Again! Nathan complied, slamming his fist into the bag again and again. Two hours later in his room he had enough, climbing out the window Nathan dropped soundlessly to the ground and melted into the shadows.
As he walked down Main Street he saw one of his teachers, quickly ducked into an open door and watched as his teacher turned and walked to a booth. \"What are you doing young lad?\" a voice said. Nathan spun around and stepped back into a fighting stance.
He saw a man standing at the bottom of a set of stairs looking at him. \"What is it to you?\" Nathan asked. The man chuckled \"well for one your in my place.\" Nathan grinned sheepishly and shrugged, \"I\'m trying to hide from someone.\"
\"Why?\"
\"Because if I don\'t then my teacher will see me and take me back to the temple.\"
\"Which temple?\"
\"The brothers of the moon.\"
\"And why did you run away?\"
\"They push me too hard.\"
The man chuckled again and asked if Nathan wanted to come upstairs. Nathan looked out the door and saw his teacher approaching a booth next to him. He turned and nodded to the man.
The room upstairs was bathed in soft light from several lanterns and candles. The right side of the room contained around fifteen circular tables chairs neatly drawn up, one table was occupied by four men playing what Nathan guessed was poker. The left side of the room consisted of an open area and a long table In the centre of the table was an elaborately carved chair covered in a white glittering material, Nathan guessed it was tusk. Directly across from him was a door.
Nathan looked at the 4 men playing poker in the corner. \"What is this place?\" he asked. The men looked up and laughed, one commented \"didn\'t tell him who you are, did you Richard? We are the thieves guild, the only one in the city that escapes the law son.\" Nathan started back away but Richard grabbed his hand and led him to a table. \"We aren\'t going to hurt or rob you, you have problems and we\'re going to help you. Do you want to learn several useful skills?\"
\"If you expect me to help you steal from the poor, think again!\"
Richard shook his head, \"we might steal but we don\'t hurt the poor. And we don\'t need your help.\"
\"Why should I believe you?\"
\"You shouldn\'t.\"
\"What!\"
\"don\'t believe anything you hear until you get proof.\"
\"So if you don\'t need my help why did you take me up here?\"
\"Because I have the Sight, Richard replied, \"it shows me that you are an important asset to have for the future. I am willing to train you in the thieves way if you also go back to the temple.\"
\"Are you crazy!!\"
\"No, they probably don\'t know you left so they cant punish you. During the day you train under them for unarmed combat, healing and whatever else they teach. During the night, when you can come here safely, I\'ll train you in armed combat, pick pocketing, lock picking, and all the other useful skills. I\'ll expect no favours from you and I wont ask you to break the law.\"
Nathan looked at Richard for a long time.
\"How do you know so much about me?\"
\"I don\'t know all that much about you, just about the Brothers of the Moon. You have three braids; you are almost done your training, although you didn\'t know that. You wont get caught because they never check if you are in your room, if you get seen in the streets by one of you\'re teachers at night nothing will happen. I know your almost done training and that you don\'t want to stay in the same place forever. The Sight you see.\"
Nathan thought about what happened that night as he made his way to the temple. He decided to go back and learn from Richard,
after all, I\'m not breaking the law by training under him and it\'s always useful to learn new skills my teachers tell me, so I\'m going back. With this thought he climbed into his room, and collapsed into bed.
The next morning he was called to the office of the head of the temple. Nathan walked to the office scared to death at what might happen. The secretary told Nathan that Brother Nako would be back in a moment and to go sit in his office. The room was decorated but not overly so, tapestries were hanging on the walls and the ceiling was painted like the night sky. Nathan could see all the planets in detail and the stars seemed to go on forever. The desk was covered with small carvings and the room smelled like the outdoors. Light came from the ceiling and several candles placed in niches along the wall. The door opened silently and Brother Nako walked in. \"Greetings Nathan,\" Brother Nako said. \"Glad you made it here on time. I\'m going to tell you what is going to happen to you. This is the first and last time I will talked to you about your future here. You can remain here and receive training so you can train new Brothers, or go out into the world, you can always come back if you haven\'t broken our rules. You have passed all your tests. You have two weeks to decide whether to stay or leave.\" Nathan sat in shock as Brother Nako stopped talking and started shuffling papers around his desk. \"I\'ll go into the world,\" he said several minutes later. Brother Nako looked up and nodded, \"I wish you well, goodbye.\"
Nathan ran to his room and packed his few belongings. He then headed out the gate and went straight to the thieves inn.
There was an old man wiping down the tables when Nathan arrived.
\"Is Richard around?\" Nathan asked.
\"No, he had to leave town for a while. Are you Nathan?\"
\"yes\"
\"He said that if you came to stay you can sleep in an upper room and he\'ll start training you in combat when he comes back. He also might send you out with a young thief into the kingdom to gather information so be ready to leave at any time.\"
