An informer brought me a message that someone required my services. I agreed to have a meeting in one of the City’s crowded taverns. You can never be too cautious, and it’s easy to use the inn’s „atmosphere” to remain unseen, while judging whether the waiting client is not just a bait from the Watch, for example...
It was a woman. Her face hidden in the shadow of a gray traveling cloak’s hood. I did not sense any trap. The job turned out to be a little more suspicious than the employer...
I was to get into a small merchant quarter and steal a grey, wooden box from one Archibald’s store. The woman said nothing of the box’s content. When asked if she wasn’t afraid that I would find out on my own, she said it was impossible. According to her words, the box has no visible lock – and this is how I would recognize it. She claimed there was no way I could make it open. Well, I will see for myself when I find it...
Two things seemed suspicious in this case...
First – the rush. The woman will pay for the mission only if I return with the box this night, before dawn. There is no time for reconnaissance, studying maps or planning. I’ll have to rely solely on my thief’s instincts.
Second – the payment. 10 000 gold pieces! For burgling a humble store, looting which would have never come to my mind – much too much. Experience teaches not to trust those, who promise too attractive rewards...
However, I have accepted the offer. I’m going to keep my eyes and ears open, though. Even if there’s more to this case than I’ve been told, I hope that my cleverness and experience will get me out from any tight corners.