Thieves
Chapter 26 - Welcome to the North

They had started early the next morning. Jessica was sorry about Jack's - alias James Hallford's - early departure, but she wished him, and Sis too, good luck for the last part of their journey. She also provided them with some food to reach the border.

Now Sis and Jack traveled the roads again. Or, more precisely, they tried not to lose the road under the massive amount of snow. During their stay at the hot springs the weather had worsened. At nights it always snowed without end and by day the sky was hung with dark clouds at the best. The wind howled around Sis' ears and nose and when it started to snow during the day, he could barely see anything.

Camping in this weather was hell, compared to the soft, warm feather bed at the bath house. Luckily, Jack always found a good way to keep warm in their small tent. They hadn't been as 'active' as in the bath house, the weather was simply too cold to be so freely, but the two had had a good portion of fun. All in all, the last two days could have been much worse.

"We've almost reached the border!" Jack shouted through the icy wind to Sis, who stumbled through the snow with his short legs. Today the wind was extremely bad.

"The road is here!" Sis yelled and pointed at the snow in front of him. Jack had drifted to the right and was now heading for the forest that surrounded the street. But the human kept moving. He only gestured back and waved for Sis to follow him.

Jack halted under the protective cover of the evergreen and waited for the fox, who, upon closing the distance, wanted to know, "Why are we leaving the road? I don't wanna get lost in this weather. Not again."

Jack took a sip from the waterskin and offered it to Sis. The fox declined. "The border is guarded along the road," Jack explained, "but not in the wild. They're not likely to just let you emigrate, foxy. The southerners have something against loosing runaway slaves."

Sis didn't like the thought of traveling the woods again. Last time they'd almost gotten lost, he remembered. But he'd ten times rather take an additional night or two in the woods than being caught on the last step to his freedom.

"Wait..." Jack said suddenly. Hastily he searched through his pockets. Finally finding what he was after, Jack lifted a folded piece of paper into the cool breeze. "Ahhh!"

"And what is that," Sis asked.

Jack smiled widely, "Our ticket to get out of here without the need to hide in the woods."

"I thought you said-"

"I said," Jack cut him short, "that they have something against loosing runaway slaves. But officially," he tapped the paper, "You aren't."

Now Sis was confused. "What is this supposed to mean, Jack?"

The human squatted down to be eyelevel with the fox. "This is the forged contract I got for you, from the mining colony. Remember? The one we never had to use."

Sis remembered. Jack had done some paperwork in the colony, for the slave transport they wanted to take. But Sis had backed out and they had to pay a smuggler for a safe ride. Having the situation in mind, Sis nodded, "So?"

"This document identifies me as your owner. With this we can pass the border post without having to take a detour."

"So, shall I get the rope on then?" Sis asked.

"Pha! Fuck the rope," Jack sneered. "With this thing here, they can't us nothin'." He pocketed the paper away. "Just pretend to be a slave again. That way we'll have to pay the departure tax, but it is worth the saved way. That sound like a plan?"

That indeed sounded like a plan, though Sis was still skeptic. "You think that will work? I'd rather not take any risk."

"It's just a small border post anyway. If something goes wrong, we'll just vamoose. But I think we should be okay."

"Okay, then let's do it," Sis said, and soon after they had made their decision, the border post came into view.

A river marked the border. It was a steep creek and its water was still running despite the frosty cold. A simple wooden construction connected the two riversides, on either end a small hut with a steaming chimney. The bridge was empty.

Single-mindedly, Jack headed for the customs house on their side of the river. It was build directly next to the bridge and it had a small illuminated window that faced the river. Upon approaching it, a door beside the window was opened and a large human in a thick winter coat came out. Quickly Sis slipped into his role and walked a few steps behind Jack, looking to the ground. It wasn't hard for him to take on a disenchanted and plagued face expression in the stormy, cold weather.

Jack had taken on a new personality for this trick, too. His head sunk into the collar of his jacket and he raised his shoulders to look bulkier. When he addressed the customs officer, he sounded mean and tired and kept his sentences short, "I want to pass."

The other man met him with a similar attitude, "Got any wares or other dutiable goods with ya?"

"Only personal belongings."

"And this?" he asked and jerked his head towards Sis. The officer didn't even look at him.

"As I said," Jack answered. "Only personal belongings."

Now the custom officer's face hardened. Apparently he was suspicious. "Papers," he stated simply and demanding.

Not too fast Jack reached into his chest pocket and pulled out the folded documents. He passed them over and let the other human inspect them. Upon reading the details, the officer shot Jack and Sis alike a proving glare, then he folded the papers again and said, "That'd be fifty silver coins for you and sixty-five silver for your 'belongings'," before he handed the documents back.

Jack accepted the papers back and took his time to pocket them away. Finally he fished for some money and paid the man, who counted the coins offered to him and then let them pass with a nod of the head.

Slowly Sis followed Jack over the bridge. Behind him he heard the customs officer retreat into his house, but the fox kept his disguise.

Before they even reached the other side, another human emerged from the customs house, this time though, from the one on the other side of the river. Quickly Jack loosened his posture greeted the man upon stepping up to him.

"What brings you to the Northern Territories?" the man asked and eyed fox and human over.

"I'm coming back," Jack spoke. "And he's here for the first time."

"You got your identity papers?" the man asked.

Quickly Jack reached into his chest pocket - the one on the OTHER side this time, Sis noticed - and presented them.

The man read through them and handed them back, "Okay, Mr. Leinell. Welcome back." Then he turned to Sis and asked, "And yours?"

The fox was unable to present the officer with the desired information and on top of that, he wasn't sure whether he still was supposed to act as a slave, so he waited for Jack to speak again and help him out, which the human did. "He's lost his while we were visiting St. Curson. We were trying to get it replaced, but... you know how the southerners are: don't care much for the small people."

Apparently this had made the trick. "Alright," said the officer and turned back to go into his house. "Just wait a second." When he returned he carried a sheet of paper and an inkpot. "You know the drill, or...?"

Again Jack answered for the fox, "He does. I took the liberty to instruct him. I'll vouch for him."

"Good," the customs officer said. "Then we'll skip the formalities and you can just sign here." He provided Sis with a feather and held the paper against the house's wall for him. Unsure what to do, the fox glanced up to Jack. The human nodded only approvingly, so he quickly scribbled down his name: S - I - S. "Marvelous," the man said and took the paper back. "Then that would be thirty silver coins for each of you and you're on your way."

Again Jack paid for the two of them and after the customs officer was satisfied and saw them off, Sis and his friend had crossed the border.

"What did I just sign?" Sis asked when they were far enough.

Jack was in the middle of lighting up a cigarette, "Just a... a..." he tried to explain as he struggled to make the match light in the wind. Eventually it worked. "Basically," he went on," you've just declared that, for the duration of your stay here, you will live under the royal law of the Northern Territories bla bla bla, and that you, should you commit a crime, will be prosecuted by the authorities of law enforcement of the Northern Territories bla bla bla..."

"In short: If I don't behave, they'll kick my ass, right?" Sis asked.

"Hm-hm," Jack confirmed and breathed out a white cloud. "It's pretty mandatory, actually. You didn't have any identification papers, so they have to make sure they can grab your tail, legally. Anyways!!..." he said and turned to the fox, spreading his arms wide. "Welcome to the north!"

At this words Sis stopped moving. He turned and looked back at where the border post had disappeared in the forest. Where his old life had disappeared in the forest. He'd always wanted this moment to happen. He'd always wanted to be free, to be truly free. But, now that he was.... It felt so... unreal. The snow here was as white as in the south and the air smelled exactly the same: of pines and resin and frozen water. And he was still the same fox as before. The only thing that was different now, was the fact that he stood on the northern side of some nameless river in the wide world, rather than on the southern. His own freedom seemed so unimportant to the world.

Only when Jack had leaned down to him, and laid an arm on his shoulder, Sis noticed him. "Homesick already?" he asked, chuckling and pulled the fox to him.

Sis turned his eyes from the last bit of road he could make out among the trees. "Hell no!" he said and turned to grab Jack by his clothes. "Thank you, Jack," he gave the human a tight hug.

"Don't thank me juts now, foxy," Jack said, but embraced the fox nonetheless. "We're still damn near to the border and this area is dangerous, especially for your kind."

"Thanks anyways," Sis said as he parted from Jack's arms. "Now then. Let's put some distance between us and this place."

And so they continued their way. With new found vigor, Sis found the next few days to be the best of his entire trip. The miles just kept rolling by as he still could walk another one.