Avondale by Toby Neighbors Page B

had never missed a meal. She bet that if she could touch his hands, they would be as soft as a baby’s.
    She wasn’t bitter about her lot in life. She hadn’t had the boy’s comforts or security, but she had lived a lifetime of adventures and that was more than she guessed the boy could say. Besides, she would never be caught dead sleeping while someone came into her room and took whatever they wanted. There were windows in the boy’s room, which faced the main road, not the alley. Starlight and the crescent moon sent silver light trickling in through the thick glass windows, making it easy for Lexi to find the boy’s clothes. She slipped the roll of parchment into the pocket of his trousers and started to leave when she noticed the curved Wangorian dagger, tossed carelessly into the corner of the room. It had no sheath, and the flowing design of the steel, folded dozens of times as it was forged, showed the dagger’s origin and value. She wanted it, and even though taking the prized blade would be risky, she decided the spoiled merchant’s son wouldn’t miss it. She picked up the dagger. The handle was wrapped in thick leather, the pommel and cross piece were simple, yet elegant in design.
    She tucked the blade into a pocket inside her tunic and left the boy’s room, quietly closing the door behind her. She made her way back to the merchant’s bedroom, and waited outside in the hallway as she listened to him snoring. He grunted, sounding more and more like a fat swine, before finally falling back into the rhythmic rumbling snore. Lexi moved into the room and across to the window quickly. The most difficult part of the entire night would be getting the window closed again. She pulled it open and sat on the sill, swinging her legs out into open space above the alley. She turned onto her stomach, searching the wall for cracks big enough to fit her toes into. When she was sure she wouldn’t fall, she raised her body up, searching for a good handhold beside the open window. When her right hand was secure, she reached in with her left and swung the window closed, making sure it didn’t bang against the sill.
    The climb down was nerve wracking and her heart raced. If she was seen scaling down the wall, she would be arrested. She had to force herself to breathe as she climbed down, finally getting both feet on the filthy alley below. She moved cautiously out of the alley, looking both ways along the wide avenue that ran in front of the merchant’s house before hurrying away.
    Once she had gone down two sets of stairs to where the road was narrow and the houses along each side were overbuilt, like a mouth with too many crooked teeth, she finally pulled out the Wangorian dagger. It was a nicer weapon than she had ever owned. The weight of the gently curving blade, which was as long as her narrow hand from palm to fingertips, was perfectly balanced by the hilt which felt perfect in her hand. It was exactly the size she would have chosen for herself, but the imported blade was easily worth a dozen gold crowns. She could fence it for a quarter of that price, but she didn’t think she would. It was the kind of weapon she wanted to hang onto.
    She was halfway back to the tavern to report her success when she was startled by a figure appearing suddenly in the street before her.
    “That’s a nice bit of steel,” said a thin, greasy looking man stepping out of the shadows.
    “Too nice for a little mouse like that,” said another man from behind Lexi.
    She glanced back over her shoulder and saw a fat man lumbering toward her. She didn’t bother to reply. She knew she couldn’t talk her way out of the situation. She realized it had been a mistake to focus her attention on the blade while she was still in the street. She silently berated herself for being so careless.
    “Is that your blade sweetheart?” the first man asked. “I doubt it’s tasted blood.”
    “No one owns a blade until it tastes the blood of his