, my feet carrying me up the gentle slope of this roof and down the other side. It joined up with another building, one with a flat roof and sturdy-looking stone walls. I was running across the flat surface a moment later, Talia right behind me.

There was a thump of heavy boots coming down on the area we'd just vacated. They weren't gaining, but we weren't putting any distance between us either.

We were two stories up, and the building we now stood on had an eight-foot high third story in the direction we were headed, along with a sunken three-foot high slanted wooden shed nearby. Possibly it housed an entrance, and was how normal people got up to this roof when inside the building beneath our feet. I briefly thought about checking to see if it was open, or had a ladder or stairwell leading down, and then dismissed the idea.

We were going up.

Putting on a burst of speed, I ran farther ahead of Talia and leapt onto the roof atop the box-like structure, using it as a jumping platform for my next leap. I cleared the edge of the very high, brick-lined, three-story roof, and I rolled. Coming to my feet and stepping back a moment later, I turned quickly to see if Talia had followed my lead.

I watched her cloak flutter behind her as she leapt up, following where I'd gone, landing firmly on top of the wooden structure I'd bounded off of. She lost some momentum as she did, and though she tried to jump again an instant later, I knew it wouldn't be enough.

Crouching, heart in my throat, my arms stretched out for her, even as her hands began reaching towards me.

Her leap was indeed too short. I watched Talia pull her legs up as she reached for me.

My left hand got knocked aside somehow, but my right was able to grab Talia's forearm, and I gripped it fiercely.

I couldn't stop her momentum from carrying her into the wall, which her legs and hip crashed into a split second later, but I had her. My left hand grabbed her other shoulder through her cloak, and standing with a grunt of effort, I pulled for everything I was worth.

She was surprisingly light. Maybe I'm just too used to having to haul Theo up whenever we're climbing.

Talia wore a pained expression, and I knew that she'd hurt herself connecting with the wall. She gritted her teeth determinedly, however, and once atop the roof she began running in the direction we'd been heading, faint limp all but disappearing after her third or fourth step.

I couldn't help but be a little impressed.

Before running after her, I happened upon an idea. I turned to face our pursuers while my hand quested through my inside pocket, finding what it was looking for a moment later.

After briefly inspecting the two large marbles I held, I dropped one and threw the other as hard as I could at the top of the shed-like structure we'd just vaulted from. There was a sound like a fire being doused, and a slick white film appeared over a good half of it.

Grinning a little, I bolted after Talia.

A short while later I heard the first of the knights trying the same thing he'd just seen us do. There was a screech of surprise as he slipped on the roof of the shed, followed by the wet slap of a body slamming heavily into the stone wall beyond it. I heard something similar happen not two seconds later. Obviously the second knight to attempt the jump hadn't been able to see what happened in time to prevent himself from doing the same thing.

That meant two knights were probably out of the picture for a while, and the other two would have to climb without the benefit of a flying leap. It was time to put some distance between us and them, possibly even lose them entirely.

Talia was maybe twenty feet ahead of me and running quickly, wind tossing her trailing cloak slightly sideways. She was flagging slightly, possibly due to her injury. Even though I was being chased, it was impossible not to notice how well she filled the snug-fitting leggings she was wearing. Oddly, I realized just then that I couldn't recall seeing her in anything but a dress for the entire time I'd known her.

I was torn between catching up with her and remaining behind her, perhaps even stopping entirely so that I could catch a few more glimpses of her from behind as she ran.

Sounds foolish, I know. You weren't there.

I opted not to be ridiculously foolhardy, and caught up with her about five seconds later where this roof ended, my eyes scanning the area. Below us there was another patch of flat two-story roof almost identical to the one behind us, and a collection of typically eclectic buildings further on. I also saw a house-like tower built against the edge, and that the far corner had been turned into a patio balcony overlooking the street, with stone lattice work framing the very edge.

Perfect.

I hopped down the seven foot drop to the roof below us and rolled out, pausing only to see how Talia was able to handle it. Her landing was a little heavy, and she made a pained “Oomph!” noise as her legs folded beneath her, but she got back to her feet and began running once more.

I quickly ran up ahead to a portion of the stone lattice, hand reaching behind me and pulling a length of knot-rope from the satchel under my cloak. Once there, I looked behind us for any signs of the knights, as well as to see how Talia was faring.

The knights were not yet in view, having been delayed by the oily grease long enough. Talia was still running towards me.

I quickly wrapped the looped end around one of the stone lattice pillars before drawing the rest of the coiled rope through it, securing it to the balcony. I threw the other end carefully over the side, knowing that it would be more than long enough to reach the ground below.

Talia arrived in front of me, arms reaching out to take hold of the portion of rope I still held.

I dropped it before she had a chance to take it, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the edge of the roof.

“Hey!” she panted, startled.

“Quiet!” I shushed, continuing to pull her arm as I jogged us both briskly towards the tower structure, eyes panning the higher rooftop for any sign that we'd been spotted. Seeing nobody, I guided her to the far side of the tower wall, pointing to a nicely shadowed spot near it, behind a withering plant in a stone pot.

It took her a second to understand, but she darted to the spot and crouched in the shadow. There was a second pot four feet away from hers, one that contained no plant whatsoever, and I crouched behind it in a similar fashion.

We both sat there, waiting. The rain masked the sound of me panting for breath, which was a stroke of luck.

Two distant thuds announced the arrival of visitors on our rooftop, and a few seconds later the two knights came running into view. Their swords were no longer drawn, both men likely believing it would be easier to chase us with their blades sheathed.

The lead knight looked confused, and slowed to a jog before stopping entirely. The knight behind him did likewise.

Then, the second knight pointed to the portion of lattice I'd tied the rope to, and said something phlegmy that sounded like “Met ack town oh go fleecing!”

The first knight bellowed an angry sort of noise and then ran up to the rope, grabbing it while looking down over the edge. He began barking phlegmy orders to his companion, who was gesturing for him to hurry up.

It took a few moments, but soon both of them were climbing down the rope to the street below.

Talia made a move to stand, but I hissed a warning to her and made a “get down” gesture with my hand. She returned to her crouch.

We waited a full minute more, and I watched the empty expanse of roof carefully. Nobody else appeared. It seemed those two knights were the only ones who had continued to chase us.

Those other two had slammed into the wall pretty hard, I guess.

I chuckled softly as I crept my way over to Talia.

“Okay,” I said in hushed tones, hoping she could hear me over the rain. “We stay here a few more minutes, get our bearings, and then we go. We're going to stay on the rooftops, because those knights we saw think we climbed down to street level, and if those ones meet up with others they'll mention it. Street's faster, but it's easier to keep from being seen up here.”

She nodded quickly, the damp curls plastered to her cheeks flicking in acknowledgment.

“Now, they know me by sight, and they're probably only after me. You might be safe if you got to street level and casually walked back to the Keep. Do you want to do that?”

“Not in this part of town,” she whispered back, shaking her head. “I think we should stick together.”

“Alright. Just try to keep up,” I said.

Keeping up wasn't really an issue, given the cautious pace I wished to travel at, but it felt like a manly thing to say.

We had to pause once to carefully watch a group of knights roaming nearby. None of them appeared to be looking anywhere but in the streets and up side-alleys. Neither I nor Talia spoke a word as we went, me using hand gestures to describe where we were going or how we were getting to our next spot, Talia acknowledging my directions with a simple nod.

It took some navigation, some climbing, a few slips on the slick stone and tile, and nearly a full hour before we'd finally scurried, leapt, and sneaked our way back to my territory.

I'd been about to go down to the streets below, Talia not too far behind me, when I saw yet another pair of Blackstaag's knights walking authoritatively down the street.

Talia tapped my shoulder urgently before pointing to them.

“Yes, I know,” I whispered. “They're on my territory. Annoying. I'll be doing something about that later.”

She seemed to consider something, then nodded thoughtfully.

“We'll stick to the roofs, but I know where we are now. It should be easy to get back in,” I said, softly. “Come on.”

We crawled over some of the more familiar structures and rooftops that were within sight of the keep, making much better time than before. In practically no time we were standing within spitting distance of my outside garden wall. Once on top of the wall it would be easy to drop down and head to the front gate where Don and my other house knight were probably keeping watch.

I motioned to Talia to follow and walked over to the gentle drop to the wall. Just before I was able to hop down, I felt another urgent tapping on my shoulder. I looked to Talia, then followed her finger to see what she was pointing at.

“Who's that?” she whispered.

I watched the slow-moving, struggling figure feebly attempt to climb up a knotted rope towards one of my windows, their every move appearing labored and awkward. I recognized the window, then recognized the climber.

Then I smiled.

“Okay, this'll be fun. Play along,” I whispered back, grinning as I did. Then, I furrowed my brow at her. “You do know how to do that, right? You're not going to fall apart on me or anything?”

Her eyes narrowed at that briefly, and then she snorted and gave me a wry smirk.

“Well that depends. Are you going to propose to me right in the middle again?”

“Heh. Follow me.”

Lord Cardgrave was even more dull-witted than I'd realized. Climbing up a length of rope in the rain was much more difficult than climbing down it, but there he was struggling away. Having already attempted the same window again and again, you'd think he would have realized there was a much easier way of getting to it.

Talia and I hopped on top of the wall, slinking our way over past the garden shed and yard storage area, jumping from the wall down to the stable roof, and then climbing up to where it connected to my keep's lower second story roof.

After a careful walk on the tiles, we were just in time to look over the lip of the roof and see the balding head of Lord Cardgrave. He had finally managed to pull himself onto the short strip of roof sticking out from under the window, and was pausing to collect his breath.

His tool belt looked to be within range of the window alarm.

I counted to fifteen in my head, then hopped down right beside Cardgrave on the narrow section of roof below.

“Quick!” I yelled upon landing, reaching up to catch Talia as she descended a moment later. “Quickly, they're almost here! We've got to get inside!”

Cardgrave's sour-looking expression changed to one of utter shock and bewilderment as he sat there, frozen in place and staring at me, unsure of what to do.

“Hurry, Lord Cardgrave!” I said to him, deftly unlocking the window by depressing the series of hidden latches above it, swinging the large, colorful stained glass aside. My hands quickly motioned Talia through, and once she was inside I dove through the window after her.

Cardgrave remained still as a statue, watching me throw myself through the window and disappear from view, his face suggesting he hadn't a single clue what was going on.

“My Lord!” I shouted up from the floor to Cardgrave, hidden from view. “Come inside! Hurry, they're almost-”

The alarm finally activated, and the hallway erupted with the sound of vicious, barking dogs.

“Oh . . . oh no!” I cried from the floor, face twisting into a smile. “The dogs, they're . . . aaauuuugh!”

I turned my distressed scream into a sickening gurgle, keeping it loud enough that my agonized cries might be heard from outside the window over the vicious sound of phantom attack dogs. Even to my own ears, the cacophony I was helping to create sounded like a man being torn to pieces by sharp canine teeth.

I looked to Talia just as my strangled-sounding death knell faded into nothing.

She didn't even take a moment to look surprised. Instead, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and screamed a blood-curdling scream.

The snarling and barking from the window alarm increased in intensity.

“No . . . no!” I shouted, my face twisting into a laughing smile. “Aaaaahh, no . . . please!”

“Oh gods,” Talia shrieked, her own face splitting into a grin. “No . . . aaaaagggghhh!”

Her voice trailed off in a similar gurgle just as I began to cry out anew.

Over the sound of slobbering dogs I managed to hear two quiet thumps, followed by the faintest cry of dismay and panic, in turn followed by a dense, squishy sound. Almost overcome with the need to laugh, I managed to maintain my coarse scream while clambering to my feet to look out the window. Talia began another scream of agony, one that was even more anguished and melodramatic than her first.

I got to the window just in time to make out the retreating form of Lord Cardgrave as he hobbled his way across my lawn in his stockinged feet.

With all the rain helping the mud just below the window, it looked like this time I'd gotten both of Cardgrave's boots.

I began laughing so hard that my knees buckled, and I sagged to the floor alongside Talia. She was having similar trouble controlling her own mirth, even while trying to maintain her piercing scream, and soon we were both rolling on the floor laughing hard enough for tears to start running down our faces.

Half a minute or so of belly laughing felt damned good. I hadn't been laughing much, lately.

Soon the sound of barking ceased, the laughter dwindled into giggles, and then they became sighing chuckles, as we smiled at each other, our heads laying sideways on the carpeted floor, faces turned toward each other. This time, Talia's tear-streaked eyes danced mischievously, and her smile made my heart want to sing.

I stared at her exhilarated, rain-spotted face for a good long time as we lay there. The memories of our encounter on the roof trickled their way back into my mind, and I tried to reconcile all I'd seen and heard with the Talia I thought I'd known.

She was right – I hadn't seen this woman at all.

“Well,” I said, once it appeared that we'd both gotten the best of our laughter, “I'll have to tell Cyrus about that one. I doubt very much it'll be as funny when I do, but I'll definitely have to tell him.”

“Oh, definitely,” she giggled. “After a couple modifications, I suppose. He doesn't necessarily need to know about me going out to join you tonight.”

“Yes, well,” I said, propping myself up into a recline with my left elbow. I felt the last remaining bits of good cheer drain away. “I will have to tell him about the encounter with the thief, let him know what I was able to see. I wish I had better news to share with him.”

“I wish I could see his face when you mention that he was dressed as a ghost,” she said.

“Cyrus already knows - he was the first to see it,” I said quietly. “A wraith, we figure. Wraith outfit, glowing eyes, floating . . . that's his thing. We don't really know why, but quite possibly he finds it useful as a distraction.” My tone soured somewhat, and I frowned at her. “It seemed to work well tonight – one of us appeared quite startled. I might have had him were it not for your 'assistance'. So, unfortunately I'm back to square one, possibly even worse off than before, now that he's gotten a good look at me.”

There was a hard glint in Talia's eyes as she pulled herself to a reclined position similar to mine, free arm hunting under her cloak for something.

“There you go again. First conclusion you jump to-”

“Talia, he got away. Had you not been there, he would have landed on the roof and headed right for me. I could have surprised him. Even when it did look like I might have had a shot at catching the guy, I had to save you from a bunch of angry knights instead of chasing after him!”

“You-” she began, indignantly.

“Please, Talia. You need to leave this to me. I do understand you thought you were trying to help, but screaming in fright and making hand-signs to ward off evil isn't the sort of help I need to catch this fellow.”

Talia's face became flushed slightly, and she scowled, her hand finally retrieving what it had been hunting for beneath her cloak.

“The scream I apologize for . . . and I wouldn't have done it had I known he'd been dressing up. I was startled, and I don't care for lightning, so I was on edge. I did not, however, make some silly sign of warding to protect me from spirits. Always so very quick to assume.” She considered me a moment, then shook her head and looked down at the object she held. “I'm not even sure you deserve this.”

“Huh?” I said, glancing at what she held. “Deserve what?”

In response, she tossed the dark, glassy disk towards me. I grabbed it mid-air and inspected it.

“That 'warding gesture' was me throwing a silver-burr with a very small tracking gem,” she said disdainfully, pushing herself to a seated position. “There seemed to be a good amount of cloth to latch on to. I checked it when you first ran after him . . . it looks like it caught nicely.”

I stared at the flat, circular lens I held. One tiny section of the outside edge was alight with a very faint, green light.

Disbelievingly, I held it up and looked through the dark green glass. The stone wall was in my way, but I could make out the faintest green dot of light when looking through it, likely somewhere in the distance. I knew that it would get brighter the closer I got to it.

She'd put a tracking gem on him.

Why the hell hadn't I thought of that?

I sat there with my mouth hanging open, staring at it, and then staring at her as she calmly got to her feet and began to brush the dust from her legs with her hands.

“It . . .” I said weakly, looking once more at the lens I held. Then, I forgot the rest of what I was going to say.

Once the thief took the costume off, the gem tangled in it would lead me straight to his keep! With luck, I might discover the identity of the person behind this as early as tomorrow!

Holy crap!

“Tell Cyrus you came up with the idea yourself, if you like,” she sniffed, looking down at me with an expression of disappointment. “Wouldn't want you to look foolish, after all. At least, not in front of him, anyways.”

She turned on her heel and sauntered away, leaving me on the floor, gaping at what I held.

Two of my knights appeared, running down the hall towards us. They slowed somewhat as they neared Talia, looking to her and then to me.

“Khia. Jolen,” Talia said, casually nodding to each of the two knights. “Lovely evening, neh?”

Still holding the disk, I could only stare as Talia walked daintily down the hallway, cloak swishing behind her. Jolen said something that I didn't quite catch, his outstretched hand suddenly appearing before me.

“Uh . . .” I said, taking the hand and allowing him to pull me to my feet. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I asked if you were hurt, Milord,” he said, a look of concern on his face. He gestured behind him to his partner. “She and I were passing by your study, we heard the alarm and came down as quickly as we could. And then we heard screaming, Milord. What happened?”

“Oh. Uh . . . Cardgrave again. When you have a moment, could you have someone check the garden just below the window, and bring in anything they find. He didn't manage to get in . . .”

“Aye, Milord.” He looked at me, puzzled. “Are you alright Lord Tucat? I saw you laying there under the window, and with the alarm and the screaming I thought for a second something terrible had happened. Are you hurt?”

“No, Jolen, though I thank you for your concern. I was merely surprised for a moment,” I said. My gaze went from the lens to Talia's retreating form, and I sat there and watched as she turned a corner and disappeared from view.

Gods. What else didn't I know about her?

“Yeah,” I added with a whisper, still staring down the empty hallway. “Very, very surprised.”