by Logan Jacobs
“You were there because Hagan wanted the leader of the dwarven mob dead,” I said, “but then the elves showed up before you could do it.”
“Look, Wade,” Dar cleared his throat and stepped between Penny and me. “Things are really rough at the Guild right now. Only a few of us are alive, and--”
“I only care that you two are alive,” I interrupted.
“Then why didn’t you warn me last night?” Penny hissed as she turned her eyes toward me again.
“Cause you ran away just as I was about to kiss you!” I groaned.
“You two were gonna kiss?” Dar giggled.
“I wasn’t!” Penny shouted as she stomped her foot. “You think I’d kiss that ugly idiot? I was just there to blend in and do a job, but then--”
“There was no way you put that dress on and thought ‘I’ll blend in,’” I pointed out. “It was unbelievably sexy.”
“Shut your dumb mouth!” Penny hissed.
“Look,” I sighed as I reached into my pocket, pulled out one of the small bags, and then tossed it over Dar’s head.
“What?” Penny asked as she caught the bag in her fingertips.
“Just open it,” I groaned, and then she did, and her green eyes opened wide.
“How’d you get this?” she whispered.
“What is it?” Dar asked.
I shrugged. “I sold the whiskey.”
“It’s coin?” Dar asked with a slack jawed expression. “Lemme see.”
“You sold the whiskey?” Penny asked as her green eyes opened wide. “But--”
“That was the whole damn point of this!” I shouted as I gestured at the vats and the baby dragon.
“Wade … ” she glanced down at the bag again. “This is all gold?”
“Yep,” I laughed. “A hundred pieces.”
“By the ancients,” Dar whispered as he reached for the bag Penny held with wiggling fingers. “Can I see?”
“You can see this one,” I said, and then he gasped when I tossed him a bag.
Then I tossed Penny another bag. Then I tossed Dar one. Then Penny and Dar again. Finally, they were each holding three bags.
“That’s six-hundred gold,” I said as they opened each bag.
“But … how?” Penny asked as she held one of the gold coins up in her fingers.
“I told you,” I laughed. “I sold the whiskey! Thirty gold a barrel!”
“Wow,” Dar said, and then he burst out laughing. “Wow. Wow. Wow! Wade! You are going to be rich!”
“No,” I said as I stepped forward and rested a hand on each of their shoulders. “We are going to be rich. Us and Cimarra. Together. I’m doing this for us.”
“Wade … ” Penny looked at me, and I could see tears start to roll down her cheeks.
I’d never seen her cry before, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything about it.
“This is enough for us to get out of the Guild,” I said. “Fuck Hagan, fuck his bosses. With this money, we can grow our operations. We’ll buy more grain, more stills, and we’ll get more distribution deals. We’ll do it as legit as we can and pay for everything. The only thing we’ll have to worry about is the elves finding out, but I have a few ideas about that. Are you guys in?”
“I’ve been in since the beginning!” Dar laughed. “You just tell me what you need to do, Wade. With this kind of money with one shipment, we can cut our own way through the city.”
“Penny?” I asked as I turned to the redhead.
“Yeah.” She sniffled and then wiped her wet nose with the back of her hand as she tried to blink back more tears.
“Yeah?” I asked with a smirk.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I just … well … I hoped this would work, but I didn’t expect it to. I’m not used to things going my way is all.” Then Penny gave me a dazzling smile, and her green eyes glittered against her tear streaked red cheeks.
“Still a lot of work to do,” I said as I let go of Dar’s shoulder so I could put both my hands on Penny and stare into her eyes. “Hagan still wants me dead.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “But most of the crew is dead.”
“I heard about a score tomorrow night,” I said. “Wynn told me.”
“You got Wynn to tell you about a job?” Dar asked.
“Yeah,” I admitted, “but he won’t ever be speaking again.”
Neither of them said anything for a few moments, but Penny’s eyes drifted down to the dried blood on my right hand.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Dar said with a shrug.
“That’s cause Hagan doesn’t trust you,” Penny told him.
“That mean you heard something?” Dar asked and narrowed his eyes.
“No,” Penny sighed, “but I didn’t go back last night. I didn’t want to tell him I failed.”
“They are stealing some magical artifacts,” I told them. “I’m not sure what they are or what they do, but would you rather have them in the hands of the Guild that wants me dead, or safely in ours? It’s located in a crypt at the estate of a wealthy halfling family in the Hafling Grove. Dar, do you think you know whose house it is?”
The halfling’s eyes widened. “It would have to be the Greenmore’s place, but I’m not ballsy enough to try and steal from them. Not only would they execute me, but I doubt I’d make it past all their booby traps. I did a recon mission on it a few years ago for Hagan, but he decided not to do anything with it.”
“So, Hagan’s top guys will all be there?” Penny asked.
“That sounds about right,” Dar said as he nodded his head.
“Who is left?” I asked.
“Randar for sure,” Penny said.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t say his name,” I sighed.
“We should just leave it alone,” Penny said as she nervously threaded her fingers together. “It will be him and who knows who else? Probably three or four more. We can’t take them all out.”
“We need to,” I said. “Hagan’s gotta be desperate if he’s pulling this job. That means he’s out of money, or he’s lost favor with his bosses. If we take the loot from his best boys, then he’ll have nothing to show for it. I won’t even have to kill him. This city will eat up a gang boss with no money.”
“You’re right,” Penny sighed as she crossed her arms. “If we don’t take whatever they plan to bring to Hagan, then we all are as good as dead. Hagan wants Wade’s head, but he won’t care if we get killed in the process. If we steal the objects, then the Thief’s Guild will continue to be a non-issue, but if we don’t, it will be. Hagan could use whatever’s hidden away in the crypts to his advantage, an advantage that could result in all three of us ending up dead.”
“Let’s go over the layout of the estate then,” Dar said as he pointed to one of the shelves in the stable. “Can I use some of your paper and ink? I’ll need to draw out a few maps.”
“It’s our paper and ink,” I said with a smile.
“Ahh, that’s right,” Dar laughed, and then he grabbed some, brought it back over to our table, and started to sketch while he explained the layout of the mansion.
Penny and I sat hunched over Dar for the rest of the night as he drew out plans, and we concocted numerous ways to evade what he could remember of the estate’s detection systems. We could only guess at what the Guild had planned to do, but the plan we came up with seemed like our best chance at success.
I went to bed satisfied and prayed to the ancients they would help see our plan through.
The next day I started another mash fermentation with Dar’s help while Penny went out into the city to buy us some various pieces of gear we were missing. She returned later that afternoon with the equipment and word that Hagan was definitely moving tonight.
Then the three of us donned our cloaks and sets of black clothing as we set out into the city.
The streets glimmered hues of red and gold as the sun set on the horizon. Few people milled about the streets as we scurried along the paths to the Ha
lfling Grove.
“Word is that Hagan is going to be there,” Penny whispered as we walked.
“Shit,” I huffed. “Times must be really hard if he’s getting off his fat ass.”
“Or he’s confident he can steal the stuff.” Penny shrugged.
“We should steal a cart,” Dar stated as Penny and I looked at each other with knowing glances. “It’s pretty far to the estate.”
“Is it far?” I asked. “Or do your little halfling legs just not want to walk that far?”
“No,” Dar retorted, “it’s too far to walk if we plan to make it in time for the heist.”
“Sure it is, Dar,” Penny chuckled as Dar huffed in indignation. “The hills probably have nothing to do with it.”
“It’s fine,” I cut in. “I’ll steal us a cart so we don’t have to listen to Dar’s bitching all the way there.”
I snuck around the back of Brendel’s Apothecary in the Halfling District. Then I hooked one of the horses up to a cart as quietly as I could and brought it out to where Penny and Dar had waited for me. I was sure Brendel would be ecstatic in the morning when he found one of his vehicles missing.
The Guild had made a deal with him years ago never to steal his carts or horses, but the elixirs were always up for grabs.
I wasn’t in the Guild anymore, I didn’t like the guy, and the rules no longer applied to me.
“All aboard,” I said as I gestured to the cart for them to hop on, and then I pulled my cloak hood over my head so I wouldn’t be recognized.
“You’ll see I was right,” Dar continued, and Penny only rolled her eyes.
It turned out Dar was half right. It was a bit of a hike through the countryside, but it wasn’t so far we couldn’t have made it on foot. The hills were minimal, but I guessed it wasn’t such a bad idea to conserve our strength.
“Hide the cart here,” Dar remarked as the lights of the estate came into view, and I led the horses so they were hidden by the hill. “If we go any further in this, the guards will see us.”
“Do you know a safe way for us to get closer?” I asked Dar. “We won’t be able to see Hagan’s members pull off a heist this far away.”
“Of course!” Dar exclaimed. “Follow me.”
The halfling led the way up to the edge of the gargantuan place, and it reeked of inherited wealth. It looked like an old castle, with expansive gardens full of blooming flowers and paved courtyards. The small breeze wafted the wonderfully floral smells toward us, and it was sweet and warm, like my mother’s embrace. At least, what I remembered of it.
The battlements were high, but in disrepair. Human guards lined the castle’s roof, and archers manned their stations lit by the torches that lined the battlements where they stood. The guards were too far for us to see their faces, but the outline of their prestigious weapons was enough of a warning. It was obvious this was no secondary estate, but rather, a storage facility for something of great value.
The entire place was surrounded by high stone walls, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle. I might not have been the biggest fan of heights, but I was still trained to scale the side of a building.
“The crypt is located in the heart of the castle,” Dar whispered to us. “There is a secret entrance, but I was never able to find it. I am certain there is another exit that leads out of the crypt, but my understanding is it can’t be used as an entrance. It was a way for the family to escape in the olden days if the estate ever came under siege.”
“So, we will have to get inside the castle, then follow Hagan’s men into the crypt in order to steal the artifact?” I asked, even though we’d been over this plan a dozen times.
“Exactly,” Dar answered. “Now we just have to climb over this wall. This is the only spot without guards on it, so they will probably come through here.”
“I’ll go over first and find a path for you both to follow,” Penny whispered, and Dar and I nodded our heads in agreement.
When there was a mission, we relied on Penny to plot out a path for us. She might have pixie-sized feet, but I sure as hell didn’t.
Then there was Dar, who was about as graceful as a drunk bull when compared to either of us.
“Just follow me so you oafs know where to put your gigantic feet,” she whispered as she reached for the wall.
“You know what they say about halflings with big feet.” Dar winked as he gestured to his dick.
“Wade,” Penny sighed as she rolled her eyes at Dar, “ just don’t forget to grab the flags on your way up this time.”
“I would never,” I answered with a grin.
Penny groaned and then began her ascent, and Dar followed her up next as he watched where she put her feet. I followed after the halfling and hoped that we were here before the other Guild members.
The climb up took us less than five minutes, and I finally dropped on the other side of the wall beside Dar and Penny. Then we crouched behind a tall evergreen hedge and waited for Hagan’s men to arrive. I knew they would be silent and basically unseen, so we kept our eyes peeled for any minimal amount of movement or a strange change in the guard.
“There,” Dar whispered, “on the far side. Someone just shot an arrow.”
The two guards in the towers went down as silent spears whizzed through the air and into their hearts. They barely glinted in the lamplight, but we knew what to look for. Next, two men walked across the flexible rope that had been shot from the wall and into the side of the building. Their dark forms were highlighted by the torches around them, and the two men climbed the towers and took up the commands of the archers, then the rest of the group of thieves crossed the wall into the yard.
“So they went in through another spot?” I snickered as we crept closer. We guessed that this might happen. I was just happy we’d gotten here before the other thieves.
“They must be the lookouts,” Penny asserted, “and the men they took out must have been the whistleblowers. I count five total.”
“Same,” I said.
“Same,” Dar repeated.
The thieves hugged the castle wall as they approached the locked entrance. One of the thieves came forward and picked the lock. It only took him a handful of seconds, and then the rest of them filtered in. They were nimble and silent, and the guards above continued to be unaware of their entry into the house and the replacement of their tower men.
I couldn’t believe how easy they made it look, and I wondered if I looked the same way when I robbed a place. Probably, since I was better than most of them.
“I say we move now,” I told my friends. “We hit that back entrance you told us about, Dar. Hagan and his men will be inside and to the crypt in minutes.”
“Follow me,” Dar commanded.
Penny and I trailed Dar as he weaved through the maze of tall hedges. I’d counted three guards on the balconies earlier, but they rotated their watch every few minutes, and we just needed to get to the far corner of the bushes before we could make a run for it.
When the three guards were out of sight, we dashed toward the outer edge of the building, opposite of where the Guild members had traversed the wall. Dar led us around the back, but we heard voices inside the back door.
Dar signaled for us to go back with a wave of his hands.
“Guards inside the back door,” Dar whispered. “We’ll have to go back to the window.”
“Do you know where the window leads?” Penny asked.
“I think it’s to a guest room,” Dar answered as we backtracked to the window we’d passed. “I doubt any guards will be in there.”
“Well,” I whispered as I began to pick the lock on the window, “I guess we’ll find out.”
I opened it and entered a luxury bedroom. The carpet was pure white and shaggy, and the bed was the grandest thing I’d ever laid my eyes on. The posts were made of twisted gold, with engraved platinum seahorses dancing along the headboard. The sheets looked like they were silk, or satin, or something expensive and slick
that reminded me of Cimarra’s skin. I assumed it felt like it was made of clouds and would have sucked me into its soft folds if I dared to rest my body upon its surface.
“Holy Ancients,” I whispered.
“I think that bed could hold six people,” Penny answered.
“I always dreamed of owning a bed like this,” I told them. “Even before the Guild, all I ever had was a simple cot.”
“Better than the dirt hovel I used to live in,” Penny remarked.
“I don’t care what I sleep on as long as I have a place to sleep,” Dar stated with a shrug.
The rest of the room was decked out in the finest things, from the engraved wooden surface of the armoire to the antique crystalline glasses that lined the ceiling. I wanted all of it, and I planned to have it when my whiskey business took off.
But right now, I had a halfling asshole to gut.
“Alright, enough staring. Now we have to move,” I said, but Penny was already listening at the door that led to the mansion’s hallway.
“I’ll check to see if the hall is clear.” I pulled the shard of the magic mirror from my pocket, slightly opened the door, and turned the mirror down the hall.
Unfortunately, two of Hagan’s thieves made their way toward us as they checked each room one by one.
“Hagan’s thieves are on their way to our door,” I whispered to my friends as I hid myself on the backside of the door, and then Dar and Penny laid behind the bed where they couldn’t be seen.
The door opened, and the two men entered. Penny took out the first with a medicated dart, and I came behind the second halfling and held a hand over his mouth as my other arm locked him in a chokehold. The thief thrashed in my arms, but I was bigger and stronger. Eventually, his body stilled, and I gently placed him back down onto the floor.
“It’s Torrance and Beetam,” I whispered to my friends.
“What do you want to do with them?” Dar asked as he freed his dagger.
“Tie ‘em up and gag them,” I sighed. I kind of wanted to kill them both, but that would mean blood, and I actually would have felt bad about getting the beautiful carpet of the room stained.
We quickly took care of the two thieves, and then I used the mirror to peer out into the hall again.
