We're running with the shadows of the night (Lark and Haelan)

[havinalark]

The temple was quiet, the only movement being the patrolling of the guards outside. In the dormitories the priests slept peacefully, trusting in the guards to protect the treasures hidden within the deepest sanctuary of the temple.

The guards, unfortunately, are not prepared for the dark shadow that knows exactly where they are patrolling and where their blindspots are, and slips through without them noticing. Nobody expects the soft, barely-there footfalls of the black-clad figure slipping through the darkened temple corridors, and they certainly don't expect someone to be able to pick the lock of the large oak door protecting the inner sanctuary and slip in, ready to do the same to the heavy padlock holding closed the chest that contains the temple's most sacred artefact - a golden statue that somebody has paid the Wing very, very good money to steal.

No, the are not prepared for any of that. Unfortunately, the wing was not prepared for what came next.

The slim redhead was crouched in front of the chest, working carefully at the padlock. As usual Lark was clad in simple black leggings and tunic, baggy enough to hide the femininity of her form, the black hood hiding her hair and a half mask covering her nose and mouth all helping to keep her identity - and gender - a secret. She appeared completely focused on the task at hand, but she had half an ear out for any disturbance, and when she heard a noise she was sweeping her tools into a pouch and disappearing into a shadowy corner, waiting to see who was coming.

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[bad_thief]

Haelan had been to the temple before. Everyone had, even those who hadn't been forced to as a child growing up under the care of a religious order. He'd attended every festival service in one part of this temple or the other, although he'd never, ever been privileged enough to get into this inner sanctum. This was where only the holiest of priests walked, this was where the most sacred of relics were kept. To walk here was to be in the very presence of the deities that lived here.

If you believed in all of that.

Haelan didn't. He'd not lived very long, but he'd still seen too much to believe in gods or goddesses using miracles to save poor bastards like him. They might exist, but they're probably somewhere else, and they won't miss the fancy finery he's been paid to take. Finery much nicer than anything he owns, that's for sure. The clothes he's stood in are various shades of brown, mud-splattered and patched, the boots on his feet a little too big, but better to be too big and dry than too small and wet. It's clear that he's not exactly doing very well for himself, and so this job, and the money he'd been promised for its successful completion are very important to him.

The fact that the door is open should set alarm-bells going in any thief. But Haelan doesn't question it. He hangs back, listening, but as there doesn't seem to be any noise at all within he pulls the door open a little further, only to wince when the ancient wood creaks. But no guards come running, and so he slips inside, rustling in his pockets to try and find the lockpicks amongst the bits and pieces there. There's string and broken bits of old lockpicks, a few copper pennies and- ah yes, a pick not too bent out of shape.

He bends to the chest, humming softly to himself, pushing in the pick and the thin pin he's using as a lever, and beginning to poke around the inside of the lock.

[havinalark]

Lark's eyes narrowed at the person slipping into the room, everything about them suggests they're trying to be stealthy, but they way they opened the door wide enough to creak suggests not very good at it. Judging by the clothes, this is not someone who is prepared for a infiltration of this calibre and yet somehow he managed to get this far without alerting anyone, and even the echoing creak seemed to have managed to avoid detection. Lark watches him with a frown, almost offended by how easily he'd reached the sanctum she'd spent weeks doing reconnaissance for, but not ready to reveal herself just yet.

Until he starts trying to pick the lock, then she slips through the shadows to just behind him, unsheathing a dagger and holding it to his neck.

"All right, back away from the lock. That treasure is mine."

[bad_thief]

He almost had it. He was sure he did- the pins were mostly down, there were just two last ones. He felt one give as he jimmied the picks a little more, and then there was just one more lock... he moved, tongue held between his teeth, and then frowned. The picks were stuck. He wriggled them again, but there was no give and he was about to slam his fist into the chest when something cold and thin pressed against his throat.

He could feel it against his Adam's Apple as he took a startled breath, he could feel the razor-sharp edge press against his skin, one slight movement would be the end of him.

A guard? No. A guard would have dragged him away, hauled him to his feet with a lot of shouting, he knew all about guards. And then the words came, so soft that Haelan would not have heard them but for the closeness of that mouth. He slowly, very slowly let go of the picks, and raised his hands. No blade, the gesture said, as he did what he was told, moving back from the chest.

"I was here first," He tries to point out, although that's probably a moot point at this stage.

[havinalark]

Lark removes the dagger from his throat when he backs off, but keeps it in her hand pointed in his general direction in case he tries anything. At his comment she makes a disgusted noise, shaking her head.

"No, I was here first, how did you think the door got unlocked? Magic?" She asks almost mockingly.

Crouching beside the lock, she makes a face at the lock picks he's using, but since he's so close already she doesn't remove them, instead giving them a brief once over and nudging them slightly in just the right way to drop the last pin. She slips the padlock off the chest and is just about to notice it when a noise from the corridor stops her. She freezes, glancing at the doorway and then back at him.

"Did the guards see you come in here?" She hisses.

[bad_thief]

"What guards?" Haelan replies, his words not half as quiet as they should have been, considering that the noises beyond the door are now clearly audible as the voices of the men sworn to protect the treasure the two of them are attempting to steal. He might not be a good thief, but he knows that they have no time, not any more, and he wheels around, to the chest and pulls the lid open.

Inside, swathed in velvets and expensive fabrics, is the golden idol. He snatches it up, leaving the other previous jewels he would liked to have take for himself, but in a moment the guards will be in there with them, and there's no where but the shadows to hide in.

"Go! Go!" He yelps, but the other thief doesn't need telling. Haelan buddles the idol up in his cloak, trying to stop the gold catching any of the dim light in the room, and ducks into the gloom just as the guards open the double doors wide, flaming torches filing the center of the room with dancing light.

[havinalark]

"Those guards." she hisses angrily as the voices drew closer. She pauses, eyes darting quickly around the room to plan her escape, it's a precious few seconds but she's experienced enough to take them rather than rushing into action without - without taking stock of the situation, much like a certain person she spots darting into the shadows with a suspiciously idol-shaped bundle in his cloak as she turns toward the chest.

She swears, glancing upwards quickly and leaps, using the chest like a springboard she catches hold of the beams in the ceiling, pulling herself out of sight in the nick of time as the guards enter.

One of the them runs from the room, moments later the clanging of alarm bells echoing down the corridors. Any second now the room is going to be flooded with guards searching every corner with torches, and neither of them are going to be able to get out. As the remaining guard started moving towards the edges of the room to check the corners, Lark shuffled across the beam and dropped silently next to the other thief, reaching out to put a hand over his mouth before he gave them both away.

"We're getting out of here. Follow me. Now."

[bad_thief]

She's smart- covering his mouth with her hand blocks his surprised shout. He's not normally so nervy, but ever since this other thief turned up his heart has been beating twice as fast as it should have been, he can hear it in his ears. He's about to bite down, a trick he's known for a long time, but he thinks better of it.

They might not have a great chance alone, they might not have much of a chance together, but the other thief seems capable enough, and Haelan has never liked the idea of dying alone.

He nods, and the hand is removed. The alarm bells are still echoing, and there is at least some confusion. He really should have paid more attention to getting in and out of this place, but it had seemed to easy just to follow the directions his client had given him. Now it didn't seem like getting out the same way he'd gotten in was going to be an option.

So he'd follow the other, and hope that the god they'd just robbed didn't hold grudges. There's no other door, so while they can, they have to make a dash for it, Haelan's arms still wrapped tightly around the idol, as they find themselves in the corridor.

"There he is!" A guard shouts from one end, and he hand the half-dozen other armed men race towards them. No one needs to tell Haelan twice, before he legs it away from them.

[havinalark]

Lark swears again when the guards spot them, making a split second decision to bolt it down a corridor and hope that the other thief was still following her - he did have the idol after all, and she didn't particularly want to let it out of her sight. An open door catches her attention and she darts in, reaching out to yank Haelan in after her.

Pounding footsteps by the door a few seconds later indicate they'd entered the room not a moment too soon, but she knows it won't be long before they came looking. Thankfully, the room they're in appears to have a window, and Lark is across the room and jimmying the lock as silently as possible within a few moments.

"Come on," She shoves the window open and waves him over "There's no guards outside, let's go."

[bad_thief]

He almost stumbles when the other grabs him and tugs, but he manages to right himself before he ends up on the floor and keeps going.

He scrabbles up onto the sill of the window, and reaches back to help them up. They almost certainly don't need his help but hey, they're in this together as far as he's concerned. They helped him and he will try to help in return.

"Thanks," he breathes, sucking in fresh, cool night air before dropping down into the temple garden. This looks like some sort of vegetable garden so hopefully there is some sort of back way out, and all the guards have rushed inside to deal with that frantically ringing bell.

[havinalark]

She definitely doesn't need the offered hand, but however annoyed she is right now she won't be so churlish as to deny it, especially when time is of the essence. She drops down into the garden after him, tugging the window closed behind her to try and cover their tracks.

She isn't about to stop just because they're out of the building, however, there are still guards patrolling outside and they'll be on the lookout for anybody slipping out who isn't supposed to be. She takes a second to orient herself before grabbing the other thief again and pulling him along as she runs for her horse.

[bad_thief]

Haelan allows himself to be dragged along. He doesn't seem to have much choice in the matter, and the other thief seems to know where they're going. He might as well just follow, they seem quick and smart and capable, and he's happy for someone else do all the hard work. Simply seeing where he's going in the darkness is difficult enough, especially as his wrist is being gripped like a vice and the other arm is still carefully clinging to the idol.

They're soon in the little yard well behind the temple, the sort of rough and ready place that probably accepts delivery of boring things like flour and beer. There's no guards, no one at all about at this hour, no one apart from a horse apart from a horse, secured in the shadows.

He's never ridden a horse. He's probably eaten one, but a small-time sort of thief like Haelan can't afford one, never mind food and stabling and shoes. Besides, the thing is huge. He pulls out of the other's grip, hanging back. This is the end of the line as far as he's concerned, here they go their separate ways.

"Thanks, I owe you."

[havinalark]

"You owe me more than one," Lark rounds on him, one hand on the horse's bridle "So give me the idol and I'll be on my way."

She holds her hand out expectantly; while she isn't sure how cooperative he's going to be she's still willing to give him the chance to do this the easy way.

Of course, she's apparently the only one, as there's a shout behind them as a guard appears around the corner. She swings herself up onto the horse, offering him a hand again.

"Get on or get caught, your choice."

[bad_thief]

Instinctively he tightens his grip on the prize, both hands holding it to him.

"I stole it, it's mine."

And he's prepared to keep hold of it, no matter how he's threatened. Growing up in the streets means he's used to being threatened one way or the other, and while sometimes it doesn't pay to have a stubborn streak, Haelan is determined to keep this. The money from his job could set him up for a while, at least in terms of feeding himself.

The shout startles him into action though, climbing up onto the horse without any sort of grace at all, especially as he's trying to keep his hand on the idol.

[havinalark]

"Hold on tight." Is all the warning he gets before she spurs the horse into action, galloping away from the temple at a frankly ridiculous speed. There's another startled yell behind them as the guards realise she's getting away, and the sound of them scrambling to run to the stables to fetch their own horses. Stables she already jammed the doors of - it won't keep them out indefinitely, but it's more than enough to give her a head start.

The horse keeps up a relentless pace until they reach the outskirts of the nearby city, and she slows with a gentle word, walking him towards what appears to be the house of a rich nobleman. There's another brief moment of speed as the horse charges up to leap over the paddock fence, but once they're in the grassy field besides the stables he comes to a stop and she slides from the saddle with practiced ease.

A young man with a lantern comes running from the stables to take the reigns, giving her a reproachful look.

"You said you were only borrowing him for two hours, Wing."

"I ran into a little delay," She nods towards the other thief "you worry too much, Jae, it's still long before dawn, your master will never realise he was missing, as usual."

[bad_thief]

Kidneys were not meant to feel that they were being jarred out of your body, Haelan was sure of that. Sitting down should not cause bruises on your bottom, and other delicate regions. Your stomach should not be in your mouth for the duration of the ride.

With difficulty and a certain amount of care, Haelan slipped from the back of the beast, not entirely certain if his pelvis would ever recover.

"Don't blame me. I didn't do anything!" He protests, but he doesn't know this Jae, or...

"You're the Wing?" He says after half a heartbeat. He sounds awed, but also somehow sceptical. Every thief has heard of the Wing, master burglar, stealthy as a cat, quick as the wind, descendant of the legendary figure that stole fire from the gods. But this isn't what Haelan had always imagined the Wing. He'd imagined someone tall, handsome, who snuck over rooftops in the moonlight, who used wit and charm and expert swordsmanship to get out of scrapes.

[havinalark]

Jae snorted at the icy glare Lark shot the other thief, he was already removing the tack from the horse but it was obvious he was watching the two thieves out the corner of his eye.

"I am," she replied, tone firm with just a hint of a challenge, as if waiting for him to say anything against it. Part of what made her disguise so effective was how few people expected the Wing to be someone like her, even with most of her features covered, but it didn't mean she didn't have a certain amount of ego regarding it.

"The one and only," Jae added cheerfully, throwing the saddle over his shoulder "Now if the both of you could kindly vacate the paddock before his lordship wakes up and thinks you're trying to steal his prize horse?"

"Come on," Lark said after a moment, setting off towards the fence "I'll show you the best way into the city." he'd seemed biddable enough when she was trying to get him to do anything other than just hand over the idol, perhaps she could just keep telling him what to do until she had him in a safehouse and then they could discuss who was really going home with that lovely gold statue.

[bad_thief]

He really had expected someone taller. With a deeper voice. But he shrugged that off, deciding that right now, they had enough to deal with. Wing certainly wasn't happy about him keeping hold of the idol, and Haelan really wasn't about to let it go.

Part of him, the part that wasn't so awed by standing in front of a living legend, wanted to scoff. He knew the way in and out of the city. He'd grown up here, he had explored every dark alley, every rooftop. He hadn't been caught often, and he'd been able to get most places in secret, sneaking through empty adjoining attics or through abandoned cellars and unused sewer tunnels. But this was The Wing, and he didn't really want to make himself even more unpopular than he had already.

"Lead the way," He says, falling into step, glancing at Wing whenever he thought the other might not notice. They were shorter than Haelan, a lot shorter, and that was saying something.

"You know this place pretty well then?" He has to ask. Is the Wing someone local? Someone he knows from the underworld? That seems so strange, especially when all the stories he's heard about Wing involve robbing exotic sounding places.

[havinalark]

She nodded in satisfaction when he fell into step beside her, glad that he was going along with her plan so far. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up, but maybe she'd get a chance to take the idol before he went his separate way, or she'd learn enough to find out where he lived and then it would be easy to go and steal it back from him and she'd be back to her buyer with nobody any the wiser that she'd ever let the damn thing out of her possession. It was a sting on her professional pride, honestly, that this guy had grabbed it before she had a chance to, but as long as she got it where it belonged that was all that mattered.

"Like the back of my hand," she nodded slightly, she'd grown up in the city, and while her youth hadn't been spent running the streets quite the way some other children's had - at least, not once she'd gotten old enough to be given her share of 'women's work', she'd managed to pick up plenty of tricks along the way even long before she took up her more lucrative career. It was easy to go unnoticed when you were poor, it had gotten her out of a lot of scrapes.

The place she took him too was an overgrown patch of ground near the castle wall, it had been used as a rubbish heap for a tavern at one point and the ground was littered with barrels too broken to be of any further use, and bits of table and chair that had seen some of the more enthusiastic bar fights. Around everything grew wildflowers and tall grass. Lark made her way to a pile of debris against the wall and lifted a table to reveal that the precarious pile was actually quite deliberately placed, and the tabletop covered a gap in the wall - not very large, but big enough for the two of them to slip through at any rate.

[bad_thief]

"Come here a lot then?" He knows it's chitchat, he knows that to someone as famous as the Wing it must be irritating, but part of his is childishly excited about this, about the fact that he's on a job with a legend. No one will ever believe him, not in a hundred years, but he'll know. "I grew up here. I mean, it's not the most exciting place, I'm sure you've been to a lot of bigger cities. But I scrape by."

Mostly through pickpocketing and the charity of a few other orphans and ne'er-do-wells. More often than not it's the latter of the two, but he gets by. A smart young man might leave town, find himself honest employment. But Haelan has tried and failed at learning a trade.

He's been passed this midden thousands of times. He's never really given it a second glance. None of the trash is useful, and it's not high enough to get to any useful handholds which would make climbing the bailey wall any easier, so he's just carried on. When Wing heads right into the middle of the heap, he holds back, until he sees what the other is doing. He's never realised that beyond the broken bits and pieces, there might be such a hole.

"Where does this end up?" He has to ask, just in case it might be useful again, in case he has to get out in a hurry. There could be a thousand places in the city it leads to, or it might just be a hole leading into the castle bailey, behind some inconspicuous shed.

[havinalark]

Lark glances back at him with a faint smile, it's interesting to see how much his attitude has changed since Jae revealed her identity, and as annoying as this whole situation is, there's a tiny part of her that feels a sort of... nostalgia, looking at him, even though she wasn't all that much older. She was him, once upon a time, eager and awkward and wanting to make a name for herself. There were thieves of legend she'd heard of, great men and women she aspired to be, and she would have freaked out if she found out the information she was about to give him.

"Me too," she says simply, "you're not wrong, I've been plenty of places, but I grew up here just the same as you." it's almost a wonder she doesn't recognise him, to be honest, they've probably crossed paths. Judging by how ragged his clothing was, he was probably one of the street kids her earnings often went to feed, she'd probably chased him out of the washing yard with a broom, or been hanging around outside the tavern in a gang with him, waiting for one of the older kids to bring out stolen food or mead. Maybe they had run in the same circles when they were younger, before she got older and started working more often, but he's older now and it's dark, maybe she'll know his face once they're back in the light.

"You know the laundry behind the Ragged Duck tavern?" she asks "It comes out in the bushes at the back of the drying yard."

[bad_thief]

That's news to him, he'd never realised that the Wing was from his town. It's amazing to think of, there's really nothing here. There's the castle and the lord and the temple, but there's no royalty. The temple is small, really, nowhere near as fancy as the ones he's heard exist in the richer shires, where merchants and mining gold are the main forms of wealth. Here it's farming and fishing and no one ever got rich out of that. Maybe that's why the Wing went away, to rob those richer places, the places that had something worth stealing.

It's still weird to think that someone so famous is from this backwater.

"Really?" He knows the tavern, he knows most taverns in the more industrial parts of the city, the places where the laundries and the tanners are, because the beer tends to be cheaper. Not better, but cheap, and normally you can get a pint of someone who isn't watching their mug. But the laundry? He doesn't know it, not really. When he was new to this game, and sometimes now when things are tough, he's pinched things off the line to sell, but the laundry women never take well to that and they'd tan his hide if they caught him.

"Don't you ever get seen going in and out this way?"

[havinalark]

"Nobody's in the yard this late at night, I only use this entrance after hours," she explains, motioning him to follow her in. She pulls the table back over the gap behind them and leads him through the short tunnel into the bushes. Despite her words, she pauses to listen to the yard in case there are any unexpected interlopers before pushing her way through the shrubbery and out into the open area.

"There's a safe house, this way," she waves him to keep following and crosses the yard, leading him away from the laundry and down an alleyway, a few short winding streets later and she's unlocking the wooden door to her little abode, tugging out a flint and tinder to light the candle just inside the doorway.

"Close the door behind you," she calls over her shoulder and she moves to light more candles.

[bad_thief]

Haelan had been down this alley before. In fact, he'd been chased. He'd not really had time to ponder about what lay behind each door, he'd really not cared, he'd been more interested in looking at a way to climb up and away from the angry stallholder following him.

But maybe he should have wondered. Maybe there were forgotten riches behind each door. Or one of them, at least.

He shuts the door, his eyes peering into the gloom as Wing continues to light candles. He wasn't expecting treasure here, and so he wasn't surprised when nothing glittered in the shadows.

"I... I guess I owe you a thanks, for your help back there."

[havinalark]

Well, that certainly softens the blow of her irritation - however much she still intends to get that idol off of him - and she glances over at him, nodding slightly.

"You're welcome. There is honour amongst thieves, no matter what they say, I wasn't about to leave you to get caught by those guards."

As soon as there's enough light to give the room a warm glow, Lark turns to look at the young man. His face, with the aid of the light, is vaguely familiar, not enough that she remembers his name or who he is, but she's pretty sure she's seen him around once or twice. The room the light reveals is just what you'd expect from a place like this, it's small and serviceable but far from luxurious, the furniture is basic and a little battered, and there's definitely no indication a famous thief lives here.

She opens a chest in the corner and starts shedding her pouches and packs, laying them carefully inside.

"You're welcome to stay here if you have nowhere else to go," she hesitates "what was your name again?"

Her mask is off and packed away as she turns to look at him questioningly, revealing a feminine, freckled face, and she's in the process of removing her hood, allowing soft waves of red to tumble down around her shoulders, shining where it catches the candlelight.

[bad_thief]

"I, er-" He begins, not exactly sure how to go about telling Wing, infamous and legendary thief, that he didn't really have anywhere else to go other than the attic over the bakery. It was warm and dry and smelt amazing, although that never did much for his hunger pains.

But then the mask is off and the hood is pushed back and blinks. Normally at this point you'd expect someone to go you're a GIRL? but Haelan almost suspected it anyway- it was that voice, the higher pitch.

Instead, he swallowed and tried not to turn bright red. He could deal with Wing being a girl, that was unexpected but he knew plenty of young women that preferred theft to prostitution. But the fact that Wing was a very attractive young woman with beautiful red hair and bright, smart eyes made him fumble.

"Thank you? I... appreciate it. I'm Haelan." He pauses, and then rubs a hand on his tunic, trying to rid the hand of the ingrained muck before offering it out. "Nice to meet you."