struck the ground and rolled, but was instantly grabbed again and shoved into the single wooden chair that was bolted to the flagstones. A heavy hand forced him back into the uncomfortable seat while others grabbed at his hands and feet, securing them to iron clasps, holding him immobile. One guard left the cell, while the other stationed himself behind Lucius, out of view but his presence menacingly obvious.
Taking a breath to compose himself, Lucius began to take in his surroundings, inspecting the clasps holding him to his chair, the thickness of the cell door, the space he might have to manoeuvre, should he break free and be forced to fight. His calculations were interrupted by the cell door opening again and another guard entered, followed by Commander Ernst von Minterheim.
'I have little time and less patience,' he announced casually, almost seeming bored by this duty. 'We already have much of the information we require, and your fellow thieves caught this evening have been most co-operative. I merely require you to confirm some of what they have told us. If your tales support one another, you can all go free come morning. Lie to me, and you will all hang.'
Lucius looked up at him with a rueful expression. 'I will not co-operate.'
The commander gave a nod, and Lucius felt strong hands press down on his shoulders from behind. The guard who had entered the cell with the Commander stepped up and backhanded him with a mailed fist.
His head whipping round with the blow, Lucius gasped with the sudden pain, and he worked his jaw to ensure it was not broken. He glanced back at the Commander, this time with a baleful expression.
'That was just the start of what could be a very long evening for you,' von Minterheim said. 'Now, what is your name?'
Lucius stared back, saying nothing. Another mailed swipe set his teeth ringing.
'How long have you been with the Hands?'
This time Lucius' silence was met with a blow straight to his face. He felt something in his nose crack under the fist, and his eyes watered.
'Who are the current members of your Council?'
Lucius did not see the next strike coming, and he jerked against the clasps of the chair as the side of his head exploded in pain, causing the whole world to reel, then spin. A hand grasped him under the chin to hold his head upright before another backhanded blow blasted across his face. Hanging his head low, Lucius spat blood down his chest.
'I don't have time for another tight-lipped thief,' he heard von Minterheim say, as if from a great distance. 'Carry on with him. Let me know if he decides to loosen his tongue.'
As light slowly flooded back into Lucius' world, he felt pain. His face felt like it had swollen to twice its normal size and, as he roused himself awake, the movement sent sharp bolts that lanced through his stomach and chest. Duller was the ache from his wrists and ankles, where they had been bruised from the clasps of the chair. Opening his eyes a fraction, he saw that his limbs were bound once again by chained manacles, and he guessed he was back in his cell.
Low voices made him aware he was not alone and, glancing at his cell mates, he saw he was somewhere else entirely. This cell was much larger, and held more than a dozen other thieves, all bound by hand and foot to the walls and floor as was he. Luber was to his right, and the man looked a wreck, with blackened, puffed up eyes and a dried slick of blood running down his chin. Guessing he looked no better himself, Lucius glanced round the other captives, tuning in to their low, hushed conversations.
'It'll be suicide,' said one in a hiss.
'Better that than hang,' answered another, a thin, reedy man about the same age as Lucius. 'I heard von Minterheim say it himself; anyone not making a deal with them is strung up in the courtyard this morning.'
'So, which of us made a deal?' a woman's voice asked, her tone one of guarded suspicion.
'Not me,' said the thin man, who Lucius now recognised as a counterfeiter called Aeron. 'Can't imagine anyone would.'
'Oh, come on. There's, what, fourteen, fifteen…' she said, counting the bodies surrounding her. 'Sixteen thieves here. You certain
'Not really a problem for us right now,' Lucius heard himself mumble.
'Hey, Lucius is awake,' the original voice said. 'What was that you said?'
Lucius worked his mouth for a few seconds, trying to find some moisture while ignoring the pain of moving his lips.
'Whether one or more of us answered any of the guard's questions is rather academic,' he said. 'It does us no good or harm while we are locked up here — and if we hang this morning, it won't matter to us either way.'
A mumble of agreement spread round the cell. Aeron spoke up again.
'There are some who think an escape attempt is pointless, that we'll just be caught and killed that much quicker.'
Seeing one man lower his head to avoid Aeron's pointed stare, Lucius tried to give a confident smile, but his lips only partially co-operated. 'Would anyone here rather they met their end at the end of a noose than while fighting for their lives?'
He was met with silence.
'Thought not.'
'So, it just remains for us to get ourselves free,' said the woman. Lucius gave her a quick look but while he thought he had seen her in the guildhouse from time to time, he could not remember her name. As battered and bruised as the rest of them, he was impressed that her eyes still shone with the light of defiance.
Rattling her chains, the woman nodded to her manacles. 'Anyone manage to get themselves free of these?'
Inwardly, Lucius sighed. He was not ready to unleash his magic with all the thieves as witnesses, however simple it might be for him. Even with the Hands under assault from both the Vos guard and the Guild, it was too dangerous. Looking around the cell for an answer, he was conscious of Luber moaning next to him, and was surprised to realise that the man was chuckling. Others watched the man as he gave a bloodied grin then produced a small hooked bar of metal from his swollen lips. A lockpick.
'Nice going, Luber,' the woman said. 'But how are you going to reach your chains?'
'Well, Natalia,' he said. 'There's a little trick I learned growing up in Vosburg. You might want to look away…'
Lucius saw her sneer at that, then followed her gaze as her eyes widened in shock. Next to him, Luber's face had turned into a grimace as he strained his right hand against the manacles that clasped his wrist. He watched as the man flattened his fingers, then brought his thumb down into his palm, before he pulled, shuddering with the effort.
The thieves winced collectively as a dull, wet snap reached their ears, and Luber grunted from the pain. Incredulously, Lucius stared as Luber simply drew his hand back through the manacles. Gingerly, he took the lockpick from his mouth and began prodding at the restraint around his left hand.
Waiting with baited breath, the thieves watched as Luber, with obvious pain and difficulty, probed the locking mechanism of the manacles, the action made harder tenfold with the broken joint of his thumb. He twisted the pick, and they all strained to hear the click of the mechanism unlocking, but instead heard Luber grunt again in pain as his hand spasmed slightly, and the pick fell from the lock, dangling only by a fraction of an inch of its hooked end. Lucius saw the woman jerk against her chains involuntarily, perhaps thinking she could catch the pick from across the cell, but Luber's reactions were up to the task. Giving a pained but wry smile at his audience, he scooped the pick up, and re-seated it back in the lock.
'God's teeth, Luber,' someone muttered. 'Could do this quicker myself.'
'And could you break your own wrist first?' the woman asked caustically, only to be met with silence.
Moving slower and more deliberately this time, Luber continued his probing, then gave another grunt.
'Got it,' he whispered, and hushed words of encouragement swept around the cell as they all heard a tiny click. With a shrugging motion, Luber discarded the open manacles and set to work on those chaining his feet.
Eyes began to flicker towards the cell door, as the thieves collectively prayed that the guard would not return before Luber's work was done, but luck remained on their side. He quickly disposed of the restraints tying his feet and then, shakily, stood, grinning in his new found freedom. A quiet cough brought him back to the job in hand, and
