The Thief King

6 | Scarlet

Navigating the rooftops was never easy during the day. Navigating the rooftops during the day with a list of injuries was damned near impossible. Kole grunted, swore and winced his way to the illustrious townhouse in the middle of the Golden Peak. To most it looked decent enough, it was for the most part. Sin was rarely conducted within the lime washed walls, with its wooden framed lattice windows and fancy architectural nuances that separated from the other more simply built Lethilian buildings. The noble sect was clean and fresh. Far enough from the canals to avoid the wretched stench of the stagnant waters. It was also fairly high on the rise to receive a decent amount of morning sun, hence its name.

The feel of the weak rays on his back gave him small comfort. He could be thankful it was not snowing, or worse, raining. Instead, the heavy winter was showing a respite with the sun's more welcome cameo. He turned his face towards it, closing his eyes and allowing the rays to warm his skin. It was almost comforting. If he had no need to be in the Golden Peak, it may have been just that, but in his situation, it was only a brief consolation.

Scarlet's rooms were on the second level facing towards the palace. There were six rooms altogether. Two on each floor. The madam occupied the ground floor, conducting business in the foremost rooms with living quarters at the back. Kole had never seen the other rooms, and had only entered Scarlet's rooms once. She had warned him against visiting too often. Although customers were rarely entertained in the townhouse, it was not forbidden.

Kole scaled his way down the walls with cautious movements. On a good day, he would have enjoyed the fall with the occasional interruptions to halt an otherwise speedy drop. Feeling far more fragile than what he was used to, Kole resigned himself to a slow decent to Scarlet's balcony.

The doors and plush burgandy drapes were shut. Kole eased the handle down but the latch was locked. He tapped lightly on the glass and stepped away, receding to the corner where he waited. No one came.

There was a window around the corner to Scarlet's dressing room. Kole hunched his shoulders. He made short work of the climb to the next window, ignoring the protesting bruises and pains. He could deal with pain, as long as he could see its source. It was pain he could not see or could not touch that bothered him. The loss of a parent had taught him that. It had not been his own loss that had hurt him, but his sister's. Seeing Hannah so outwardly distraught had broken something inside him. He had built whatever it had been back up, but the knowledge of it being there, waiting for the moment to shatter again, scared him.

He climbed up a story, it was far easier to drop than it was to jump. He hung from a balcony floor, his bruised knuckles white from his grip on the metal railing. The window below was his destination. As predicted, the window was open and for once luck was on his side. The outward swing of the frame would provide him the perfect hand hold. All he had to do was catch it, something he was not certain his aching fingers were capable of in the cold air.

He took a long breath, eyed the window and released his grip. He fell. The air rushed passed his ear, his cloak flapped upwards and his hands prepared for the impact. It came, but as prepared for it as he was, his fingers failed to gain a solid grip and he fell a moment longer. A desperate second attempt stopped his descent and he crashed into the wall face first.

He squeezed his eyes shut as his unbruised side grazed against the rough wall. Well, at least now I will be an even shade of blue. He wriggled his nose and jutted his jaw back and forth to check that nothing had broken. All seemed intact. He used his legs to transfer some of his weight off his shoulder and finally dropped into the dark room.

Soft carpets prevented any sound from alerting anyone of his arrival. The room was small. A man-sized cabinet dominated the room, spanning the width of thee men standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Kole deduced immediately that such a large item of furniture could only hold the surplus supply of fanciful fashion items that the likes of Scarlett would deem necessary to attract a man's eye. Opposite the gargantuan wooden box, was a dresser. A mirror reflected his darkly clad self. He turned away. He was in no mood to look upon the ever growing collection of bruises, instead edged towards the only door.