[MilesBeyond]

"Killian Surkov!" a shrill, piercing voice cut through the silence.

Killian groaned. He was sitting at his desk, leaning back on his chair with the front two legs completely off the ground. He'd sat down there with the intention of reading, but found the book sufficiently dull that every time he got to the second sentence, he'd lost interest and had to go re-read the first sentence. While he now likely had "Calimport, a burgeoning city on the western coast and the capital of Calimshan, is one of the largest trade centers in the world" burned into his mind for eternity, he'd instead chosen to occupy his evening by fiddling with a practice lock he'd "acquired" from a smith a few streets over. The job he was contracted to do wouldn't begin for another few hours yet, and he had nothing else to occupy his time. Well, there was something else, but -

"Killian! Killian are you even listening to me?" the voice came again. He sighed and looked at the door, already knowing who would be there. Standing in the doorway were Torvald and Sariah, two hangers-on that followed Nalen everywhere. "He's your own roommate and you didn't even go to the banquet in his honour!" Sariah continued. "Do you even know what he did?"

As a matter of fact, Killian had no idea why they were recognizing Nalen this time. "If I say yes," he said, "will you leave me alone?"

Sariah heaved an infuriated sigh "Really, Killian, would it kill you to pay attention for once in your life? Nalen Dotsk - I'm sure you've heard of him, you know, he's the one you live with? He saved the school, and maybe even the entire guild! One of the other students - Davoran, who if you ask me has always been trouble - was plotting against the masters! He'd made contact with another guild! He'd hatched an entire scheme to have the Masters killed and to use this very school as an entry point for agents from Amn! Oh, but you'll never guess who stopped them!"

Killian gave some pretense of thinking about it for a moment before saying in his characteristic monotonous tone, "Elminster, shapeshifted into a squirrel, riding a Tarrasque."

Sariah shot him a withering look. "Oh, look who thinks he's clever. No, idiot, it was Nalen!"

"He was brilliant!" Torvald breathed, almost reverently. "Sariah and Nalen and I had talked about it and we'd thought that Davoran was acting a little suspiciously lately, so we were all keeping an eye on him. Anyway, one night Sariah and I were on our way to the rations hall when we happened to see him ducking around in the shadows."

"Well, this is a thieves' academy" Killian drawled. "Maybe he was looking for extra credit."

Sariah glared at him again while Torvald continued as though nothing had happened. "We were going to go get Nalen but then we remembered that he had class, so we thought we'd look in on it ourselves. We followed him to a warehouse where he met with someone who said he was from the Shadow Thieves! We were so surprised that we gasped, and -"

"I'm sorry," Killian said, "the Shadow Thieves? First, they're nearly halfway around the world, and second, what sort of idiot would reveal his identity to some third-rate adolescent thief? There's no way he was actually from the Shadow Thieves."

"Well," Sariah said acidly, "Nalen thinks he was from the Shadow Thieves, and he's a lot smarter than you are, Killian! And besides, we should know, they took us captive! We were taken to some secret holding cell underneath the warehouse, but Nalen - oh, he's so clever! - soon became worried that we'd disappeared, and managed to track us down!"

"He comes strolling in there, bold as day" Torvald took up the story, "and tells the Shadow Thief that he's caught wind of his scheme and wants in, for the right price. The Shadow Thief is immediately taken in, and tells Nalen exactly what's going on. Well, once Nalen has the story, he doesn't even blink! He takes out his dagger and drives it into the Shadow Thief's heart, then he pulls out another one and smashes Davoran over the head with it. He sets us free and takes Davoran's unconscious body to the Masters and tells them exactly what was going on!"

"Oh, he was so brave!" Sariah breathed. "You could do well to learn a thing from him or two, you know."

As Killian rolled his eyes, a voice echoed from down the hallway "Torvald! Sariah! There you are! We're all going out to celebrate some more!"

"Oh, why, of course, Nalen!" Sariah gushed. "We wouldn't miss it for the world, would we, Torvald?"

"What are you doing here, anyway? You two weren't bothering Killian, were you?" Nalen had now joined Torvald and Sariah in the doorway.

"He didn't even come out to your banquet!"

"Well of course he didn't! Trust me, when you've been here as long as he and I have, these sorts of things become horribly boring. I'm actually envious of him, to tell you the truth." Nalen winked at Killian. In spite of himself, Killian couldn't help but grin back.

"Oh, Nalen," Sariah laughed, "you're just awful, you know that? Let's go."

Killian tried to make himself comfortable after the three had walked away, but the conversation had set him off enough that he found that he couldn't. "Idiots," he thought to himself. Finding himself too restless to do anything else, he decided to leave for the job early, hoping he might have an opportunity to case the place.


Killian felt a satisfying pounding in his chest as he carefully felt around inside the lock with his picks. The trouble with thievery, he'd discovered, was that the constant tension and thrill made everything else in life comparatively dull. He never really felt alive except for when he was on a job. Or drunk, he amended grudgingly. The lock gave a satisfying click and the door gave way. He'd arrived at the building several hours before the job was due to begin, and reasoned that if he could get in and get out quickly enough, he could pilfer most of the really valuable goods with his companions none the wiser. The best take, he thought to himself, is the one that you haven't got to share.


He was a little surprised upon entering the home to hear the sound of voices. It was supposed to have been empty. Ah well, he shrugged. That's the price you pay for trying to do things early. He wasn't too concerned. The voices seemed to be coming from beneath him, and the fact that all of the candles on the ground floor had been blown out meant that there probably wasn't anyone around - and besides, moving unseen and unheard was his specialty. He exalted as he ghosted through the rooms, the few locks that sought to bar his way were as nothing before his cunning and skill. Hang the academy, hang Nalen's sycophants, hang the guild, for that matter. There he was nothing but an underachieving disappointment, a mediocre student who couldn't distinguish himself. But here, in this house, in these shadows, he was as a god. All the barriers in his way fell before him and he took what he pleased.


The stairs, however, would be a problem. That was the difficulty with these sorts of jobs, he thought. Only the richest could afford more than one story to their home, but they had a tendency to keep their wealth near their bed, and they had a tendency to sleep on the highest story - and stairs are noisy tend provide very little in the way of hiding spots or escape routes should someone happen by. It wasn't all that hard to pick out which steps were safe and which might belt out a loud creak, but doing so was slow going, and Killian was, by nature, a highly impatient sort. He began to slowly and carefully pick his way up the steps. As he was nearing the top, he noticed at the very last moment that the step he was about to put his foot on was sagging somewhat. Grinning congratulatory, he put his foot down on the step above it, instead.

"That's as far as you go!" came a voice from the bottom of the stairs.

Killian cursed.