Weihnachten 5.1 Nate
Due to investigations into his prior criminal acts Nathanial Cross was more or less destitute, while he still owned his home, anything he had that could have been worth any amount of coin, were seized until proven they were not stolen, and his other assets were frozen meaning he had very little money to speak of. That was why he is where he is right now. Slowly moving between trees, skirting the treeline just out of view of anyone who could see him. Moving down the row of larger houses. He knew they would go to bed soon, even so he’d have to move quickly, finding a house with a window loose enough to pry open and take a few things, just enough to get by, just stuff he could carry out and run off into the woods. He’d have to wait a few days to sell them, wait for the heat to die down for the missing items. And just hope that he didn’t steal nothing but rubbish he couldn’t sell, given the risk he was about to take.
Nathaniel rubbed at his arms, then breathed into his hands. He wasn’t planning on snow, especially not this much snow. He’d have to take a wild path home to not lead back to his own home. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. As he paced he watched silhouettes move in the lit windows of the large homes conversations had between pairs, singular shapes of adults and children. This was the part of the job he hated the most, it felt too voyeuristic. In some ways it made his skin crawl watching the private and intimate moments of people between the moments of arrival and thievery. Some might consider it a bit hypocritical that he drew the line by seeing shapes in a window and not entering someone's private space.
Nathaniel passed by the first house again noting the lack of light in the windows. Crouching low to be the least visible he could be as he crossed the space between the woods and house. Slipping a metal shim under the window and attempting to pry it loose and up. The wood creaked but went nowhere. “Damn…” he whispered, wiggling it left and right till he freed it, walking backwards in his own tracks. It was harder this way but made for fewer tracks to be followed.
He moved on to check the next house. Yet again the windows were closed and locked properly, should have expected nothing less in a more upscale area, but somewhere less secure wouldn’t have anything with the risk to value. While he was wiggling the shim free he heard a sound, something hard to explain. Like an animal forgetting what animal it was. It was like an elk trying to howl like a wolf. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his arms were covered in goose flesh, as the sound echoed in the woods. “What in the Nine Hells was that…” he thought, skipping the back tracking this time following a straight path to the next house, not sure he wanted to go back into those woods.
Sliding the shim into the next window he heard it again, or something similar. A creature seeming to not remember what sound it should be making. A yipping warbling horrific sound. Nathaniel forced at the window harder this time, somewhat desperate to not be outside. A small squeak of wood on wood as the window slid open far enough he could slip his fingers under and raise the window open just enough to slip inside. Feeling the warmth of the fire inside, but hearing what sounded like an angrier call outside. Like a bird trying to growl like a guard dog. As if whatever ‘thing’ was in the woods was upset he’d broken into this house.
Taking slow steps across the floor and over to the pile of gifts stacked on the floor searching for the smallest gifts, things he could slip into pockets and carry by hand. Especially boxes that were the typical size to hold jewellery. Much harder to fill, especially when they were custom made, and maker marked. But gold and gems were gold and gems. Even if he had to melt down the gold and free the gems, they’d have value.
Moving quickly, placing boxes back how he found them other than the ones he pocketed, and the one he could he could easily carry to make things look as untouched at a glance as he could. Maybe giving himself extra time, the family waking up and unwrapping everything and not realizing until much later that things were missing.
Listening closely to the house’s silence he moved to the window, dropping the box out first and climbing through after. Closing the window behind him and taking up the box. He’d have to go through the woods…at least the tree line, the only other way out was down the road and someone that looked like him walking down a road in the wealthy part of town with a gift tucked under his arm would likely raise questions with the guards, his pockets would be searched and he’d be back in prison.
As he stepped into the woods he heard the first sound again, the howling elk, accompanied by footsteps, and something took over Nathaniel and he took off running. He knew running from a predator was a bad choice but he couldn’t control his legs. Something told him that whatever made that sound would do worse than simply eating him. At some point he dropped the box tucked under his arm. Something off in the trees running parallel with him appeared in the corner of his vision. A large, spindly creature built of all the wrong parts bounding on all fours, it suddenly cut off and was running towards him, when a bolt of red energy streaked through the air slamming it off balance giving him a chance to run. Or so he thought, the monster threw something at him Nathaniel knocking him to the ground. Trying to scramble to his feet and run again. As the monster started to get up something fell from the tree above the thing, landing solid with both feet and jumping off. Nate took off running again, hearing the thing, giving pursuit again, running on all fours. Scrambling in a flailing screaming run, Nathaniel broke from the tree line into a field a lone house off to left, he could swear there as a light in one of the windows but to change direction and run towards the house meant death even if he reached it unless they had the door open and ready for him the time it would take to know would mean death. So he kept running, hoping the two that attacked the creature would catch up and save him.