They hadn’t even crossed the Great Bridge before they had to pay their first bribe. It was also the moment Raef learned of a new phrase— “handing it.” When Knights stopped a Merchant or other guild wagon, they would inspect the goods and take a handful.

Whatever it was, the amount that could be grabbed with one hand was the property of the Knight.

Of course, a handful of coppers was one thing, a handful of guilders was something else entirely, and when the Knight that stopped them saw the money in the chest he practically tripped trying to get his hand into it so fast.

After that first hand, Tillson gave Raef an overview of bribery. It happened all the time. There were certain unspoken rules, one of the most important being that you only took one handful. Greedy Knights were labeled “two handers,” and they somehow found themselves re-assigned or demoted. The unspoken rules presumably having real consequences.

The situation was so ingrained that Knights with large hands were teased about being perfect for guarding the thoroughfares where expensive goods were transported. At that Raef laughed. “So the worst thing a Merchant can face is a two hander with large hands!”

Tillson nodded, “Yet it is the guildmaster Thief who trails the Founders Day parade.” The reminder of the filth and abuse his friend Ralan was subjected to made Raef somber. They were Thieves, yes, but they weren’t two handers.

Practically every Knight on their route to the Merchant Tower must have eyed them as a mark, as they were stopped and inspected by everyone, with each knight dipping his hand into the chest.

After yet another stop, Raef muttered, “This is ridiculous. We will have nothing left by the time we get to Merchant Tower.”

Tillson replied in a whisper. “It is how we had hoped it would go. They are leaving us alone and focused on the chest. The guilders are the price of our mission. It is money well spent.”

Raef felt embarrassed. He was no good at anything other than doing what Ralan told him to do and looking through dusty books. Of course, Tillson was right. The money didn’t matter as much as him getting the books, and they were closing in on doing just that.

At the next stop, Raef ignored the chest and focused on the Knight. He was large and ominous, with a thin mouth and a cruel looking his eyes. He was exactly the kind of Knight that would ruin their mission by asking difficult questions or demanding they justify their trip with names of superiors. Yet, the Knight reached out his hand like all the others.

Is this what we’ve come to? Raef thought. Our defenders ignore threats in the name of taking their handful. In some ways, Raef had hoped that the Knights would confront he and Tillson, but as they rolled up to Merchant Tower, none had.

This was the part that Raef feared the most. With the assassination threats on Larsen, he expected that getting into Merchant Tower would be nigh impossible. He also wasn’t sure if the Merchant Guild guards were open to bribery. Raef whispered to Tillson, “Will they take a handful?”

Shaking his head, Tillson replied, “Best to assume not, but I don’t know. I don’t get to the Tower.”

Tillson lifted the chest off the wagon and placed it on a small hand-pulled cart that had been stored in the front of the horse-driven wagon. The two of them walked right to the gate. A guard immediately came out to meet them.

“Who are you, and what is this?” The man addressed Raef and nodded toward the cart.

“This was collected from the Harvest Guild members in the Wretched Quarter, and we are to return it to the guild stores.” Raef smiled as he nodded at the chest. “They won’t need it anymore.”

The guard walked over to Tillson. “Open it up.” Here comes the handful, Raef thought as Tillson opened the chest. Yet the guard surprised him and turned back to Raef. “I have heard nothing of this. Who do you report to?”

Raef had a story ready. “I don’t know. It was one of the guards on the bridge. He noticed a Harvest Guild member passing money to a friend, and he told me to go in and collect it from them to return it to the guild. I was just dragging people to the bridge to help. I handle a shop in the Flats and was told to shut down and prepare for this a few days ago.”

The guard nodded but added, “And they just gave it to you?” He sounded suspicious.

Raef shrugged. “They appeared to be in shock. They had just left their homes, so I guess being asked to hand back their money made sense.”

“I’ll take this in. You two can return to… whatever it is you’re doing.” The guard reached for the cart handle.

Tillson glanced at Raef, unclear what to do. Raef held up his hand. “We will need the cart. Can we walk with you while you take the chest in and then perhaps get a bit to eat before returning?”

The guard seemed hesitant, but as he glanced at the pile of money in the chest, he finally nodded. “You did a good job. Bring the money in to our store room to the right of the entrance. The kitchens are back there. You can leave the cart outside the store room and then pick it up on your way out.”

Practically dancing as they walked the cart into the Tower, Raef could not believe how well things were going. All he and Tillson had to do was grab the books in Pietro’s room and then get out.

Raef had expected that the guard was stealing the money, but he actually did store it in a locked room away from the entrance. They left the cart out front, and said goodbye, heading to the kitchens.

The stairway to Pietro’s room was on the way to the kitchens so everything was even better than he had hoped. With the guard gone, they quickly found the door Ralan had described and made their way down the steps. It led to an abandoned hall that was dusty yet tidy. There were blood stains near the bottom of the staircase.

At the end of the hallway was an open door with an upended stool and more bloodstains next to it. Raef walked into the room with more excitement than he had every experienced in his life. Finally, the history of the Thieves Guild!

The room had been ransacked, with books tossed onto the floor and everything in disarray. But it appeared that none of the books were stolen. They were just tossed aside as worthless, more of interest for what they may have hidden behind on the bookshelf.

Raef opened one at random. It was a ledger of supplies from years earlier. Line after line of entries outlining clothes, supplies, and food. Raef wasn’t sure what it meant, but he knew it was important. A thick book covered in dust was titled Magic Guild Iconography. Magic Guild? Raef thought. These should be about the Thieves Guild.

“Sir, we need to hurry. These are a lot of books, and it will require many trips to the wagon to gather them all.”

Nodding, Raef grabbed a handful of books and marched them up to the cart. After six trips, the cart was full enough that they needed to empty it into the wagon and then return for more books.

Trouble hit the moment the exited the Guild. A different guard came over and asked them what they were up to.

Raef replied immediately. “These were gathering dust, and Deputy Guildmaster Karch told us to take them to the library in the Upper Triangle. I believe he has other uses for the storage space.”

At the mention of both Karch and the word “books,” the guard lost all interest and replied, “Well, hurry up. This entrance is secure, and we can’t have you leaving and entering all afternoon.”

“Only two more trips!” Raef replied, but the guard had already turned his back on them.

The process had gone surprisingly well until they passed through the gate for the last time. The last pile of books was on the cart, and Pietro’s quarters was empty. All they had to do was get to the wagon and depart. Raef wasn’t even worried about the one handers on the return trip—no one in Ness other than him cared about books.

They had just passed through the gate when a hand gripped Raef roughly on the arm. “What do you think you are doing?” Raef spun around. It was the guard that they had first met when they arrived at the tower.

Not missing a beat, Raef smoothly replied, “We were eating in the Kitchen when Deputy Karch came down and asked who had the cart. When I replied, he assigned me to clear out these books from the basement. I guess he needs to use the storage for something else.”

“Who are you? You can’t be thieves with the money you left. What is your interest in these books?” The guard reached down and picked one up.

“I told you, it is a job from Deputy Karch.”

“Deputy Karch left the tower earlier today.” The guard’s voice was ominous. “I will ask you one last time. What are you doing with these—”

The guard’s voice was muffled as Tillson covered his mouth with his hand. Raef was expecting the guard to violently fight back until he fell in a heap at his feet. Tillson wiped a dagger on his blue cloak and sheathed it.

“Hurry,” was the only word he spoke. We were lucky in that the guard was between the cart and our wagon and was mostly hidden from view. I quickly loaded the last of the books on the wagon, while Tillson took the tarp that had covered the chest and draped it over the body of the guard.

He leapt into the wagon’s seat, and I followed behind him. I looked down, and the cart looked like nothing more than if someone was in the midst of loading or unloading it and casually tossed the tarp aside.

As Tillson cracked the whip and the horses moved forward, Raef asked him, “How much time do we have?”

“Not enough.”

Raef looked back at the tower. The activity around it was brisk, but everyone seemed occupied. The clearing of the Lower Quarter had everyone on edge, and it was possible no one would notice the abandoned cart and the body next to it for a long time.

The books rattled in the back of the wagon as they went over the cobblestones, and Raef looked back at his precious cargo. They were secure, and he breathed easier. It would take him a long time to examine them all, but when he finished he was certain of one thing: The history of Ness would have no more secrets.