by Travis Bughi
“I still don’t see how Ichiro Katsu fits into this,” Gavin said, putting a hand to his chin. “What does he stand to gain? The only thing I can think of that involves him is the tax on imports, but that doesn’t help him.”
“You’re right,” Duncan agreed. “It actually hurts him, along with every other importing merchant. In fact, there’s hardly a single thing in Lucifan that isn’t imported. A tax, even a small one, on these items would fill the city’s coffers, that’s for sure. And if the leprechauns control the city, it’ll fill their coffers instead.”
Gavin and Duncan continued to ponder for a quiet moment, staring at the ground as though waiting for something to pop out of it.
“Unless. . .” Gavin trailed off.
“Unless what?” Duncan asked.
“Unless the tax doesn’t apply to him.” He raised an eyebrow.
A moment of silence passed between them, and Duncan began to nod.
“Yes, why yes.” Duncan warmed to the idea.
“That has to be it! Nothing else makes sense. For a shogun who sells his goods from Juatwa here, a tax on all imports except for yours would be astoundingly good for profit,” Gavin suggested. “Katsu’s empire is just one of many competitors who dock at Lucifan. Perhaps for his assistance, he’ll be able to avoid this tax, or maybe it was his demand for helping Drowin in the first place. That would drive the prices of his competitors up, making his own merchandise sell like fresh behemoth meat.”
“Profit.” Duncan nodded. “Why break the rules when you can bend and exploit them?”
“They’ll plunge the world into economic darkness while they rise above it on the corpses of the downtrodden.” Gavin punched his fist into an open palm. “Damn them.”
Emily finally caught on to what the two knights were talking about, and with Katsu finally linked into this master plot, the pieces of the puzzle came together.
The three of them looked down in thought as they realized the magnitude of the situation they were facing. Their foes were numerous, powerful, and well connected. They, on the other hand, were few, uninformed, and unprepared. Emily felt especially trapped in this storm of terrible change. She’d come to Lucifan for only one thing: to get revenge for her grandmother’s death. Now, the murderer, Heliena, was securely locked away behind a solid wall of formidable forces whose solitary goal was controlling all beneath them.
These were the forces, Emily realized, that had killed the angels.
“Damn leprechauns,” Emily said through gritted teeth. “I’ll teach them to mess with good people.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Gavin asked.
“Kick them?” Duncan responded sarcastically.
“No, no,” Emily said and shook her head as a smile crept across her face, “I have a better idea. The angels showed me the real way to hurt the leprechauns, and it’ll serve a dual purpose.”
Gavin and Duncan exchanged worried glances.
“We’ll get Mark his two hundred crowns,” she continued, “by stealing it from Borgan himself.”
* * *
The last time Emily was in Lucifan, she had seen Borgan stand trial before the angels. He had been accused of paying his ogres to capture and eat her, which they had almost succeeded in doing. Borgan had denied nothing and had, instead, smiled broadly as he reveled in his deeds. His punishment, he’d figured, would be nothing short of prison time. However, the angels, tired of his antics, had leveled a sentence he would not soon forget.
He was ordered to give half his savings to charities, a punishment that seemed light to Emily. Her family had no concept of savings. Something saved wasn’t being used and was therefore not their concern. To give up something that one did not use seemed barely equivalent to a slap on the wrist, but to Borgan, it had been a terrible punishment. She had watched as the leprechaun wept large tears of pain and agony. He’d kicked, screamed, and wailed like a man watching his wife and children burn before him. He’d also vowed revenge, and in that he had succeeded. Emily had learned on that day that there was nothing more precious to a leprechaun than his wealth.
So now Emily would use this knowledge to exact her own judgment on the greedy leprechaun. She’d take from him what he valued most, even if Duncan was completely against the idea.
“You’ve gone mad!” he said again. “Rob from a wealthy leprechaun? From his own bank, for Ephron’s sake.”
“It can be done,” Gavin replied.
“You, too?” Duncan’s jaw nearly bounced off the ground. “You can’t be serious? Let’s suspend the moral implications for a second, just a second, and realize that you’ll be facing gargoyles at the least, Count Drowin at the worst.”
“Moral implications,” Emily spat the words and turned on Duncan, halting him in his tracks. “Where were the moral implications when—”
She stopped herself. She’d been about to reveal Ephron’s secret, that the angels were murdered and he was running for his life.
“When what?” Duncan asked.
“When the leprechauns took over the city,” Emily continued with haste, “or when Borgan ordered me killed, or when my Chara was killed, or when any of this happened?”
Emily waved her hand about weakly and then stopped. She clenched her jaw, knowing that her argument would be so much stronger if the truth was known, but feeling too much obligation to keep it a secret. Now she appeared like she was overreacting.
“That doesn’t mean Borgan didn’t earn his wealth in good faith, under the angels’ rules.” Duncan fought back as they started walking again.
They were almost back to the orphanage by now. As they approached the steps, Gavin stopped them so their conversation could remain out of earshot from Madam Sweeney and the children.
“Look, Duncan,” Gavin said, laying a heavy hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I know you want no part of this. I get it. You have a position, a family honor to uphold, a reputation to keep. That’s why you’re against it, aren’t you? Be honest with yourself, man. This needs to happen, but I know you can’t be the one to do it. So, I won’t ask you to.”
Duncan opened his mouth to object, but closed it as his eyes revealed that Gavin spoke the truth. Duncan really was concerned about all those things. He was protesting out of fear of losing what he had.
“But you’ll need help,” he replied weakly.
“And I’m sure you’ll get it to me,” Gavin said with a nod.
Duncan looked down for a moment as if in thought; then he looked up again and met Gavin’s gaze. Gavin took his hand off Duncan’s shoulder.
“What do you need?” Duncan asked.
“Tell the others I’ll need them to cover for me,” Gavin said. “Ask Neil to bring me a pegasus, but otherwise, I don’t want any of them even near the bank.”
“Anything else?”
“Try not to kiss Mark’s arse too much tomorrow.” Gavin smiled.
Duncan smirked and gave his friend a quick jab to the shoulder. They chuckled and clasped hands before finishing the conversation with a quick nod.
“Good luck,” Duncan said as he walked off.
Emily waited until Duncan turned the corner. She and Gavin still hadn’t moved from just beyond the orphanage steps, and Emily stood silent with arms crossed until the knight turned his focus back to her.
“So,” Emily said. “What’s your plan? Just fly in and take the money?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Gavin replied, giving her a smile. “Banks keep their stockpiles stored away behind heavily locked doors in what’s called a vault. Even if we enter the bank undetected, we’ll make no progress on opening such a contraption on our own.”
“Well, there must be some way to open it. Are these vaults like doors? Do they have a key? Could we steal it?”
“You’re catching on quick, but it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Gavin said and shook his head. “All vaults made in Lucifan have two keys. One is a normal key, like what you’ve mentioned, and is likely carried
by Borgan himself. The other, though, isn’t a key like what you’re thinking. It’s a lock on the door itself that has to be opened by turning a set of numbers to the correct order. Unless one knows the combination, you could spend days trying to get it right.”
“And Borgan would know it?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” Gavin replied.
“So, we’re going to steal the leprechaun?”
“Angels’ wings, no!” Gavin laughed. “We just need Borgan to open it and then let us have our way.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Emily cocked an eyebrow. “Yes, that sounds much easier.”
* * *
Adelpha agreed to the idea quickly enough. She didn’t seem to have much of an opinion on it and kept a straight face, only nodding in agreement, as Emily whispered her plan.
Abe, however, did not like it at all. In his mind, this wasn’t a heroic fight against evil, but a simple breaking of the law that could not only end his short gunslinger career, but endanger the life of luxury he’d ensured for his parents along with it. Stooping to the level of a thief did not sit well with him. He saw it as repulsive at the least, deadly at the worst.
Surprisingly, Emily’s insistence that this needed to happen seemed to hold a large sway over Mariam’s decision. In a short time, she agreed to go along with it, but only if the plan was developed with her help. Gavin didn’t much appreciate Emily’s free dispersal of information, but there was little else to be done. They needed help, and they needed advice.
Together, they hashed out a plan.
Assaulting, or even approaching, the bank at night was simply out of the question. The gargoyles on top of the bank came alive at night, and anyone who got near that place would be torn to shreds. Even if Adelpha and Emily took careful aim with their bows to silently snipe the gargoyles out of the sky, such would leave an array of bodies all around that would alert anyone and everyone that something was amiss. Gargoyles could be given a secret password to stall their blood thirst, but the password was changed every so often, and there was almost more of a risk involved with discovering the password than with robbing the bank in the first place.
Of course, broad daylight was out of the question as well. The bank was on the edge of the grand market square, which was busy with activity all day long—not to mention the countless high-profile customers that would be frequenting the bank itself. Even if they managed to make it inside undetected, the crowded streets would double the difficulty of getting out and away with bags of money.
So, that left only two options: dusk and dawn, the times when the gargoyles remained stone, but few people roamed the market square. And since they needed not only to get into the bank, but out as well, that left dawn the victor. If they attempted to invade at dusk, they would take a heavy, heavy risk of not getting out before the gargoyles came to life.
“Borgan arrives at the bank early every morning,” Gavin said. “He’ll trust no one else to open his vault.”
“How do you know this?” Adelpha asked.
“We knights keep an eye on those with a questionable record,” he explained, “and leprechauns are like clockwork. There’s never a moment that isn’t planned efficiently and meticulously.”
“So that gives us a second alone with him?” Emily asked.
“On that part, I don’t know,” Gavin admitted. “Likely, yes, but not certainly. He could have guards with him, or an early customer waiting, but this will all be done before the crowds start. The bank is always open before the crowds. So, there may be an additional person we’ll have to deal with.”
Emily nodded, understanding as well as agreeing.
“So we charge in after him?” Emily asked.
Gavin shook his head and said, “This is where my pegasus comes in.”
Borgan’s bank was grand not only in nature, but in design. The inside was built with a large dome at the top to reflect the leprechaun’s thoughts of grandeur, and a portion of it was open to the elements. Emily vaguely remembered seeing the opening when she’d been held hostage inside.
“It’s actually quite common,” Gavin assured the skeptical ones. “It has many structural uses. Not only is it cheaper on materials, which is a must for leprechauns, but it makes the ceilings of stone buildings less heavy for when colossi walk by. Less of a chance for an old building to collapse if there’s less weight to support. Also, they never fear someone will get in. Big buildings like that are always guarded by gargoyles, and no one expects to be robbed by a knight. Well, they might these days after the defections, but I don’t think it’s been done . . . yet.”
Gavin smiled at that last part, then continued his explanation. Gavin, his pegasus, Emily, and Adelpha would be waiting just beyond the building. As soon as the gargoyles changed, they’d fly in and hide from view behind the statues around the hole at the top of the building. They would wait for Borgan to enter and unlock his vault, then fly down to disable the leprechaun and any ogres he may have employed to watch his back. They would then collect their 200 crowns, mount up, and fly off before anyone became any wiser. Outside the bank, Abe and Mariam would wait and provide any distractions needed to prevent early customers from entering the bank. To this, Abe and Mariam agreed, and so the plan was decided.
All they needed was supreme stealth, a steady stream of predictable events, and for nothing to go wrong.
Chapter 11
The next morning brought a chilly wind to the top of the building just beyond Borgan’s bank.
Emily shivered again and rubbed her forearms. It was a chill she was unused to and also unprepared for in her amazon attire. In Themiscyra, her studded leather skirt and vest provided just enough protection while allowing ample movement. It was superior to knight’s armor in that it made very little noise, allowing amazons to approach their prey with ease. In those warm jungles, one could lounge naked in absolute comfort. However, as Emily crouched atop the two-story stone building in the bay city of Lucifan, the eastern wind brought the ocean’s cool morning mist sweeping over her. It stole heat from her body like a vampire’s presence, and Emily realized that she’d need to carry alternative clothing if she ever intended on traveling farther than the Great Plains.
The pegasus next to her was not providing much of a shield against the wind either. Although it had a vast wing span, even when folded along its sides, the wind slipped around the beast to assault Emily like a banshee’s wail. She shivered again and curled up closer to the pegasus, a fine creature, and Emily briefly recounted when they’d acquired it.
As promised by Duncan, a fellow knight by the name of Sir Neil had brought it to Gavin. Emily recognized Neil as the one with the shaved head that she’d seen in the tavern earlier that week. He’d clasped hands with Gavin when they met and had begged to join the robbery.
“Duncan told us everything,” Neil said, “and I want a piece of that leprechaun for myself.”
“As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Gavin replied with a grin, “I’m afraid this raid has no room for any more. But don’t fret, brother, for I feel a real fight is brewing.”
“Aye,” Neil said. “I’ll let the others know to keep their swords sharp. And don’t worry, we have you covered for tomorrow. We’re all being sent on a patrol of the outer rim, by Duncan of course.”
“I knew he’d pull through.” Gavin clenched his fist in victory.
“You know,” Neil said after a pause, “we still wish you were in command.”
“Don’t say that,” Gavin replied. “Duncan is a fine leader.”
“Fine, yes. But that doesn’t make him you.”
Gavin had laughed the compliment off, and the two had parted ways. Emily remembered that conversation with interest now as she sat shivering on the rooftop. She looked to Gavin who was watching Borgan’s bank in the shadowy illumination of near dawn with a keen eye.
“Gavin,” Emily said.
He tilted his head slightly towards Emily while keeping eyes on the bank, “Yes, Miss Stout?”
“When Neil said ‘we,’ who was he referring to?”
“My comrades,” Gavin replied casually. “Knights are grouped by age, and their seniority is based on their time in the Order. If you’ll remember, Mark’s escort all seemed about his age, and my patrolling group that rescued you those months ago was similar to mine.”
“You still think it was you that rescued her?” Adelpha scoffed.
The amazon queen was huddled off to the side and had been silent ever since they’d landed on the roof. At first, Gavin had insisted that only two of them go so return trips on the pegasus would not be needed, but Adelpha was a hard one to argue with, and the knight had conceded.
“Yes, I remember,” Emily replied to Gavin, hoping to stifle any petty arguments. “So, your rankings are as obvious as they seem?”
He nodded, eyes still glued to the bank. Emily decided to look as well. It required her to stand up from her semi-protected position behind the pegasus, but she decided it didn’t much matter anymore. She was sick of trying to stay warm up on the stone rooftop. It was obviously futile.
The pegasus snorted as Emily strayed away from it. It could open and close both wings freely now that she had moved, and it took this chance to stretch them wide. Emily clenched her teeth, hoping no one would notice those grand feathered wings. Thankfully, she decided, this black pegasus would be hard to spot among Lucifan’s grey buildings. Emily stumbled over to Gavin, rubbing her arms some more to return some warmth to them. She dreaded the idea of shooting a bow up here and couldn’t wait for this entire ordeal to be over. The anticipation alone made her stomach lurch like she’d swallowed a live gremlin.
It was still dark as she looked out toward Borgan’s bank, but not enough that she couldn’t make out the grim, shambling shapes of the gargoyles that soared about the building. Even at this distance, their red eyes warned of an excruciating demise. Their leathery wings, each one longer than the gargoyles were tall, flapped in a mockery of the magnificence that flight should possess. Emily loved flying, yet these gargoyles made such a task look more macabre than wondrous. Their gaunt appearance was so unreal that it made Emily shudder just to look at them.
