A Thief's Shadow

The Thief's Shadow

Even in the middle of the night, there was no escape from the silent thief's lingering chaos. Cal had barely finished his shift when something went wrong. A man sprinted past him in the hallways, closely followed by a woman Cal recognized as the curvy woman from the tavern. She ran quickly given the extra weight she carried.

When the duo were followed by a knight, Cal realized who the man was. It was the Phantom, and he was escaping. Rather than joining the knight in the chase, Cal ran to the only door that remained unlocked at night. Many others wandered the halls he passed through, awoken by the clatter of the chasing knight's armor. Weaving through them made him feel like a dog in an obstacle course. If it was an obstacle course, he won. He reached the side door just as the Phantom and his accomplice came running toward it.

The thief lord skidded to a halt, turning to sprint up the stairs Cal had just descended. Unfortunately, his female accomplice was not wearing shoes that permitted sudden stops. She fell to the ground behind him with an ungodly screech. The clattering armor of the chasing knight joined the shriek, adding up to a cacophony of noise that probably woke the entire castle. Cal leapt over the woman to begin chasing the Phantom back up the staircase. He'd been awake for at least sixteen hours; he was too tired for this crap.

To his good fortune and the fleeing thief's misfortune, the awakened knights and servants were ready for the escapee at the top of the staircase. He attempted to shove through them, but as with most of the thieves Cal had encountered, he was thin as a rail and had no weight to add to his momentum. Cal grabbed the thief's wrist and drug him down the staircase to rejoin the woman he'd mercilessly abandoned. While he did not have handcuffs on him, the chasing knight did, and soon they were both dragging the duo down to the dungeons. The Phantom would receive no more special treatment.

As they headed towards Cal's least favorite part of the palace, he saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. Curiosity took over. Cal left the knight to lock up the two prisoners on his own as he crept along the stone floors as silently as he could. The only sound was the snake-like hiss of his armor as it rubbed together. It wasn't until he'd retraced his steps to the castle's side door that he realized the source of the flicker of movement; the Phantom wasn't the only thief attempting to escape that night.

It appeared that his silent thief would actually be successful in his escape. Cal was still on the opposite end of the hall when he slipped through the door. He was still too tired for this crap, but he had a job and he would need to get back in the General's favor if he was going to avoid further night watch assignments.

The night sky was full of stars, with a full moon to light his way. He pulled off several parts of his armor as he ran and felt a certain degree of freedom. But he wasn't free, he was a slave to his job, and he needed to catch the slippery silent thief. Unlike him, the thief ran silently and melted into the shadows as if he was part of them. Cal barely kept track of him by watching for movement in the darkness, rather than searching for the silver mask that seemed unreflective even in the moonlight. This was the second time he was chasing the stubborn thief. He doubted he would be as lucky as he was the first.

Their second chase was much shorter than the first, but not because the thief outran him. The thief skidded to a halt in the middle of one of the larger roads, his sudden halt making no noise whatsoever. He removed his mask, revealing a face unnervingly blank of expression. Perhaps he didn't know that Cal was chasing him. Cal continued to run, until he saw why his fleeing prisoner had stopped.

A few feet away, a man with dark hair and pale brown skin approached the thief. He walked the same way he did, and his face was the exact same. Not exactly the same in the way that Cal had seen with twins, where they were somewhat different as adults, but perfectly replicated. With his darker companion approaching him, Cal realized just how shockingly pale the thief was. In fact, he seemed almost transparent in the silver moonlight.

His hands itched to snatch the escaped thief before he could turn and flee again, but curiosity took over. The two men walked toward each other and embraced in a hug, melting into each other. Literally. Cal's thief had vanished from existence, but he slowly saw a shadow stretch out beneath the other man's feet where there had been none before. The man stretched, his shadow stretching along with him, then turned to face Cal.

Witchcraft. Cal instinctively took a step backward, but stopped when the man smiled. "I would like to thank you for being so helpful. Shadows can't talk, you see." The man gave a short bow, then walked away without another word.

Cal's mental gears had come to a standstill. They slowly creaked back into movement as he tried to process the events that had transpired. Somehow, the silent thief was the shadow of that man. Perhaps he was a thief as well. No, the way he walked and talked was too well-planned and calm for him to be a mere thief. A memory from the past replayed in his head. The Phantom glanced back at the masked thief when the King mentioned him. He'd said Loki had dark hair and pale brown skin. Smiley was the shadow of a man with dark hair and pale brown skin.

The man was not walking away at a fast pace, in fact, he was very relaxed and slow in his movements. His head was tilted to watch the stars flicker overhead. He was distracted, and still close enough that Cal could capture him. The Phantom was still at the palace to identify him, and Cal would definitely be in the General's favor if he captured the true thief lord and mastermind of the treasury thievery. But his slow movement meant that he trusted Cal. He trusted Cal, and had even thanked him for helping his shadow.

Capturing Loki would make the King overjoyed. The corrupt King who thrived on the pain of others, and enjoyed mocking his prey. Not capturing Loki would plague the kingdom's rich with a clever organization of thieves led by an ingenious thief lord. Cal made his decision, and began to walk back in the direction he'd come.

The thief had convinced the King to destroy his enemies' organizations, capture the leader of his mutiny, and leave his palace unguarded to complete the largest heist in the history of the kingdom. With such a well thought-out plan, the thief deserved his freedom.