Escape!

Tel is running along the rooftops of the city silent as a cat, smiling to himself with the overconfidence that is the prerogative of youth. He cannot not help it. Not after tonight's little coup had worked out better than he had even dreamed. And it had been so easy. In his pouch, pressing against his waist, are a golden necklace and a little bag full of shiny coins. "Confident, lazy, cocky, dead", he could hear his brother tell him, like a mantra. He is trying to calm himself, concentrate on his escape. But it is difficult to suppress the exhilaration and even more difficult to imagine that one of those slow-witted thugs is still on his trail. He had been stealthy and swift as a night breeze. Most likely they hadn't even noticed yet that Lady Amanda's prized necklace is missing. As for the coins, he was sure they were mere peanuts for their previous owner who was Lady Amanda's unknown suitor. He definitely looked rich, the bastard, and a bit scary. Though certainly not as scary as his two monstrous bodyguards. Freaking half orcs, if Tel is any judge of these things. Better not be caught, better keep moving, Tel thinks, as he looks down a dark alley and carefully edges his way down a drainpipe. Not far now to the security of his hiding place, not far at all. No one to be seen, nothing to be heard, better trade some stealth for swiftness, Telfis thinks, and starts to jog down the dark alley leading to his safe place.
"Where are you going so fast, young man?", grunts a disembodied voice from Tel's left followed, before he can even react, by a massive hairy paw grabbing him by the collar and lifting him off his feet. Taken completely by surprise, Telfis screams, reflexively: "I didn't do nothing guvnor!". Panic rising, heart already racing, Tel ineffectually wriggles to get free, mind racing to think of a way to escape.
"Now what do we have here?", grumbles the voice, no longer disembodied, but rather unpleasantly embodied in the ugly mass of one of the bodyguard thugs. He rips the pouch from Telfis' belt and weights it in his hand for a moment. No way to bluff your way out of this, Tel knows, no way to play innocent. In a second he will see the necklace and Silren knows what that brute will do to him.
Telfis goes limp, apparently resigned to his fate, as his captor shifts his grip to open the pouch and reveal its telltale contents. Tel slowly and carefully reaches to his side where he hides his small dagger. It is a desperate move, even under different circumstances he probably couldn't even seriously harm this monstrosity. The thug lets out a satisfied grunt, the limp and tiny figure in his grip momentarily forgotten. Tel seizes his moment. A flash of blade, immediately followed by a black streak of blood across the eye and brow of his captor. Not a good hit but freedom. Without waiting for the surprised cry of outrage Tel turns tail and runs. Heart still racing as he zig-zags through the city frantically trying to come up with a plan. He knows he cannot stay. He knows the city is no longer safe for him. Dejectedly he thinks about the night's events. He has lost his loot and his home.
Half an hour later, Telfis finds himself trotting along the road to the neighboring city of Seawell. Self doubt and despondence not among his most predominant traits, Telfis is already whistling a merry tune. He is eager to reach Seawell and already imagining the adventures and riches that await him there.