A swishy pointer slapped down across the curvaceous flesh of a buxom young woman projected against a white wall. The mustachioed officer strode back in front of his men, waggling his pointy rod for additional emphasis.

"How do you solve a problem like the Minkes?" he began his briefing in serious tones.

"Harpoon 'em," a guard grunted from the back of the room, arousing chortles of amusement from his fellow guards.

"This is NOT a. joke!" The officer silenced the assembled men with a staccato bark, and then began listing the crimes of the Minkes, so as not to leave anyone in doubt as to the quality of foe they were up against.

They were a series of crimes and thefts so bold, so daring that even the most hardened of the guards had to force themselves not to gasp in reluctant admiration. There was the great diamond heist of Suliksalar, in which a hundred thousand dollars worth of precious jewels had been stolen by the sisters, who had cleverly posed as a donkey and carried the jewels out in their saddlebags. There was the sacking of Supremurk, in which the sisters had donned wet suits and swum upstream under cover of darkness to steal an entire year's yeast supply. Then there was the notorious Whyne Agenda, in which criminal records had been burned atop a pyre of stolen judge's wigs. The Minke sisters were the worst kind of thieving anarchists Illirhellir had ever known and they were to be dealt with, swiftly and thoroughly.

Young Adele Minke sat crouched on the corner of a high ledge outside the briefing room, listening to the litany of crimes with a half smile on her pale lips. Her glossy dark shoulder length hair had been bound up at the top of her head to keep it out of her eyes and out of her way. On a corresponding tower several blocks across the old stone city of Illirhellir, she could see the glinting of sunlight shining across the void, sprung formlessly across the air by the glass knife her older sister Mardoll twisted skillfully in her leather bound hand.

A frown blemished the skin of the young woman. It was the sort of frown no pretty young thing should have to wear, but it was far from the first frown she had ever frowned. Already the lines of many frowns past were tracing themselves into Adele's alabaster forehead.

As amusing as it was to hear cohorts of strong men rumbling with disbelief, the fact that the city guards had been informed of their presence was not a good thing. That rather ruined the element of surprise. Stealing the book would be much more difficult now.

Having heard enough, she stepped lightly into the void and tumbled down, catching another ledge on the way past with all the easy grace of a Capuchin. A shuffle here, a drop there and in a matter of less than a minute, Adele had escaped the scene noiselessly and entirely undetected – or so she thought.



Whilst most of the city had turned an entirely blind eye to her rooftop antics, Adele had not escaped the notice of all the city's inhabitants. As her shapely rear disappeared around the corner, a tall, well built fellow who had been standing on a crumbling stone ledge of the old Law building not twenty feet away smiled a flashing cruel smile. It was a smile of genuine pleasure that reached his ice blue eyes, briefly transforming his expression into something that resembled humanity and warmth.

Looking down at his brawny forearm, he twisted his timepiece three degrees to the right and spoke into it. "Did you see that?"

A brass piece in his ear crackled into life. "God yes. Follow her, man!"

The good natured expression faded from the fellow's face and he become thoroughly predatory once more as he stepped off his ledge and plummeted straight down towards the ground, held only by a strong iron cable that took his weight admirably. He landed on the street and unclipped himself, eliciting gasps of surprise and inevitable admiration from the passersby who had not been expecting a heavily armed, incredibly debonair hero to drop amongst them.

A woman clutched at his sleeve, arresting his progress and he turned for a moment to glare at her in irritation.

"Frederich Hanz? I can't believe it's you!" She simpered at him, her ruby red lips agape in adoration.

Under other circumstances Frederich might have been more charming. He might have smiled and engaged in a little light banter, he might have autographed her handkerchief. On this occasion he had no time for such pleasantries. He quickly took her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.

"Excuse me milady, I am on business."

He left her with a flickering wink that made her swoon against her thoroughly put out male companion and attempted to work out where the Minke had gone.

Unfortunately, when he rounded the corner, there was no sign of the daring young woman. She had melted into the city, perhaps into the very walls, as the Minkes were rumored to have the ability to do. But Frederich harbored no such supernatural beliefs. There was a perfectly logical explanation for the way the Minkes appeared and disappeared at will and it could be summed up in two words – talent and desperation.

"Lost her, brother," he informed his watch.

"Ah, never mind, we'll get 'em later," Seph drawled back. Frederich shook his head. If the situation had been reversed, if Seph had been the one to be distracted by a pretty lady, he'd have torn strips off his younger brother. But Seph always had been more laid back – and he wasn't the sort of fool to start a fight with his older, much bigger, brother.



When Adele returned to their secret lair Mardoll was waiting for her with more bad news. Adele did not know how she had arrived there so quickly, Adele fancied herself speedy, but Mardoll's speed seemed to on occasion defy the laws of physics. That was because Mardoll did not rely solely on her well toned rump and thighs to propel her about the place, but instead on native trickery and wiles, and a nose for finding secret ways.

"Things are about to get difficult, Dally." There was a perverse grin of pleasure on Mardoll's porcelain features and Adele knew that in spite of the tense tone with which she was conducting their private briefing, her older sister was once more thrilling to the sport of evasion. "They've sent the hunters after us. There was one after you, but you gave him the slip." She fingered the brilliant tip of her glass knife with dark intent in her eyes. "Fortunately for him."

Adele's expression reflected pure confusion. She'd been seen? She hadn't noticed anyone following her. Cold fingers began to play about her spine, having been followed without knowing it was very, very bad.

"Hunters?"

Mardoll slammed an open manila folder down on the charred table that stood between them. It had once been a rather nice piece of carved Westland work, but now it barely managed to hold itself together. The edges of the table were entirely ash and though the center was still strong, the entire table top leaned to the side at a drunken angle. The scent of dirty old soot and smoke hung in the air, tempting Adele to sneeze. Their new hideout was not the most palatial of places. The building had been gutted by fire months earlier, but nobody came down here now and that meant that Mardoll and Adele had a place to stay for a while, until they got paid for their latest job, then they might spend a few nights in a hotel. Washing with a rag and a bucket was both draining and demoralizing.

The wall of text in the body of the folder dazed Adele momentarily, but her eyes were quickly drawn to the full length photo of the hunters clipped to the cover. Two men glared out at her with ice cold expressions. Both were dressed in an archaic fashion, wearing tailored black suits that hinted at perpetual formality. Adele immediately spotted resemblances between them that could only mean that they were family. They had the same straight, hard nose, the same jutting jaw and the same shaggy locks of blonde hair barely tamed by fedora hats.

The first male's suit fitted his broad shoulders perfectly, tapering down to narrow hips. He stood with his hands in his pockets, an arrogant curl on his lip. He was the taller of the pair, and judging by the lines that traced around his mouth and eyes, the older.

The younger brother had a little more flair. He was of a slimmer build, more like a gymnast than a raging bull and he held himself with a foppish sort of style that made Adele grin. Though he was less serious looking than his brother, there was a brilliant light in his eye that suggested determination and courage. She felt a curious tingling in the pit of her stomach as she gazed at the younger hunter, a tingling she quickly turned tail and ran from mentally.

"They look like a music hall act," Adele found refuge in mockery. "All they need are a couple of guitars and string ties to make a mariachi band."

Mardoll grinned at her younger sister's humor. "They're Frederich and Seph Hanz. They're brothers, and they've got a reputation for being the best at what they do."

"What a coincidence..." Adele murmured, flicking her gaze up towards her sister.

"....so do we." Mardoll finished the thought.



Later that evening, whilst Adele slept, Mardoll kept watch. Now that the ever trusting eyes of her younger sibling were not on her, she allowed herself to feel the merest tremor of concern as she flicked through the Hanz file.

Had they gone too far? At first it had been gratifying to earn a reputation that made their names famous throughout the land. The wicked Minke sisters, daughters of the Lady Seraphina Minke who had been imprisoned by the state for so long, they had become vigilantes wreaking revenge against the rich who had betrayed their once proud family. Being welcomed into many homes simply for who they were was a welcome change from begging on the streets as they had been forced to do when mother was first taken away. But fame came with a price, it seemed; a price that could very well go as high as their heads.

Mardoll didn't really need the file to learn about the Hunters. The Hanz brothers were well known as ruthless hunters for the king. They captured and, according to the stories told in taverns, killed mercilessly according to their orders, and Illirhellir was their home turf. This was beginning to feel like a trap.

Leaning back in the ruined stone archway, Mardoll gazed up to the stars, hoping for some kind of inspiration. If only mother were here, she would know what to do. But mother was long gone, Mardoll thought, remembering that her mother had not been all that much older than she was now when she had been taken from her young daughters and imprisoned for high crimes that remained nameless.

When the sisters were old enough to look for her they had searched all the archives they could find, looking for evidences of any crimes, but they could not find a single one. Finally, a few months ago, word had reached them that there was a book in Illirhellir, a record of prisoners and the reasons for which they had been placed there. There was already a buyer, a Count from overseas who was interested in the tome. They would steal the book, find what information they could, then sell it on. They'd known at the outset that this mission would be more dangerous than most. They'd be walking into the arms of the enemy to get what they needed.

It didn't matter if they'd gone too far, Mardoll concluded. They couldn't abandon mother. They needed money and information to free her, and they would free her. Mardoll wished that Adele did not insist on being part of the schemes, but she could not have carried them out alone, and she knew full well that Adele was just as dedicated to the cause, if not more so, than she was. Having Adele by her side also made it much easier to keep an eye on her. Lord only knew what she would get up to if left to her own devices. She was in the full bloom of youthful beauty and Mardoll knew all too well that her sister would find great favor amongst men folk. Sidelong glances and muttered lecherous comments already followed her whenever she went out on the streets. Only the fierce readiness of her sister to slice off any wandering hands had kept her safe from the uncouth groping that many beautiful young women were often forced to suffer.

Somewhere in the darkness, a pebble skipped against stone floor, interrupting Mardoll's defensive thoughts and bringing her quickly back to the present moment. Adrenaline shot through her system. They were here. She didn't know how they'd found the place, and she didn't have time to think about it. Thinking about things was dangerous. She would think later. Right now, they must escape.

Without making a sound, she crept over and roused Adele. Both sisters had long ago learned to wake totally and silently when they were disturbed, so it was no surprise when, with the merest touch from Mardoll, Adele's eyes snapped open, immediately awake and alert.

In the darkness, the two sisters crouched close to the floor and listened with their entire bodies. After a life time of being chased, they no longer relied only on what their ears and eyes told them – every inch of their bodies was attuned to their surroundings. A slight musk scent alone was enough to let them know that there was at least one man invading their hideout, and a soft scuffing outside made it obvious that there were not one, but two men here. They could only be Illirhellir's famous hunters. They made no obvious sound now, but their presence was as obvious to the sisters as if they'd come in flashing lights around and stamping their feet.

Many would have crumbled at that point and given themselves up, or perhaps tried to hide themselves under the table or in an alcove in the hope that the hunters would not see them. But the Minke sisters were not like many people. They had learned long ago that the art of evasion relied heavily on movement. If one stops to hide, one is lost.

In spite of the fact that heavy shadows were already creeping towards them, escape was still possible. Silently, Mardoll gestured to a high window they'd reserved for escapes. It leads out onto surrounding rooftops, their preferred medium of travel. Rooftops were fast and provided protection from the myriad of eyes on the streets below and they put off chase by merit of being high enough to break one's neck if one fell from them.

Without needing to be told again, Adele took a run at the wall opposing the window and, leaping as high as she could up the wall, turning as her feet touched the old stone and pushing off again, catching the lower ledge of the window and hauling herself up and out of it in one smooth movement.

"Impressive," a dark male voice commented from the shadows.

Mardoll stopped breathing for a moment and shrank down where she was. They had been even closer than she had expected. Peeking up over the ledge of a charred old wine rack, she found herself looking directly at a pair of suit clad legs.

How in Hades had they managed to get so close before being detected? Mardoll cursed herself as her heart pounded in her chest. She had underestimated these men. She had underestimated them badly. Usually when people came to capture the sisters, they came heavily armed and in great numbers. But these two had come light and alone. She couldn't tell from where she crouched which brother was standing right next to her, or where the other one was. Suddenly, the darkness which had always been her friend was a deadly enemy.

Was there time to reach the same window? The hunter was blocking the main door where he stood, and the only other way out was down through the sewers. Mardoll didn't fancy her chances of being able to lift the heavy iron grate before the hunter was on her.

The sudden sound of a muted scuffle breaking out on the roof above them answered the question about the location of the second hunter and made her decision for her. Adele was in trouble. With a sudden burst of protective speed, Mardoll launched herself towards the wall, barely missing the outstretched arm of the hunter, whose sudden cry of surprise told her that he had not known where she was any more than she had seen him coming.

It was too late for him to catch her, she had already z- turned and launched herself towards the deep blue portal beyond which the sounds of Adele doing her best to fight off the other hunter could still be heard.

Mardoll came barreling out of the window at high speed, launched like a jumping monkey and hurled herself at the dark bulk of the man who even now was trying to drag Adele off the roof. She connected to his body with a hard kidney punch that made him not only release Adele, but reel backwards in pained surprise.

There was only one command she needed to give. "Run."

"Behind you" Adele warned Mardoll a moment before a pair of strong arms caught her around the waist.

"Run!" Mardoll screamed. The situation was now bad, two against two. The Minke sisters were not fighters, they were evaders. They would not win in a two on two. She was lost. All that mattered now was ensuring that her baby sister was not captured.

Twisting in the man's grasp and cursing the fact that she did not have her knife on her; Mardoll bit him as hard as she could. Immediately she drew blood. He swore, but his grip did not loosen in the slightest. As she struggled, she saw Adele hesitate for a moment, almost long enough for the second hunter to recover and lay hands on her again.

"For fuck's sake, get the hell out of here before I kick your ass!" Mardoll shouted aggressively.

Faced with two foes and an angry older sister who had always called the shots, Adele did not wait any longer, she took to her heels with her customary speed and grace. The weakened Hanz brother tried to go after her but he was still reeling from Mardoll's well placed blow and he had no hope in catching up with the young woman who vaulted lightly across the open roof spaces and was all too quickly lost from view.

"Leave her. We've got what we need." A gruff voice above Mardoll's head spoke, provoking her into another fit of evasive wriggling. She bit, she kicked, she threw herself around and did her best to reach the man's most sensitive places, but he was well trained and all she got for her trouble were aches and pains inflicted on her from trying to fight a man of stone.

"Relax." The command was uttered in her ear.

Mardoll laughed bitterly. "Relax? Are you fucking insane?"

"That's no way for a lady to talk," her captor remarked mildly.

Mardoll began to struggle again, but chloroform on a soaked 'kerchief applied delicately to her face soon put an end to that.