Auction

I am not interfered with as I walk, disguised through crowds of men going about their business. The mood of the city has changed. When the sheriff was in charge, there was a darkness and an urgency. Now I feel a lightness. People laugh, banter. There are performers on every other corner, singing and dancing and telling stories.

The transformation is a source of much bewilderment to me. I have been laboring under heavy guilt that I destroyed not just the lives of several brave men, but all those who live in the city, and instead I find a place that just three months after the battle seems to be experiencing a rebirth.

The royal building is far more open than it used to be. There seems to be little concern about security, as citizens mill about amid soldiers, who keep a casual eye on things.

How quickly things can change. I hope they haven't all changed. I hope the money is still kept in the same place it used to be. I hope the secret passage we used to get out of the royal building is still there.

It is. The grate in the dry river bed opens to my fingers, and I slip into it without being noticed. I start to smile to myself. It has been a long journey, and I have had little reason to believe in myself, but I think this is going to work. I am going to get the money we need to begin a real life as a family. We are going to have the riches to set up a proper home, with real fortifications. We are going to have the life we deserve. I learned one thing in my time in the city: with money, all things are possible.

The passage runs right to the sheriff's quarters. The new king, whoever he is, may or may not use them. As I slip out of the hidden closet door, I keep my wits about me. This is the hard part.

The rooms seem to be empty. Whoever the new guy is, he's not using them. I hope the stash isn't.

Moving on tiptoes, I steal into what was once the sheriff's horde. It used to be a well-guarded room, but there aren't guards on it anymore. That's not a good sign. There are still several chests there, which I suspect hold a great deal of currency. Even emptying the contents of one into my pockets could give us what we need.

I try the lid of a chest. It doesn't budge. Locked.

I try another. Also locked.

Cursing beneath my breath, I berate myself for being so stupid. Of course they're locked! Was the new king going to just leave his money lying around for anyone to take?

I need to find a key. It will be somewhere. Possibly on the king's person, or maybe in a servant's possession. I need to blend in with the palace staff. I need to...

Before I can get any further with that plan, huge arms sweep around me. I scream in fear as I am turned around to face a massive man with deep brown eyes, a thick shock of dark hair, and a build like a colossus.

"What are you doing here, Trissa?"

"How do you know my name?"

There's a short laugh. "You don't recognize me, do you?"

I scan his face. He is familiar, but at the same time, I'm not sure I've ever seen him before. Deja vu assails and confuses me, and my panic does not help the situation whatsoever.

"Let me go!"

He doesn't let me go. He holds me in those big hands of his and he keeps me looking at him until I start to twist and turn and work my teeth into a position where I can bite him to get free.

"Still a wild little thing," he smiles, handling me easily.

I stop struggling as realization dawns. It can't be. He looks so different. Or does he? Does he look exactly the same, just much more healthy and dressed in the manner of a warrior rather than a eunuch?