What started as a perfectly nice day was turning into a recipe for disaster, and not the kind Zericho enjoyed.

The sky was clear, the sun had just risen, and the birds were chatting almost as loudly as the gathered crowd. Having nobles and commoners together like this was rare, especially in the Calla Circle, but to Zericho's surprise, there seemed to be as many conversations going between the two groups as there were confined to one status or the other.

In fact, Zericho seemed to be one of the only people not taking advantage of the day's events to exercise her social abilities; even her brothers, like the dimwits they were, had abandoned their positions and were mingling with the masses. So much for scouting out the situation from multiple angles.

And as if the stars had aligned to make her life miserable, standing right next to Zericho was none other than Prince Stuck-Up himself, the spoiled-est of brats, the idiot extraordinaire: Calla Annavhe, second child of House Calla, and the single most out-of-touch member of the human species.

He stood in a dark suit far too thick for the warm weather, with his shoulders rolled back past the point of comfort, chin lifted, and straight brown hair hanging past his shoulders as if to emphasize how little he went out; it was like he didn't realize that long hair hadn't been a distinguishing feature of the noble class in nearly a half decade.

He was the actual last person Zericho felt like being near at the moment, and he didn't seem to have any intention of going away.

But that was all fine. It wasn't like having an immediate member of the Circle's ruling House standing right next to her would interfere with her plan to steal a different noble's prized possession. Nor would the inattentiveness of her accomplices. And nor would the fact that the hearing was already half an hour behind schedule, and the prisoners hadn't even arrived.

Zericho figured she may as well declare success right now.

"Clear the way!" a harsh voice barked.

Finally.

The crowd's chatter quieted as everyone shuffled to the sides, clearing the main street. A moment later, the procession of prisoners came into view, led by the Circle's guard captain and a half dozen of her underlings. Behind them was the actual prison cart — just one this time, with three ragged-looking people peering out from the bars atop the solar-powered wagon. Ragged, but not broken, which was surprising; the fire still burning in their eyes made Zericho feel for them in a way she usually didn't.

Following behind the cart was... was that the royal executioner?

From the nervous murmurs that began to spread through the crowd, Zericho figured she wasn't the only one surprised. This was a trial, yes, but the worst sentence expected was an extended time in prison, not execution.

The man walked with his usual stiff, heavy stride, but the axe was missing from his back. Even weirder, the infamous blue and gray mechanical snake that always accompanied him was also nowhere to be seen.

"What's he doing here?" a voice muttered from beside Zericho. A second later, she realized it belonged to Calla Annavhe, which only concerned her more; if he hadn't heard about this, she really had no idea what to expect.

The cart pulled to a stop in front of the temporary wooden stage that had been set up at the end of the street, and Zericho stopped paying attention.

Time to salvage what we can of this.

Lord Silveress was on the opposite side of the street, which should have given Darshek and Lief a good shot, if they'd stuck to their positions like they were supposed to. Instead, they were both positioned to one side of the lord, giving him a large window of escape.

Zericho found Darshek's light green eyes, first giving him a hard glare and then jerking her head to the side. He bit his lip apologetically, moving in the direction she'd gestured.

"You do the handoff like we planned," she heard Lief's voice say in her head. "Darshek can still get around him."

She nodded once. To give them all a better angle to pull off their theft — and to distance herself from the Calla lord — she started making her way to the side, doing her best to push between people without jostling them too much. The real pushing would come later.

As she moved, she gave in to her curiosity a bit and let herself focus on the prisoners' trials again. It didn't look good for the people in question; the guard captain was reading out their long list of crimes in a barking voice, probably making them sound even worse than they were. Most of it was thievery, but coupled with assisting an attempted raid on a small town, it sounded like they'd caused the Circle a fair amount of trouble.

"And so, in the name of House Calla and the Circle it is sworn to govern, and in the name of the Queen and the Sun Flag, I sentence you to six more years of imprisonment, and you will be moved to the Royal Dungeon," the captain declared finally, rolling up the list of crimes and handing it to one of her underlings.

Most of the crowd cheered. The one thing commoners and nobles had in common was a dislike of criminals.

No executions, then.

"Darshek's in position."

Zericho made it to near the front of the crowd, taking a second to make sure she had the layout of everything in her head.

"Escort the prisoners back to House Calla and prepare them for transport to the Capital," the captain ordered.

"Hey!" Lord Silveress' voice rang out. There was shuffling across the road, and Zericho saw Darshek pushing his way through the people, almost to the front of the crowd opposite the road with a green gem necklace clutched in his fist.

"Thief! A thief took my necklace!" the lord's indignant voice hollered, and the chaos finally started in full force. People pushed out into the road in an attempt to get away from the supposed thief, instead carrying the thief with them. As people bolted every which way, Zericho dashed across the street toward the frenzied crowd. She pushed in, felt something pressed into her hand, and transferred it to the other. A loud thump and a startled shout came from somewhere in the stage's direction. At a thought from Lief, Zericho jumped to the left, finally finding the second brother and slipping the necklace into his hand as he crossed in the other direction.

Somewhere, a low, rumbling snarl cut under the shouts.

Zericho spun around just in time to see someone go flying — actually flying through the air, as if the human body were no more than paper. The shouts turned into genuine screams now, and she felt herself being carried backward in the torrent of people. She just saw a crow flapping away in her peripheral vision before she was turned around completely, clawing at random articles of clothing in an attempt to stay on her feet. There was an abrupt avian squawk, more screams, and then her feet finally fumbled and she found herself on the ground, hip aching where it had hit the cobbles.

Heaving for breath, Zericho sat up, swiping a lock of short jet black hair from her eyes.

A massive black paw hit the ground in front of her with a hollow clang.

Zericho stilled, gaze tracking up the shining metal to the beast's catlike face. Emerald green fangs and glowing ruby eyes stared back at her. Another low tone shook the ground, somewhere between an old gas engine's rumble and a true feline roar.

An Aster.

"Quasar!" a voice barked.

The machine swiveled its head around, moving with a weight greater than that of any natural cat.

"Back off. She's not a guard." The voice took on a pointed tone as it added, "Just an incredible nuisance."

The beast cocked its head, green-spiked tail thrashing with a screech and leaving scratch marks across the cobblestone.

"I said, back off."

Somehow moving in a way that looked reluctant, the creature rose up on its hind paws, twisting around and bounding away.

Zericho's eyes followed it as it stopped next to a man, padding around him and thrashing its tail against the road again. Its shoulders nearly came above the man's head, but the way he stood still as the creature moved around him made him seem almost as intimidating. That, and the unsettling stone black eyes that regarded Zericho with anger.

Shaking her head, Zericho pushed her palms to the ground and climbed to her feet. By now, almost everyone else had cleared the area completely. "Hey!" she called at the man, taking a few steps forward and trying to ignore the cat. "What do you think you're doing, buddy?"

"I'm springing my crew before they get hauled back to the dungeons. Or I was, anyway." He crossed his arms, letting an engraved golden band on his finger catch the sunlight.

"Well, I was pulling off a perfectly good theft until you decided to get in the way," she countered. No way does this guy think this is his territory.

His stone black eyes flitted over her shoulder for a second, before he shrugged and said, "Better luck next time."

"Yeah, right. If you hadn't been here-"

Ignoring her completely, the man grabbed the neck of his Aster, swinging himself up onto its back. He leaned forward, and the creature spun around, taking off in the opposite direction.

A pair of gloved hands roughly grabbed Zericho's shoulders.

"Get off!" she snapped, squirming. Twisting around, she saw a guard helmet, emblazoned with House Calla's seal.

He didn't even warn me. The asshole.

"Unhand her," a new voice ordered, this one in a lower, richer tone.

The guard warily loosened her grip, and Zericho turned around indignantly, freezing when she came face-to-face with none other than Calla Annavhe.

"Name?" the young lord demanded.

Zericho opened her mouth to explain why it was none of his business, but paused at the guard's stern look. By the Dark Stars. "Fen Zericho," she grumbled.

The lord nodded. "Zericho. I'm Calla Annavhe."

"Yeah, I know."

His eyebrows twitched down, lips tugging into a frown. Apparently, he'd never been spoken to like that. Letting out a long breath, he continued, "And you're some sort of thief?"

"Nope."

Annavhe actually blinked before scowling. "That wasn't a question. You're obviously a thief. I saw you help the guy who stole Lord Silveress' necklace."

"Then why did you ask?"

When the lord's eyes hardened, she cringed, knowing she was digging herself into a deeper and deeper hole. If he was ever considering letting me go, he's not anymore. Sighing, she asked, "Am I being arrested?"

Annavhe crossed his arms, glaring at her. "Yes." Then, as if he could hardly bear to admit it, he quietly added, "That, and I might need your help."