Kingdom of thieves

Kingdom of thieves - part 2

The city of Saynts was built in levels, the highest levels situated at the top of a huge rock formation that rose out of the desert, the citadel stood at the very top, an enormous palace made of the purest white stone, that glittered when the sun hit it and could blind anyone who looked gazed upon it for to long, this was were the royal family lived, rarely venturing from its guarded walls, lording it over all the inhabitants of Saynts and the surrounding land for a thousand miles.

Beneath the citadel were built the districts, the richest living at the top, and the very poorest living at the bottom,between them was the servants district, where the servants that served all the higher districts lived, here the cobled streets turned into dusty paths, and the carefully placed roof slabs were replaced with roofs made of straw and wood, these were harder to run across, but by the time the first rays of sunlight hit the city, Narla was safely within the ghetto district, which was completely different to any of the other districts; it was the largest, the dirtiest and it was where all the scum from the other districts congregated.

But Narla wouldnt live anywhere else, she was born here and like everyone else she would remain so untill her death, a solemn thought, but one that she had come to accept.

The houses here were built almost on top of each other, all of them three stories above ground and two stories below ground, with streets so narrow two people could barely walk side by side down them, which was why the roofs were a much better way of traveling, but only if you knew how to - like Narla - leap from building to building, swing from poles and window sills and balance along ledges no wider than your foot, they were perfect for snatchers.

As she neared the den Narla became aware of life starting within the ghetto, windows were opening and voices began to rise from the streets, the whole district was waking up.

Narla found the well hidden trap door in the roof of a particularly dirty building easily, crouching down she rapped on it four times, three raps answered her almost immediately, she replied with two more taps, and finally the door opened a voice sounded out from the darkness,

"yer cuttin it a bit close ere."

Narla gripped the sides of the opening and lowered herself threw until she felt the floor against her feet, turning she lowered her hood from her face and scowled at who had spoken, lian a fellow snatcher leaned against the wall his arms crossed a smirk on his face,

"Kris wan'ts t see yer" he said reaching behind her and closing the hatch, Narla nodded and brushed past him, reaching into the folds of her cloak for her bundle and the mans purse, before she had gotten far Lian's arm shot out stopping her,

"ere now donna i deserve a little gold fer my trouble" she turned to look at him her eyes narrowing,

"what for"

Lian's smirk widened "fer stayin up to watch for you, ar did it out of the goodness of me own art, yer know."

Narla laughed "yer don't hav an art, yer fool." she tried to pass him again but he stepped in front of her, she took a step back and raised her eyebrows, Lian was like all ghetto dwellers, thin from under feeding, muscle and bone taking the place of fat, not particularly tall despite nearly being full grown, Narla on the other hand was unusual in that she was very tall for a female ghetto dweller and had curves that were usually reserved for well fed wealthier women, despite eating as little as everyone else, she kept her body hidden under baggy clothes but still next to Lian she was a giant, she looked down at him and saw that he was not intimidated by her, obviously thinking that as a women she wouldnt be able to defend herself, she sighed, she should have expected this sooner or later, Lian was new to the snatchers and he had yet to see her in action, he was under the inpression that he would be ably to swindle her out of her ill gotten gold. She placed her feet shoulder width apart and reached for the knife at her thigh, Lian didn't even notice, he stepped towards her, she stepped back pretending to be afraid, his smile grew and his eyes filled with greed he reached for her, she whipped the knife from its sheath grabbed his wrist twisted it sharply until it snapped, Lian gasped in surprise and pain, using his wrist she tugged him forward and slammed him against the wall, dazed she kicked his feet out from under him and wrapped her arms legs around his torso, her arm around his neck, her knife at his throat,

"its my gold," she snarled in his ear, much like the way she had with the man in the merchants districts, "just coz im a girl donna not mean I'm weak.",

Lian yelped as the blade cut into the soft flesh just below his chin, she dug it in deeper, making him struggle even more, he was going to scar - if she didn't kill him that was.

"let him go Narla" a deep smooth voice said from the shadows, she let go of him instantly, recognising the voice as Kris's, Lian scampered away as fast as he could, clutching his broken wrist.

Kris chuckled before motioning for her to follow him in to his office. The lamps were still on and Narla was finally able to see his features, she gave an inward sigh of appreciation, he was undoubtable hansome, with tanned skin shoulder length dark hair sparkling blue eyes under dark brows and a sensual mouth surrounded by a carefully shaped beard, alto ugh he was only a few years older than her seventeen years, he was the unrivaled leader of the snatchers, all snatchers in the city reported to him, the younger ones were trained by him and gave him all their gains as well as living with him, older more independent snatchers gave him half of their gains and in exchange were free to do what they liked, provided they stayed loyal.

He sat himself behind a large wooden desk and motioned for her to sit opposite him, he observed her with those observant blue eyes of his for so long she began to feel uncomfortable her cheeks heated, instead of looking at him, she took to looking around the room, it was the grandest room in the whole district as far as she was concerned, every inch of wall space was taken up with books, all stacked precariously on top of each other reaching up to the ceiling. The windows has curtains over them and the wooden floor was covered with thick rugs that felt nice under your feet, and apart from the desk there was other furniturer around carrying objects of all kinds of value and worth, Kris was a collector and this room was where he kept it all.

A small cough brought her attention back to Kris, her looked at her some until she dropped her gaze again,

"was it successful," he asked

Narla looked up indignantly "of cause it wer, who du ya think yer talkin to."

Kris chuckled "I would expect nothing less of you Narla, lets see"

Narla brought out the bundle and tossed it to him, Kris opened it and brought out a beautifully golden, jewel encrusted bracelet, with tiny charms hangig off it each enscribed with the name of a diffeent God, each supposed to ring blessings to the wearer. It was priceless and Narla felt proud to have stolen it.

Kris handeled it with care, he looked at her and a smiled "well done, very well done, you have accomplished much, and I am proud of you", Narla blushed and looked down, her throat felt tight with suppressed emotions, she coughed and got up to leave, she was almost to the door when she remembered something,

"oh" she fumbled with the purse, and tossed it to him which he caught one handed "ah got something extra", he jingled the coins inside it, then he looked and smiled, he left his chair crossed the room and kissed her on the forhead,

"get some rest" he said looking down at her-which not many people were able to do-"You look tired."

As soon as he said that, weariness swept threw her limbs and she realised that she hadn't slept for two days now, she excused herself and made her way down the hall to the sleeping room, which was a large room-the biggest in the building-the floor completely covered in scraps of cloth and fabric, which other snatchers had stolen and horded to make comfortable little nests to sleep in and keep out the cold. Narla made her way threw the piles of rags to her own corner, where she had the largest pile out of the whole room because she had been there the longest of all Kris's snatchers. She undid her cloak and upon laying down she wrapped it around herself as a blanket and curled up in a heat conserving ball in the midst of her rags, palming her favourite knife she tucked it to her chest, there was no one in the sleeping room at the time as it was the morning, but Narla had learned never to think you were safe in the ghetto, she may have a reputation among the snatchers as someone you don't want to mess with, but you could never trust men not to try to take advantage of you when you were most vunerable. With those comfortable thought, Narla closed her eyes and went straights to sleep.