Chapter Two

Sheer horror pulsed through Tyza’s body, her hands and feet unsteady as she perched on the wall. She could almost hear Kuruks voice in her head, crying for a chance in the world. That ring was the only way she was going to get him to health again.

A figure tore up the wall, moving with quick and easy strides. He must be strong. When he came to the top he leapt right over her head, brushing her as he passed.

Tyza landed hard on the ground behind her. She lay on her back, blood trickling down into her throat. The coppery warmth made her want to vomit. She choked it back and flipped to her stomach, focusing on the figure running away from her. He had a sturdy frame and short black hair. His black uniform made him next to invisible, even though the moon was nearly full. He would be able to slip easily away from her if she didn’t catch him soon.

Tyza struggled to her feet and started running after him. Dizziness hit quickly, her head feeling like it was on a pendulum and she staggered sideways into a tree. The fall had disoriented her too much. She took advantage of the time it took to gather her senses by removing her claws and spikes to shove them into the satchel. The mask stared out at her from inside, in the soldiers mold she’d enchanted. She knew she shouldn’t let Abnik see her real face. She grabbed it and put it on. It felt like a heavy fog was settling into her features, molding the inside of the mask to her true skin. Her body morphed to look like the guard in uniform that she had spent way too much of her evening enchanting. It was overall a comfortable, if odd, process. She knew taking it off wouldn’t be nearly as easy. The mask in effect, she shook her head to clear it and slung her pack back on, then took off running.

#

Abnik had been tracking the prints that left the river and headed towards town when the man ran into him. He’d known immediately that he had caught the thief and when before the man could speak Abnik had brought his elbow into the mans nose with a sickening crack and pushed him to the ground. He looked down at the man beneath him. He looked frightened, his lips twisted in a sneer of anger and fright. He was whining. Abnik held his axe high, letting the rage of a lifetime well up within him. He felt exalted in his position,like it was his honor--his duty-- to cut this thief in two.

A noise in the woods distracted him from his task. A soldier was running his way. The man approached, slightly out of breath, and motioned to him.

“There was word in the village of a band of thieves near the Onyopolis trade crossroads. It has been confirmed by one of the riverboat captains! The merchant guild is offering a huge bounty on the leader.” the guard held his gut as he talked, and paused to look at the man beneath Abnik. “You’ve already caught the thief? The Alderman will be pleased. I’ll take him in as proof of your bounty reward.”

Abnik’s mind was on other things. His eyes lit with fire and his heart skipped when he heard of an entire band of scum. “The bounty said dead or alive.” He looked down and sliced through the mans heart. “I prefer dead.”

He took off North towards the crossroads. He was going to have a great many thieves this night.

#

Tyza watched him go with relief, though she wished she could have kept the man from harm. She felt compassion for him as she watched him wallow, bits of fallen leaves in his hair and on his face. Tyza dropped to her knees and applied pressure to the wound, pulling some moss nearby to staunch the bleeding. It was a futile gesture, but her heart demanded no less from her.

“Tell me who you are.” she said in a voice that was sterner than what she felt. “Why do you want the paw?”. The figure only wallowed his body morphing as he did. First the color of the face and clothes began to fade to a sickly pale and then to white. Then his skin swirled and coalesced and the features began to fade into an amalgamous mass. Tyza shrank back in awe as she watched the body complete it’s death.

When the man was finally done and the body had gone limp, she saw that he wasn’t a man at all. The corpse looked like a water drop molded into human form;like a man clothed in mirrors. The quicksilver shimmered, then relaxed as fractal fluid poured from it’s side.

Tyza recognized it as being an Imago-- a shape shifter that she had heard stories about as a child. They lived on the islands in an area of the Thunder sea called the Shallows. No one wanted to sail through because it was infamous for downing ships. And the Imago weren’t always kind to outsiders. She stood and tried to sort out the facts. Imago were not social creatures and generally placed little value in what man treasured. So why would an Imago care anything about this towns treasure?

The Imago’s body hissed and mists of steam rose from it. It drew into itself like an overturned water-skin. The remains bubbled and quivered before it melted and trickled down into the dirt. The only thing that didn’t disappear was a small ring beneath the leaves, which barely caught the moon’s light .

Tyza gasped and bent over to examine it. She carefully tested it by touching it with the back of her hand. It was cool to the touch, it’s silver tint fogging slightly with the warmth of her skin. She picked it up and examined it, the surface an eerie reminder of the deceased. At the crests on top of the ring were two paws that wrapped one above the other. In between the paws was a small gap, so that when the ring was on it looked like it was hugging your finger. It was more like putting a C shape on your finger than an O.

She stared at it, amazed at her luck. She offered up a quick thank you to the moon, and the god of luck and stuck the thieves paw into a hidden pocket on her trousers. She still needed to throw Abnik and anyone else interested in the bounty off track. She turned and ran back toward Gyrehaven, anxious to get it over with.

#

When Tyza reached the town she entered on the high north side where the rich resided and walked casually down the dirt road there. She could see the gleam of the moon off the river back behind the Alderman’s house. It looked peaceful there. The sight of the guards at the stone gatehouse that was built into the perimeter wall of the Alderman’s land gave her an idea. She needed to buy time, and she saw her chance.

She could tell that the men were relaxed. As she approached the open air cubby she heard the sound of pebbles against the wall inside. The men were playing a game called Lookout with colored stones. As she got closer she could see two men, each of medium build and wearing the brown vests and green long sleeved uniforms of the Gyrehaven guard, crouching over the stones. They noticed her, though she looked like a man in a soldiers outfit to them, and stopped playing but didn’t stand up. The man who had thrown the pebbles bobbed his head, making his brown curls shuffle.

“You here to see the Alderman?” he asked. Tyza could see that seven of the nine stones had the colored side facing up, a definitive win for the round. The other man was already collecting the stones again. Tyza walked up a little further and propped against the side of the door before she answered.

“No, I’m exhausted tonight, I just wanted to deliver a message to him.” Her voice surprised her, sounding deep and full and even in tone. She wondered what it would be like to sing with this voice. The other man tossed the stones. Four of nine--a loss. “Abnik wanted me to report that he has captured the thief and is bringing him into town.” The men stopped what they were doing, alarmed. What if they knew? She considered running right then, but decided to wait and see what the men planned on doing.

The brown haired man broke into a smile, “Already? He works fast.” he said ,astonished. The other man got up, his eyes wide with surprise.”he’s good! I’ll go announce it now.” he said and hurried through the Judas door in the gate. Tyza watched him hurry up the walk and turned away, satisfied.

She passed the gardens, which whispered to her in the winds. She felt the cold that traveled up the stream and spilled out of the gardens at the head of the rich section. The hub below here contained the community well on one side, and on the other was the holding place of the thieves paw.

There was no noise in town, apparently no one had stumbled upon the bodies of the guards yet. Good, that would make her job easier here. She mentally reviewed the routes through town.

She stepped out around the community well now, stopping to gaze into it’s waters and then out at the swift but quiet river that fed it. Behind her was a large wooden screen, like a dressing blind that blocked the Thieves paw from view. She could feel it behind her, like a fiery giant standing over her, pointing at her. She could feel the empty shrine where the paw had sat and the still-warm bodies that decorated it’s thresh holds. She wondered idly if any of the guards had family here in town, and a sadness crept up on her.

She reached up to scratch her chin idly, but her blunt nails scraped across stubble. She realized that even though she was in the guise of a guard she had been moving like a woman moves. A fear came over her that her mannerisms might have given her away. She chided herself for having been careless and wondered if the guards at the Alderman’s gate had noticed. She chanced a glance back towards the rich section. The high buildings, stone streets and fancy hedges seemed perfectly empty. Not even a thrush called from the gardens.

She ran her hands over the smooth stone and dipped them into the water, scrubbing her face to douse the heat of her anxiety. A cool splash helped clear her head and calm her fears. She resolved not to be so stupid in the future. She reminded herself that you never saw a thief what was careless and old-- only one or the other.

As she walked away she took considerably larger steps, letting her soft leather boots thump on the dusty road. She took direct strides, careful to conceal the sway of the hips that was natural to a woman. She let her arms swing a little more, and a dodgy grin crossed her face. Nobody was going to mistake her for a woman now. She continued downtown through the posh East Merchants Walk where all the rich did their shopping. The buildings here were well to do, with the lower levels set up as shops and the upper levels reserved for living quarters. The buildings weren’t intentionally decorated, but since the townspeople of Gyrehaven had settled there long ago from all walks of life, the architecture was varied and it gave visitors an otherworldly feel.

She noticed the same uniqueness in the structures as she strolled out past the town square. The square was empty too, except for a small grey cat that lay nestled between the feet of the great bust in the square’s center. The bust was that of the great hunter and falconer , Gyre Mellane, and the half torso, head,and right arm-complete with a giant hawk towered over man. She turned to the roadway again and crossed the squares edge.

Beyond the small town square was the South Merchant Walk, which joined directly to the Capital Road, linking Gyrehaven with the capital city Onebro. Glancing behind the main road she noticed rows and rows of houses that must belong to the middle class. The shop owners and guards, along with a few lower level government workers lived here. She passed Merchants bridge which spanned the White River to the poor side of town and continued down the route before veering off into the tightly packed houses. She had planned it this way, so that if seen she would seem like a guard on his way home from duty.

Her head was alive with pain now from her fall, her mouth still sore and her stomach queasy from the hard hit. She longed to go lay down and rest but safety and common sense urged her onward. She still hadn’t heard any sign that the guards at the gazebo had been found yet, and she wondered how much longer her luck was going to hold out. She dearly wished things would have gone as planned-- she’d be a mile out of town by now and Abnik would still be to the east. She was just thankful she’d had the foresight to plan ahead in case she had to go into town again. The guard trick should work.

At a small intersection two rows of houses backed up to one another, leaving a tiny dark alleyway in between them. It was exactly what she’d been looking for.

In the alleyway the night cuddled with the shadows and a thick darkness pervaded, shielding her from the exposing light of the bloated moon. She slipped in and searched as best she could for any sign of people and found none.

As she squatted in the middle of the black corner she felt an anger build up at the mask. It had helped her again yet she still hated it. The fact was it was magical, and magic had a cruel grasp on her son. She grasped at the top of her forehead and put two strong fingers on either side of the bridge of her nose. She silently cursed the mask, because she knew this would hurt. At the count of three she yanked the sound of tearing flesh filled the air. She kept her moans of agony muffled by folding her head into her chest. The mask slowly, painfully broke free of her forehead leaving a sticky film on her face. She continued to pull,even though it felt like she were tearing her face off. In a way, she was.

The eyes and nostrils, the most sensitive parts, were finally clear of the flexible mask. She breathed a dizzy but gracious breath in through her nose- her own nose. One last tug wrenched the mask free of her chin and she gasped for air. She fought to maintain her balance, trying to shove the mask into her pack without looking so she wouldn’t vomit. It was so good to have her own face back. After the dizziness subsided and her breathing calmed she slowly stood up. Her own muscles ached, almost felt as if they’d atrophied. Bracing an arm against the wall she made a mental note to be careful how muscular she made the masks image next time-- her body could not handle these exaggerated transformations.

She needed to go up the South Merchants walk again to get out of town on her intended path quickly--before the alarm rang. She knew that the guards path would end here at his home and she could travel out of town as a young woman. No one would suspect that the two were one in the same.

Slipping again through the shadows with the grace of a woman, Tyza made her way quickly and silently to the rear of the buildings that lined the South Merchants Walk. She skirted them, parallel to the road until she was up against the back of the Meeting Hall, the grey bust just visible between the shops. Now that she was away from the guards imaginary home she could be seen out. She walked into the square, kneeling and calling the cat to her. It perked up two attentive ears and stared at her with fiery eyes before running uptown. She stood and headed for the bridge, trying to keep her pace casual. She was halfway up onto the great arched bridge when she heard a commotion and raised voices. She hurried down the other side and veered south again between two of the open market stands near the fishing and produce docks.

As she slid through into the woods by the furrier stands she heard more noise and several people were coming out of their houses. Suddenly it seemed the whole town was awake. She could hear the shouts clearly,an announcement ringing out--

“The Paw has been stolen! The Paw has been stolen!”