A Thief in the Tavern of Lost Souls

Tholimos sat outside, under cover of night and in the darkness cast by a large warehouse in the street above the docks, the tavern no less than a hundred yards from his feet. Quiet in his deathlike stillness, afraid to be seen; knowing if he was discovered there would be no excuses. It was already past the middle hour of the night and the last of the town’s revellers were just about gone home, or into the gutter. Only a few people were still out, but still enough to raise alarm if he was spotted. From his hiding place Captain Chimera, Lord of the Seven Seas, would have to sneak, creep and steal across the interminable space between himself and the Tavern of Lost Voyagers, where the Spiral Nubis was to be found, the very thing he was here for. It had been exactly one week since he had begun his tuition at the temple, learning from The First One about the Nubis. Now had come the time to further that education, the time to put to use all he had learned, but he needed the Nubis. He needed to steal it. There was no other choice, for The First One had said, “You are to tell no-one of them until you sail.” Tholimos remembered that first day of learning…

* * *

Looking out over the railing I see nothing. No light, no land, no sea! Only darkness lurks here. What happened between the light and life we had scarcely moments ago, and the dark death that awaits? What possible explanation could bring us into this sentence? There is no hope; there is only silence and night. Now that my sight has left, I glimpse solitary memories on their course through my mind. Wait, something hangs there in the gloom! From memory, from Portside, in my mental squint I see an eye. The Eye of Samara Jade! Of Course! The Eye could help, The Eye could…

After a broken night, filled with incomprehensible dreams, Tholimos awoke with a sweat, half-sitting, and a body fractured with pain. The day after arriving home, he was not yet free from his nightmares, or his pain! He prepared for his first day of ‘learning’, although he had eaten and washed before realizing that he wasn’t sure what to prepare for, or how. He knew very little about what to expect and what he would be doing, since all he had been told was to be present each day. Knowing better than to be late for a meeting with The First One; he clothed himself in his training garb and strolled outside. His destination the bottom of the hill, he decided instead to walk rather than ride this particular morning. Reaching the temple just before the sun eased its way over the sea, he knocked, quietly; half-hoping there would be no answer and was more than a little disappointment to hear the familiar voice speak for him to enter.

He had spent the whole of that day, and the following week, diligently learning all that he could be taught about the Nubis and its uses. There was much to study; so much it was capable of, things he would never have dreamed! But that had all been just the theory, and he knew the time would eventually come when the need to test these things, and his ability, would arise. Then one day it did. After another entire day of study and tuition, The First One spoke up. He said, “Tomorrow you need not come for learning, but rest. Rest until nightfall, for then must you make your way to the home of the Nubis for this reason: To capture it away and bring it forthwith back to this place. Next week begin your studies anew!”

* * *

That brought his mind back to the situation at hand; the task of acquiring the Nubis still lay ahead. Looking out from his place of concealment, Tholimos could see right down the street to the inn that looked so far away now. It was a straight run in broad daylight, but stealth was called for now. He would need to make use of what he could to keep to the shadows and remain undetected, so he took in his surroundings. Along his side of the street were only factories and more warehouses. There was also a guard patrolling in a side alley that bordered an important factory further down. Directly across the road from him, however, was a fenced garden, followed by houses and another fenced empty plot. That would be his path!

Without warning, as soon as it was clear, he made for the garden. Quicker than a shadow he was across the space and safely behind the fence, almost too easy. Moving to the corner of the yard, he made another check of the street and overlooking houses before flying down the side of the neighboring house to some barrels standing against a nook in the wall further on. Mistake number one. He crashed into the barrels, leaving the sound of silence in fragments. His noise brought a dog barking and his heart to his throat. Moments before he gave up and bolted, he noticed first that the barking originated from the garden he had just left, and then that no one was taking any notice. Must all have been either sleeping or in their own drunken stupor! Waiting, then, for the dog to grow tired and grumble off to bed, he watched the security’s movements across the road. The guard had come to the street-end of his alley, from where he had been pleasantly enjoying a smoke with a fellow. Must have been the barking, he was bound to return presently. Sure enough, after the dog left, so did the guard, leaving Captain Tholimos to move on.

He checked once more to make sure the guard was happy and out of the way before he would make his last real dash across open space. He had barely left this last hiding place before hearing voices in the road ahead, and they were coming his way! To go back was too far, to go forward was the only way, although he wasn’t sure if he could make it. He ran. He ran without care for noise or stealth, only speed. Meters dissipated before his feet, and still he ran. The voices got closer with every second and he could have sworn they were running too! Still he ran. Eventually he could see the shapes in the night mist, an outline of two men, still he ran. The empty plot, which was his destination, was only a few strides away. He could hear their footsteps now, and that they were somewhat drunk, probably on their way home or to the next tavern. He had to make the fence without detection! He was seconds away from being seen, they were almost upon him, when he dived for the fence. His dive launched him reliably between the two crossbeams of the fence to land safely on the shadowy grass behind. He swung around to catch if he had been noticed, but it seemed that the drink had got the better of them. They were not in the most perceptive state. Mistake number two, thankfully he hadn’t been spotted.

He had to be more careful now, the tavern lay across the open space before him and once he was inside there could be no more mishaps. The space would be deathly quiet and any sound would carry like a trumpet call. He made his way across the plot, keeping behind shrubs and bushes to stay in the shadows. There was a tree against the tavern wall, which he stopped under. The window to the left was closed and barred, no way in there. The only other way to gain access was on the top floor. The window up there would undoubtedly be open, although the shutters might be closed, something he would have to deal with when he got there. The thief made his way up the tree, sailing having given him the perfect training for climbing. Reaching the top, he looked across to the open window. Sure enough, the shutters were barred. There was a space between the tree and window that was navigable only via a thin ledge, running along the edge of the building, requiring the finest balance. He crossed to the ledge and started off along it.

After reaching the window and lifting the barred shutters from the outside, Tholimos found himself safely inside. In front of him now was the passageway between the rooms for visitors, before the steps at the other end. He knew that, going down those steps, he would find the main tavern commons below; the Nubis was there. So far he had come, with so far left to go. The Captain wished to be done, he longed for his own home and bed rather than being here in the stinky hallway. Nonetheless, he knew what needed doing and started off down the passage as silently as possible to complete the task. Before he was halfway to the stairs, the door at the end opened, and light flooded the hall! Dropping against the wall, he watched as the innkeeper came out and made his way down the stairs. He hadn’t looked Tholimos’ way; otherwise he would have been surely seen. There was no way he could wait here, there was no doubt he would be spotted when the man came back! The only choice was to follow him. Tholimos crept along the wall as the shadow fled down the stairs. When he reached the top and peered over, he just caught sight of the door to the kitchen shut behind the innkeeper’s rather round body. There was no alternative; he had to make the bottom of the stairs and hide before the little man returned from whatever he was doing. As he ran down the flight of stairs, he could hear water being poured into a mug, accompanied by some unhappy grumbling. The footsteps had just started towards him again before he slipped into the shadows of the common room, out of sight. As he watched the man disappear again up the stairs, Tholimos’ gaze was caught by the Nubis. It shone; a faint blue glow in the dark. He remembered what The First One had said about it being asleep, and he wondered what it was like when awakened, and how he could get a glowing spiral out of this place. He was soon to find out. That was his next step.

He pulled from his pocket the key he had been supplied by The First One for awakening the Nubis. It was the same blue as that which it was meant to unlock and, now that he saw it in darkness, glowed too. It was not, however, shaped like an ordinary key. It resembled a finger-size spiral rod with some pieces cut out near the end. Next he did what he had been instructed to do; he started to climb the Nubis. He needed to reach the top, right by the ceiling of the room, to insert the key. When he got as high as he could, he searched and found the ‘keyhole’. Inserting the key in a spiraling motion, he made sure it went all the way in. That was it; now he waited. Nothing happened. Tholimos was about to try again or climb down when suddenly he was enveloped in blue light. It was all around him, all he could see. The firm surface of the Nubis melted from his feet and he felt himself floating to the floor in the same way he had seen countless feathers do before. He was swirled as the light danced around him. The Nubis was there no more, only the blue light around him. It was lowering him to the floor, and as it did so, it gathered around him. As his feet touched the floor, the light started to dwindle. With the last rays of it gone, Tholimos looked for the awaken Nubis, but could find it nowhere. He spun around to find it, looking for anything glowing blue. Nothing. Then he became aware that something was on his forearm, something not there before. When he looked, he saw an armored brace, a blue one. The Nubis had awoken. Why had The First One not told him this would happen? He would have to find out later, now was time to get out.

Going up the stairs again would be too risky; he had to find another way. Now that he was inside, the window downstairs was easily opened. He made quick work of this and slipped outside, back under the tree. Making a quick check for both late merrymakers and guards, he disappeared into the night. The following morning, earlier than the sun, before the change of the night watch, he was at the temple door again. He knocked and swung it open. Stepping inside, he was greeted by The First Ones words, “Ahh, you have it!”