Prologue

Time had lost all meaning to Riley. She didn’t know when night had fallen on the port town of Cape Haven, but it felt like an eternity since she last saw daylight. She had been running for her life for hours now, and she had no idea if she was any closer to getting away, since this chase had started. Her legs ached, and every muscle in her body begged her to stop, but she knew to stop, would likely mean death. She knocked over a barrel, shoved the contents of carts onto the street, anything to slow her pursuer down. Normally she wouldn’t attract this much attention to herself. All this noise she was making would just make it easier to follow her, but she knew it made no difference in this chase. 
Right now, putting distance between him was her only hope. She hadn’t lost hope yet. This was the most intense chase she had ever been in. No pursuer had ever kept up with her this long, and none was as deadly. But she knew this town. Home field advantage had to give her an edge. All she had to do, was find one of her hidey holes. She had plenty of hiding spots in this town that no one knew of. However every chance she had, she was cut off by impeccable bad luck. She hadn’t been here in a few years, and things have shifted around, making her usual spots blocked off. She felt like her legs would give out at any moment, when finally, a chance! Finally, and open alleyway that wasn’t blocked off, one that was always reliable for disappearing. 
She practically slid into the narrow opening, that was barely noticeable from the street. She squeezed past the narrow section where poor building planning brought two walls too close together, into a larger section where they two building spread out. She only had to take a few steps to realize something was wrong. A warmth touched her face as she slipped into the alley. The Alley was well lit up, more so than she remembered. Did they add a torch back here? No, she wasn’t so lucky. At the far end of the alley, where she would normally exit, a large, ominous bonfire roared dangerously, lapping at the stonework of the two opposite buildings. There was no way through that. She looked around, there were hidey holes around here somewhere, cracks in the building that she could hide in. She placed her hand on the walls, and frowned. They were brand new. Not a single crack, or even a scratch on freshly painted walls. The buildings fronts were exactly the same though, why were these particular walls fixed? Her heart sank, as she slowly gazed up. Push came to shove, she could scale the walls to the rooftops. 
A realization finally hit her, as she spotted the barbed wire lining the edges of the roofs. This couldn’t have been just bad luck. No one is this unlucky. Her hand shook, as she stepped away from the wall. She felt someone’s presence. She had been led here. How could she not have realized it sooner? Guided straight to a dead end. But not just any dead end. This spot was special. Only one person would have guided her here. She knew the identity of her assassin now. All this time she thought it was some faceless mercenary out for a paycheck. And all this time it was personal all along. 

“Pip... “ She whispered, the name stinging her lips. “You’re a lot taller than I remember you.” Her voice was a lot more confident than she felt. She turned to face the figure at the entrance of the alley with her one good eye. How long was he standing there? Did he have a chance at her this whole time? Of course, he didn’t want to kill her with a knife in the back. He wanted to face her face to face. 
The assassin, Pip, snickered as he moved into the light. He was indeed a lot taller than the last time she saw him. Pip’s face was obscured by a red mask, and hood. But she knew, behind that mask, that egomaniacal smirk was on his face. She gritted her teeth, hand reaching for her sword. Pip’s own sword was out in a flash. 
“What gave me away?” Pip asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He didn’t sound like she remembered him. His accent was different. But that was him. 
“This alleyway... You herded me here.” She answered. Pip started to approach her. 
“Ah, so you noticed. This is where it all began, no?” His voice was definitely different. More educated, it had a high class flourish to it. Their swords clashed. Riley held Pip’s sword high, staring him face to face. She noticed they were about the same height now. 
“It was you, this whole time. Not just chasing me tonight, but... “ She was cut off, as Pip nearly cut her. A dagger from his sleeve nearly sliced her stomach. She jumped back disengaging him, before kneeling, and thrusting at Pip. His sword caught hers, sliding it aside, before he planted a firm kick to her stomach, knocking her back, and the wind out of her lungs. Riley struggled for air, as she backed up towards the fire behind her. 
“At your neck every chance I get? Of course killing you wouldn’t have been enough. I had to hit you where it hurt.” He said, slashing at her. She barely had time to deflect it, let alone parry. 
“Your greed. Your money. Making sure none of your contracts were successful. Every mark, every purse, every coin, gone before you could steal it. In my own pockets, my dear.” He said, excitement raising in his voice, as they did their deadly dance, Riley barely able to keep up. The chase had winded her, but Pip seemed completely fresh. 
“And... How many people did you kill to get to me? Was it worth it? All the lives to make up for some slight in the past?” She asked, feeling her back practically against the wall. 
“Some slight?” Pip questioned. “Some slight!?” He growled, calm demeanor vanishing. Riley’s back went from practically to the wall, to literally. She raised her sword in defence, but with an angry flash, Pip easily disarmed her. Riley had a feeling Pip was only playing games with her. She quickly reached for her dagger, a last line of defence. She pulled it from the sheath, than... Dropped it. She barely felt the pain. Her body already was screaming in agony, a little more pain felt like only a pinch. But now Pip was face to face with her. She placed her hand on her stomach, and cut herself on Pip’s sword as she felt it impaling her to the wall behind her. Her left hand clung desperately to Pip’s shoulder, as her legs tried to give out. Falling on the sword would just make it cut deeper, and Riley was clinging to every inch of life left. 
“You brought this on yourself. Where did you think this would end?” Pip asked, staring her down. Riley laughed softly, before coughing up blood. 
“Oh I don’t know. You were so small than. I don’t think I expected this much from you.” She slumped a bit, clinging to him, shaking. She didn’t want to die. She was too young for this, but she felt her consciousness slipping away rapidly. 
“How long ago was it?” She asked, looking up at him weakly. 
“Exactly fifteen years ago... “ Pip answered. “Right here... At this spot.”

Chapter 1
Fifteen years ago

Pip’s jaw clicked, as he stumbled onto the floor. He rubbed his jaw, and groaned. 
“Stop crying like a bitch!” He uncle spat at him. Pip spit blood on the floor, and slowly stood up again. His head was spinning. It wasn’t the hardest hit his drunken uncle had given him, but hunger didn’t make the beatings easier. 
Pip flinched, as sunlight hit his face. He had wandered outside without realizing it. He needed fresh air anyway. Pip was short, even by mouse standards, and for a thirteen year old one at that. Short cut, ruffled white hair poked out between his two large ears. His eyes were determined, and a soft blue. His clothing was patchworked, at best. A vest hid little of his lean, skinny upper body, and dusty brown leather pants was probably more patchwork, than leather at this point. Neither fit him very well, the vest too small, showing off more of his body than it should, his pants too big, and needed to be held up by rope. He had somehow managed to actually get some boots that fit him, and were his most prized possessions. Not having to worry about tripping over your own feet, or stepping on something sharp was very helpful in his line of “work”.
 Hs stomach growled, reminding him of the last time he had ate. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, or rather two conveniently placed holes that he hadn’t bothered to patch up, and headed towards the market place. He didn’t have a coin to his name, but today was Friday. 
The Equine would be in the marketplace today, distracting everyone with their wares. He took the turn that led into the wide street, and sure enough his gaze was greeted with the heart shaped ass of one of the Equine’s “wares”. He squeezed around the Feline slave, sticking close to the brickwork walls. Nearby, a large brown furred Equine was, as usual for Fridays, advertising the many slaves for sale. All exotic beauties, from foreign lands. There were certainly foreign races in the bunch, but none actually exotic. Perhaps he forgot that this was a harbor town, and all sorts of folk traveled through here. 
Pip didn’t look at anything. To do so would to mark him as a potential buyer, and draw attention to him. Instead, he stared at the ground, and counted his footsteps. After counting a few steps, and reached to his right without looking. Nothing. He took ten more steps, and quickly reached out. This time, he felt a wooden cart. Close. He took another step, and quickly reached out again, this time grabbing some sort of fruit. 
He didn’t look what it was, only quickly slid it into his “pocket”, while continuing to walk a block. When he was out of site of the fruit vender, and leaned against a wall, and actually took a look at what he stole. He smiled, and peeled away the skin of the banana. He scarfed it all down fairly quickly, licking his lips, and his fingers, before dropping the peel on the ground. 
One banana was hardly enough, so once again he began counting footsteps, blindly grabbing at thin air, until finally, he found his hand in another fruit stand. This fruit didn’t go easily however. He frowned, and looked at what he was grabbing. He was trying to one hand an entire melon! His gaze went to the melon he had tried to steal, up to the tall Rodent stall owner who was now looking at him. He frowned a Pip, and crossed his arms. Pip smiled, slowly reached over with his left hand, and yanked the melon away, before dashing off down the street. 
Behind him the Rodent was calling for guards, yelling “Thief! Thief!” Pip quickly turned a corner, before coming to a quick stop, as two city watchmen blocked his path. One was Equine, the other a Feline. This really was a mixed city. They looked at him, than at the melon he was holding, before reaching for their swords. Pip smiled, turned, and started running the other way. 
The two watchmen right behind him, waving their swords about, yelling at people to get out of their way as they forced their way through the packed narrow street. Pip didn’t have to force his way through the crowd. His small size allowed him to slip between people easily. 
Pip knocked the contents of a stall onto the street, causing people to move about awkwardly, further slowing down the two, but they started to become more aggressive, roughly shoving people out of their way in order to catch up, but the big Equine’s foot caught onto one of the trinkets spilled onto the ground, and he went tumbling over, with the smaller one falling over him. 
Pip used this chance, to slip into an alleyway. Confident he escaped, he slowed down to catch his breath. However he looked over his shoulder, to make sure he had made his escape. It was while he wasn’t looking, when someone ran right into him.

Chapter 3: A chance encounter

.	Riley came to a screening halt when she walked into someone. She had been so busy watching her back, she didn’t bother to watch her front. She quickly looked down, and was relieved that it was just a boy. The horrible sound of metal scraping against stonework brought her attention back behind her. The guards that had been chasing her were actually trying to squeeze their way through the narrow passage that led into the alleyway. 
She grabbed the boy before he could move away, and yanked him into a dark alcove broken into the crumbling wall. She didn’t need him telling them where she was hiding. She pressed the young rodent’s face just under her breasts. That should at least keep him distracted, as the group of guards finally pushed their way into the alleyway, and ran right past the two. Once the cost was clear, she finally let the boy go. He stumbled back, his face a dark red, as he struggled for breath. Riley smirked, it was kind of cute. She climbed out of the alcove herself, double checking to make sure there were no stragglers. The boy was about to run away, before turning to look at him sternly.
	Riley was a young woman, of sixteen, and a feline. Her fur mostly jet black, besides a few slivers of dyed purple fur, and hair. Her outfit consisted of form fitting, dark purple silk, that did well to show off some of her body. A scarf hung about her neck loosely, used previously to hide her face in her previous heist. Two dark purple eyes, which matched her outfit nicely, stared sternly at the pint sized mouse.

	“Give it back.” She told him. The boy wiggled in her grip, scowling at her.

	“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The boy replied, giving her a rather obviously guilty smile, as he tried to pull his wrist free from her.

	Riley growled, and yanked him back. Her hand suddenly reached down the front of his pants.

	“H-Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” He exclaimed, his face glowing.

	Riley pulled out a deep dark, Red jewel, and held it in front of the boy. She was suppose to be the thief, yet this runt nearly lifted a jewel off her that was worth the price of a fleet of ships.

	“This, is mine.” She said, stuffing the jewel into her cleavage, before finally letting the boy go.

	The boy huffed, glaring at Riley.
	“Sure it is, you probably stole that too. Not that I can blame you. That thing must be worth a full bag full of gold!” He exclaimed, grinning. “Where did you lift it from?”
	Riley rolled her eyes. It was worth a lot more than that. She turned away, and jumped onto the wall, beginning to easily scale it, leaving the boy alone in the alleyway.

Chapter 4: The Master Thief.

	Pip watched in awe, as the women so easily climbed the wall. As she went, he couldn’t take his eyes off her ass, with how that outfit hugged it. He swallowed, feeling his heart leap. 
“I’m in love... “ Pip muttered to himself. He snapped to his senses when she made it to the top, and disappear. No way was he gonna let the love of his life just vanish like that. He ran to the wall, staring up it. It seemed a lot higher from this close. He sucked in a breath, and grabbed a hand hold, hoisting himself up, with a good deal of resistance. He made his climb a lot less graceful than the girl he was watching. However he managed to make his way up the wall, slowly but surely. By the time he did manage to crawl over the wall, he had to roll over the edge, sucking in a breath of air. She must have been a thousand miles away by now, he thought as he stared up at the sky.
	“That took you long enough... “ Came the woman’s voice. Pip quickly sat up, gaze shooting towards her. He quickly picked himself up, and dusted himself off. He put his left hand at his hip, while cleaning the fingernails of his right hand in an attempt to look casual.
	“Oh, well, you know... Want to take my time. Not like I’m in any rush.” Pip said, trying to act cool. He was failing miserably. The woman laughed, shaking her head, as she stood up, and walked over to Pip.
	“Really now? Cause you look a little winded.” She said, slapping a hand on his head, and ruffling his hair. Pip’s eyes widened, and he quickly pushed her hand away. A bit of a pout appearing on his lips, before the women offered her hand to him. “Riley... “ She introduced herself. Pip hesitated, staring at her hand in surprise, before slowly taking it. 
“Uh, I’m Pip. So.... “ Pip glanced back, feeling a bit dizzy when he looked over the edge of the wall.
	“How’d you get up here so fast?” He asked, looking back up at Riley.
	Riley smirked, pinching at Pip’s cheek, while snickering. 
	“Cute... “ She said casually. Pip felt his chest seize up.
	“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I teach you a few things?” She offered. Pip’s eyes widened at the offer, and he quickly nodded his head.
	“Really!? You would!?” He said excitedly, before taking a deep breath, calming down.
	“Uh.. I mean, yeah... Sure, that’d be cool.” He said, trying to suppress his excitement. Riley grinned, putting an arm around Pip’s shoulders, and yanking him to her side, gripping his shoulder tightly.
	“Sure! You can be my apprentice! However, you’ll have to call me Mistress Riley from now on, got it?” She said. Pip returned her grin.
	“Of course, Riley! Erm, I mean Mistress Riley!” He said, bowing his head.
	Riley let go of Pip’s shoulder, and instead grabbed his hand, pulling him along behind her.
	“Alright, first things first! Lets get you some better clothing!” She exclaimed, as Pip stumbled about behind her. Pip gaped a bit, before he found her voice again.
	“N-New clothing?... “