It has been about a week since the Baron had announced the reward for the capture of the "Urenburgh Robber". Over the past week, I had gone through two more heists. From those two heists, my bounty went up from 400 bits, to 1200 bits. The heists also convinced more of the citizens of Urenburgh that this was more serious than they had thought. The guards began to take this more seriously, and accusations were gradually increasing in relativity.

On the bright side though, I had gotten much better at lock picking; I rarely break a pick now. And I've also begun to sneak back to the house without having to use the sewers. I also convinced Trist to consider about getting me a new outfit that could help me stay hidden more than just the white tattered shirt and pants I have now. I've got this whole design thought out to make me look awesome!

Although, all of that would have to be put aside once Trist came barging into the house one day.

///

I had woken up and went down to eat breakfast, only to see a plate of muffins with a note beside it. I picked up a muffin to see that it was just an ordinary muffin with nothing else. I shrug and take a bite. It tasted better than it looked. As I take my next bite I grab the note and being reading it:

To Phantom Thief,

I went out to look around town. I'll be back before 2:00 p.m. Eat the muffins that are on the plate. Also, get ready for another heist tonight.

Trist

I put the note down and finished eating the first muffin. Grabbing the entire plate, I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where we had some wooden chairs. I made myself comfortable and laid my feet onto the table.

After finishing the muffins I decided to sit there and relax. Maybe I should get ready like Trist said. . . Nah. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. She said that she'd be back before two right? I'll have plenty of time before the heist. I thought to myself as I fell asleep.

///

"PHANTOM" A loud slam abruptly woke me from my dream. The shock of being woken up caused me to quickly move. Except that I was precariously balanced between the table and chair, causing me to fall very loudly onto the floor. What in the?! I supported myself up on one of my elbows and rubbed my head. Who the hell was that?! I looked towards the front door to see a familiar black griffin with grey chest feathers. I lifted myself up to a sitting position and started to lift my hand to say something. "No time!" Trist seemingly teleported in front of me, grabbing me by the shirt and just as quickly pushing me backwards. "We've got to pack and go!" She flew to a cabinet inside the kitchen and dumped its contents into a bag.

I picked myself up all the way and rushed to her. I grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. ~Trist! What are you freaking out about!?~ She struggled against me and I released her.

"Phantom, we need to move! We need to pack everything up, fast!" She sat down onto the floor looking in every direction.

~Why?~

"They're here Phantom. The Clan is in town and searching for us!" She flew up into the air again. "In such a small town like this, they'll find out where we are in no time!" I realized the seriousness of this.

Being a nomadic tribe, the Kaneclaws are sworn to living away from the rest of the griffin empire. Any deserters would be hunted and brought back, no matter how long it took. In the three years I lived with the Kaneclaws, no one tried escaping, but I've heard stories. I heard of a time when a Kaneclaw woman fell in love with an outsider and fled to live a life with him. But the Kaneclaws went out to search for her. When they did find her, it had already been 20 years! The Kaneclaw woman had already two children, which were also taken back with her. The husband however, was killed, for tempting her to leave.

We don't know what would happen if they were to find Trist and me. The best case scenario, they'd give Trist a punishment, an d see me as only her 'pet' who followed her. But, if they figured out that I was sentient, they would most likely see me as the reason Trist left and kill me. ~Are you sure it was them?~

"Yes I was sure." She exclaimed. "They were all wearing cloaks but I could tell that they were part of the tribe." Trist began to panic again. "There were four of them. I- I think my father was one of them."

That is not, great news. I thought to myself. If Trist's father is one of them, then we have little chance of just making a run for it. . . I silently rubbed my chin. Looking to Trist I saw that she was almost about to cry. It was as if this were three years ago. I straightened my face and grabbed Trist's again and shook her. I looked directly into her eyes, hoping that she would understand.

She looked confused first, but telling from how her face changed she did understand. We were going to make it through this. They wouldn't catch us. Not this time.

"Ok, I'll get our money. Phantom, you go get our belongings." I smiled and nodded before rushing into the hall and up the stairs to our rooms. I entered Trist's first. I grabbed her bag and began stuffing clothes and other necessities.

After grabbing all I could, I quickly ran into my own room, my ears pulsed with blood. Thankfully I didn't own much, and anything I did own was used for business. I grabbed my belt. I checked to make sure that I had everything on my belt. Where's my knife?! My personal knife wasn't there. I searched quickly around my room to find it in a drawer. Phew, found it. I slid the sheathed knife into it's place on my belt and picked up Trist's bag.

I ran down the stairs and was about to meet up with Trist, when I saw the door to Trist's work room. I thought quickly and ran down the hall to the door. Slamming it open I dashed for the desk and collected her tools and gems. She'll be happy I took these later. I finished emptying the desk and headed back into the hallway.

I entered the main living room to see nothing there. Where's Trist? I swung my head around, searching for her. We need to get out of here. They could be here any min-. A door to my right flew open. I panicked, reaching for my knife. Oh shit! They're here!? I closed my eyes and prepared to defend myself.

"Phantom!" I opened my eyes to see Trist looking at me. "Jeez! You almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you were one of them!" Trist exclaimed.

~Same here!~ I violently signed.

"Are those the rest of the stuff?" Trist pointed at the bag I was carrying. I nodded. "Great. Quick follow me." She disappeared into the basement. I quickly followed her down to see that she had lit some lanterns and had the sewer entrance opened. Most likely the contents of our small vault. "I couldn't get all of our bits, but I got most of it."

~It's okay, we've gotta travel light anyway.~

Trist nodded in agreement. "Yeah," She turned to pick up a bag. " We better get out of here before-" She stopped mid-sentence as we heard a banging on the door. I spun my head towards the door. There was a silence before another series of banging continued.

"Tristana! Open up this door. Now!" I froze, eyes wide at the loud voice yelling as the banging continued. "Break the door down!" We heard an even louder thud and we immediately remembered what we were doing.

"Phantom, quick!" Trist said in a hush but hastily tone. I lifted the other bag of bits and Trist's belongings and followed her into the sewer. "Close the hatch." I turned before climbing down the ladder and reached for the cover. I heard splintering wood as the front door gave, and heavy footsteps slammed on the old wood floor of the living room.

"Spread out!" A voice commanded. "They should have an escape route somewhere! Find it!" I quietly closed laid the cover over the opening and climbed carefully down the ladder.

"Good." Trist looked at a map and pointed to our right. "This way." We ran through the sewer tunnels, carefulnot to leave a trail to follow.

///

We traveled through the sewer system and closer to our exit. "Come on, just a few more turns." Trist said.

Before actually starting our heists, we scout the and mapped the underground sewer system of Urenbough. However, Urenburgh was a small town and didn't have a very big sewer. Even still, it would be difficult to transverse the sewers to our specific exit on the first try. Even for the best trackers of the Clan would be slowed by a few hours. With the stench of the waste, we also couldn't be tracked by smell. "Alright." Trist rolled up the map and threw it into the sewer water. "Nice job Phantom, we just need to turn left and we'll exit a little out of town. Then we'll go to Hegiam. There we'll buy a place to stay, and continue our work there."

Hegiam. I tried to remember what I knew on the place. If I recall correctly, Hegiam is the 5 largest city in the Griffon Empire. Known most for it's imports from Equestria. However, it's also a city filled with corruption. I thought more on Trist's choice of cities. I would have liked Trineton more, oh well. Can't really go anywhere without Trist. I looked at the griffin running beside me through a sewer and grinned. Like I would ditch this crazy girl.

We turned left and I could see the light signaling the end of the sewer tunnel. But my eyes quickly adjusted to the light, seeing something . . . odd. Immediately, I reacted by slowing my pace, hunching my back, and making a blank face. Trist turned to look at me and quickly made a confused face. We reached the end of the tunnel and the blinding light of the sunset. We stopped dead in our tracks surrounded by four griffins, all wearing the bonetooth necklaces that symbolized the KaneClaw Clan. "What?!" Trist said shocked at the ambush.

"Nice to see you too, Tristana!" A female hunter said with maliciousness.

"But how?! No one in the town should know of the sewer exit here."

"You're right, no one in the town knew. But, the Chief has his ways of, obtaining, information." A significantly larger griffin began to descend from the sky, followed by three more griffins. The female hunter and the hunter beside her moved out of the way, making space for the four new griffins to land. Before he even landed, we knew who it was. He landed with his metal claws scratching the earth. He had brown overall feathers and fur, except for his chest. His chest-feathers were a grayish white, with the tips being red. The necklace around his neck holding the canine tooth of a Sabrecat. Trist's face hardened as the enormous griffin stared emotionlessly at us. There was a silence as Trist and the griffin locked eyes. Until Trist finally spoke.

"Father."

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter seems a bit off. I had trouble getting into the writing zone 0.0. I got band practice for the next few weeks and next weeks is the busiest.

Don't expect a chapter until maybe the week after next week. Once next week is over, I'll be able to write more ^_^.

Enjoy.