Chapter One – Cutpurse

Duncan wandered the market, taking notes in his mind of the vendors that seemed like the easiest targets. He blended in with the crowd easily, he was average looking, a little scruffy, and his clothes were nothing special. This market came to town once a month and it was usually the same crowd who set up stalls and the same people who attended, with a few new faces each month. Duncan made sure to only steal from the fresh ones, as the old ones had begun to recognise him, and he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Most of the people attending the market were seasoned market goers and knew to keep their hands and eyes on their purses at all times, but every now and again Duncan got lucky and would find someone just begging to be robbed.

He usually got them while they were eating lunch, and they never noticed their possessions were gone until much later, when they went to make another purchase, by which stage Duncan was always long gone. He was quite proud of the fact that he'd never been caught… in this town that is. He'd had to move here a few months ago, once he'd been released from prison. He was kind of glad for the move anyway, this town was much bigger and that meant more people to rob, and of course no one here knew his face.

Duncan spotted a girl fawning over some ribbons at one of the stalls and knew he'd found the perfect target. Her pale blue dress was very fine, she was obviously nobility, but not quite royalty. Her pale skin looked like it had never seen the light of day and she'd obviously never done a hard days work in her life. She had blonde hair done up in a braid around her head, and her coin purse was dangling from her shoulder, and she was not paying the slightest bit of attention to it.

Her companion was a little more cautious, her hand never leaving the purse that she had crossed over her body. Duncan followed the girls at a small distance, close enough to hear their conversation, but not close enough that they might turn around and wonder why he was there.

"I'm so glad Her Grace allowed us to come to the market, I've never been before," the blonde said. She walked along, looking at every stall, a gleam in her eye like everything was new and exciting. Duncan couldn't help but chuckle to himself. From the mention of "Her Grace" he could only assume these girls were ladies in waiting of the princess, Duncan had almost forgotten she was passing through. The other girl shook her head. This girl's dress was also blue, although this shade was almost black and her hair was only slightly blacker.

"Only because you annoyed her with all your begging. Still I'm glad to get out of those horrible ivory dresses. They're so stiff," she complained.

"They aren't that bad, Gwen. We really should just have some lunch and head back though, Her Grace needs to be on the road soon if she wants to make it to Evershire by nightfall," the blonde reasoned. Gwen nodded and the two of them found a stall selling hot pies. Once they'd made their purchase, Duncan closed in for the kill. He got out his knife surreptitiously, brushing past the two ladies, cutting the purse strings of the blonde as he did so. Just as he'd hoped, she didn't even notice and continued eating and pointing out interesting things to Gwen.

Duncan ducked behind a building to check out what was in the purse. Sure enough there are several gold pieces. That would be enough to get him through at least a week or two. He didn't need to take anything else today so he paid for some bread at one of the stalls before he headed back home. The bread seller raised an eyebrow when Duncan handed over the gold but didn't say anything. He knew someone who looked like Duncan didn't get the money in an honest way, but it was no damage to him so he let it slide. Duncan thanked him as he handed over the bread and made his way through the back streets to the shack he lived in with his mother and two brothers.

The door of their home was hanging off the hinges and there were holes in the roof, but it was enough to keep them from the weather, and all they could afford. Duncan's father had died in battle, and his older brother didn't earn very much as an apprentice blacksmith, so most of their money came from Duncan. Though he told his mother he did odd jobs for people (and sometimes he actually did), he knew that she knew where he really got the money. It would have been hard to explain to her why they needed to leave town had she not secretly known the truth. Plus there was that whole thing about him being in jail for two months.

"Ma, I'm home!" he called as he threw the loaf of bread and the remaining gold coins onto the wooden table, one of the few pieces of furniture they owned. His mother entered from the bedroom and a smile appeared on her face when she saw what he'd brought.

"Go and get your brother will you? Daniel will be home soon and I've made some soup that will go nice with this bread for our lunch," she instructed.

"Wow, bread and soup in one meal? We must be rolling in gold!" Duncan joked. His mother shook her head with a smile and Duncan headed outside towards the creek to find his younger brother, David. He found him playing in the creek with a couple of other boys, his pants rolled up, but still soaking wet.

"David, it's lunch time," he informed his brother.

"I'm not hungry," David said flippantly, not even looking at Duncan but just continuing to splash around in the shallows. Duncan knew his brother was lying, because David was always hungry. He was probably just sick of the same old thing all the time.

"We've got fresh bread and Ma made soup," Duncan teased in a sing song voice. David pretended not to be excited by the mention of fresh bread but he immediately stopped his game and ran out of the water.

"Can we come too?" one of the kids pleaded.

"Sorry, James, we can't afford to feed all the kids in the neighbourhood," Duncan apologised. James looked disappointed and Duncan couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he knew his family was worse off than his own. He sighed. He had stolen quite a lot that day, and it wouldn't be the first time he's fed James and his sister, as well as the other two boys in the creek.

"On second thought, why not?" Duncan said to James. "Bring your sister."

They waited half an hour for Daniel to come home for lunch but he didn't show so they ate without him, still half expecting him to enter the door at any minute.

"He must have decided to keep working through lunch," their mother reasoned. Duncan nodded, but he couldn't help but feel a little doubt creep in. Daniel always came home for lunch, and if he didn't it meant he didn't eat. Duncan decided to just agree with his mother though, he didn't want to worry her. He spent the rest of the day knocking on doors, asking if anyone had any work they needed doing. While some people were apologetic, everyone waved him away, most of them not being able to afford his services even if they did need something done.

At nightfall, Duncan gave up his efforts and returned home. Daniel was there when he arrived and he grinned at his brother, only to be met by grim faces, lit by only one candle as it was all they could afford.

"What's wrong?" Duncan asked frantically. "Where's David?"

"He's fine," his mother replied calmly. "He's in bed."

"What's the matter then?" Duncan questioned.

"I got fired," Daniel said quietly.

"No! What for?"

"I… got drunk on the job," Daniel said reluctantly. Duncan stared at Daniel in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? You fucking idiot! You need that job. What are you going to do now? Who will hire you knowing you got fired?" Duncan yelled angrily. Daniel flinched but glared at his brother.

"Why don't you try getting a job?" Daniel spat back.

"I'm doing everything I can for this family!" Duncan retorted.

"Yeah, stealing from honest hardworking people!" Daniel scoffed.

"None of them are hardworking and hardly any of them are honest," Duncan snorted.

"Boys, stop it, you'll wake your brother. Daniel, get off your high horse and tell Duncan the rest," their mother interrupted.

"There's more?" Duncan said incredulously. Daniel was silent for a moment.

"I got fired two weeks ago," he finally admitted. Duncan shook his head in confusion.

"Then where have you been getting the money from?" he asked.

"Gambling. I was betting on cock fights. I was doing really well, but today I lost a lot. More than I had. More than we have," Daniel confessed.

"Daniel. Exactly how much do you owe?" Duncan asked, waiting with baited breath for the answer, hoping the four gold pieces would cover it. Sure, it wasn't a lot to the girl he'd taken it from, but surely the men Daniel was betting against were of the same ilk as Duncan's family. They wouldn't bet more than a few gold coins.

"Seven hundred and fifty gold pieces," Daniel said quietly. Duncan was at a loss. He couldn't even get mad at his brother, because there was no way they could find that kind of money, and that meant it was probably Daniel's last day on earth.

"What were you thinking?" Duncan finally gets out.

"I was thinking that I was certain I was going to win. The guy was flashing around his purse. Imagine what we could have done with that kind of money!" Daniel tried to defend himself, but Duncan wasn't having any of it.

"And now we're all doomed, because you took a stupid risk and it didn't pay off," Duncan said, disappointed.

"You can't talk, you take risks everyday, robbing people!" Daniel accused.

"I know what I'm doing! It's hardly even risky anymore, I've got it down to an art," Duncan defended, wondering why he had to defend himself, when his brother was the one who got them into this mess. Daniel sighed.

"I know. That's why I need your help. You've got to get me out of this mess," Daniel pleaded. Duncan gave his brother a look of contempt.

"How the hell am I supposed to steal seven hundred and fifty gold pieces? I can't even steal that much in a year!" Duncan pointed out.

"You're not going to steal gold," Daniel informed him.

"Then what?" Duncan asked, bewildered.

"You're going to steal a person," Daniel said smugly.

"And what, substitute them for you, so they're the one who gets killed, not you?" Duncan said sarcastically.

"Are you really that thick? You're going to ransom them," Daniel explained. Duncan stared at him, wondering if he'd also gambled his brain away.

"Okay, a few things wrong with this plan. One, I don't know anyone rich enough to pay a seven hundred fifty gold piece ransom, two, where do I keep the captive while I'm waiting for the ransom, and three, this is a terrible idea and I'm not doing it." Duncan declared.

"Yes you are," Daniel disagreed. "You're going to keep the captive in DragonflameTower."

"The abandoned watch tower inhabited by an enormous green dragon?" Duncan questioned, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. And the person you'll be ransoming is the princess," Daniel said gleefully.

"No. Absolutely not. If I get caught they'll do a lot worse than throw me in prison," Duncan objected.

"But you said yourself, you've got it down to an art. You won't get caught," Daniel reminded him.

"That was stealing purses. People are completely different!" Duncan protested.

"They can't be that different," Daniel shrugged. Duncan was about to continue arguing with his brother, because while he wasn't always the most honest of men, kidnapping a princess didn't exactly sound like the kind of thing he was ready for. Plus there was the fact that getting caught would lead to certain death.

"Duncan, you will do this," his mother interrupted. Duncan couldn't believe his own ears. "It's the only way to help your brother and keep this family from starving to death." She said. Duncan looked up to see David standing in the bedroom door, looking scared, wondering what all the yelling was about. Duncan sighed and he knew he'd do whatever it took to look after his little brother.

Note - Welcome to my new story! I honestly have no idea how often I'll be able to update this, normally I update fairly frequently but I have a lot of uni stuff over the next few weeks and then I go on placement for 3 weeks, but hopefully I will be able to keep it up. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please review! xx