Swan's Braid

A fantasy realm’s greatest thief faces tests of her cunning and courage in five tales from the acclaimed author of the Smoke Trilogy and the Blood Books.
You can’t belong to the Thieves’ Guild if you can’t break into the Thieves’ Guild. When Terizan drops out of the secret passage, past the net, and into the Inner Sanctum, she’s astonished to discover that no one else has ever made it that far. Unfortunately, neither Terizan nor the Guild are thrilled about the sudden perception that she’s the best thief in Oreen—the title comes with expectations and the Guild only ever expects the worst. In these five tales, mercenary captains, murderous royal families, ghosts, gods, and wizards prove that while it may not always be lonely at the top, it’s definitely annoying. Good thing half a dozen gods owe Terizan a favor.
“Good thievery plots are hard to pull off, because the author has to be very on the ball to keep up with reader expectations of cleverness. Tanya Huff does a fantastic job of it . . . On a personal note, I find Tanya Huff’s skill with thievery plots so wonderful that if she ran a D&D game I’d play in a heartbeat.” —Errant Dreams