[b]"Piere Du'Tremere," [/b]Ricardo said glumly when Cydric completed his recounting of what he had found. The all sat in the converted store room sipping wine from a couple of bottles that Ricardo had produced. It wasn't great wine but it was a respectable enough vintage, peppery and not to sweet the way Imperial wine often was.

[b]"You know him?" [/b]Camilla asked with an arched eyebrow. Richardo took another pull from his bottle and made a sour face before sprining up from his chair.

[b]"Know of him is more like," [/b]Ricardo grumbled rummaging around in his papers before withdrawing a large canvas chart and spreading it on the table. The chart appeared to the layman to be a confused tangle of lines and what markings that were legible were written in Tilean. Camilla recognized it as a map of the thieves roads of Marienburg. She hadn't seen such a map since her youth when she had been with a young member of the thieves guild. The lines didn't mark regular roads but rather the routes which could be taken by night and by stealth. Some of the markings denoted paths over the roofs, others through quiet alleys or canals.

[b]"He is one of those merchants who when you ask 'what do they sell' no one seems to know,"[/b] Ricardo went on.

[b]"A smuggler?" [/b]Camilla questioned, squinting at the map.

[b]"A fence at least,"[/b] Ricardo conceded, [b]"I'll go pay our friend from across the water a visit tonight..."[/b]

[b]"Not alone you won't,"[/b] Camilla interjected, a little more sharply than she had intended. Ricardo looked pain.

[b]"Ucellina,"[/b] Ricardo began reasonably, [b]"you perhaps could do it but, well no disrespect to Cydric but he dosen't have the training for this type of thing, plus he is wounded."[/b] Camilla folded her arms beneath her breasts and arched any eyebrow.

[b]"So are you,"[/b] she pointed out, [b]"and someone has already tried to murder you once since you came to town."[/b] Ricardo looked like he might have been going to argue the point further but instead he threw up his hands in defeat. 
[b]
"Well lets hope we can find some clothes that fit."[/b]

______________________________________________________________________

An hour later the three of them were crossing the darkened roofs of Marienburg. Camilla was thankful that there was no moon and despite her earlier confidence, it had been years since she had been on a roof after dark. The had gotten onto the roof via a suspiciously convenient garret in the brothel and were making their way towards where Ricardo had told them the expensive town house of Piere Du'Tremere sat, over looking one of the larger canals. Camilla was in the lead scouting the way, Ricardo was in the rear with Cydric helping him with the unfamiliar task.

They made good time over the thieves highway. To her surprise Camilla found herself enjoying herself. So much of her life was about showing her self off and being conspicuous, it felt curiously liberating to slink across a dark rooftop under the light of the waning moon, the populace below oblivious to her passage. Suddenly she felt her skin tingle and she froze. For the briefest of moments she had a sense of uncomfortable scruitiny as though unseen eyes observed her and when she slowly turned her head she would have swore she caught a glimpse of a pale and beautiful face in a darkened window. By the time her mind registered the fact though the window as empty and the sensation of being observed retreated. Camilla let out a relived sigh, she was just being melodramatic. 

Twenty paces behind her Ricardo crept along beside Cydric, his face unreadable as he watched Camilla worm her way forward past a particularly low roofline. They had dressed in black provided by the ever resourceful Hilde. Camilla's clothing was a little loose, and Cydric's a little tight but they managed.

[b]"She is a marvel,"[/b] Ricardo murmured as Camilla coiled her body and leaped over a short street, made narrow by the imperial custom of building above the footprint of a structure. His voice had an odd quality about it, part admiration, part wistfulness.

[b]"She has a true talent for this, she could have been one of the best of us."[/b]

[@POOHEAD189]