“They are calling him the King of Thieves. I think he intends to claim every criminal guild in Ashai,” Marcum stated. “Look, there are other happenings, too … kingdom business that I am not privy to discuss with you all. This is one of the reasons I convinced Simeon to let his sons and daughter go to Skutton and why I have decided to allow Frisha to attend. This city may not be safe. The Raven has changed the way the guilds are working. Astonishingly, the everyday crime against commoners has dropped to almost nil, but wealthier houses are being targeted. In fact …” Marcum sighed. He hated to tell them, but he needed to emphasize the threat. “The Golden Trust Bank in Justain was robbed.”

“What!?” everyone shouted at once.

“That’s impossible!” Tam said. “It’s never been robbed. Even I know that, and I couldn’t even afford anything worth keeping there, much less afford an account.”

“How much was stolen?” Frisha asked with wide eyes.

“That is the strange part. Only two items were stolen from the safe deposit boxes. The money and treasures were not touched. It had to be the Raven, but I cannot imagine why he would go through so much trouble to break into the second most secure bank in the kingdom and not take a fortune.”

“How did he get in?” Tam asked excitedly. It reminded Frisha of his excitement over those books he would read as a kid … still read.

“They still have no idea how he did it. Even the mages are clueless. There was absolutely no evidence of his having been there except the fact that the two items were missing.” Marcum ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “We assume it was him since he was in Justain at the time, and it would have to be someone of considerable … no, inconceivable skill. Some are saying he did it just to prove he could. Others say those two items had to be worth a king’s ransom. One thing is for certain. News of the accomplishment has significantly aided his cause. Thieves tend to flock to either the strongest, most skilled leader or the fiercest. They are all terrified of the Raven, and they respect him.”

“What is the king doing about it?” Jimson asked.

Marcum flicked a glance at the captain but looked away when he said, “Nothing.”

Jimson’s jaw dropped. “Nothing?”

On the one hand, Rezkin was glad to hear that the king and his forces would not be interfering with his plans. On the other, it was disturbing that the monarch responsible for the welfare of the kingdom would not concern himself with the rise of a criminal overlord whose kingdomwide influence could undermine and destabilize the reigning institutional power structure and ultimately result in the development of an insidious demagogical paradigm that could infiltrate and overturn the entire monarchy.