3 • A Heist Proposition

The evening was getting darker. The time bells rang and all the afternoon birds flew back to their homes to protect themselves from the dangers of the night.

Down in the alley, the atmosphere was still as thick as molasses on a winter morning, and unspoken tension reigned as Spheris tried to absorb Dunnam's proposition.

A heist? He couldn't partake in a heist. The mere mention of it sent a shiver down his spine, and a flicker of anxiety dancing in his dark yellowish eyes. He was no stranger to theft, but this... this was a dance on a precarious tightrope.

"You seem so scared all of a sudden, Spheris," Dunnam pointed out. "What is it?"

Spheris gulped, trying to organise his speech. "L-Look Dunnam. I steal things, okay, fair enough. But I don't do heists. I don't go into people's houses or buildings. I snatch stuff and I run, that's all I do. Heists are dangerous."

Dunnam smirked devilishly. "There's a first time for everything, ay?"

Panic surged through Spheris. "No, you're not listening to me, I cannot afford to get caught."

"Is there any other way you intend to pay your debt?" Dunnam asked, his tone unwavering.

And with that, Spheris closed himself off, a defeated look on his pitiful face. "No."

"Do you have any money? No, wait. Do you have five thousand silver callisters?"

Spheris's deflated gaze met Dunnam, resentment hidden beneath as he said, "No, I don't."

"So what other choice do you have?" Dunnam asked, a touch of satisfaction in his tone. "Or do you want to spend the rest of your life in a cell? Do you want your mother to spend her last days knowing that her son will suffer the same fate as her husband?"

Hearing this made Spheris's eye twitch. "Screw you," he muttered. He had totally forgotten about the rest of the thieves that were with them. They seemed to have faded away, their bodies dissolving to indiscernible silhouettes in Spheris's eyes. The only thing he could see was Dunnam.

Dunnam Gurnlak and his big hard head. Right now, what Spheris wanted the most was to smash that head through a brick wall. To smash it so hard that Dunnam would die from the concussion. But that wasn't possible, Dunnam was almost thrice his size and probably had already smashed heads of his own before.

"Contrary to what you think, Spheris, I don't hate you," Dunnam related. "In fact, I respect you very much. A Heathian boy who understands how the world works, who knows the evil in the Continent and how to survive it. It's not easy coming from the Heaths, but you've somehow managed to survive this long, even in towns where they want your kind dead. I truly respect that, I do. And that is why I am giving you this proposition."

Spheris felt a knot tighten in his stomach, somehow he knew that Dunnam was being honest. But it would take more than honesty for the bounty hunter to earn his trust.

"Two hundred million gold callisters," Dunnam proclaimed. "Twenty million silver callisters, ten million bronze callisters."

Spheris's eyes gleamed with momentary interest. He'd never heard such a large amount of money before. By the Gods, the things he could do with all that money! He could heal his mother in just a few days, build a home for the both of them and they would never lack anything ever for the rest of lives. Now things were getting interesting.

"All of this is hidden under Lord Bellunder's bastion," Dunnam disclosed. "You could use that kind of money, Spheris. We all could."

"Hold on a second," Spheris's momentary sparkle dulled into a worried glint. "Lord Bellunder? As in the Duke?"

"Yes," Dunnam replied with no concern or intonation of sorts in his voice.

"You guys want to steal from the Duke of the First Wing?" Spheris felt his throat clench. "Dunnam, have you lost your mind? If you're caught, there will be a beheading. For the entire three towns to see. There hasn't been a beheading in three months and the first wingers love beheadings."

Dunnam chuckled, obviously entertained by the young thief's cowardice. "We won't get caught, Spheris. That's why we have you... and your little black bird."

Spheris didn't know what to say, and so he remained quiet, glancing momentarily at the rest of the thieves who seemed to be running out of patience.

"Now, I'm tired of being nice to you. I've already gathered a team, and all we need now is our shadow walker. A person who's trained in moving and stealing things without making the tiniest bit of sound. That's you and that light feet of yours, kid. We will also need your bird to scout the bastion and let us know the number of marshalls on guard and where they are stationed."

To Spheris's dismay, Dunnam's excited grin was on his face again. "You see, kid? We can't do this heist without you. So what is it going to be? A night heist that can change your life forever, or will you rather spend that life in a black, cold level four cell?"

Spheris narrowed his eyes, a cocktail of apprehension and anxiousness swirled around him as his heart raced. As obvious as the choice seemed, his incertitude rested on the fact that he couldn't trust Dunnam. And in a heist, trusting your colleagues was all that mattered.

- ☯ -

The infirmary slightly towered over the smaller structures. It was an old building, with melburn stone walls and worn wooden shutters adorning the narrow windows. One of these windows creaked noisily as it was nudged open from the outside.

The elderly lady who was inside the room the window belonged to, seemed to panic. However, relief washed over her as she recognised Spheris, who climbed effortlessly into her room.

"Mother," Spheris whispered, his voice laced with hundreds of emotions. "How are you feeling?"

"Ah, Spheris. My boy." Her voice was rasp and the smile on her face was very weak. "What are you doing here? It's way past visiting hours."

"I had to see you," he replied, fighting the aching pain in his heart. "I brought you some kawasina rolls."

"Spheris, they give me food here."

"Acorn starch and cabbages isn't real food, mother," Spheris replied. He put the kawasina rolls into a handkerchief and placed it under her pillow. "And I got you some brael."

"Brael?" His mother laughed painfully. "You brought your sick mother some alcohol?"

"It will take your mind off things," he hid the flagon under her bed. "Just don't take too much at once so the nurses wouldn't suspect anything."

His ailing mother smiled. "Thank you, son."

Spheris knelt beside her bed, gently taking her frail hand in his. He hated whenever he came to this place; the smell of the herbs and magic refuse, the sound of window hinges creaking with each breeze. Mostly, he hated seeing his mother like this.

"I have to do something, mother," he said to her. "But I'll be back. And when I come back, everything will be better."

She looked down at him, her eyes reflecting concern and pain. "I never wanted this life for you, Spheris."

"Mother, there was little you could do. We were born in the Heaths, our fate was already sealed from the beginning."

"And yet you managed to bring me here," she mentioned. "All on your own, you're taking care of me and yourself. You are capable of so many things, Spheris." Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up at the stony ceiling. "I only wonder of the things you could do if I wasn't here pulling you down."

"Don't talk like that, mother," Spheris pleaded. "I'm going to go now and I'll be back in the morning. I'll take you to a magic healer in Ido, and everything will be okay, you'll see."

She squeezed his hand tightly. "I don't want you to die doing this."

Spheris sighed, his resolve unwavering. "I won't, mother. This will be the last one and then it'll be over. I promise."