Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) - Leigh Bardugo Page 0,100
that.”
“Everyone does,” said Inej.
Jesper lifted a brow. “Not everyone.”
“That’s only because you never have anything in your wallet,” Nina shot back.
“Mean.”
“Factual.”
“Facts are for the unimaginative,” Jesper said with a dismissive wave.
“Now, a bad thief,” continued Kaz, “one who doesn’t know his way around, just makes the grab and tries to run for it. Good way to get pinched by the stadwatch. But a proper thief—like myself—nabs the wallet and puts something else in its place.”
“A biscuit?”
“Bunk biscuit is just a name. It can be a rock, a bar of soap, even an old roll if it’s the right size. A proper thief can tell the weight of a wallet just by the way it changes the hang of a man’s coat. He makes the switch, and the poor mark keeps tapping his pocket, happy as can be. It’s not until he tries to pay for an omelet or lay his stake at a table that he realizes he’s been done for a sucker. By then the thief is someplace safe, counting up his scrub.”
Wylan shifted unhappily in his chair. “Duping innocent people isn’t something to be proud of.”
“It is if you do it well.” Kaz gave a nod to the prison wagon, now rumbling its way up the road toward the Ice Court and the second checkpoint. “We’re going to be the biscuit.”
“Hold on,” said Nina. “The door locks on the outside. How do we get in and get the door locked again?”
“That’s only a problem if you don’t know a proper thief. Leave the locks to me.”
Jesper stretched out his long legs. “So we have to unlock, unchain, and incapacitate six prisoners, take their places, and somehow get the wagon sealed tight again without the guards or the other prisoners being the wiser?”
“That’s right.”
“Any other impossible feats you’d like us to accomplish?”
The barest smile flickered over Kaz’s lips. “I’ll make you a list.”
* * *
Proper thievery aside, Inej would have liked a proper night’s sleep in a proper bed, but there would be no comfortable stay at an inn, not if they were going to find their way onto a prison wagon and into the Ice Court before Hringkälla began. There was too much to do.
Nina was sent out to chat up the locals and try to discover the best place to lay their ambush for the wagon. After the horrors of Gestinge’s herring, they’d demanded Kaz provide something edible, and were waiting for Nina in a crowded bakery, nursing hot cups of coffee mixed with chocolate, the wreckage of demolished rolls and cookies spread out over their table in little piles of buttery crumbs. Inej noted that Matthias’ mug sat untouched before him, slowly cooling as he stared out the window.
“This must be hard for you,” she said quietly. “To be here but not really be home.”
He looked down at his cup. “You have no idea.”
“I think I do. I haven’t seen my home in a long time.”
Kaz turned away and began chatting with Jesper. He seemed to do that whenever she mentioned going back to Ravka. Of course, Inej couldn’t be certain she’d find her parents there. Suli were travelers. For them, “home” really just meant family.
“Are you worried about Nina being out there?” Inej asked.
“No.”
“She’s very good at this, you know. She’s a natural actress.”
“I’m aware,” he said grimly. “She can be anything to anyone.”
“She’s best when she’s Nina.”
“And who is that?”
“I suspect you know better than any of us.”
He crossed his huge arms. “She’s brave,” he said grudgingly.
“And funny.”
“Foolish. Every last thing needn’t be a joke.”
“Bold,” Inej said.
“Loud.”
“So why do your eyes keep searching the crowd for her?”
“They do not,” Matthias protested. She had to laugh at the ferocity of his scowl. He drew a finger through a pile of crumbs. “Nina is everything you say. It’s too much.”
“Mmm,” Inej murmured, taking a sip from her mug. “Maybe you’re just not enough.”
Before he could reply, the bell on the bakery door jingled, and Nina sailed inside, cheeks rosy, brown hair in a gorgeous tangle, and declared, “Someone needs to start feeding me sweet rolls immediately.”
For all Matthias’ grumbling, Inej didn’t think she imagined the relief on his face.
* * *
It had taken Nina less than an hour to discover that most of the prison wagons passed by a roadhouse known as the Warden’s Waystation on the route to the Ice Court. Inej and the others had to trek almost two miles out of Upper Djerholm to locate