Page 13 of The Hood and his Thief

An anticipatory silence fell over the table, broken by Joseph. “So how does a young man like yourself come to be running a circus?”

“It belonged to my father.” Mr. Blakely folded his hands carefully on the table in front of him. “When he passed five years ago, I knew he would want me to keep it running.”

“Ah, a family business,” Joseph nodded. “I’m sorry to hear of your father, though.”

A crash sounded from above them before Mr. Blakely could speak. Rhosyn’s gaze snapped to the ceiling above her, the chandelier quivering with the force of the noise. A hush fell over the assembled partygoers. Another crash, this time accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, and Rhosyn was on her feet.

Joseph was hot on her heels, as she darted through the crowded parlor towards the grand stairs in the entrance, cards forgotten on the table behind them. Hindered as she was by her dress, Joseph overtook her as they bounded up the stairs. They turned right at the top, in the direction of the noise.

Mr. Gower stood red-faced with a stricken expression on his face, the carnage of what appeared to have been a library around him. “There—When I… I came in and there was somebody here… They tried to attack me!”

“Which way did they go?” Joseph demanded, his commanding officer persona surfacing in the moment of chaos.

Mr. Gower pointed to the hallway behind them. As one, they turned and looked down the series of doors on the upper level.

“We didn’t pass them on the way up the stairs, so they must still be here,” Joseph thought out loud.

“I’ll sweep the rooms on the right, you get the ones on the left,” Rhosyn suggested. She took two steps down the hallway, before Joseph’s hand on her arm stopped her.

She turned and found him holding out a knife, handle first. She took it, observing it to be the flat kind that Nate wore no fewer than nine of beneath his clothes.

Rhosyn raised her brows at Joseph.

“I’ve picked up a thing or two,” he grumbled.

With that, they set off down the hallway. Rhosyn peeked into every darkened room she passed, looking for any wardrobes that could hide a thief or open windows that could serve as an escape route. The hilt of the knife was smooth and heavy in her palm as she held it in a reverse grip.

Looking into the third room, a guest bedroom by the looks of it, she was glad for the weapon in her grasp, although part of her itched for her trusty brass knuckles. She wasn’t as good with a knife as Nate, and it had been too long since she wielded anything but her police baton.

Every room Rhosyn glanced in appeared completely undisturbed, although the amount and opulence made Rhosyn’s head spin. All the children who had crammed into narrow bunks in the Lion’s Den could nearly have their own bedrooms here.

When she reached the last door on the right side, she paused. The modest-sized sitting room appeared deserted, but something about the stillness of the air drew Rhosyn further into the room. Her eye caught on a large fireplace along the far wall and her brow furrowed.

Scarlett had relayed a horrifying story about escaping up a chimney one time, and it flickered through Rhosyn’s mind now.

Maybe—

The open door slammed into Rhosyn, catching her in the temple and nearly knocking her to the ground. As she took a step to regain her balance, she tripped over her skirt and had to grab onto a nearby settee with her free hand to remain upright.

Her assailant took the moment to jump out from behind the door where he had been hiding. As he stepped into the beam of light coming in from the hallway, Rhosyn gasped.

“You!”

Standing in Mr. Gower’s sitting room was the Hood, complete with fabric covering nearly all of his face and a miniature crossbow strapped to his forearm. He pressed the advantage in Rhosyn’s moment of surprise, lashing out with a madcap right hook.

Rhosyn ducked, the blow barely missing her and wind from it ruffling her rapidly deteriorating hairstyle. As she sidestepped, she threw out an elbow, catching the Hood square in his stomach.

He let out a soft oomph but was not deterred, taking advantage of Rhosyn’s proximity to throw an upper cut. Rhosyn tried to dodge, but her skirts caught on the table behind her, and she couldn’t get completely out of the way in time. The blow glanced off her cheekbone, skittering across her temple.

A familiar ringing filled her ears from the impact. Rhosyn’s lips pulled back in an expression halfway between a grin and a snarl. She leaped forward as best she could, given the constraints of her current attire. Her fists flew in a series of rapid blows to Hood’s face and torso.

He blocked most of them with his forearms, but Rhosyn was too vicious a brawler and pummeled through his defenses, landing a solid blow to his shoulder.

The Hood staggered back, the grace with which he had scampered over rooftops disappearing in the face of Rhosyn’s assault. She prepared to leap, hoping to pin him to the ground and rip the covering from his face.

Before she could act, Joseph burst through the still open door, clearly drawn by the commotion. His appearance distracted Rhosyn just enough that she didn’t notice the Hood fish his hand into his pocket until it was too late.

Glass shattered as Hood threw a small vial to the ground, and immediately a thick smoke with an odd bluish tint filled the air. It nearly blocked the silhouettes of the two men from view as it billowed up from the ground.