A Game Of Changing Tides

Chapter One

1868, Fraysner's Harbour

There weren't many things that could scare the people of Fraysner's Harbour. Those that passed through called it 'the place that God had forgotten', and it was easy to see why. In Fraysner's Harbour, thieves and harlots were as common as rats. Most soldiers kept far away from the port-side city, turning blind eyes to the criminals inside it. If one day they decided to come in and make arrests, they'd be left with a ghost town.

Adelyn left the room with a pocket full off coins and watches and other jewels. The master keys to the inn's rooms jingled in her other pocket, but she payed no attention to the sound. Not even as she slipped into the building's main office and hung the ring back up it's hook, only a few feet from the chair that the owner slept on.

When Adelyn left, she did so without a care in the world. She'd been breaking into the suites at the old man's inn for nearly a year, and not once had she ever come close to being caught. On her way to the pawn shop, she found herself fiddling with the dials and buttons on the pocket-watch she'd snagged. Adelyn had never seen one so complex.

It made her smile, if only because she new she could make more than a few coins off of it.

The woman behind the counter at the pawn shop wasn't the usual person Adelyn met. It was a younger woman with curled ginger hair and skin paler than even Adelyn's, which was rare.

"Can I help you?" She asked when the bell above the door jingled, and Adelyn nodded. She emptied her pockets onto the counter next to the register.

Not many people in this town were fools. Adelyn and the lady behind the counter both knew where the collection of objects had come from, but neither dared to mention it. Neither cared, really, as long as they both got their fare share of money in the end. Adelyn figured she saw many thieves and pickpockets in a day—the business more than likely survived off of them.

One by one, the woman picked each watch, bracelet and ring up from the glass and examined it closely, writing notes onto the paper beside the register. Adelyn felt as though she'd been standing there for ages, and it made her nervous. She didn't like being in one place for so long, especially when she had stolen goods with her.

"I'll give you fifteen silver coins for the lot." The woman said, and Adelyn snorted.

"No way," she said, shaking her head vigorously. "That watch is worth 10 on it's own—you saying everything else is worth 5?"

The woman sighed, drawing in a breath, "Twenty. I can't go higher than that."

"Deal," Adelyn said, nodding her head. She felt a smile tug at her lips, but she kept it at bay. The watch couldn't have been worth more than five silver, but the lady behind the counter didn't know that.

If it'd been the old man Adelyn dealt with every other day, she would have never pulled that trick. Old Man Rick was good at what he did, and he knew exactly what prices things would sell at. Adelyn almost never argued with him over a price.

The stranger punched a series of numbers into the buttons over the wooden till, and the drawer below it popped open with a click. Adelyn watched with greedy eyes as the woman counted out twenty silver coins. When she dropped them into Adelyn's hands, she pocketed them right away, as if she was expecting them to be taken back.

Adelyn spun on her heels and left the pawn shop behind her, making her way back towards Anne Marten's house. It was where Adelyn had lived since she was eight, and it was where she would stay for the next two months. After that, she wasn't sure where she would end up, but Anne Marten surely wouldn't let Adelyn stay under her roof. The Old Hag had more than a few bogus rules for the kids to follow under her roof, but the most important one was that they could never stay once they turned eighteen.