The Necklace of Zedan

Footsteps cut the silence of the cold, fresh winter air. The snow crunches under the feet of a hapless sentry. His repeated curses and mumbling carry into the chilly night.
Why must we have guard duty on top of a castle where no sane human would even try to climb the sheer-faced wall? Besides, he adds as a point only to himself, it's too damn cold for anyone to even be out. He turns around and retraces his footsteps. That damn crazy wizard is always making us do strange, useless chores. Maybe someday I'll get a transfer and be in the army. That's at least where there’s some action. It's hard to be cold when you're in a fight with an enemy soldier. Yes! That would be nice. He walks in a dreamy daze. Even dying will be a lot better than freezing your ass off, retracing your own steps, and waiting for somebody to appear on top of a castle wall. Just then, the wind picks up. It rips through his armor, clothes, and skin and finally pierces his bones and grabs hold.
Brrrr! he shivers. "Blasted wind, it's chilling me to the bone." he says aloud and turns. "Well," he continues his chatter, "my shifts almost over with. Soon I'll be by the fireplace warming up while some other poor bastard walks out here and freezes. Then I'll have the last laugh. This thought cheers him up for a second. The sentry chuckles under his breath. Suddenly in his path sits a black cat. Seeing only a cat, he sees no need for alarm.
"How did you get up here fella?" he ask as if expecting the cat to answer his question. He begins to approach the cat who is staring at him innocently. It's tail swishes back and forth. Cautiously the sentry picks up the cat. Answering his own question, he follows the cat's footprints. "Aha," he says triumphantly. The prints stop at the ledge. "That's peculiar. Can you fly cat?" Swish, swish, the tail seems to answer. Purrr, purrr. He releases the cat and peers over the edge. Smash! A fist sends him reeling. Blood trickles down from his nose and into his mouth. He can taste his blood.
Standing before him is a figure in black. He's five-eleven, and about 175 pounds. A rapier gleaming in the moonlight is waiting in his hands. The sentry tries to regain his pride rather than yell for help. The figure in black smiles mockingly. Enraged the soldier rises to his feet with a scimitar in his hand.
"You want to play huh?" he asks boldly. "Well, let's have at it. I want to be near the fireplace roasting your cat on a spit." He charges. The scimitar, curved, wicked, comes arcing down at the intruder. Clang.! The scimitar strikes the rapier. With a look of dismay at the parry the sentry rethinks his plan. He thrusts his scimitar. Clang. The rapier parries and comes at him Clang! Parries. The sword fight ensues.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Back and forth, they fight. The sentry realizes his mistake. His heavier weapon is tiring him while his opponent has the lighter weapon by far. With grim determination, he continues his attack. Whoosh! His weapon slices air. Rolling to the side, the intruder thrusts the rapier. It penetrates his armor and pierces his heart. The thief salutes the sentry who he gives his last shudder. "It's been a long time since I encountered somebody good with a blade. It's a shame we met as enemies.
He strips his body quickly and with a heave, rolls it off the wall. Seconds later, it hits the moat with a splash. The thief then quickly changes into the sentry’s clothes.
* * * * *
The second watchman begins trudging his way up the flight of steps. He isn't looking forward to his duty. Already he can feel the chill coming from outside the door at the top of the steps. He is late too. Thinking quickly, he begins to come up with his excuse for his tardiness. Satisfied at what he comes up with, he continues his way and opens the door to the roof.
You're late" the thief replies sourly.
“I know, I know. I uh…," he tries to remember his lie but fails miserably. "I overslept. It won't happen again."
"You don't want me to tell Belghar do you?"
"N-n-no I don't.” His eyes bulge in fright with the mention of the name.
"Well then, let's say that you give me 20 gold and I'll forget that you were even late."
"O-ok," he agrees as he begins to shake, and not due to the cold.
"I'm waiting.," The thief holds out his hand.
"N-n-now?" The sentry looks puzzled.
"Yes now! Hurry up, it's getting cold out here.” The sentry starts fumbling with his pockets. Finally, he brings out some gold.
"I only have 6 gold on me. Can I give you that and pay you the rest when I get paid at the end of the month?"
"Yeah! That's fine," he rolls his eyes. Almost like a hint, there is a slight meow. "What was that?"
"I dunno. The noise came from over there," the sentry points into the shadows.
"Well check it out imbecile. It's your shift now.” Warily he creeps over to the corner of the wall. Unbeknownst to him, the thief is silently following behind. A deadly dagger is in his hand. In the shadows, there is the black cat.
“Oh. It's just a little kitty," he smiles. "Hi kitty." He begins to scratch the cat. Purr-Purr Swish-Swish. Faster than the sentry can react, the thief, brings the dagger across his throat. A quick boot, and the guard's body falls down to join his comrade with another splash. Now having served its purpose, Thadden removes the sentry garb.
"Well Feacon, let's finish what we came here to do. We have five hours until the next sentry shift."
"Purr-Purr," is the cat's only response.
Without making a noise, the thief heads down the steps and into a hallway lit
by torches burning brightly. Looking ahead of the rows and rows of doors, Thadden can see his destination.
"It's nice to have the map of the place that you intend to rob," he says cheerfully. Preparing to react should a door open, Thadden continues forward. He makes it to the door without incident. He presses his ear against the door and listens. It sounds eerily quiet. With a shrug he opens the door and sneaks silently into the room. Thadden enters a world of darkness when he shuts the door behind him. Patiently, he waits until his eyes adjust to the darkness. "It just won't help me if I stumble around in the darkness and make enough noise to have the wizard's entire legion upon me.” Finally, he moves forward to where, the door, his final destination, he turns the knob. It's locked. Naturally, he shrugs. Working a little quicker, he retrieves his lock-picks. Within a matter of seconds, there is a "Click" and the door is unlocked.
"Now entering the room of Belghar Haffen magician extraordinaire," he laughs heartily. Opening the door, he sees the object of all his evening's efforts. A green hue surrounds the object which sits on the dresser. The hue fills the whole room giving it an eerie ambiance. Thadden makes his way inside and closes the door behind him. Just when he is about to reach for the glowing necklace, voices just outside the door, reach his senses. Pig Slop! with catlike reflexes he is under the bed. The blankets are huge and ruffled. They descend all the way to the floor. Sucking in his breath Thadden listens as the door opens.
"And in here my sweet is my bedroom. Where you will be spending most of your time.” Belghar brings her hand to his lips. She shudders, a reaction more of distaste and fear rather than of love or the up-coming lovemaking. The evil ruler smiles cruelly and loves the power and abuse his authority creates.
"You fear me don't you Menecha?" He produces a giggle. "It does not matter. For all that matters is that you owe and you have to pay your debt severely." Glaring eyes burn into her face. "So come in. Make yourself comfortable. I shall get the wine.” With that remark, Belghar saunters out of the room. Menecha sits down on the bed. Before long, the tears start flowing. Her sobs are enough to bring Thadden out of hiding, but only for a brief moment.
"Excuse me!" he speaks.
"Oh," she replies startled. She quickly starts to remove her tears in a vain hope that he won't see them.
“Try this it works better." He hands her a handkerchief.
"Thank-you, ah…"
"Thadden," he finishes for her.
"Menecha," she flutters her eyelashes.
"I couldn't help but overhear you crying. What kind of debt do you owe that you have to be reduced to that of a common whore?"
"What kind of job do you have where you have to hide under people's beds?" she counters.
"Good point.We don't really have a lot of time to talk so I'll make it brief. I was hired to steal the necklace that you see on the dresser. And you can plainly see I haven't really left the room with it yet."
He can hear footsteps in the other room. He signals to here a silent warning.
"Tomorrow, when you wake up, go to the Wolf's Paw Tavern and ask for Menecha. I will talk to you then.” Thadden waits til he hears the doorknob turn then dives under the bed. With a thumping heart he mulls over what wass said and daydreams about tomorrow.
"Did I hear voices, my dear?"
"No, I was just talking to myself."
"Oh! Well here's the wine."
"Thank-you!" she blushes, convincingly. He pours the wine into the glasses. He is about to drink his down, she stops him.
"Wait. Why don't we make a toast."
"A toast? Of course. Where are my manners?" Belghar slaps his knee.
"Well, my pretty, what shall we toast to?"
"Why lust of course."
"Lust? Very well then, to lust."
"To lust," she repeats; they bring their glasses together. They engaged in their lustful activities after many, many toasts. Twenty minutes later the mighty magician waves Menecha away. With a total looke of shame and disgust Menecha leaves the room in tears. Within minutes, all is quiet with the exception of Belghar's snoring. The magician forces himself to go to bed much earlier than he would have liked. The wine made him too sleepy to try on his necklace and be granted almighty power.
Thadden waits five more minutes to make sure that the magician is asleep. It just won't do to get myself blasted by a fireball before I even get to see Menecha again. Finally, he is in front of the dresser and has the powerful necklace in his clutches. Silently, he leaves the room and the snoring mage still sleeps unaware. "Another time, perhaps?" he calls back to the room and it's sleeping inhabitant. Then he hears a familiar sound of boots on wood. "The sentry," he hisses through his teeth. Wasting no time, he puts his back-up plan into action. "Just stall him Feacon" he says to his cat. "I'll be there shortly."
The sentry arrives at the top to find no one at the post. He is about to raise the alarm when he spies a black cat sitting directly across from him. The need to know how it got there overrides his need to raise the alarm. Curious, he approaches the purring cat. His sword is unsheathed. Feacon continues to purr. When he gets within two feet of it the cat arches its back and its stands on end. It issues a hissing warning. The sentry looks around to see what is bothering it. When he looks back , it is gone.
Huh! Where did it go so fast? He begins to backtrack warily as a shiver runs up and down his spine. "Maybe I'll go get help now."
"Rrrowrrrr," the cat screeches when he steps on its tail. His heart leaps out of his chest. His weapon clatters noisily to the ground. He looks behind him and again, the cat disappears. A definite feeling of needing help assails his senses. Quickly he reaches down for his weapon, but he's not quick enough.
"Bladder!" he curses. He bolts for the safety of the door. The cat reappears, foiling his attempt, and he trips and crashes to the ground. Feeling confused and unsure, the sentry gazes at the doorway only a few feet away. He begins to crawl. Slowly he inches his way forward. With aching, throbbing hands, he reaches for the door. It swings open. "Safety," he mutters. He sees an image through his fear-filled haze.
"Not safety," a voice corrects, "but close." Thadden, seeing no need to kill, brings the pommel of his rapier down on to the sentry's head. His teeth slam into his tongue, as Thadden knocks him unconscious.
"Nice job Feacon. Let's get the hell out of here.” Smiling, he prepares for his long climb down.