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As John and Gavin slept, a rock with a note wrapped round it sailed through the open window, waking both of them. John rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and stretched his neck.
“What’s this then?” He said.
“A letter, looks like.” Gavin said.
“Yes, of course, your brains are why you’re the leader of our little gang.” He slid his finger along the seal. “You expecting anything from anybody?”
“No, not that I know of,” Gavin said. “Red, maybe? Needing us to save him from his wife?”
John read in silence for a moment.
“Oh,” he said. “It’s from Lynne.”
“Lynne?”
“Aye, while you were cavorting around with your girlfriend at the Laird’s manor, I was doing the same, but with a serving girl. A man must keep to his station,” he said with a profoundly ridiculous Londoner’s accent.
“Good for you,” Gavin said. “Is there a reason you’re telling me about your love note, or is it just to brag?”
“Oh, piss off, you old grouch,” John laughed. “You’ll be with yours soon enough. But no, she’s only part time at Macdonald’s lair of self-loathing Scotsmen playing at being English. She also works down town at a club. It’s modeled after the salon springing up all over the place.”
“Ach, right, I’ve heard of that. Where rich old men sit around, swill brandy and talk about politics, Voltaire and how to best maintain their levels of wealth, aye?”
“Not far off. But this one is more of an investment club. Less philosophy and more trying to leverage banks and so on, which she explained but I cared not to understand lest I take my attention away from her luscious...”
“Right, so, what is it the letter says and why am I still awake in the middle of the knight? A rogue needs his beauty sleep.”
“Lips.”
“What?”
“I was going to say lips. She’s got these gorgeous ruby lips that are big and full and plump. Even when she was wearing servant’s livery, she was a sight.”
“I’m sure she is. Very nicely done, John.” Gavin heaved a sigh. “What of this salon?”
“Well, she goes on at the beginning about my dashing good looks at some length, and then when she gets to the part about the salon, I lost interest. Let me see what it says. Ah, yes very good. Uh-huh. Right. Very informative!”
“I’m going back to sleep. Wake me up if you decide to stop being a pud’s tip.”
“Wait, wait!” John said. “It would seem as though my dear Lynne has invited us for a party.”
“Not in the mood. Had enough of parties.”
“It’s a different sort. The kind that rabble like us is never invited to attend.”
“Only to rob? Why should we steal from them? Just being rich and blowing a lot of hot air about banking strategies isn’t cause.”
“No, but this is.” John handed the note to Gavin. “Read it. Start after the part about my stunning charms.”
“John,” Gavin said. “I think we have a problem.”
“Do we?”
“Aye, the part about your charms is only a line long and says you’ve got less than a worm.”
“What?” John shouted, reaching playfully for the note.
“Alright, let me see here, alright. She talks about the salon, then drops a note about how warm your lips are – very nice – goes on at length about how obnoxious her matron is, and then makes a crude remark about your cock and how debauched you make her feel. Tisk tisk, John, you need to treat a lady with more respect. Then we get to...oh, goodness.”
“I guess you’ve got to the part about the land grabbing scheme?”
“Is such a thing even possible? Working with the Crown and our good friend Ramsay Macdonald to start parceling out land all the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow? No one lives between the cities except...”
“Aye, the poor, and the farmers. Exactly who we aim to protect.”
“But this isn’t set in stone, it’s just a plan. A plan that may go nowhere farther than I can throw you.” Gavin said, wiping his hand across his lips.
“Keep going.”
“Right, here’s some moral justification about the depravity of the poor and...fuck me, but is this a proposal to buy half of Edinburgh from the crown and raze it?”
“Seems to be, and watch your language you gutter rat.” John laughed. “If this goes through, Macdonald will find himself in charge of a Crown Committee built from the ground up to remake Edinburgh in whatever fashion he – and the rest of the nobles – sees fit.”
“But what’s a little theft going to do? This is so vast...if such a conspiracy ever formed, do you have any idea how impossible it’d be to stop?”
“Oh quite impossible, I’m sure. That’s why we have to do what little is in our power to stop it before it gets going. We steal from these people enough to drive them out of the city, to drive them apart, what’s to say they’d bother getting back together?”
“I’ve got to do something to keep my mind off Kenna, anyway. She’s all I can think about.”
“I know,” John said. “We’ll get her back one way or another. I know how much she means to you.”
“You’re a good friend, John,” Gavin said. “The best I’ve got.”
“No. Well, yes I am, but I have to admit, the other reason I’m so certain we’ll get her back is that I’m not sure I can live with you otherwise. Come on,” he said as he stood. “We’ve got work to do.”
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The two of them walked along the sleepy, pre-dawn streets of Edinburgh, not bothering to stick to the shadows. All was dead in the city, and a misty gloom hung over the place like a graveyard after a rainstorm, with a thick smell that stuck to the inside of Gavin’s mouth. For the first ten minutes of their stroll, neither man spoke a word, instead preferring to be lost in their own thoughts.
“Gavin, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“Eh?”
“Well I’ve been thinking about your wee lass there, and a few things just don’t add up in my mind.”
Gavin remained silent.
“I just don’t understand how you can pine for a girl you’ve never met.”
“I’ve met her. I just haven’t talked with her very much.”
“Or at all, Gavin. Listen to yourself. You’re completely sensible in every other part of your life, why not this? You spent longer questioning me over this job than you took to give your heart to this girl.”
“Don’t know,” Gavin said.
His eyes never left the stones that clicked by under his heels.
“I just don’t know. Nothing has ever been like this for me. I’ve known that she was the one for me since I saw her as a wee boy. Seeing her last night just me realize how right I’d been. When I saw her hair, it took my breath away, and when I tasted her lips, I almost fell over. And then, when I put my hands on her back, it was like...it took my breath away. Did I already say that?”
John smiled under his hood. “Maybe once or twice.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t do that. You’ve been living for everyone around you for the past two years, and that’s just the time I’ve known you. And anyway, you’re rushing ahead. You’ve always been the cautious one of us.”
A moment passed in silence and then Gavin said: “why are we here?”
“Do some robbing? Do some good?”
“No, I mean how do we know we aren’t walking straight into a trap?”
“Lynne, I trust her.” John said.
“Aye, but why do you? You met her only the once.”
“You’re one to tell me about being careful of women we’ve met once?”
Gavin chewed his lip.
“I think we’ve arrived,” Gavin said.
He looked up at the apartment that stood three stories above Queen’s Street, about halfway between the old castle at the center of Edinburgh, and the government buildings at the other end.
“We’ve been busy on this street lately, aye?” He said.
“Can’t ever tell where you’ll get a job. What are you doing?” John put his hand on Gavin’s shoulder as the bigger man tensed up and addressed the door. “Are you a bull? We’re burglars, leave off the shoulder ramming.”
“Sorry, I just...”
“Your mind’s somewhere else, I know. Why not let me lead this time. Better that than to go charging headlong into some dark apartment filled with rich old aristocrats.”
“Most likely for the best.”
“Let’s see here, someone drew me a diagram.” John fished the letter Lynne wrote him out of his pouch and held it up. “Looks like there should be a series of ledges on windows leading to...ah hah! There it is. Look. We follow that one, that one and then that one over there, and we’re home free.”
Gavin followed John’s bouncing finger with his eyes, then nodded and began his ascent.
“Gav, you know how I know you didn’t read that letter?”
“Huh?”
“The letter, from Lynne. You know how I know you didn’t read it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The door.”
“What?”
“It’s open, see?” He pushed the door gently, and it swung open. “Lynne’s been good to me. I suppose I was pretty good to her too? Anyway, this is the home of Lord and Lady Somerset, two fine nobles who plan to buy Scotland or steal it. They’re not here at this time of year, but their jewelry is. After you, dear friend, though we’ll still need to be a bit stealthy.”
“If no one’s here, then...?”
“Ah someone is here. Lynne. And she’s sleeping. I’d hate to wake her until I’m good and ready.”
He pushed open the door, grinned, and ushered Gavin inside.
As he said, the house was dark and abandoned, almost completely, except for a few sleeping servants who Gavin supposed were there to make sure people like him didn’t do exactly what he was about to do.
“This is insanity,” he whispered. “What are we doing with ourselves?”
“Shh! We’re stealing three boxes full of jewels and one box full of Crowns and one of bullion that’s all going to be used to rape Scotland even more ragged than she’s already been.”
Walking softly down the hall to one bedroom, checking over it for an inhabitant and then entering, Gavin found a latch and tugged it to open a hidden drawer.
“Why don’t they ever put things in new places? Oy, John – found the box in here, full of pearls. What’s the use of all this stuff?”
“Looks nice,” John said. “Better to have a pretty neck than to feed...what would you say? This box alone would feed Dunne Craig for a year? Two maybe? It’s a small town, but that’s a small bunch of jewelry. What gets me is how one of us might find two or three Pounds on the ground and be able to rent a room for a fortnight or two. One of these people find a Pound, they’d just kick it across the street.”
“Your friend is sure no one is here?” Gavin said.
“Aye, why do you ask? They’ve got a cat, I think, along with the servants. They probably treat the cat better.”
“No reason, I just thought I heard – there it is again.”
A faint jingle came from down the hall and to the right, in the direction of the door.
“John, are you sure your friend is trustworthy? I know what you said before, but you did satisfy her, didn’t you?”
“Me? You’re asking John Two-fingers if he satisfied a woman.” He laughed softly. “I don’t think I’ve ever-”
“Left one wanting more?” A soft, husky voice that belonged to someone much sultrier than either John, or Gavin, could ever hope to be, lilted through the darkness.
“Who – who’s there?” Gavin yanked the dirk from his belt. “John...where are you? I don’t want this blade to find your throat.”
“To your left, three paces.” The sound of metal sliding through leather let Gavin know his friend had his sword in hand.
Though both of them were able fighters, John was a natural with a blade despite his missing fingers. The way he balanced the hilt against his palm had an awkwardness that disarmed opponents while his rapier found its mark every single time. Gavin was practiced, but mechanical when he fenced, but John moved like water.
“Ach, aye, what is this then?” The voice was quite a bit less seductive. “Two overgrown lads fumbling about with knives in the dark? I suppose if you want to test me, I’d oblige.”
“What did you get us into?” Gavin whispered. “Are we about to kill a woman?”
“Kill me? Ach, listen to him! He’s going to kill me when he’s the one with the rope about his ankle. That’s bravery for you.”
“A rope? Wh-” Gavin was cut off when the promised rope tightened around his foot, pinching the skin on his ankle and swept him to the floor. “Ow! What is this? John! What’s going on?”
“That was a fair mite easier than you said it’d be.” The woman’s voice was next to him. When Gavin squinted, he could make out a shapely figure standing in front of him clad in what seemed to be tight-fitting leggings underneath an open-necked tunic.
Suddenly, a frenzy of noise from outside shook the thief to his core.
“John? John! Where are you? Answer me!”
A foot rested on the back of his hand, then twisted until Gavin dropped his dagger. The woman stooped and plucked it off the ground by the blade and tossed it up and caught the handle.
“Nice knife,” she said.
“Who are you? What are you doing? I thought this was-”
“Aye, of course you did. Why would you think otherwise?”
Gavin shook his head in the darkness, not knowing what to do.
From above him, he heard John’s boot heel click.
“I’m sorry Gavin. I’m – I’ll make this right, I promise.”
“Make what right? What are you talking about? John! Answer me!”
“I...I can’t. When I can, I will. Lynne?”
“Right here. We need to get out of here, and quick. Sheriff’ll be by any minute, and I’d rather not be here when he is. The man smells of a cow’s arse.”
“John?” Gavin said with his hands outstretched. “John, what’s happening, where are you?”
“This isn’t easy, Gav. You’re my brother, and I swear I’ll make this right. But for now, this is much easier.”
“No – what?”
Something whistled through the air and cracked Gavin right behind the ear. It was an expert blow that he’d landed a hundred times before.
“Black...jack...” he said as his eyes closed and his mouth fell open.
“Alright. You owe me for this. You owe me more than you could possibly know, woman. I’ll never let you forget it.”
“I wouldn’t want you too,” Lynne said, dragging a finger across John’s cheek and sucking his bottom lip between hers. “I want you to teach me a few lessons about how naughty of a maid I am.”
“Maid? Now’s not the time. Tie him up, and I swear to all that’s holy, if you hurt him, you’ll pay.”
“Oh, I’m sure I will,” she said. She kissed him again, deeper and harder, and pulled away with a suck.
Gavin felt ropes around his wrists.
And then the skin on his hands burned.
His head was heavy. His skin felt heavy, his bones weighed him down, crushed his chest. He couldn’t breathe.
Then he felt just the floor underneath him.
Then, Gavin felt nothing but warm blackness swallowing him up.