An Alliance for Necessity (Sarina)

[Adrien Strade]

63 Fall 514AV: An Alliance for Necessity Adrien had always been more comfortable working alone with the occasional partners for when he had something he really needed help with. But, with the recent things happening in Sunberth like the food shortage and the incidents of gang violence, he had taken a job that he had heard of from somewhere. Normally, it wasn’t his habit to take jobs from anyone but desperate times called for desperate measure, so they say. Well, the job was just right for his skills, anyway and if he was careful then the job could be easily accomplished without any trouble. The only thing that bothered him with this job was the fact that it required him to work with a partner. The client told him it was to make the job easier and safer but it probably was just so the two of them would watch each other like hawks and make sure that the other wouldn’t betray their client or something of that sort. Adrien hoped that the person he got stuck with would at least be someone capable and someone he could get along with. As it seems to be the case in many situations, luck was unfortunately not on his side… He was waiting in a non-descript alleyway where he had agreed to meet with his so-called partner for this job. They had only ever communicated through notes left at strategic places and messages sent here and there. Adrien had packed only what he might need for the job today—his tools, his knife, and his dagger. Unnecessary things had all been left behind in his home. He traced the outline of his earring as he waited. He kept his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of new arrival. It was when he heard a sound from the mouth of the alley that he turned his blue eyes in that direction. The identity of his partner couldn’t have surprised him more, having met the woman already earlier that season. “You’re…” Adrien said with disbelief. “I can’t believe it. Fate has really been playing tricks on me.”

[Sarina]

Sarina had gotten a job. It wasn’t often Sarina got jobs from people. Not because she couldn’t do jobs for people but because she didn’t like taking orders from other people. The only reason she was taking the job was because she needed the money. With all the violence and only recently reopened shops there wasn’t much business in stealing thing because there simply wasn’t much to steal.

The man who had employed Sarina had told her she needed to work with a partner. This had nearly stopped Sarina from accepting the job. Working with other people had never been one of Sarina’s strong points. Having no other options in terms of work she had been forced to accept the job despite the fact she needed a partner.

Ever since her client had informed her that he had found a partner for her she and the partner had been exchanging notes hidden in various places to plan the way they were going to carry out the plan. She had never met him (she was assuming her partner was a boy) but from the notes she could tell he was fairly clever, which would probably make him slightly more tolerably. She mostly just hoped the partner wouldn’t slow her down.

As she walked down the street Sarina pulled her cloak tighter around her. The air was starting to get chilly and a cold wind blew through streets of Sunberth chilling the few people who were walking through it. Sarina was finally going to meet her ally face to face. Tonight she and the partner were going to carry out the plan they had been plotting for some days now through the notes. They were meeting in an alley way that Sarina was almost too.

As Sarina approached the alley she ran her hands through her hair fixing it from the way it had been messed up by the wind. She wanted to make a good impression on her partner. She didn’t want him to underestimate her. The fact she was a girl often caused people to question her ability she didn’t want him to have another reason to underestimate her. Sarina composed her face. She was going for a sort of evil look. Evil genius. That’s what she was going for.

Stepping into the entrance of the alleyway she looked in at her partner who was already standing there. A burst of wind blew by filtering through Sarina’s curly hair, blowing it around adding to the desired effect.

The effect was unnecessary though when Sarina saw who she would be working with. Her mouth fell slightly open in utter disbelief as she saw who she would be forced to work with. She just about said something but the man beat her to it.

“You’re…” Adrien, a fellow thief who she had met a while ago. “I can believe it. Fate has really been playing tricks on me.”

“Adrien?” Sarina said. Sarina wasn’t sure why she remembered the man’s name. When she saw him his name just came to her. Stepping into the alley she walked up to him. “You’re who I’m working with? I’ve been exchanging notes with…you?” Sarina just stared at him in disbelief. She hadn’t expected it to be someone she knew, much less Adrien.

In the back of her mind Sarina was telling herself she didn’t have much time and had to get going on their plan but she was extremely surprised and didn’t quite know how to react. Instead of trying to figure out what she should say she just waited for Adrien to respond.

[Adrien Strade]

He shrugged as she expressed her surprise at finding out that the two of them have been exchanging notes with each other and were actually the other’s partners. “Well, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? I’m the only one here.” He said with a lazy grin, trying to mask the other emotions he felt at the new information. “I have to say…well, I didn’t expect that you, of all people, would be my partner for this job.” He watched her closely for any reactions. Their last meeting had mostly been spent gauging each other’s characters and playing what amounted to a verbal chess match. He wondered whether or not it would turn out like that again this time. He hoped not. They had to at least work together to manage the job they were going to do especially since there would most probably be guards they needed to face before getting the goods. “Anyway, shouldn’t we get going? I need the money for this job and the identity of my partner isn’t important for it.” Adrien said. “Should we review the plans? What are our roles for this heist?”

[Sarina]

“Yes, we haven’t got much time.” Sarina said regaining herself. Adrien was right. They had a job to do being surprised about her partner would only hinder them from getting it so. They had a short window of time and they needed to get going with their plan. It was probably better Sarina knew her partner already. That way she didn’t have to spend time judging his abilities and already knew a bit about him. “It would be best to go over the plan on our way to the site.” With that she walked past him and went further into the alley way.

Having lived in Sunberth all her life Sarina knew the street layout fairly well. She had chosen for them to meet in this alley way because she knew she could get to their destination from here without leaving the network of alleys or going into the open street. A few bells before coming to meet her partner she had run through the path to make sure there were no bandits waiting in the back alleys that would slow them down, losing valuable time they couldn’t avoid to lose. The only problem they would meet was if someone had come to the alleys after she had checked. Not having a good way to obliterate that option Sarina had just hoped no one came.

“First we will arrive at Harklan’s house.” Sarina recited the first step of their plan. Harklan was the last name of the wealthy merchant who the pair was going to be stealing from. Sarina was leading them straight to the back door of his house. “I will be providing the route we will take to his back door. It would seem I am already doing that step.” Sarina was talking in a low voice to keep any unwanted ears from hearing their plan.

“When we are there you will be unlocking the door.” Sarina said looking at Adrien as she walked. The reason he was to be the one unlocking the door was that they had discussed he was better with that kind of thing than Sarina. Sarina stopped their waiting for him to continue explaining the plan. This was the part he had made up and so Sarina decided he could probably explain it best.

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien followed Sarina as she led them through a series of alleys. He knew the location of the house they were robbing. He had seen it before but he had left the part of devising an easy way towards it to her. It seemed she had done a good job of it, too. They didn’t encounter anyone while walking, at least…not yet. The chosen path also didn’t end up in any open street where they could easily be spotted by anyone and be a cause for suspicion. Sarina discussed their plan of action for the job, outlining what each of them would do. She stopped after saying that he was going to be the one to unlock the door. She was waiting for him to continue, he knew that. It was a test, somehow. “Right,” he said. “After that, you have the job of sneaking inside and pilfering what we need to accomplish the job and I’ll be the distraction to keep the guards away from what you’re doing.” Adrien couldn’t help but grin when he thought of all the things he could do with being the distraction. It would be fun, for sure, to taunt the guards and to get their attention. “That’s it, I believe,” he said. “Once you got the item, we’ll be meeting up at the same place we met just now. It may take a while for me though, since I have to lose the guards from my trail.” He waited for her to say anything, even to tell him that they were now there and he was needed to pick the lock on the doors. Somehow, it seemed like this meeting of theirs was a bit more strained than the last.

[Sarina]

Sarina couldn’t help but smirk a bit as Adrien went over his part of the plan. He was going to distract the guards, which meant he would be taunting the guards. When they had last met Sarina had experienced firsthand his talent for taunting people. She had no doubt in her mind he would be able to get them to follow him.

Taking turn into another alley Sarina knew they were getting close. There was one thing that worried her. The item she was stealing was some sort of necklace. The only thing her employer had been able to tell her about it was it was gold and had some sort of pendant. He gave her nothing else to go on, including not telling her where it was in the house. The person’s dwelling was huge. At least in comparison to the small houses most people in Sunberth had, it was enormous. The layout of the inside of the house was completely unknown.

Having so little information of her heist was a bit distressing but she hoped it would all work out. In the worst case she would need to look through things to look for a hidden necklace. Her employer had said that the item would be obvious to find and she would know it when she saw it. Banking on that information she turned another corner.

At the end of this alleyway was the back door. It was a fairly plain door, painted green with peeling paint. Its hand was an average silvery metallic one. This door was so much different than the front door, which was brightly painted, beautiful and just screaming to be robbed from. From what Sarina had been able to gather, this was a servant’s door. It likely lead to the kitchen, judging by the fact Sarina had seen some servants entering with food ready to be cooked. It was the middle of the night so Sarina doubted there would be anyone cooking at this hour and thus she hoped to avoid running into anyone before she and Adrien split. If people thought Adrien was the only one there they wouldn’t hesitate to all go chasing after him but if they knew Sarina was there or they were of any intelligence they would split up, making Sarina’s job that much more difficult. Sarina doubted they would be that smart. No one in Sunberth was a guard because they felt honor bound to be one. Most guards in Sunberth were guards because they weren’t smart enough to hold any other job.

Walking up to the door Sarina signaled it with her hand, smirked a bit and said in a hushed tone, “This is where you come in.”

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien stepped forward and crouched in front of the door, examining the lock and what he should do to pick it. All the while he kept the whispered conversation with his partner, “You know, it’s unusual for someone to actually build a decent house in this city. The man who owns this…he’s probably a foreigner, isn’t he? Once you last long in Sunberth, you’ll learn not to flaunt your wealth. It’s an open invitation.” He got his tools out and started working on the lock. He used the long metal pick and pries to push the pins up in the lock to get the bolt out of the way. Adrien grinned as soon as he heard the click and the door swung open. “There we go,” he said, smirking as he held the door out for his partner. “Be careful. I might miss some guards…not on purpose, of course.” With that, he left her to her own devices and went to find the guards that would surely be heading here by now. They had a small window of time based from what he had observed in the nights before and if he could trick the guards to think he had already been inside then they wouldn’t check for Sarina. Adrien waited until he heard the footsteps turning the corner. It revealed two guards on patrol and Adrien immediately took stock of what they had. One of the men had a short sword strapped to his waist and the other had a bow and a quiver of arrows. Well, that could give him some trouble. Despite that, Adrien grinned as he gave the two men who had just spotted him a wave. “Hello there, boys. It’s a nice night for a walk, isn’t it?” He said with a wink. The guards only had to exchange a look before they were after him. Well, the man with the sword chased after him while the other had signaled to somebody before notching an arrow. Adrien ran for his life. He was going to be dead if they caught him, he was sure of it. He didn’t have enough skills in fighting to face multiple opponents at once. He just hoped Sarina would be successful with her assigned endeavor for the risk he was taking.

[Sarina]

As he worked on the lock Adrien continued their whispered conversation. He made a good point. The man they were stealing from, who ever he was, was practically asking to be stolen from. The lock clicked open and Adrien opened the door. Smirking he held open the door. Sarina tossed up her hood and stepped through the doorway. Adrien followed her in. He gave her one last warning before walking off to distract the guards.

The room, as Sarina had expected, was a kitchen. The embers of a long dead fire sat in the corner of the hearth. Pots and various other cooking tools hung from the ceiling. There were two paths leading away from the room. One of them, the one Adrien hadn't gone down, likely lead to the servants quarters. The other seemed like it would be the best bet to find the necklace. Sarina couldn't see Adrien because the path turned but she could hear him.

"Hey there boys. It's a nice night for a walk, isn't it?" Sarina realized how well the two roles had been divided up. Adrien could make anyone mad at him, even Sarina at one point in their previous encounter. Sarina wouldn't have been able to come up with anything that simple and taunting. His tone of voice made it just perfect. Sarina on the other hand was better at the sneaking around side of thievery. So her role was set up nicely for her.

After hearing the foot steps of Adrien running away and the heavier steps of the men, Sarina started to make her way down the hall. The hall was dark. So dark Sarina had to blink her eyes a few times to try and adjust them to the darkness. If it weren't for the window streaming moonlight into the hall Sarina wouldn't be able to see at all.

Carefully working her way along the edge of the corridor, keeping to the shadows, she made it into the next room. It wasn't a huge room. A bit smaller than her house but it had nothing in it, making it seem far larger than it truly was. Sarina wonder why they would have a room that had no purpose. The dark room was lit by a row of windows to the left. This was the room Adrien had probably found his guards at. This was where Sarina's path and Adrien's path diverged. Sarina could only hope Adrien had gotten guards from the path she was going.

Walking over to the first exit in the room she glanced inside. She had no real idea where the necklace was so she was mostly left to just searching blindly through the house. There was no one in it as far as she could see. It was lit by candles hanging from the walls. Sarina was surprised the candles were burning. At this time at night she would have thought all the candles would have been put out. Beginning to worry, she wondered if her arrival had been anticipated. She tucked that thought into the back of her mind and walked along the wall into the room.

There was indeed no one in the room, which Sarina was glad about. Walking quickly through the room she exited on the other side. The hall split in two directions. Sarina choose the hall on her right and began down it.

Suddenly from behind her she heard someone gasp. "Thief!" Sarina spun around and saw two men, likely guards, standing in the hall she hadn't chosen to go down. Curing herself for not checking the hall before she went barreling into it, she started sprinting in the opposite direction of the guards.

Both of them had swords and Sarina doubted she could fight them both. She hoped they would be too weighed down by their armor and weapons to catch up with her. Glancing over her shoulder, she turned into another room.

[Adrien Strade]

Adrien didn’t really worship any of the gods but he now found himself praying to the whole lot of them to let him survive the night. He was still running and thankfully was still out of reach from the men who were after him. But, luck was never on his side for long. Before he knew it, one of them had grabbed on his coat and threw him at a wall. Adrien hissed at the pain of his shoulder hitting the hard wall before his instincts took over and he ducked. He barely avoided being skewered by the man’s sword and he could feel his heart beginning to race as adrenaline raced through his body. Adrien tried to keep his façade as the one who was serving as the distraction in their plan even as he feared for his life. He grinned as he dropped to a crouch and took the dagger from his boots. It was a fight or flight response and Adrien was hoping on running. He stabbed the man on the thigh just before the other almost got him again. “Sorry, I have to go,” Adrien said, as the guard growled in pain at the stab wound. With that, he began running once again. So far, he was getting lucky with this. He hadn’t seen the other guard again, the one with the bow and he truly hoped it would stay that way. He knew that the stab wound would only occupy the guard for so long but he hoped that the man wouldn’t bother going after him. Most people in Sunberth would work for money but you should not expect utmost loyalty from them and Adrien banking on that. He was hoping that the men would rather tend to their own survival than bother with a thief like Adrien. He gripped his dagger hard in his right hand as he ran, shouting to attract any guards his way so that his partner could get what they needed. If he died tonight, which hopefully he wouldn’t, he just hoped Sarina would manage to get what they came here for. He really hoped she was having better luck on her part.

[Sarina]

It must have been Sarina's lucky day because the room she had stumbled into seemed like it was the right one. The room was brightly lit with torches along the walls. The orange lighting revealed a pedestal in the center of the room. It was made of granite carved into a rather simple shape. A lush deep purple pillow sat on the top of the pedestal, it's golden tassels hanging from each corner. In the center of the pillow was a necklace. Unless the house owner had multiple valuable necklaces this must have been what Sarina was here to steal.

The necklace, looking rather delicate, had a thin golden chain with an emerald pendant hanging from it. It honestly was a beautiful necklace but Sarina didn't have time to admire it. The guards, who she had left behind a bit before, were catching up. Dashing to the center of the room, Sarina grabbed the necklace and quickly undid the fastener on the back, reached it around her neck.

Suddenly the men bolted into the room through the door behind Sarina. Spinning around as they stopped just inside the door Sarina pulled lightly on the necklace around her neck, pretending to admire its shine.

"Do you think the color suits me?" She looked up at the men, who were out of breath, with a light-hearted smirk.

"I think the color of your blood will suit ya much better!" One of the men growled drawing his sword. The other one followed suit and drew his sword too.

"She is fairly pretty, though." The man who hadn't spoken before said looking thoughtful. "Maybe we should keep 'er!" He grinned a crooked grin. A look of disgust pasted over Sarina's face.

Cautiously she cast a glance around the room. The only entrance or exit was the one the guards were standing in front of. Cursing herself for getting trapped in a room with no exit she carefully drew her Tamo Daggers from their place in her cloak. She knew she couldn't possibly fight both of them at one but she would stand a better chance with her Daggers if they decided to attack her.

"What's so special about this necklace then?" Sarina fingered the necklace, taking a few small steps to the right starting to walk in a circle. As she had expected the guards both shuffled there feet a bit to there right, starting their side of the circle.

"We don't know." Said the first man. He was the tallest of the two with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. "We're just told to guard stuff so we do." The other man nodded in agreement.

"Well you sound like good guards then." Sarina mused taking a few more small steps. Then men followed so they were still directly in front of Sarina. "Stupid brutes who don't know anything. . . ideal." This seemed to rustle the men's feathers a bit. They both got twin angry faces glowering down at Sarina.

"Hey, listen here." The tall man waved his sword angrily in the air. "We know plenty. Why would we need to know about the stupid necklace anyway?" Sarina smirked, fueling their anger and taking a few more steps, prompting them to follow suit.

"Yeah," The second, shorter man said. "At least we aren't a thief who got caught, like you!"

"No, that doesn't really describe me, does it?" Sarina took a few more steps. "I am a thief, yes, but one who got caught? Quite the contrary, you with find." With that Sarina sprinted towards the door that was no longer blocked by the men.