The Thief

Chapter 48

I reached my hand forward, placing two of my fingers over his eye lids and pulling them down and closing his eyes. I was reminded of the time I did the exact same thing with Commander Tyron.

Unfortunately I did not know Josiah for longer than a few hours but he was like a breath of fresh air. Although his personal life had some very questionable aspects to it, he was still a good man. He was loyal to the crown and cared about his brothers until the very end.

His loss weighed on me but I knew now was not the time for grievance. I contemplated whether or not just to leave his body hidden away here in the building but thought better of it. If anything were to happen to me, someone else needed to be able to find his body and give him the proper burial.

I took note of a door leading out to the other side of the building, the side I needed to be on to follow the newly discovered imposter. I took both Josiah's arms and pulled with all my might successfully dragging his body out of the door.

I put his body against the wall next to a few barrels and out of the way from any stampeding prisoners but in clear view for anyone to see if they passed by. I whispered an apology for not being able to do anything else for him at the moment and turned towards my intended destination.

Before I could even step forward a silhouette appeared emerging from the building in all the smoke. It was the Josiah look alike.

I ducked down careful not to be seen slightly blocking the view of Josiah's body in the process praying that he would think nothing of it if he glanced in our direction.

I remember Josiah mentioning he had a twin. That must be him. Richard was his name if I remembered correctly, he was also the Queen's chief strategist and Josiah was correct, he seems to have betrayed the kingdom.

He has been posing as Josiah since the Queen addressed us. The last time I saw the real Josiah alive was when he went off to clean up. He obviously never made it back.

My mind immediately shot to the brief details Ivor was given regarding her Majesty's murder. Josiah was said to be the one who found her body, only that was not Josiah. I concluded that Richard must have been involved in her death. He was most likely the Queen's killer as well as his brother's. My heart started beating frantically in my ears upon this realisation.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I carefully analysed Richard's movements, relieved when he paid no mind to me when his eyes cautiously raked the surrounding area. He was carrying something or rather someone.

The person was all skin and bone and absolutely filthy dressed in rags. Richard had their body slumped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, like they weighed nothing which I had the strong suspicion they did.

I could barely tell if the person was alive or not. This person was definitely important to Richard for some reason. Why else would he make his way in such a rush to go and rescue them?

Richard started walking obviously noting the fact that his horse had long be stolen by one of the prisoners and for  some reason he was making his way west.

The bells went off again and this time they did not stop, it was a chain reaction, more bells stared going off all around the city. Something very bad has happened. My stomach sank. Richard glanced in the direction of the gate and then picked up pace. He moved away for the main streets disappearing off into the back alleyways nearing the wall.

I chose to ignore the warning bells for now and focused on the current matter beforehand. I stealthily started following Richard, careful not to alert him of my presence. He was moving quickly, zig zagging in and out of the narrow paths. I did not want to lose him but he was not making it easy.

I decided to climb up onto the roofs when I had spot a long ladder nearby. It would make life easier for me. Climbing right to the top at a record speed, I was careful to maintain my balance once I reached the slanted roof.

The buildings were pretty close together in this part of the city making it easier for me to jump from roof to roof following Richard.

Upon careful inspection of his movements, I noticed that it looked like he was counting the buildings. When he reached a certain number he stopped and and broke down the door walking in.

I was about to find a way off the building to follow him in. I made the mistake of looking ahead.

We were quite close to the gate and with my current height above the ground, I had the perfect view of a half destroyed wall and two fallen gate towers. I could hear the clashes of swords, loud cries of frightened horses and most importantly loud cries and distant yelling.

The bells were still going off. This could only mean one thing. The enemy had broken through the kingdoms defence. They were now in the capital.

My heart was really beating frantically now. I was terrified for Ivor and Vorn. I prayed with all my might that they were okay. That they had managed to get away before the wall and gate was destroyed.

I clenched my fists until they were white still focusing on the direction of the gate unwillingly rooted to the spot. I only broke my gaze away when a sound below disrupted me.

It was Richard. He had unintentionally slammed the door behind him as he exited the building. This time he was carrying no body with him and he had stripped himself of most of Josiah's armour replacing it with darker different armour, armour that matched the enemies.

I was tempted to follow him again but my gut told me to enter the building and find the person that he had taken from the prison. Throwing one last glance at Richard as he headed off in the direction of the battle, I clenched my jaw and let him disappear round the corner. I found a way down the building landing with a soft thump safely on the ground.

I was careful to observed my surroundings making sure no one saw me. When the cost was clear, I slowly made my way to the door, twisting the handle and gently pushing it open.

"Hello..." I called out as I stepped into the building. My senses on high alert.

I heard slight shuffling above me. I shut the door and grabbed the first thing I could find as a temporary weapon which just so happened to be a brass candle holder.

I was well aware that I still had my dagger tucked safely in my boot but I was still not ready to use it so the candle holder was the next best thing.

One can never be to careful.

"Hello." I called again.

Nothing.

I slowly crept up the creaky wooden stairs. One step after the other. When I reached the top, I noticed two doors. The left one was slightly a jar and the right was completely shut.

I peered into the left room slowly pushing the door open completely, keeping my temporary weapon positioned in front of me ready to attack if need be.

There was nothing in the room. Just a bed and a small cupboard with a large fire place.

I quickly inspected the room. No one was here. The only other place was the room to the right.

When I reached the room and tired to turn the handle, I realised it was locked. I jiggled it some more.

"If someone is in there, just know I am going to break the lock." I warned.

I took the back of the candle holder and rammed it into the wood beside the handle multiple times successfully breaking the door away from the lock. I kicked the door open right after and was met with a startled soft yelp.

I eyes immediately locked onto the widened very unique navy blue eyes of a startled tied up severely malnourished figure lying on the floor against the wall.

"Ple...please... Don't... Come any... Closer." The malnourished boy's voice wheezed out in breathy pants.