In the dead of night, light footsteps entered the hallway. They navigated the dark hallway, dimly lit by the moonlight through a window at each end, with great surety and confidence. Soon, the prowlers arrived at their destination. A key was slowly and quietly inserted into the keyhole at the door. With a quick twist of the key, the lock clicked with a loud sound. A long pause ensued as they waited in the hallway for any sign that the occupants of the room heard the door unlock. To their great relief, the room remained quiet. The front door was pushed so slowly and carefully that even the door hinge failed to make a sound.

Figures quickly entered the room, one after the other, and the door was carefully closed behind them. Since the room was slightly illuminated by moonlight from the window, the intruders were able to make out the form of a person resting in bed. The two intruders split up: one approached the person in bed while the other tried to search for the other occupant of the room.

Suddenly, something slammed into the back of the searcher's head and made him lose consciousness. But before his body could drop to the ground, it was caught.

Leaving the unconscious intruder on the ground, the defender raced across the room with even quieter steps than the intruders could ever hope to manage. However, the movement still caused a slight airflow.

The one approaching the sleeping form detected the air movement and stopped. However, before the second intruder could turn around, he, too, was knocked unconscious with a head blow.

A pair of eerie yellow-green eyes glowed in the dark as Kalistra caught the body before it dropped to the ground. The cat girl turned her head over to the bed and saw that Lawrence had slept through the encounter. She sighed at the sight; she just confirmed that I couldn't be counted on to fight back during a night-time ambush. Not if I slept through the entire fight! If these two intruders were assassins and one of them fired a crossbow, even Kalistra would not be fast enough to get in position to catch the bolt.

The cat girl returned her attention to the two intruders at her feet. She recognized them and wanted to interrogate them immediately. Why did they enter the room? What were they after? However, Lawrence was still asleep and the master recognized the prudence of allowing her pupil to get a good night's rest. Interrogating these two could wait until morning.

Kalistra placed the two bodies side-by-side against the wall and tied them up. She also gagged them to prevent them from screaming out for help. Once she was satisfied with her work, the cat girl returned to her position against the wall next to the door. While it was unlikely that there will be more night time visitors to this room, it would be prudent for Kalistra to remain vigilant for this possibility. She looked out the window and noted that she still had another hour or so before the break of dawn. Stifling a yawn, the cat girl returned to her light sleep.

#

The crowing of the rooster somewhere in the village was enough to awake me. I sat up on my uncomfortable bed and stretched my arms above my head. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep despite the lousy bed. I must have been more tired than I realized. When I got off the bed and turned toward Kalistra, I froze. On the ground near her were two people lying on their bellies with their hands and feet bound together behind their backs; they were also gagged.

My master was leaning against the wall, but her eyes were open and looking straight at me. "You managed to awake without my intervention. That's an improvement, Lawrence." Her whiskers twitched with amusement.

Her remarks broke my paralysis. "Who are they and why are they here?" I asked while pointing a finger at them.

Kalistra casually stretched and rose to her feet. "I caught them breaking into our room overnight," she replied.

I slowly approached the two and turned their bodies over so that I could see their faces. I winced at the sight; it was the two servant boys from last night.

The cat girl unbuckled her scabbard from her belt and suddenly whacked the two boys on their arms.

They immediately awoke from the pain and found themselves bound. Their eyes betrayed their horror when they saw me and Kalistra looking down on them.

Kalistra tapped her right foot on the floor impatiently near their heads. "I'm going to ask some questions. If I don't get an answer from you, or if I think you're not being truthful, I will hit you with my sword. If I get tired of your lack of cooperation, I will simply toss you out the window," she threatened.

My eyes widened at what she had just said. I was horrified by the fact that she was making threats against children. Yes, I realized that they were trying to steal my money; last night, Kopene was staring at my waist pouch long enough to make his intention obvious. But he and Kitel were still children, and the optimist in me hoped that we could turn them away from lives of crime. "Kalistra, stand down," I ordered in a strong tone of voice.

The cat girl looked at me for a moment. She really wanted to teach these thieves a lesson, but the two were still part of Burnhamm village and thus Kalistra had to return to her role as my servant. "Yes, Master," she said and bowed.

I breathed a sigh of relief at her acquiescence. I reached for my necklace under my tunic and pulled out my truth stone. I saw the fear in the eyes of the two boys when they recognized it. "I'm going to question the two of you under oath. If you refuse to obey and give me your truth oath, then I will ask my servant to bring you downstairs and declare you guilty of attempted theft against a church official. Your punishment will be death by the sword in front of the villagers." I lowered the stone until it was just a foot over their heads. "Now, swear that you will tell the truth."

When Kalistra removed their gags, the two boys dutifully obeyed and made their truth oaths.

"Why did you enter my room?" I asked.

"We wanted to steal your purse," Kopene answered.

"Have you done this before?" I continued.

"Yes," Kitel replied.

"Does Sene know about this?" Kalistra asked.

"Yes," the human boy answered.

"How does he know about your little robberies?" the cat girl asked.

The two boys looked at each other and then Kopene spoke up. "My uncle encouraged it," the dwarf admitted.

"He gave us the key to your room and asked us to steal from you, milord," Kitel revealed.

My jaws dropped at these revelations. "Did you ever try to refuse him?" I asked.

"Yes, we have. But Sene threatened to kick us out and report our previous thefts to the Church. We have no choice but to do as we're told," Kitel said.

"Sene asked you to steal from me?" I asked for confirmation. I couldn't understand why.

"Yes," Kopene nodded. "He was very angry at the idea of having your servant spending the night with you in your guest room. Pardon me for saying this milord, but Sene suspected that you were into bestiality and it really made him angry."

"Wait a minute!" I protested. "We don't have that kind of a relationship. Kalistra is my servant and nothing more!"

"Yes, we saw that when we entered your room and saw that you were sleeping alone on your bed," Kitel nodded and blushed at the admission. His victims were usually gone from the village by the time they realized that their money was missing. For the crime of stealing from a nobleman, Kitel should have been executed on the spot. Perhaps, the young lad could talk his way out of this fate?

"What happens to the money you steal?" the cat girl asked.

"The two of us split equally, after Sene gets his cut," Kopene replied.

"What's Sene's cut?" she pressed.

"80%," Kitel answered.

"Wait!" I held up my hand. "You mean to tell me that you boys take all the risk in stealing and getting caught, and your individual take is only 10% each?" I was stunned by how greedy that tavern master was; then my shock turned into anger at the fact that I had encountered a real life Oliver Twist situation. My sense of morality compelled me to help these boys.

"Yes, milord," the human boy confirmed, oblivious to my growing concerns for his personal well-being.

Once a hunch, I triggered my Spirit Sense to study their auras; I confirmed that neither was red. I turned toward Kalistra. "These two boys are victims of Sene. We cannot leave them here," I said.

"What! Don't tell me you want to take them with you! They tried to steal from you!" she argued.

I shook my head. "I don't plan to take them back to Tregome. I would like to find another place for them to live. They can't remain here in this village," I explained. "Sooner or later, these boys will get caught stealing and face severe punishment."

"Milord, you don't have to do this for us. We'll just run away from here," Kopene offered.

"You can travel with the two of us until we reach the next village. Now swear upon the stone that you will not try to steal from me again," I demanded.

"Yes, milord. I swear upon the stone that I will not steal from you," Kitel swore.

Kopene quickly repeated the oath.

Kalistra started untying the two and helped them return to their feet. But due to the fact that their limbs were bound so tightly, it took a while for strength to return to their legs.

"We need to leave through the window. You don't want to alert Sene. He may make false accusations against you in order to prevent you from leaving with this workers," Kalistra warned.

I nodded in agreement with her plan. If the dwarf was angry enough to order his nephew to enter my room and steal my purse, then there was no limit to what he would do to thwart me. I climbed the desk, removed the curtains, and tied them to the leg of the bed.

The cat girl pushed the window panels outward.

When I tried to give her the end of the makeshift rope, she hissed at me.

"Stupid human," the cat girl muttered under her breath. Why would she need a rope to climb down? Kalistra grabbed both of our backpacks and tossed them out the window. Puff! She turned toward her new travel companions and said, "You two will climb down the rope, and then my master will follow you. Understood?"

Kitel and Kopene nodded.

The cat girl pushed aside the desk and leaped onto the ledge of the window. She jumped and disappeared from view.

The three of us immediately stuck our heads out the window and looked down.

To my relief, she landed on all four paws and stood up. "Hurry," she hissed.

I threw down the curtain rope and waited for my new charges to climb down.

Kitel went first and then Kopene followed.

I waited for the boys to land safely on the ground before I started to climb down. I wasn't certain that the curtain would be strong enough to hold all three of us. As I climbed halfway down, I hear a "snap" sound! Suddenly, the rope dropped and I found myself in freefall!

"I got you!" a familiar voice said as something caught me before I hit the ground.

When I was lowered, feet first, to the ground, I already knew who rescued me. "Thank you, Kalistra," I said and bowed deeply.

The two boys stared at the cat girl. They couldn't believe how strong and fast she was! Neither boy was able to react in time to even offer his own body to cushion my fall! The two also recognized that it was she who caught them and incapacitated them during the break-in into the nobleman's guest room last night. She was probably his bodyguard.

"I told Sene that Kalistra had saved my life many times. I hope you believe me now," I remarked and winked at the two boys. "Now, we need to leave the village before Sene finds out."

"Before I find out what?" an unexpected voice challenged me.

With dread, I turned to face Sene. DAMN! I knew that we were making too much noise, especially with the way that Kalistra had dumped our backpacks out the window. Sure enough, the dwarf came out of the tavern to investigate. I took a quick peek at the cat girl, but her eyes were focused on the newcomer. I had a suspicion that the evil minx wanted to lure Sene out and punish him in some way. After all, the dwarf had committed the kind of despicable act that offended her sense of Honor.

"What do you plan to do with my nephew and my worker?" the tavern master demanded to know. He was holding a double-ax in his hands.

"I'm going to take them away from here," I replied boldly.

"No, you're not!" Sene growled as his grip on his ax handle tightened.

"These two were caught entering my room last night. They confessed to trying to steal my purse. At your direction," I said calmly.

"You also gave them the key to our guest room," Kalistra added.

The dwarf bellowed in laughter. "You're going to believe the words of thieves?"

I reached into my tunic and pulled out my truth stone.

Sene's eyes widened in surprise.

"Kitel and Kopene swore to my truth stone and gave sworn testimony against you. In the eyes of the gods of Law and Order, the facts that these boys are still alive and breathing are sufficient proof of your involvement," I replied. I heard muttering and finally noticed the gathering crowd of villagers despite the early hour in the morning.

"These are strong accusations, Your Eminence," village elder Torth said as he gently pushed his way to the front of the onlookers.

"It is the truth, elder," I replied. I held up my right hand to silence the gathering. "By my authority as a judge and an official in the Church of Britannia, I hereby render my judgment. I shall take Kitel and Kopene with me, and they will serve me in any capacity I choose until I am satisfied that they have served their penances in the eyes of the gods of Law and Order. I also declare that no member of the village will replace Kitel and Kopene to work at The Golden Goose. You all stand witness to my judgment." I put my truth stone back under my tunic.

"What! How will I run my business without my boys?" Sene complained. His eyes were murderous but there were too many witnesses for the dwarf to take action against me. Perhaps, he could call in some old favors . . .

"If these two were executed for theft, as I had the right to demand as their punishment, then you would be in the same situation anyway," I responded, "without replacements for them. You may seek their replacements amongst the travelers, merchants, guards, and other visitors to Burnhamm Village, but not from the villagers here." I turned toward the crowd. "I do not hold a grudge against the rest of you. The ill-conceived actions of one person do not reflect on the goodness of the people of Burnhamm. May the gods of Law and Order continue to watch over you."

With that, I turned and started walking along the eastbound road leading out of the village. The two boys walked behind me and followed by Kalistra. As if the heavens agreed with my judgment, sunlight shone on our backs and enveloped our disappearing figures in a white glow.