How to Deal with a Thief

Writers: Eimi, Estelle, Paula
Date Posted: 13th December 2018
Series: The Great Bandit Trial

Characters: Zandan, Tedek
Description: Zandan questions Tedek about the holdless bandits
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 6, day 13 of Turn 9

Emerald Falls' brig was built to the cellar of the guard barracks and
there Tedek got taken after his arrest. The guards were deliberately
rough while chaining him and took a pleasure of pushing him down the
stairs. They let him sit there few candlemarks before he was fetched
again. This time he was taken to Zandan's office for interrogation.

The bandit blinked, disoriented by the sudden light after the darkness
of his prison cell. He shuffled into the office, trying not to let the
chains scrape his already bruised and sore wrists. Tedek was numb with
despair, his thoughts returning over and over to the moment of his
capture. Could he have run faster? Why had he gone back to the hold? He
should have known!

"Welcome, Tedek," Zandan smirked. "How did you like your quarters?"

The scrape of quill on parchment could be heard from the table in the
corner where a Steward's assistant recorded that which was said. The
guard standing behind Tedek gave his chair a little nudge with his
knee. "Speak up, prisoner. The Captain asked you a question."

**I like them about as much as I like you, you ugly brute.** Tedek
wasn't stupid enough to say that out loud, though. "I'm holdless. I've
been in worse places."

"So, no rank or Hold or Hall affiliations?" Zandan checked. Because if
he claimed one, that Hold or Hall would be involved. As a holdless,
the man belonged to jurisdiction of the Hold where he happened to be.

"No." If any hold would have taken him in, the holdless man thought
bitterly, he wouldn't be here now, but no-one wanted a convicted thief.

"Care to explain how you came to be in possession of this one?" Zandan
asked and took out the stolen jewelry, now laid out in case with cloth
lining. "And trying to sell it to one of the Hold's crafters?" He so
loved to hear their explanations.

Tedek stared at him, his expression blank. "I found it lying in the
road. It's not a crime to sell something you find."

"Right," Zandan snorted. "And it's a crime if it's reported stolen.
You don't happen to know anything about robbed trader caravan?"

The Stewards Assistant pushed a paper towards the Guard Captain which
contained the details of the case should he need it.

"I don't know nothing about no trader caravan. I just found it." Tedek
tried his best to look stupid, but he felt as though he was about to
be sick. If they convicted him of being a member of a gang, it would
be much, much worse for him.

"Jewelry just doesn't fall off from a locked chest," Zandan pointed
out almost gently.

The guard standing behind Zandan snorted with amusement. It always
amazed him when criminals tried to play dumb.

"Maybe your robbers dropped it," Tedek said cautiously. He never liked
to make a story more complicated than it needed to be. "I couldn't
say."

"An honest person would have delivered it to authorities, instead of
trying to sell it to a crafter with a shady reputation," Zandan
pointed out the hole in his story. "I say you're part of the holdless
gang that's been bothering the Hold. Maybe you were even involved in
the robbing of riverboat Cornflower."

"No! I had nothing to do with that, I swear!" the man protested. His
hands had begun to shake, causing the chains to rattle. He couldn't
help feeling resentment against his fellow bandits. They were safe -
as safe as a holdless could ever be - and he was here, facing a
lifetime in the mines.

"How come were not convinced," Zandan said with low growl. He was
going to be disappointed if the man broke without them laying a hand
on him.

"I don't know anything about a gang." Tedek clenched his fists to stop
the shaking, but he was too panicked to try and think of a better story.
"I found the necklace and I tried to sell it because I'm holdless and I
need the marks. You can't prove anything else."

"Are you so sure about that?" Zandan asked, giving a smirk that
indicated he knew more than he was letting on. It was bluff.

Tedek tried desperately to think. Could one of the traders have
recognised him? They had covered their faces for the attack, and it had
been near dark...and he had not been one of those who boarded the
riverboat, though he had kept watch. How could the guards possibly know?

Then he realised, and felt as though his guts had turned to ice. Raviol!
He had told the smith that the necklace had been taken from a trader.
That treacherous reptile must have betrayed him. It all made sense. That
was why the guards had been waiting. But how much did he know? All Tedek
knew of him was what he'd been told by the other bandits; he bought
valuable items and didn't ask too many questions.

"I'm not in a gang! Who says I am?" He tried to sound insulted, hoping
to stall for time.

"Do you really think I would tell you that?" Zandan sneered. Tedek
probably didn't realize how much he revealed with his reactions.

"Do you really think I'm going to tell _you_ that I'm a bandit?" Tedek
retorted. He sat up a bit straighter. Maybe they didn't know anything.
"Why would I do that?"

"To get off easier. I can hand you over for Holder Hircine or you can
negotiate a better deal for yourself. Sell your mates and we take that
in consideration during the trial. Why bother staying loyal to them,
when they'll back stab you at the first opportunity," Zandan replied.
Now they were starting to get there.

"I don't have any mates. I'm innocent!" Despite his response, Tedek
began to look thoughtful. If he sold out his fellow bandits and any of
them found out, his life wouldn't be worth a worn thirty-second mark.
But if he ended up in Holder Hircine's mines, it wouldn't be much of a
life anyway.

"Yeah, and I'm girl," Zandan snorted and drew laugh out of his men. It
was time for a bait. "Look, if you're worried of retribution, we can
offer protection, make sure you won't end up in same place with the
others. Who knows, maybe Lord Corowal is so grateful you helped us to
capture the band, that he offers you a reward."

The man looked sceptical of the idea that he might go from being a
chained prisoner to receiving a reward, but the offer was tempting. He
stared at the Captain's face, searching for signs of whether or not he
might be lying. If there was one lesson the holdless life had taught
him, it was never to trust anyone.

"If I did know something about the people who took this necklace," he
began cautiously. "I don't say that I do, but if I did...what's to stop
you going back on the deal once you have the others? You could send me
to the mines with them, and I'd be dead."

"There's this thing called honour," Zandan said. "I'm sure you've
heard the word?" He shrugged his wide shoulders. "Besides, if I got a
reputation of not honouring my side of the deal, it would be making my
job harder. Sometimes you have to barter with the little fish to catch
the bigger fish. Right now, you're a little fish. Of course, we can
always try beating the truth out of you. You might be end up telling us
what we _want_ to hear, and not the truth."

The bandit flinched. He already ached with the bruises he'd earned since
his capture, and he had no doubt whatsoever that Zandan was serious
about his threat. That decided him; if he was going to talk, he wanted
to get something in return.

"I don't want to go to the mines." He tried to keep his voice steady. "I
want to start again, in a new Hold."

"I can't promise that Corowal agrees to that, but I can promise that
you won't get to the mines," Zandan said seriously.

Tedek hesitated for a long moment, then made his decision. "I don't know
where they are now," he said, glancing nervously at the Steward's
assistant who was scribing his betrayal of his comrades into the
records. "But I know how to get a message to them, to arrange a meeting.
There's a cotholder who stores the band's takings, and gives them
shelter during Fall sometimes. I was supposed to leave word with him
that I'd got the marks for the necklace. You give me what I want, and
I'll tell you where to find him."

Zandan glanced the assistant steward. "You're getting all this?" He
was already making plans how to trap rest of the band.

Last updated on the January 21st 2019

[Prev: Bandit Trap (How to catch a thief 3/3)] Series: The Great Bandit Trial [Next: Springing the Trap (1/2)]

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

How to Deal with a Thief