He screeched again, but Henry shushed him. “Just get us out of here, will ya? Before they decide to hang me early.”
“You’re lucky your mother found me and told me about your predicament.”
“Well, you wouldn’t have had to come at all, if they didn’t decide to lock me up in here after the two times I escaped the criminal holdings,” he grumbled.
I glanced at Tasha’s chains, and couldn’t help the laugh bubbling out of me. “What were they going to do? Hang Tasha, too?”
The monkey glanced away, looking ashamed as Henry explained that Tasha had gone on a rampage, biting and screeching until they finally just chained him to get him off.
“I imagine that right now they’re making a little noose just for you, Tash.”
His brown eyes narrowed on me.
“What kind of chains are these?” I asked.
“Standard. No magic.”
I pulled two pins designed for lock-picking out of a braid in my hair, handing one to each criminal. I never knew when I would have to get Henry out of a mess—or myself—and it was best to be prepared.
They both got to work while I glanced around the small room with crates of fabric, silverware, and candles. They put pickpockets in their storage room? Thankfully, Symbia really did have a lazy magistrate and even lazier king’s guards. I never thought I’d be on the criminal side of things, but the times had changed.
“What did you do with the guards out front?” Henry asked as he got to his feet. “You didn’t knock them out, did you? That stuff gives a worse aching head than a barrel of ale the night before.”
Henry and I had an unspoken agreement: he never questioned me about my magic, and I always saved him when needed. I would have done it anyway, but at least the kid was smart enough not to go blabbing about magic in a city that had it outlawed.
“And you, being seven, know that how?” I asked.
He shrugged. “It’s what I heard.”
“No, I didn’t use it on your favored king’s guards. Knew you’d be a little touchy about it.”
“They let me go for pickpocketing once. That short one only boxed me on the ear. Just repaying the favor is all.”
Uh huh, and I was Queen. I’d seen him trailing the two guards around with puppy dog eyes. “No, it’s called hero worship, and you’re enamored,” I said as we headed out the door, stepping over the guard slumped on the floor. I gave Tasha a disapproving look when he stopped to dig around in the man’s pocket, pulling out a couple of coins with a shine in his eyes.
“You know, Tash, I heard the cook in this house treats monkey stew like a delicacy.”
His brown eyes widened to saucers.
A moment later as we walked down the hall, a crash came from the kitchens followed by the cook’s shouts, and Tasha about jumped out of his skin. I laughed, receiving a dirty glare from a monkey in return.
A servant ran out of the kitchens, stopping in the hall when she saw us; her eyes were wide as she stood frozen to the floor. Symbia’s lack of a magistrate of competence meant an immense criminal populace, but at the least slavery was banned. We were the main port city, so slaves were often traded from ship to ship or headed to different locations, but to a certain extent, I didn’t have to live surrounded by that atrocity.
“Good evening, missus,” Henry said, giving her the most charming smile he had. The kitchen maid nodded shakily as we walked past her.
“You’re a manipulative little thing,” I told him as we walked out the front door.
He smirked. “Gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Mm hmm. And that’s what your momma’s gonna tell you when she tans your hide for getting yourself into this mess when you get home.”
He scoffed. “I’m a man. She wouldn’t dare.”
I rolled my eyes. This little man seemed to have an ego as large as a Titan’s. Not that I’d met more than two, but I was speculating they were all very much the same.
“What have you done with the guards?” Henry asked, seeing no sign of them in the front of the home. “They aren’t going to be happy with me if you’ve turned them into woodland creatures.”
“Not really how it works, Henry, but . . . look up.”