Roland cringed and cursed himself. A coin rattled off into the darkness, jingling as it made its descent down a hill of gold. He paused, listening for sudden movements, and let out a breath of relief when he heard nothing shift. It was so hard to clamber around with all these loose bits of wealth beneath your feet. He shook it off.

Everyone in the guild knew that She took a share of whatever they had stolen. They also knew that She just threw it in the pile. Not once had he ever heard of her buying, lending, or otherwise spending the ill-gotten gains she had apprehended. She just sat on a pile of her wealth as, quite possibly, the richest creature in Tressa. What was the point?

'Are we getting close?' Holsley whispered in Roland's ear. The bard had kept a hand on his friend's shoulder in an effort to remain together. 'It's freezing in here.'

Roland shushed him and once again closed his eyes to concentrate.

His unique sixth sense flared up again.

It didn't always work, and when it did it worked in different ways. Sometimes, it would be like hearing a whispery voice beckoning him in a certain direction. Other times, it was more like being prodded and encouraged the right way. This time he felt like he was being gently pulled, like there was a thin bit of thread around his waist tugging him along.

Underfoot, the pair could feel the gold and gems that made the inclines they were struggling against. Roland resisted the urge to bend down and stuff some into his pockets. He had always been taught that a smart thief was one that only ever stole what they had come for. It wasn't a philosophy he always followed, but he supposed he should stick to it this time. Just this once.

Roland stepped on something and came to a stop.

The rogue bent down to pick up what was directly under his boot and came up with one of the ruby pieces. He smiled. He would know the ruby piece even without his sense from shape alone. After all, he had carried it with him for months at sea.

Pocketing it, he gave Holsley a pat on the hand to tell the bard he had found the first of six pieces.

They stepped together, ignoring the way the coins sank beneath their weight. As they marched to the next piece, Roland couldn't help but dwell on what a waste this room was. She didn't really care about the wealth. She didn't care about the ruby. It was just another piece of wealth that would never be spent or admired.

The ruby would sit here, shattered into pieces, for decades, centuries, or even longer. It would disappear beneath the ever-growing pile of pilfered wealth. So deep, it probably wouldn't even gather dust. That very idea made Roland angry. All that hard work he went through to get the damned thing, and it would sit here for eternity.

Twenty minutes passed easily. The second, third, and fourth pieces were found without much effort, but the fifth was giving Roland some trouble. According to his inner compass, he knew he was standing in the right spot, but no matter where he lay his hands, he couldn't feel it.

The pair quietly dug at the coins underfoot, hoping to come back with it. As they did so, they made noise. It was unavoidable. Coins bounced and spilled down the hill in a cacophony of jingles and tinks. It made the boys twitchy, but nothing could be done about it.

'Can you put them together?' Holsley whispered into the darkness, his hands fishing up coins.

'What?' Roland replied.

'The pieces of the ruby,' said Holsley, sifting coins through his fingers. 'Are we supposed to make them whole again?'

'No,' said Roland. 'Well, I don't think so anyway. Not without some strong glue.'

'How do they help us find the Golden Keep then?'

'Holsley!' Roland snapped a little too loudly. 'Don't use those words. These pieces are valuable, and we're going to need them to buy things like a ship and a crew. We can't do that on one little piece. Besides, the ruby is mine, remember?'

'Oh!' Holsley replied in astonishment. 'I thought we needed it in a more magical way. Like the ruby shows us the right direction or something?'

'I can neither confirm nor deny that,' said Roland, eliciting an eye roll from Holsley. 'If we did, though, we wouldn't be able to use this ruby, would we? It's been shattered?'

'Wait, I'm confused?' Holsley stopped shifting coins. 'Does the ruby show us the way, or is it just a valuable bauble?'

'Don't worry about it.'

Roland stifled a cheer when his fingers finally touched the piece nestled beneath the bank of coins. That made piece number five. He once again closed his eyes and tried to imagine the last piece in his mind. He knew which one it was, too. Roland could imagine it so clearly, which should have made the task of finding it much easier.

It didn't.

This one was strange. It was incredibly difficult to pinpoint its location with his sixth sense. Every time Roland focussed on it, it seemed to have moved to another place entirely. In fact, after a few minutes of this back and forth, he began to realise that the piece was circling the two of them.

'Oh,' he whispered. That could only mean one thing.

'You thought you could sssteal from ussss?' Her voice came in harsh and sharp, sending shivers down their backs. Fingers on a chalkboard would be more pleasing than the harshness of Her's strangled tones.

She was holding the last piece. He knew it. Another thief would've given up right there and then, rushing back to the grate and escaping with nearly every piece. Roland wasn't every thief, however, and he wasn't leaving without it.

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'Holsley!' he shouted. 'Now!'

'I'm on it.' Holsley fumbled for his lute, scrambling to get his fingers into the correct position for playing. It wasn't as quick as Roland had hoped for.

'Why have you done thissss?' She asked. 'Are you really sssso greedy assss to take the ruby back? I gave you an opportunity to make thingssss right, Roland, and you've ssspat in my face.'

'I'm sorry, did you say make things right?' Roland called out into the darkness. 'You have no right, none whatsoever, to decide what's fair. You stabbed me in the back!?'

'You knew our rulessss, you knew the consssequencesss. Yet, you did what you did anyway. You desssserved it!'

'You kept me here as a prisoner!' Roland bellowed, his cheeks flushed. 'You threatened to stab me if I ever left without paying that stupid debt.'

'We helped you.'

'You helped yourself!' Roland raged, his blood boiling. This was a long time coming. 'You think you help lost children. Well, you don't. You exploit them! Then, when they do exactly what you taught them, you stab them. You're the reason I can't trust another living soul. Imagine being raised, thinking you were part of a family, just to get, quite literally, stabbed in the back.'

'You betrayed that family!'

'Impossible,' Roland shouted back. 'I was never part of a family to begin. Well, I hope the treasure I stole for you is keeping you warm because you're not getting any more from me!'

The strings ignited Holsley's spell and brought on a light so bright that both were momentarily blinded by it. This time, Holsley hadn't cast the spell on the tip of his lute. Instead, he had picked up a coin with the intention of flinging it into the darkness. He never got the chance. Holsley had been caught by surprise. The room came on in a flash and in that moment, several things became clear.

First of all, She was not a dragon. Holsley had been dead wrong about that. When the lights came on, he found himself staring at, what he could only describe as, an ethereal demonic spirit hovering above them. He gasped.

It was a wretched, cursed looking thing with an arched back covered by a ragged cloak that moved as if submerged in deep water. It had long bony fingers, was at least three times the size of either of them, and possessed a gargantuan vulture's skull in place of a head. One with a beak that curled around to a point like a scythe.

It let out a shriek and dove for Holsley.

The light was snuffed out and Holsley was thrown down the pile of coins, sending an avalanche of them in his wake. He rolled and rolled. End over end. Eventually landing, face first, at the bottom of the pile. Momentarily out of action.

'Holly!' Roland shouted, bounding after him.

'You brought light into thissss sssspace!?'

Roland rode the hill down on his knees, easily slipping down the slope, and found Holsley's body a moment later. The bard stirred. The rogue let out a breath, Holsley was okay. She hadn't touched him.

'What do we do?' Holsley whispered with a groan.

They were both aware that She was somewhere around them, drifting nearby. She could strike at any moment, and they wouldn't even see her coming. All it took was one touch, if the rumours were to be believed. Then, they would both be dead.

'You ussssed me!?' She shrieked. 'I gave you a home, Roland Darrow. You would be dead without me!?'

'I think she means a prison cell,' Roland said under his breath. He helped Holsley to his feet. 'Can you do the light trick again?'

'I mean, the question there is, should I?' Holsley was having a hard time getting the horrifying vision of Her out of his head. What in the name of good was she? 'She seemed pretty upset about it.'

'We'll distract her,' said Roland. 'You get a light going and then we'll both leg it to the exit. Sound like a good plan?'

'In so far as it's easy to remember, I guess.'

Holsley prepared himself to play the song yet again. By all accounts, playing in the dark should have been harder, but for some reason he found it a little easier. There were no eyes to watch him here. His fingers found the strings and, as if muscle memory was taking over, he began to play.

Roland paced away from Holsley, wanting to give the bard some space, but counted his steps carefully. He concentrated. It didn't take long for him to feel the ruby piece he had left back in the vent. It was like having an invisible string. All he needed to do was follow it and they'd be able to get to safety, darkness or not.

'You sssshall be punisssshed for this,' She said. 'I sssshall hand you back over to the guardssss and let the Hangman have you. No. Maybe I ssshould jussst kill you inssstead.'

'Haven't I been punished enough?' Roland shouted into the dark. 'The guild tried to kill me and failed. Why does that entitle you to something I've stolen?'

'You owe ussss the thief'ssss debt,' She replied. 'It musssst be paid in full.'

'Oh right, I forgot about that arbitrary debt you made up for all those children you supposedly helped,' said Roland. 'You know, if this really was a family, no one would owe anything for simply being raised!'

'You were alwayssss a sssselfish boy!' She barked. 'Your actionssss ressssulted in the imprissssonment of a former member.'

'I never intended it to—' Roland paused. 'Wait, did you say former member?'

'Fox Matthewssss was removed from the Whisssspersss a long time ago,' She replied. 'Hissss ssssin was greater, though. Attempted murder.'

'Attempted murder?' Roland raised an eyebrow. 'Of who?'

'Of me.'

The air grew deathly cold, and Roland suddenly found it very hard to breathe. He coughed. It was like ice was forming in his lungs. Every time he took a breath, the freshness ignited a pain across his chest. She was closing in. He could feel her.

A light shined out, shattering the shade. Suddenly, Roland was staring up at the matriarch of the Whispers once again. This time, her long skeletal finger within an inch of his face. He rolled out of the way just in time. To his side, Holsley was playing a song and encouraging the light to shine brighter.

In a fit of rage, She turned to rush the source of the light and extinguish it. In doing so, she dropped the ruby piece, which Roland snapped up in a second. Holsley was quicker this time. The bard threw the coin across the room and hopped out of the way as she flew past him to snuff it out.

Roland gave Holsley a nod, which he reciprocated.

In the next second, they were barrelling through the gloom. Roland used the ruby sitting idly on the vent as a compass to point their way back, while Holsley kept behind him with a hand on the rogue's arm. They jumped, shuffled, and kicked away at the treasure beneath them in their rush to get to safety.

The light went out behind them, and they were once again immersed in magical darkness.

'Keep moving!' Roland urged. 'She's quicker, but we're closer!'

Holsley could feel it at the back of his neck. That sudden feeling of dread. The air grew still, grew cold, and he used up all of his will in not turning around. It was that impossible, sickly feeling you got sometimes when walking down a dark corridor alone. Of something being right behind you, just out of sight, and ready to strike.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight.

In his mind, Holsley could see the grotesque creature reaching out for him with her bony fingers, ready to strike him down with a single touch.

They reached the vent. Roland vaulted Holsley up first. The bard wriggled through the bars, removed the ring, and passed it to the rogue. Roland was in a second later just moments before a loud bang echoed against the bars. They wobbled but didn't give. Tiacat gave out a hiss of surprise. She had been lying in wait for them.

'You won't leave here alive.'

Her voice came on all of a sudden, right up against the grate. They couldn't see her because of the magical darkness, but she was there.

'And if you do by ssssome miracle, you won't leave the city. Every ssssecret exit you know will be blocked to you.'

'Same old then,' replied Roland, picking up the ruby piece he had left in the vent. 'Come on, Holsley. I think we've outstayed out welcome.'

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