Rhen pulled the hood of her cloak down even further to shelter her face. She could sense the palace guards inching closer and closer to her but she knew she mustn't panic.
'Fear is the handcuff on any good thief' - her father used to say. Nicking a few golden vases, a diamond necklace and a whole tin of apple pie, she had made her first steal. Her father had smiled wryly at that. She knew he was proud but she also knew that any father would have wished something better for their daughter. She had always wanted to tell him that she liked it a lot - the thrill and the danger their profession brought, but she guessed she missed her chance.
Rhen slid smoothly over to a cart selling hot buns and pretended to study the handwritten menu. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two guards pass her by, idly chatting. She drew a breath of relief. Fixing her cloak and twisting the handle of her bag which was loaded with stolen coins, she was about to turn around when the old woman next to her seized her hand.
"Come with me." She said nicely, but her eyes swam with a sparkle Rhen knew was magic. The old lady gripped her hand with enough force to confirm Rhen's suspicion, this wasn't some woman at all but rather something more dangerous. This didn't scare her at all, Rhen had seen her fair share of magic.
"What? Without a proper hello? I must say, your rudeness is unbecoming sir." She smiled softly. It didn't take much for her to figure that she was speaking with a man. Men usually have a few tells - that they have no idea about.
With the blink of an eye, and a soft swoosh of wind, a tall, muscular man was standing beside her instead, gripping her hand like it was the string of his lifeline.
"I thought the guise of a woman would come as less of a shock to you." His voice was buttery, but had an edge like it could slice through paper.
"Well, you thought wrong. If you knew my mother you'd have learnt to fear women as much as you fear swift daggers with points so sharp it doesn't hurt you before it kills you." Rhen was enjoying herself. She had learnt the stories about her mother by heart. She was one of the Moon Warriors. She could dress a wound and strangle a man with the same piece of cloth. She continued, "Anyway, of what service can I be to you?"
"Have you heard about the Stone of Hellview?" He asked pointedly. She realized that he doesn't speak much - a man set on a mission it seemed. This brought a chill down her spine.
"I can't say I have." She lied brazenly. Her father and her used to have lengthy discussions on this very topic. The Stone of Hellview was the single most guarded possession in all of Edyn Towers. Her father was convinced it was an item cursed and she used to be hell bent on making a fortune from stealing it. She gave up on the idea for her father's sake.
The very next second was blurry, she was no longer standing in the crowded marketplace but rather a lonely alleyway lined with dirty bricks. She was now pinned to the side, three feet in the air. The wizard's cold hand was pressed on her neck. She gasped for air but there was none to swallow. He raised his other hand to take off his hood and let daylight illuminate his soft features. Pretty blue eyes, a perky nose and supple cheeks. If his nails weren't digging into the skin of her neck right now, Rhen would have assumed he baked cake for a living. His eyes glowed with something more sinister than ambition.
"I'm afraid lying won't get you very far with a wizard of my calibre. Let's speed things along shall we? You know about the Stone, you know where it is kept and you also have a four year old plan in the making to rob it from Edyn Towers…" He smirked as if he could almost smell the stone in his palm.
"Wait up, Mr. Wizard. All that's cool, apart from the fact that you are strangling me to death right now and I don't feel like stealing something for you." Rhen managed to say snarkily before her lungs began to shake her words.
The wizard grunted before letting go, leaving her to slide down the wall and onto her knees. He wiped his nose thoughtfully, "You have an attitude I don't think suits our mission but alas, what father wants, father gets." He rolled his eyes before brushing dust off his velvet robe the color of twilight.
Rhen stroked her neck which stung with pain, "Ah, doing daddy's dirty work are we?"
He didn't look enraged but rather amused, "You have quite a mouth on you. Be careful though, whose name you utter so carelessly can melt that pretty mouth of yours before you could scream."
"Ah, I am terrified." Rhen smiled sarcastically. Maybe terrified was a stretch but her knees shook as she stood but she had learnt to hide it well. This one time though, her ankles gave away and she stumbled forward. In a flash, a pale hand reached down to grasp her arm and steady her. When she stood up, the wizard had recoiled his hand again under his thick robe.
The steady breeze ruffled the wisps of blond hair on his forehead as he gazed into Rhen's eyes. His blue eyes didn't seem so hostile then but the glint was gone the next second. He balled the fingers of his right hand strongly and all noise stopped, along with the flow of the breeze. A golden shimmer took birth in the space above his fist, strings of pure magic laced together to form a reflective orb.
"What…is that?" Rhen whispered lightly. She could sense the immense power the wizard held in his aura, and it scared her. But at the same time, she didn't want to run away. The spectacle in front of her, and the beauty of the man was all too hypnotizing.
"Is this who you cherish the most?" He asked, purring like a cat.
Rhen focused her eyes on the orb and an image shimmered to view on its mirror-like surface. It showed herself and an elderly man, huddled around a fire, sipping on tea. The glee on the face of her twin almost seemed too foreign to be true. But Rhen recognized the memory immediately. The breath hitched in her throat. That was the night. She wanted to tear her eyes away from the scene, for she knew what was about to happen.
"Stop…stop it." She stumbled on her words, something she didn't normally do, but she couldn't care less. "If you think a few sparks and lame tricks are going to scare me…"
The orb's image shifted darkly. Dozens of black robed soldiers wielding silver knives poured into the scene from every direction like someone had mixed black ink into water. She saw herself screaming in terror, the same scream she still uttered at night. Pale, hostile hands wrapped around her father and pulled him into the shadows. A burst of blood was unmistakable.
The wizard let his fingers fall from the fist and the orb dissipated, like it was nothing but mist and dew. There wasn't any pleasure on his face which was now an unreadable blank wall.
Rhen leaned against the wall. Her nails were digging into her palm. It took her too long to notice that all the wind and noise had started itself again.
"Tonight at midnight I shall appear before you again and I need your answer. I don't want to be too explicit but my father is…an angry man. You wouldn't want to upset him. All we want is for you to steal the Stone for us. Then we part ways forever."
Rhen rubbed a quick hand over her moist eyes before assuming a blank face. "This will not be easy. Edyn Towers is heavily guarded by the best of the best of soldiers and I have even heard of Moon Warriors to be there. I'll be dead before I can climb the damn thing. If you haven't noticed… I am not magical. Whereas you can wave a stick and tear the tower down brick by brick."
"There is a barrier made specifically to detect persons with even a wisp of magic. A sky dome to keep out fairies. And the very river Hyde is riddled with spells to keep out pesky mermaids. They think themselves too strong to worry about a mortal and hence…you'll be perfect for the mission. Midnight. I'll find you. If you can bring the Stone to us unscathed, I will try to convince my father to have you rewarded heavily."
"How generous." She rolled her eyes.
When the wizard began to shimmer away from view, Rhen's mind jumped with a question. She squealed as the man had almost disappeared from view.
"What is your name?!?"
But the wizard had already gone. Rhen sighed and whispered, mostly to herself, "Or should I keep calling you Mr. Wizard?"
She stroked the hilt of the dagger she kept stowed in her belt and prepared to leave the alley when a smooth voice poured into her ear, as if it were coming from someone right beside her. Too close, almost. But no one was there.
"It's William." The voice said, making the hair on her neck perk with the utmost attention.