Rafbit reached out to clasp the horse's bridle, the only tack he wore, but the aughisky flung his head away. His long teeth shone against his black muzzle, and his eyes glowed with a strange greenish fire.
Rafbit fell back, swearing. "Gods, what that beast needs is a tenday with a horse-breaker."
"No," Teza sighed. "All he needs is understanding." She whistled softly. Prancing and snorting in the cold air, the water horse came immediately to her side.
Rafbit was astonished. "He's yours? Where on Toril did you get such as him?"
"I earned him," Teza said, smiling in memory of the Witch of Rashemen and the tricks they had played on each other.
"Well, I've never seen anything like him!" the half-elf marveled. "Will you sell him?"
The young woman put her arm around the horse's neck-a caress he rarely seemed to like-and answered shortly, "No."
Rafbit nodded once, but his eyes strayed to the horse often as he led Teza and her aughisky to a ramshackle building near the warehouse district by the busy docks. He ushered her into his quarters, stoked the fire in his brazier, and came arrow-straight to the point.
"I am organizing a thieves' guild in Immilmar, and I need a second officer I can trust."
Teza couldn't have been more surprised if he had asked her to marry him. "A guild!" she snorted. "In Immilmar? The Huhrong would have you hanging in the gibbets in days."
Rafbit's gem-blue eyes sparkled with excitement. "Not necessarily. What a guild needs to survive in a city like this is subtlety, patience, and a careful hand to control the thieves and their activities."
Rafbit was a burglar, and a good one, who had never been directly linked to any of his successful crimes. But the leader of an organized den of thieves? It made Teza laugh. "Subtlety? Patience?" she mocked. "From you?"
Her friend grinned, unoffended, and leaned toward her. "That's why I need you. I have talked to most of the thieves in Immilmar, and they are interested, but I need someone to help organize the guild and its functions; to set up a system of rewards, opportunities, and arbitration. To find safehouses, set a watch on the guards, select suitable targets…"
"And what are you going to do?" Teza interrupted sarcastically. "Count your percentage?"
"Well, of course, any member will have to pay dues for guild services. But there will be plenty of work for two."
Teza had to admit she was intrigued. An organized thieves guild would be an advantage to the city's popula tion of rogues… unfortunately… "There is still the Iron Lord. He will not tolerate organized crime in Rashemen."
"He will if the organization does not flaunt its presence. We will keep the guild small, make it open only to those who can prove their worth."
"Now, how are you going to do that?" she demanded.
"A test of skill. Any thief regardless of age, sex, or origin can join as long as he or she can pass a test."
Teza's eyes narrowed. "Does that include me?"
"Umm… yes," Rafbit hesitated. "It's only fair."
Teza jumped to her feet. "You ask me to join your little light-fingered squad, but you expect me to prove my worth?" she cried, her voice rising dangerously with every word.
"A mere formality!" Rafbit hastened to calm her. "It's really only to reassure our patron. He should be aware of your value to the guild. Just as I am."
The horse-thief stilled, her long legs apart, her arms crossed. "Patron?" she growled.
"Yes! He is our key to success. A judicial authority with a penchant for collecting rare gems. In exchange for any 'collectibles' we might find, he will be our ears and eyes in the Iron Lord's court."
Teza's glance narrowed in speculation. "I want to meet him first."
Rafbit shook her hand. "Done."
The meeting went better than Teza had anticipated. For one thing, she didn't really expect there to be a patron. But two days after Rafbit's invitation, she and the half-elf met a short, powerfully built man cloaked in rich snowcat furs and quiet self-importance.
The official acknowledged her identity with a lift of his thick eyebrow. They talked briefly. The man and Teza examined each other from head to boot, and both were satisfied with what they saw.
When the meeting was over, Teza turned to Rafbit. She was still wary of his motives in this venture, yet the pres ence of a patron in the Huhrong's courts put a different light on the matter. She was willing to take the next step and see what happened.
"What is the test you had in mind for me?" Had she not been watching her step in the muddy snow, she might have seen Rafbit's mouth move in the quick, hungry grimace of a stoat on the hunt.
"It's simple really. I have a customer who lost a particular item and is willing to pay for its recovery."
Teza did not accept other people's use of "simple" without explanation. "What, exactly, and where is it?"
"A book. In the library of Lord Duronh."
Teza stopped in midstride. "Are you serious? A book? That's ridiculous. I'm a horse-thief! You're the burglar."
"If you are going to be my officer," Rafbit explained patiently, "you need to excel in many skills. Your ability to steal anything four-legged is legendary. So is your talent with disguises. You've also been known to pick pockets, purses, and bags. But can you break into a house and steal something useful? That is your test."
Teza, ignoring the flattery, conceded he had a point. Yet she couldn't help asking, "Who's testing you?"
To her surprise, Rafbit's pale face turned whiter and the gleam went out of his eyes. "I have already been tested," he growled, and he would not say any more.
That was why, three days later, in the deep of a cold, still night, Teza rode the aughisky into the quiet streets of the city. She breathed a silent prayer to Mask, the god of rogues and thieves. Her enterprise that night would be to the god's advantage, so she hoped he was paying attention.
He had certainly helped in one fashion. A dank, thick fog rolled over the city from Lake Ashane, turning the darkness into a solid mass. Only the aughisky, bred in the black waters of Ashane, seemed at home in the dense wet air. He picked his way unerringly through the streets at Teza's direction, past the Huhrong's towering palace, and into the gentle hills of the wealthier section of the city, where the houses were larger and surrounded by their own ornate walls.
The water horse turned at Teza's cue onto a path that led between two high walls and down a steep bank to a river. The river was a small one that wended its way to Ashane from the east, just slow enough and deep enough for pleasure craft. Many of the houses built along its bank had docks or boathouses.
Lord Duronh's residence had one, too, although the lord had gone one step further. He had dug a cavern into the high bank below his house and built a dock for his crafts, where they were protected from all but the most frigid weather.
Teza thought this underground boathouse would be her best entrance into the house. Any guard left standing over one small back door on a night like this would not be expecting trouble.
As silent as a black shadow, the water horse carried her downstream through the fog to the broad opening of Duronh's boathouse. Teza shuddered at the sight of that dark river lapping at her knees, but the aughisky made no attempt to drop her or carry her into deeper water. He worked his way around the lord's small boats and deposited Teza on the wooden dock. With a sigh of fervent relief, she patted him and eased farther along the dark dock toward what she hoped was the stairs.
The darkness was absolute in the cavern, so Teza silently opened a small bag she wore buckled around her waist and pulled out her most useful thieves' tooclass="underline" a pair of night glasses. She had bought them from a wandering wizard for a horrendous sum, but they had paid her back a hundredfold with their usefulness. She slid them on, and immediately the night slipped into focus. Although the glasses made everything look red, their vision was remarkably clear.