Soon after the sun had finished rising, and Terreth was stirring, Derrek came up to join me on the roof.  We'd barely seen each other yesterday, in fact, he hadn't been able to join us for the late night dinner.  

"Morning, Ravine."  His face was haggard, and his hair mussed up in some places.  

I patted the place beside me for him to come sit.  "Morning, Derrek."  

He lowered himself down beside me.  After a moment of silence, he spoke. "What're you thinking about?"  

I sighed and tugged my blanket closer.  "Isn't it obvious?"  

He rubbed his forehead.  "I suppose so.  I've... been thinking about it too."  He looked up at the risen sun.  "Before the raid, I never knew so much could change in a day."  His voice cracked.  

My heart broke for him, as it had a hundred times over, and I unfolded my blanket cocoon to wrap him in.  "Neither did I."  

We were silent for awhile longer.  

"I feel so bad for them, you know?"  Derrek finally spoke.  "I mean, I know what's it like to...  Loose so much.  So quickly and frightfully."  

I nodded, my chin rubbing his head and mussing his hair further.  "Me too.  It makes me angry all over again."  

He swallowed hard and bit his lip.  "I dreamed about...  About mother and father last night.  They were so real, you know?  I could almost taste mother's cooking.  But all the while I knew they weren't really there.  I kept trying to tell them of the coming danger, but they just smiled at me."  

I squeezed him a little harder.  "I dreamed too.  About the times we'd go the Farm Show in-" my voice caught on the name.  "Ladris.  I kept trying to tell them as well...  and I was trying to tell the people of Ladris.  I saw all the faces that are down below us and I tried to tell them..."  

"But no one listened," he finished for me.  

I closed my eyes.  "If you think about it, we didn't listen either.  I mean, we just...  Well, we were so naive.  All those years we'd lived in peace, we just assumed that it would remain that way."

He nodded.   "Yeah.  We assumed that our war with the Ravagers was over.  Or that if they did resume, they wouldn't in our lifetime."  

"Exactly."  

More silence.  Derrek's voice was thoughtful when he spoke.  "But isn't that how evil prevails?  I mean, you look through history and well, it always seems that after a period of peace comes evil.  While most everyone enjoyed peace, there was always someone else who didn't, and used the time of peace to break it."  

I thought about it.  "I think...  You're right.  People aren't viligant during times of peace.  They become lax."  

Derrek nodded.  "Yeah-"  His voice broke off and he sat up.  "Look straight across and to your right."  

I followed his gaze, which led me to a dark alley that had yet to be lit by the rays of morning sun.  I could barely see the outline of-

The outline moved.  I sat up.  Now the outline was distinctly human as it slipped sneakily down the alley.  

"Wonder what he's doing..."  I got down on my knees and hands to creep to the edge of the roof.  Derrek followed my lead.  I sat up on knees and rested my arms on the railing.    

Suddenly, I realized there were more outlines behind him, and in the other alleyways between the houses.  And they were all headed towards the Finnley tavern.  

"Ravagers?"  I whispered.  But no, that didn't seem likely.

Derrek gripped my arm.  "The one in the lead, I know him!  And that one right behind him.  They're the thieves that attacked Daxton and I."  

"So they did find you," I murmured.  "But what do they want now?"  

"Revenge? Or maybe-  Ravine!  Could they be trying to rob the tavern?"  

I wrinkled my brow at him.  "In the morning?  Why not try at night?  And this close to the law offices?"  

He shrugged.  "Well, it's still quite dark yet..."  He pondered, chewing his poor bottom lip fiercely.  

I looked back down at the figures, which were getting closer every second.  "Whatever they want, we'd better get back down to the tavern."  

Derrek nodded in agreement.

Down below in the tavern, everyone was waking up and moving around.  No one noticed Derrek and I as we walked up the hall.  

"You go find Mr. Finnley and tell him what's going on.  I'll find Valeria," I said to my brother, resuming my authoritative sister persona. 

We split, Derrek going down the stairs.  I found Valeria's and I's room, then knocked firmly.  

"Come in."  Valeria's voice was still full of sleep.  

I pushed open the door.  Valeria had just finished brushing her hair and was braiding it.  It reminded me of my own messy braid, which desperately needed taken care of, but there was no time now.  

"Valeria, can I talk to you for a minute?"  I glanced over at the bed which had an injured woman still sound asleep.  The poor gal had come in absolutely distraught and exhausted last night, which was part of the reason I didn't want to risk her or anyone else overhearing our conversation.

She caught the look in my eye and realized something more was going on.  "Sure, Ravine."  She stepped over her bed roll and came out of the room, finishing off the braid as I closed the door behind her.  

"What's up?"  Her voice was so low I could just barely heard it.  

"The thieves that attacked Daxton and Derrek are headed this way."

Her eyes widened slightly.  "What for?"  

"We don't know.  It seems too late in the day for a robbery, but I can't think of what else they'd want...  And they're coming too far into the center of the city as well."  

"Well, what would Redwar have us do?"  

I rested my hand on my sword.  "Analyze our weak points, find our strong ones."

"So, what's our weak points?"  Valeria leaned up against the wall.  Most of the people had gone down for a helping of soup and bread for breakfast by now.  

"There aren't that many strong people who can fight.  Most of them are wounded and frightened-"

Valeria cut me off as she lurched off the wall.  "That's it!  That's why they're going to try right now."

"What?"  Even as I said it, it was dawning on me what she meant.  

She pointed down to the dining room.  "Most of the refugees are gathered down there.  They can't and won't fight.  If you just sneak up on the tavern-"

"Take it over and use the refugees as hostages, there'd be nothing to it, easiest thieving ever."  I finished for her. 

She nodded.  "You got it."  

Fire flushed through me.  "Not today.  This is not happening to those people today."  

Valeria locked eyes with me, and we shared an understanding.  "Go get Derrek, I'll meet you out back in the stable."  She looked down at my bare feet and smirked.  "I'll bring your boots too."  

Mr. Finnley was outraged, to say the least, and wanted to go with us, but three of us was enough.  Besides, someone needed to stay behind as a last line of defense.  

I sent Derrek up to the roof, where he could see, and give us signals as to where the thieves were.  

For some reason, they had yet to make their move, but were still in the alleyway shadows.  I didn't understand that, but was glad for the extra time it gave us.  

Valeria and I ducked into an empty one ourselves, then glanced up to watch Derrek, who was still scanning from above.

He finished, then started signalling with his hands in the Ship Navigation system, as we'd agreed, with a few modifications.

According to him, the next alley to our left held two thieves. The one to the right had another two, and it was the next one up that held the leader and his co-captain. They were the ones we wanted.

I nodded, letting him know we'd gotten the message, and drew Bound.  I wanted the leader.  He was the quickest and easiest way to stop this advance right in its tracks.  

We crept silently but swiftly down the alley.  There was no time to waste.  Any second they could make their move.  

Moving up in the center alley caused us to come behind houses and thus obscure our view of Derrek.  Before moving out, we cautiously scanned for other thieves, but there were none.  

The first challenge was to pass this next alleyway without alerting the robbers in it.  I was grateful that most of the houses were vacant, or the occupants still sleeping.  

I pressed up against the house and eyed the four foot gap.  If we were quick, they wouldn't hear or see us.  

I took a deep breath, held it, and dashed on light feet across the opening.  Valeria followed me seconds later. 

I listened, waiting with tense muscles, but nothing indicated we'd been seen.  I released the deep breath and rolled my arms to loosen them.  Now for the tricky part.  

The sound of arguing greeted us as we came up to the alley with the leader.  It appeared the captain and his second in command were having differing opinions about how to go about this robbery.  Probably why they hadn't moved out yet.  

I looked back at Valeria, then held my hand to indicate I would count down.  She nodded once.

With one hand gripping Bound, I raised three fingers.  One.  Two.  

Three.

Tightly coiled muscles bursting with fury propelled me around the house and straight into the alleyway with Valeria hot on my heels.  

AN:  A very very rough chapter.  Slight cheesy.  Pacing is off.  *realizes you may not have noticed that until I pointed it out*  Kay, I'll stop listing all my faults now XD