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Luthien sat back in his comfortable chair, bare feet nestled in the thick fur of an expensive rug He squirmed his shoul-ders, crinkled his toes in the soft fur and yawned pro-foundly He and Oliver had come in just before dawn from their third excursion into theman hadn&039;t slept very well, awakened soon after the dawn by the thunderous snoring of his dih, by putting Oliver&039;s bare foot into a bucket of cold water His next yawn turned into a smile as he remembered Oliver&039;s profane shouts

Now Luthien was alone in the apartone out this day to find a buyer for a vase they had appropriated three days before The vase was beautiful, dark blue in color with flecks of gold, and Oliver had wanted to keep it But Luthien had talked hi and they would need h coely in Luthien&039;s thoughts He had been in Montfort for just over three weeks, arriving with little besides Riverdancer to call his own He had come into a burned-out hole in the street that Oliver called an apart the soot, Luthien had seriously considered leaving the place, and Montfort, altogether Now looking around at the tapestries on the walls, the thick rugs scattered about the floor, and the oaken desk and other fine furnishings, Luthien could hardly believe that this was the same apartment

They had done well and had hit at the wealthy merchants in a frenzy of activity Here were the spoils of their con-quests, taken directly or appropriated in trades with the many fences who frequented Tiny Alcove

Luthien&039;s ss in the immediate present, or in the recent past, he couldand noble Bedwyr had to look farther behind, or farther ahead He could be happy in the comforts he and Oliver had found, but could not be proud of the way he had come into them He was Luthien Bedwyr, son of the eorl of Bedwydrin and champion arena warrior

No, he decided He was just Luthien, now, the thief in the criht back to the days of his inno-cence He longed now for the blindness of sheltered youth, for those days when his biggest worry was a rip in his fishing net His future had seemed certain then

Luthien couldn&039;t even bear to look into his future now Would he be killed in the house of a row tired of the antics, or jeal-ous of the reputations, of the two independent rogues? Would he and Oliver be chased out of Montfort, suffering the perils of the road in harsh winter? Oliver had only agreed to sell the vase because it seemed prudent to stock up on winter supplies--and Luthien knew thatwould stockpile would be in preparation for the open road Just in case

A burst of energy brought the troubled young man from his seat He moved across the small room to a chair in front of the oaken desk and smoothed the parchment on its top

"To Gahris, Eorl of Bedwydrin," Luthien read, his oriting Gingerly, the young man sat down and took quill and inkwell from the desk&039;s top drawer

Dear Father, he wrote He smirked sarcastically to think that, in the span of a few seconds, he had nearly doubled all the writing on the parcho, if a scribbled heading could be called a beginning And now, as then, Luthien sat back in the chair, staring ahead blankly

What ht he tell Gahris? he wondered That he was a thief? Luthien blew a loud sigh and dipped the quill in the inkwell determinedly

I am in Montfort Have taken up with an extraordinary fel-low, a Gascon named Oliver deBurrows

Luthien paused and chuckled again, thinking that he could write four pages just describing Oliver He looked at the small vial on the desk beside the parchment and realized he didn&039;t have thatthis, actually It would seem that you and I have very little to say to each other I wanted you to know that I was all right, and doing quite well

That last line was true, Luthien realized as he gently blew upon the letter to dry the ink He did want Gahris to know that he ell

Again came the smile that dissipated into a frown

Or perhaps I am not so well, Luthien wrote I am troubled, Father, by what I have seen and what I have learned What is this lie we live? What fealty do e to a conquering king and his arain He didn&039;t want to dwell on politics that he hardly understood, despite Brind&039;Aain over the rough parch to know all too well

You should see the children of Montfort They scra scraps or rats, while the wealthy roealthier still off the labors of their broken parents

I am a thief, Father I AM A THIEF!

Luthien dropped the quill to the desk and stared incredu-lously at the parchment He hadn&039;t meant to reveal his pro-fession to Gahris Certainly not! It had just coer Luthien grabbed the edge of the parchment and started to h, and s at those last words

I AM A THIEF!

To the young Bedwyr, it was like looking into a clear mir-ror, an honest e did not break hiainst his weak-ness, he picked up the quill, sain, and continued

I know there is a terrible wrong in the land My friend, Brind&039;A, for the rose that was once Eriador is dying before our very eyes I do not know if King Greensparrow and his dukes are the cause, but I do know, in my heart, that any ould ally himself with cyclopians would favor the canker over the rose

This infestation, this plague, lies thick behind Montfort&039;s inner wall, and there I go in the shadows of night, to take what little vengeance my pockets will hold!

I have wetted ue is deep I fear for Eriador I fear for the children

Luthien sat back again and spent a long while staring at his words He felt an eeneral de-spair "What little

vengeance my pockets will hold," he read aloud, and to Luthien Bedho thought the world should be different, it seemed a pittance indeed

He dropped the quill on the desk and started to rise Then, alht, amply wetted the quill&039;s tip with ink and scratched a thick line across the letter&039;s heading

"Da hi moisture into his cinnamon-colored eyes

Luthien was fast asleep on the comfortable chair when Oliver entered the little apartolden coins tinkling at his belt He had done ith the vase and was busy now thinking of the ht spend the booty

Heet to ht or stolen, but he noticed the parch flat on the desk and slipped quietly that way instead

Oliver&039;s saze he leveled Luthien&039;s as sincerely sy sauntered over to stand before the troubled youngthe coins in his face

"Do open your sleepy eyes," the halfling bade cheerily "The sun is high and the roaned and started to turn over, but Oliver grabbed hith for one so little, turned hihtly friend," Oliver bade "Already this northern wind carries the bite of winter and we have so s to buy! I will need at least a dozen more warm coats to be properly attired!"

Luthien peeked out from under one droopy eyelid A dozenabout?

"A dozen, I say!" the halfling reiterated "So Ifor one of my reputation The others, ptooey," he said with a derisive spit "The others, I discard to the street"

Luthien&039;s face screwed up with confusion Why would Oliver throw perfectly fine coats out into the street?

"Co iet to oods!"

The children Discard the coats to the street indeed! Oliver would throw them out, where those same children Oliver had just co&039;s size, ht pick them up

Luthien had his answer, and the understanding of Oliver&039;s secret generosity gave hith to leap out of his chair

A new spring in his step, a new and valuable purpose, showed clearly to Oliver as they made their way to Montfort&039;s lower central area, a wide and open plaza, lined by kiosks and soing, others playing on exotic instru acrobatics Luthien kept his hand against his purse whenever he and Oliver passed any-where near these people--the first lesson Oliver had given him about the market plaza was that almost all of the per-formers used their acts to cover their true profession

Thecaravan, the last ht, traveling

froh Malpuissant&039;s Wall and all the way around the northern spurs of the Iron Cross Most goods cah Port Charley, to the west, but with the Baranduine pirates running the straits, the largest and wealthiest of the southern er, but safer, overland route

The two friendsof hard candies, then stopped again at a clothier&039;s kiosk, adprice, but the merchant just scowled at him and reiterated the full price

The impasse continued for a few minutes, then Oliver threw up his hands, called the merchant a "barbarian," and walked away briskly

"The price was fair," Luthien rehtly dressed coain," Oliver replied sourly

"But the price was already fair," Luthien insisted

"I know," Oliver said i back at the kiosk

"Barbarian"

Luthien was about to reply, but changed his mind He had limited experience at the oods could be bought at between fifty and seventy-five percent of the obviously inflated asking price It was a ga ses-sion that, as far as Luthien could tell, was designed to h they had cheated each other