Free Thick as Thieves by Tali Spencer

roiled clouds heavy with distant thunder.
    “I didn’t know this town was here,” Vorgell said.
    Madd looked around. There were more taverns than shops, and all of them looked disreputable. “Not many good citizens come to Thieves Wart. It’s got a bad reputation. The people here don’t like authority, and the place is pretty much run outside the law.” He stopped in front of a building of crumbling yellow stone. The sign above displayed a crude drawing of a sword. “In here.”
    Vorgell followed and ducked into a room that smelled of dust and possibly something moldering under the floorboards. The few weapons on the walls did not look impressive. The man seated at a modest wooden table looked even less so. He was stocky and had a milky eye. Looking up from his work and seeing Madd, the man’s mouth pursed as if he’d sucked a lemon.
    “He’s not in.”
    Madd simply walked up to him. “Tagard’s never in. I need to see him, Bly.”
    “Can’t if he’s not in.”
    Madd leaned forward on the table. “Bet he’s in if I say I’m here to make good my debt.”
    “Still not in,” Bly avowed, looking back down at the scroll upon which he was pressing letters with his well-shaped stylus. “Come back tomorrow.”
    “Won’t be back tomorrow. Might well be dead.”
    Bly straightened and looked directly at him. “Doesn’t change the fact he’s not in. Tell me what you want. Last I heard you got out seven months back. Some lord whose skull you cracked open before you made off with his purse. Took a bit of work to put that to earth.”
    “And I’m grateful, Bly. Tagard did me right. But I’m in a spot again and—”
    “And that’s why he’s not in.” Bly frowned and rubbed his balding head. “He did you a favor, Maddog, because the Circle asked it of him… but he can’t help you out of every fix.”
    Vorgell’s ears drank in every word. He had known Madd’s life had rough roots, but not that he was an outcast. Like him.
    “Who’s after you now?” Bly asked.
    “Baron Flemgu’s bounty hunters. Maybe wizards. I don’t know.”
    Bly sighed. “You know we don’t mess with wizards.”
    Madd slumped and looked grumpy again. “Well then at least let me buy this man a sword, so we can defend ourselves from bounty hunters.”
    After a long look at Vorgell, Bly nodded. “Come on back.” He led the way into a rear room, where weapons glinted on the dark polished walls like stars. The room smelled of leather and oil. “Tagard really isn’t in, you see. But I can sell you a sword. Military, I suppose?”
    “I want good steel, light and flexible,” said Vorgell, fairly certain he had more expertise than Madd when it came to choosing weapons. “I can handle a longer blade than most, but I want a hard edge. You don’t have any Scurrian axes, do you?”
    Madd simply spread his hands when Bly looked to him.
    In the end, Vorgell tested many swords and pronounced one worthy of purchase. He personally doubted it would be worth the gold to purchase a sword for Madd. The young witch had never been trained with blades and might well prove a handicap in battle. Vorgell was poised to say as much until he caught sight of Madd holding a short sword and allowing Bly to adjust his stance. Madd’s sharp little face looked… determined. Vorgell valued determination. Determined men learned.
    If they were to be true partners and have each other’s backs, he needed Madd to wield a weapon.
    Madd and Bly bickered over the price. Vorgell detected the glances Bly directed his way, the sober weighing by a kind of prickly intelligence. Some sort of investment was on the man’s mental scale, with Vorgell’s worth being added to Madd’s. Whatever the reason, the price soon fell into the range they could afford.
    “There’s a house—not the one you remember,” Bly said to Madd and waving Vorgell over, “a different one—but you can stay the night in safety, unless you’ve been followed. I leave that on you.” He