Shadow
Copyright© 2025 by Ka Hmnd
Chapter 2
Action/Adventure Sex Story: Chapter 2 - William, an illegitimate son of the king, returns home after being away for a while, and finds the kingdom in turmoil. He becomes a thief that helps the poor.
Caution: This Action/Adventure Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Consensual High Fantasy
I woke to the morning traffic and got up. I refilled my pouch with silver before looking around. I emptied the shelves on one side of the room and used them to climb to the ceiling. I pushed open a trapdoor and climbed up into the archer’s perch. I turned and pulled the heaviest chest up before sliding it into a corner. I did the same for the smaller chest and then the merchant’s chest. I closed the trapdoor as I climbed down and put everything back onto the shelves.
I grabbed a few small spice pouches and slipped out to make my way towards the marketplace. Like the morning before, I gathered the homeless lingering around the marketplace and fed them. The city was alive with guards, and everyone was talking about another robbery, this time in the retreat. At noon, I bought a huge cauldron and a sack of vegetables before heading towards the city commons.
It almost seemed like they were waiting for me. A few of the older boys held the cleaned and skinned bodies of snakes. I got a young girl to start bringing water to fill the cauldron while setting it down and dumping the vegetables. Two women got a fire going for me while a couple of men made a tripod to hang it. One at a time, I cut the snakes up and tossed them into the water.
The women gathered and started cutting the vegetables while I brought out the pouches of spice and set them out. It was not long before the aroma of the cooking filled the commons. I handed a young man a few silvers, “Take a couple of boys with you and buy a sack of rolls and another sack of vegetables.”
He hesitated and then nodded before slipping away with two younger versions of himself. The few guards that came through looked but ignored us. As the day wore on, even more people appeared to be fed. An older woman and her husband stayed nearby. I spoke with them and found out they were turned out because they could not pay the king’s taxes.
That was the theme as I talked to others. When the cauldron emptied, we refilled it, and several young men were always hunting snakes as they lay out sunning. As evening slowly approached, the large crowd slowly began to slip away. I had one young man hide the cauldron before leaving. I slipped into the gatehouse silently and lay back on my bed to relax.
I woke at the tolling of the midnight bell. I slipped out the catwalk and quietly crossed the bridge. The guards seemed more awake tonight as I slipped out the door and moved down the shadowy wall. I was back fifteen minutes later with the heavy, waterlogged chest. After closing and locking the door, I moved up the stairs and out the catwalk door. I carried the chest down to the first floor and set it on its side to drain.
I slipped out the door and used the small, dark lantern to move away from the river. I stayed in the shadows and used alleys to move across the city. The large manor I was heading for stood against the outer wall. I entered using the side entrance and crossed the yard and tried the side door; it was locked. I moved to the trestle covered with ivy and slowly climbed up.
I climbed onto a second-floor balcony and moved to the door. It opened smoothly, and I crossed the room as the occupant continued to sleep. I moved through the house quietly until I came to the large door into the attached warehouse. I pulled a thin, bladed knife and went to work on the ancient lock. A moment later, it was unlocked, and I opened it and slipped in.
I stood still and listened for a long time before turning and heading towards the back. The office had a large oak drop bar with locks on both ends securing the door. The merchant had a bad habit of using old, ancient locks. I pulled the small steel cheater bar I had taken from a fighter right after I had returned to the city. I slipped it inside the locking bar and twisted.
I dropped the lock and moved to the other one. A moment later, I lifted the bar and carefully set it aside. I entered the large office and crossed to the other door. Inside the inner office, I found the heavy money chest with its lock open. I set the lock on the desk before lifting the lid on the chest. I closed it and picked it up. I went back through the warehouse but left out the side door that had been locked.
I moved back across the city using the alleys. Inside the gatehouse, I climbed up and moved everything off the shelves and lifted the chest up to the archers’ perch. I pushed the chest into a corner and went to bed. I woke early and climbed out of bed, stretching. Today was laundry day, and I stuffed my dirty clothes into a sack.
Downstairs, I righted the chest of copper and brass coins before filling a large purse with them. I fed a small crowd at the sausage stand again and then headed to the cleaning lady that did my wash. After I dropped the dirty clothes off, I went back to the marketplace.
I bought tubers and other green vegetables as well as a large sack of bread. When I arrived at the commons, they already had the cauldron over a small fire. During the day, I listened to gossip that said the king was sending his militia into the street to patrol at night. The two merchants were practically begging their patrons for funds to continue their business. I heard about Baron Gregory offering to finance both merchants for sixty percent of their businesses.
It was a relaxed, jovial commons with women and children moving around and men talking in small groups. I spoke with a few of the men about a carting business now that Merchant Harris was out of business. I gestured around at everyone, “We would have plenty of people willing to work.”
They looked at each other and finally nodded. I looked around, “Does anyone know of a large, empty warehouse?”
A short, grey-bearded man grinned, “Yes.”
I smiled as I stood, “We need to find some carts and wagons.”
They nodded and turned to other men while I headed out of the commons. I used the back alleys and was careful when I slipped around by the river and into the gatehouse. I used a large pouch and filled it with a few gold pieces and a lot of silver. When I met the other men in the commons, it seemed as if the air was alive with hope.
There were ten of us that walked through the streets to see the large warehouse. The moment I saw it, I knew it was what we needed. It was outside the city gate against the wall; it had a huge dirt corral on the far side for horses and wagons and a tannery beside it I knew all about. We went back through the city to Magistrate’s Square. Since the warehouse had been abandoned, I paid the city clerk one gold piece and two silver, and it was ours.
Next were a few stops where I let different men bargain for carts or wagons. I gave the only two gold pieces left in the pouch to an old man that had once been a farmer. He left to find a few horses while we moved carts and wagons by hand through the city and out to the warehouse. We placed the carts inside, leaving room between them and the wagons in a separate part of the corral.
We returned to the commons, and everyone was talking. I made another stop on the way and set the full sack of hard bread down while one of the men that had been with me set a huge wheel of cheese beside it. There were a lot of chunks of snake being roasted over fires. We talked about sending someone out to different places to talk to people.
I knew that if Baron Gregory managed to back both the merchants, it would be harder for these people to get started. I mentioned letting anyone that needed a place to sleep go to the warehouse. I left early and slipped through the streets and alleys. There were a lot more guards and militia out as the afternoon slipped by. I slipped into the gatehouse unseen and went upstairs to lay back and rest.
I woke to the guards arguing below me about some of them sleeping while others watched. I moved to my clothes press and changed to darker clothing. I went through the catwalk door and silently crossed to the other side. The guards below were plain to see as they played dice together. I slipped out the door quietly and moved away into darkness. There were more patrols, but it was easy to avoid them as I moved across to the area around by the other bridge.
Baron Gregory’s manor was larger than it should have been for his rank. I climbed the ten-foot wall and carefully moved the glass on top before lying down. I watched as a single guard walked around the manor itself. I dropped to the ground after he turned the far corner and quickly moved to the manor. I used a wooden trellis to climb up to the second floor.
I vaulted over the rail onto a small balcony and knelt, waiting for the guard to come and go. Several minutes later, I turned to the window doors and used a thin, bladed dagger to pry the latch up. The door opened quietly, and I silently entered. I could see the fat Baron snoring in his bed and moved across the room to the other door. I put my ear against the door and listened before opening it quietly.
I heard voices from downstairs as I moved down the hall to the servants’ stairs. I used the edge of each stair as I moved down to avoid making any noise. On the ground floor, I slipped out and into the shadows in the hallway. I waited, and several minutes later, a guard walked in from the great room to check the study room door. He returned to the great room, and I swiftly moved to the door.
The slim-bladed dagger went between the door and the jam before I pushed it down and wiggled it. The door popped open, and I pulled it open even more. I stepped into the darkness and closed it quietly behind me, making sure it locked. I pulled the dark lantern out and glanced around and moved to the strong room door.
The baron had taken a few precautions, and there were two new locks on the door. I set the lantern beside me on a bookshelf and pulled out the two thick wires I carried. A traveler had shown me how to do this a couple of years before. I pushed the stiff wires I carried into the first lock and moved it around until I heard a click. The second piece of wire went in, and I turned both.
The lock dropped open, and I moved to the other lock. It took a little longer, but it too finally opened. This was not a room so much as a thick-walled closet. Inside were four chests; each one held a different type of coin. I was able to put all the silver and gold together before moving the chest to the study window. I went back and poured as much of the copper coins into the chest with the bronze as I could. What was left was only a handful, and those I put in my own pouch.
I carried the chest over beside the other one and closed the dark lantern. I pulled back the curtain slightly and looked out the window. I watched and waited until the guard went past and opened the window. I moved the two chests out onto the narrow stone patio and then closed the door. I hid the second chest between two bushes and picked the other chest up.
I moved out onto the lawn and stopped next to a bush by the wall. I set the chest down and waited for the guard. After he had come and gone, I picked up the chest and moved to the wall. I knelt to tie a cord around the chest and then quickly climbed up the wall. I pulled the chest up and lowered it down the other side before the guard came back.
I untied the cord and went back over the wall for the other chest. That was the way I moved the chests, one at a time. When I closed the gatehouse door after carrying in the second chest, I set it down and lay down on the cool floor. When I was rested, I moved the chest to the second floor and then across to my room. I carried the second chest in and used the cord to lift it to the archers’ perch. I filled two large pouches with copper and bronze coins before lifting that chest up as well.
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