The X Thief Draft

Chapter 1 - The Sky Thief

Lexie swooped in a clumsy arc down towards the nearest rooftop, bracing her legs out below and hoping that her idea wouldn't get her killed. With the slightest thud, she brought herself to a running stop along the tower's top, managing to pause just short of pitching over the next edge, blinking as an alarming amount of ancient stone dust billowed up behind her. It dawned on her that - as isolated as the stone tower was - it likely hadn't seen any roof traffic in centuries, certainly not from travelling thieves. But then again, thieves didn't normally fly.

She lifted her arms, and the canvas wings pulled tight. The thread had somehow held, even after the last terrifying dive. Riding the city's steam pillars might just work. Presuming that she didn't hit the ceiling of the cavern. Fire light didn't reach that high, and the rock above was always shrouded in darkness.

Lexie paced a circuit around the square roof, getting used to legs again, and looked out over the city. Countless torches twinkled on street walls and in private estates, forming small specks in the dark. She could almost see the next district - her sister had told her stories of such places.

She turned to face her destination. A massive cliff which curved to become the stone ceiling, a phantom edge of the city in the darkness.

Lexie searched for steam pillars that way, and took in a deep breath. The city was even less developed there, and street vents were rare.

Her entire thieving career had been spent on this wingsuit however. She just had to reach the prize.

The teenager stretched out her arms, then began running.

She jumped.

The sickening sensation of plummeting dozens of floors overtook her. Then the wind caught her wings. Lexie was again travelling forward.

A rare smile overtook her lips. She was free. No stepmother. No orphanage. Just doing what she wanted. Working to save her big sister.

She reached a vent, and shot back up. It was warm, but not uncomfortable. Damp, but the cold dry city soon stole any moisture anyway.

For a moment she lost her bearing. There was so little to work with in this direction, only stone - above, below, and in front.

But then she saw the torches, where the city guard was erecting a scaffold. Right below her prize.

Fuck.

She rolled to her right, and rushed to the next pillar. Canvas screamed as it flapped in the wind, and for a moment she worried it might break.

The next vent caught her, and again she shot up.

There was so little to see now. Just darkness, and the narrow tower of torchlight.

Except, how was she going to stop.

Panicking, Lexie twisted into new configurations; stances she hadn't tried. She dropped her feet below and spread her arms, forming a kite, and quickly began to tumble out of control.

Ahead, a crashed airship sat mangled against the rocks, barely visible from torches below, where guards had gathered.

Lexie spun, twisted, then crashed spread eagled into the airship's deflated balloon. The canvas crumbled, catching up on rigging from the wooden craft, until finally she felt herself colliding with the rock on the other side.

She had hit the edge of the city, and somehow survived.

The cushioning began to unravel, and Lexie flailed. For a wide-eyed moment, she felt herself pushed back over nothing, cursing, before she fell to the deck of the crashed airship.

Her tailbone felt like it was on fire.

"What was that!"

"Rats! I told you, rats up in the ship!"

"There's no bloody rats."

"Then why would an air captain crash then?"

"There's no fucking rats you tool!"

"If there is, we could have another plague. And us soldiers would be the ones to deal with it. He came from the unknown regions. Through the mines."

"There's nothing there but dead stone."

"Isn't that where rats thrive? Where dead things are?"

"Not that kind of dead. By the Saints... How do I always end up stuck on duty with you?"

"It's Captain Mallory, he-"

"Move away from the airship. If it's shifting, you don't want to be standing underneath it. Let the engineers decide when they build the final layer."

"Don't really want to get showered in rats anyway."

"There's no..."

Lexie sat very still, until the voices below pulled away.

She was going to hurt from that landing. But she had done it. She had reached the crashed airship which had come from the ruined city below. She would be the one to plunder its prizes first.

Lexie was the greatest thief in the damn universe.

A flint at her belt provided light, struck against an oil rag from her sash. The deck was in a sorry state. Splintered and cracked.

There was no cargo spread about on deck as she'd expected, but people had sworn the ship rained treasure as it sped overhead. The stories had been getting more glamorous by the day, Lexie just had to be here.

A cabin jutted up at the other end, half buried under the ripped balloon. Perhaps somewhere for the crew to sleep between jobs.

Or perhaps where the treasure was.

A great power drew her forward. The promise of immeasurable wealth. All her problems would be solved.

The thief pushed open the doors, and squinted into the dusty dark. A candle from her belt added a little more light, and she crept in.

Closer. She was so close.

There was a chest, behind a small table, at the far wall. A round glass window above gave the captain a view of the world beyond, though now only showed rock.

She approached the chest with trembling hands. Had she been suckered? Was there no treasure at all?

The chest called. It promised a solution.

Compulsion overcame her, and she dug for her lockpicks.

The first one snapped, and she exhaled in a frustrated panic. If she didn't open this chest, she would have failed.

She brought up her spare lockpick, and tried again.

It jiggled about for a moment, the sound of the lock mechanism rattling along with it. Finally there was a click.