My previous adventure had been fun, but it was time to settle down and make a living. In this case, I was hired to steal a flask. Just that, nothing fancy. Well, maybe a little fancy. It was an iron flask, after all. And the job was for the wizard Angus. Well, I can pretend it's nothing fancy.

So, first, scouting the estate. Going in off the main street is, of course, a bad idea. Fortunately, there's an access road along the back. Spiky iron fences are pretty good for the owner, but lax gardeners are good for thieves. Taking advantage of a tree branch that had been allowed to grow out over the fence, I was up, over, and down. The dog was elsewhere, and I had no intention of waking it. Silently, I crept to the kitchen entrance. A little pick in the lock, a little oil in the hinges, and I was in.

It took me almost no time at all to find the pantry. It certainly was well-stocked, and it took me a while to find the flask in question. All I saw was meats, breads, vegetables, and ordinary glass flasks of oil. Eventually, I found it, on a shelf at the top. It's amazing how well iron can blend into shadows. Anyway, having found this iron flask with fancy designs all over it, I grab it as three giant rats come in.

This was looking to not be my day. Fortunately, the rats were more interested in stealing food than bothering me. As they were busy grabbing bread and looping links of sausages around their shoulders, I quickly took off, grabbing some sausages myself. As I ran out the door, I saw the dog out of the corner of my eye, and immediately threw the sausages in its direction. It seemed there was no need, though, since the rats had torn it apart. Poor dog.

With rats behind me, I was up the tree, over, and down again. I quickly took off down the street, fast as I could go. With rats still behind me. I figured they wouldn't follow me to the main street. I turned the corner, and found this a correct assumption. The rats continued straight. With a huge sigh of relief, I went back home, with the fancy iron flask.

Now, you might be wondering what could possibly be in a fancy iron flask. Well, boys and girls, I'll tell you what could possibly be in a fancy iron flask. In a fancy iron flask, you could possibly find a cloud of smoke that billows out and forms itself into the shape of a man. It might then bellow out "Who dares disturb my slumber??!!"

I don't know that much about magic, but I do know that you have to take control of a situation like this quickly, being bold and forceful. And that I had absolutely nothing to lose by trying, but I would definitely lose if I didn't try. So I adopted an aggressive stance, hands on my hips, gave it a steely glare, and said, "What do you mean, 'who dares'?" It must have worked, because it then bowed its head and said, "What is your will, master?"

There's a few things that occurred to me then, but I figured that asking for a new pair of breeches would utterly fail to impress it. I also would rather not have the wizard discover that I had been messing with his genie. So, I simply told it, "Return to your rest," and it billowed back into its bottle. Which I very quickly re-stoppered. And delivered to the wizard as quickly as possible.

You might think the tale ends there, but of course it doesn't. No, after delivering the bottle, I'm walking through town, and who do I see, but Sergeant Callistan. And I think he's seen me. Since I'd really rather not dance the high jig, I quickly duck and weave through the crowd and into a nearby inn. It was busy enough that even had the Sergeant seen me come in, he would have had trouble seeing me in there. With a little more breathing space, I had myself some breakfast at the inn. More than I expected to have or pay, but it was worth losing the Sergeant.

After that, I returned back home again, and decided to stay and hope things calm down. And there my tale does end. For today.