Ash, unlike his alias Guillermo von Sails, was a self-proclaimed beast tamer and had that listed in his official Adventurer’s Guild identification papers and records. While beast tamers could not have two-way verbal and mental communication with beasts, they could still give orders and understand a creature through body language.

  It would be a shame if Henry did not exploit that.

  From the front of the mansion, they could only make out so much of the compound. There was a wall that seemed to surround the property, or at the very least the front and one side. Before they began their mission of vengeance, they needed to gather information.

  As Auntie said, information was crucial, and to utilize what they could to gather it.

  Thus, Henry had Ash sent the two ravens out to get an overhead view of the property.

  Smaller and unfamiliar birds wouldn’t have understood, much less obeyed, but Cole and Midnight were ravens, which were already one of the most intelligent of birds, and had been raised by Effie and Nera. Effie was still gaining a mastery of her gifts, but Henry was convinced that his Aunt was the most powerful beast master in the world.

  As long as the animal had some sort of consciousness, Nera Atractas could get it to move.

  “How many people do you think are inside?” Ash asked.

  Henry shook his head and narrowed his eyes, which were still fixed on the mansion. “More than the amount that was arrested today.”

  He heard Ash let out a low hiss. “Do you think more will be arriving?”

  “It doesn’t matter if they come, as long as we are gone by the time they arrive,” Henry replied.

  There was a rustle of wind and that drowned out the gentle flapping of wings as the ravens returned. They hadn’t been gone for more than an hour. Henry had been keeping track, as they needed to be long gone well before the sunrise.

  Cole and Midnight didn’t caw or screech when they landed in front of the brothers, as if knowing that doing so could give away their location.

  Instead, they waddled to two small sticks Ash had placed on the ground and moved to the clearing and flat dirt Ash had prepared. They pinched the sticks in their beaks and began to drag them across the loose top dirt, drawing lines and shapes, all while trying to keep their little raven footprints from disrupting their drawings.

  Henry knelt down and watched the ravens. He’d seen them deliver messages, act as guides in the air, and fetch things here and there, but he didn’t know they were smart enough to draw a map.

  He glanced at Ash across from him, whose brows were knit and appeared transfixed with the stick drawings.

  He seemed to sense his brother looking up at him and glanced up. He looked at Henry and then back at the ravens, then nodded. “Effie taught them. They can write simple words in Lunapsar, symbols, and numbers. I’ve seen Void draw a crude stick figure of Commadore once.”

  Henry’s brows shot up. “I didn’t think they were that sma...capable.”

  “Do you think they just sit around all day when we’re home?” Ash raised a brow. “When Effie is at home and has nothing to do, she’s training them. She swears they’re the smartest birds.”

  Henry would believe that even without Effie’s reassurance after seeing what they were doing. After a few minutes, the two ravens hopped away from their drawing, giving the two brothers a clear view.

  According to the ‘map’ of the outline of the mansion that the ravens drew out with sticks on the ground, they had a general idea of how big the mansion was and where doors were located. Unseen from the front, where Ash and Henry were hiding across from, there was another building.

  It was completely blocked from view from the front of the property. It was likely one floor or less.

  Ash looked at the two ravens and held out his hand with his palm parallel to the ground. “This building here, is it bigger or smaller than the big house?” He brought his hand up and down and the ravens crouched down. “Okay, any windows? This side yes, this side no.” He said, moving his hand from side to side.

  The two ravens both moved to his right, replying ‘yes’.

  Ash narrowed his eyes. “Underground?” The two ravens seemed to shuffle a bit and then stand in the middle. “So, part of it is above ground and it may be a basement.”

  The two ravens then hopped to the ‘yes’ side.

  Henry pursed his lips. “It must be where they store their goods.”

  “Then, before we raid the main building, we should clean out the storage,” Ash said, kneeling down around the drawing on the ground. “I doubt there will be too many guards. They drew and ‘x’ here and here, next to this marking that means door.”

  “That’s the only marking for a door,” Henry said. “And it faces the main building. We’ll be exposed if we try to enter through the door.”

  Ash shrugged, as if that concern was unnecessary. “Then we enter through a window. Cole, draw lines like this across where there is a window,” Ash told one of the ravens before dragging his finger across a line he made in the dirt.

  Cole hopped forward and began making little marks along several sides of a building that was shaped like a right angle. There weren’t a lot of windows, but since the building was partially underground, Henry had another question.

  “How big are they?”

  Ash drew in his lips and squinted. “That’s a good point....”

  “We also have to consider if you use a light slip inside, will the light be visible from the windows.”

  “Another good point, but that can be avoided since the eye drops have another few hours to go,” Ash said.

  Henry looked back at him. “I’m fairly confident we can carry an entire warehouse that size, provided it is only one floor, perhaps even 2, in our preservation bags, but will we have enough time to get everything?”

  While destroying the items in the storage was much faster and would also ‘relieve the villains of their goods’, they were not the type to destroy relics.

  Ash wrinkled his nose. “We still need to infiltrate the main building, find any weapons or tools caches, and get rid of them, too.”

  The more they thought about it, the more trouble it seemed to be, but they’d already come that far.

  “Split up,” Henry said. “Do what you can to take as much as you can. I’ll go into the main building and look around.”

  Ash frowned. “The storage likely won’t have too many people, but the mansion is a different story, Brother. It’ll be crawling with people. Even if there are servants' stairs, you may run into someone.”

  Henry looked out, towards the front gate. “Then I’ll just get a disguise.”

  Ash followed his gaze and frowned. “Are you serious?”

  Henry didn’t answer him directly. “What do we have to keep any guards quiet without having to do so violently?”

  Ash stared at the ground, silently going over the ideas he had stored. “When I get back home, I’m going to do a little dabbling on anesthetics. Maybe ask your future mother-in-law.”

  Henry put his hand on Ash’s shoulder and casually pushed him until Ash was rolling on the ground, still snickering to himself.

  “If there is no one inside the storage building, then can you put up a barrier to absorb sound from going outside?” Henry asked, ignoring his brother’s jab.

  “That’s not a problem, I have a slip for that, but I need to use a couple depending on the size of the area,” Ash replied. He dug into his preservation bag and took out a small clay jar. “I only have coloring for black hair.”

  Henry looked at the outstretched jar suspiciously. “How long does it last?”

  “You’d need to wash it out, but I don’t have much. Use this comb,” Ash offered a wooden comb with a few teeth missing. “Otherwise, it will stain your hands.”

  Red hair was a rarity in the region and it would make him stand out, so Henry snatched the jar, removed the lid, and stuck the comb in to scoop out a chunk of a thick, paste-like consistency of hair dye. Henry brought it to his nose and sniffed. His face scrunched up and he looked at his brother accusingly.

  “Why does it smell like fresh baked sugar cookies?”

  Ash shrugged. “It was what scent I had left when I was making it. Otherwise, you smell the bitter tannins of the dyed compound, which starts to smell like alcohol after a while. Hana said the smell makes people feel dizzy.”

  Henry blinked. “So, you went with sugar cookies?” He shook his head, but still slapped the glob into his loose dark red hair and began to comb it in. “Why do you even have that smell?”

  “Leftovers from when Effie was making scented candles for the lantern festival.”

  Henry only grew more confused. The yearly lantern festival was meant to honor and thank the water spirits of Carthage Harbor and paper lanterns were released into the harbor during a full moon on a fall night. Lanterns had candles in them, but that didn’t explain why they needed to be scented.

  Ash must’ve understood the confusion in his brother’s face and sighed. “She said that if the candles smell good, the water spirits will be even more appeased and bring good waters and fortune to the city.”

  Henry pursed his lips. He continued to comb in the dye until Ash verified that he’d become a brunette. To Henry’s surprise, the hair dye didn’t stay wet for long. It dried and hardened rather quickly, like the hair styling slime they sold in Dareisol.

  He returned the used comb to Ash and dug through his own bag to fish out the glasses to change his eye color.

  “We’ll go around the back and round the perimeter of the storage. Get a good look at the window placements and see if you can peer inside. Secure a window that you want to enter through if possible,” Henry said, picking up a discarded stick and drawing around the map drawn by ravens. “I’ll knock out the two guards at the front door. You can search them for keys while I steal the outwear of one of the guards. Once you get inside the storage, close the door, and take everything you can. Leave the inside to me.”

  Ash frowned. “Not that I don’t have confidence in your ability, Brother, but you’re out numbered inside.”

  “I’m not so stupid as to charge in and cause a scene immediately. I’ll survey the area.”

  “There are dozens of rooms,” Ash said, still frowning. “And not all of them will be open.”

  “What I need to find is where they keep their weapons and any tomb raiding supplies,” Henry told him. “The hard part will be looking for any ill-gotten gold or money.”

  Ash took a deep breath. “Fine,” he said. “You have three spirits with you and are the strongest summoner I’ve ever met.”

  “Thank you for your confidence.”

  “I’m confident in Simir burning the place to the ground if needed.”

  Henry rolled his eyes. “We’re just going in and out to do quick item recovery, and then leave. We’re not going to do anything that will attract attention and alert their allies.”

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  He didn’t mean to brag, but Henry always thought he had a decently built body. His early years had given him the best food and drink, he studied martial arts from an early age, and his Aunt’s training regiments and routines helped him keep active and healthy. Even without the strenuous training of a soldier, he was tall with a wide chest and thick arms and legs compared to regular men.

  “You look ridiculous.” Ash’s gaze was filled with so much judgment, Henry was more irritated than embarrassed. While he didn’t have to change out of his pants, the generic dirt-stained tunic and overcoat of one of the guards to the storage house had to be worn in order to blend into the local dress code.

  They wouldn’t fit over his regular clothes, so Henry shoved his tabard and shirt into his bag before handing it to Ash to use as storage, and put the dirty, musty clothes of the larger of the two guards on.

  The buttons were barely holding together and it looked as if the seams of the coat’s sleeves would rip if he so much as moved his arms the wrong way. Not to mention that they were too short.

  Henry shot his brother a glare. “It’s not my fault that they’re smaller than me! Do you want to switch?”

  Ash was a bit slenderer mainly due to his younger age, but Henry was sure that in due time, he’d also fill out. He hated to admit that their builds came from their father. At least for now, the clothes would still be short, but at least the buttons of the shirt weren’t struggling to survive.

  His brother’s face twisted with disgust. “I’m not wearing someone’s dirty laundry.”

  Henry’s glare hardened. If the circumstances called for it, Ash would cake himself in mud and stick vines to him to blend into a swamp, but dirty laundry was where he drew the line? If Henry wasn’t afraid of ripping his sleeves, he would’ve smacked his brother.

  He grit his teeth. “Just tell me if you’re able to get inside. The windows are narrower than expected.”

  As the ravens had reported, the storage was half built into the ground. They had to crouch down to go around unseen. The windows were also more like narrow slits near the roof that were wide, but just large enough to let in light, but not much else. Ash would get stuck around his shoulders.

  The rest of the building was made of thick stone blocks, so going through a wall would be difficult and time consuming, not to mention loud. The roof was also made of local clay tile, but upon further inspection, it covered stone slabs. The only feasible way in was the most direct method: the door.

  Ash let out a small snort. He lifted up a small key ring that he’d pilfered from the unconscious guard that he propped up by the door with a few large branches. It was the best they could do so that, at a glance, it would look as if the guards were still on duty.

  Ash began trying out the keys, but was careful to keep the jiggling sound to a minimum. After the fourth one, he frowned. “All right...slight issue.”

  Henry gave him a deadpan look. “Those aren’t the right keys, are they?”

  Ash’s lips pulled into a tight line as the fifth and last key didn’t work. “They are not.” He dropped the keeps unceremoniously to the floor and reached into his bag to take out small metal picks. Henry rolled his eyes. Ash had been so confident.

  A small click was heard and Ash grasped the door handle and managed to push it open. He held it open with a small gap and listened, craning his head to catch any noise.

  “Ash, no matter how much money they’ve made over the years, I doubt they’ll have an alarm.” As far as he knew, the technology for that was proprietary to Ash and was only available in the Federation of Merchant Cities and government contracts with Dareisol.

  “There could be traps,” Ash said in a quiet voice. “You know...something more archaic.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know...arrows shooting from a wall. A pit of spikes. Giant stone boulder rolling down.”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Where would they put a giant stone boulder?” Henry snorted. “This warehouse is smaller than the property at home.”

  “I’m just giving examples.” Ash appeared satisfied that there was nothing on the other side and opened the door further. The inside was dark, but Ash had already taken the eyedrops. “All right, it looks like it’s just one level.... When you’re ready to go, send the ravens.”

  “Do you remember how to get to the meeting location?” Henry asked, hesitant to take a step away before his brother confirmed it.

  Ash was squeezing himself between the door and the door frame. “Several minutes up the road, at the edge of the forest before the farmland.”

  Henry nodded. “Midnight had gone to fetch the horses.”

  Ash managed to get inside and paused before closing the door. “See you later, Brother.”

  “Don’t be reckless and pay attention to the ravens.” Ash slipped inside and the door closed. Henry took a deep breath and looked towards the main building and the back of the mansion. There was a row of tall hedges that blocked the storage building from view from the front and the sides.

  If the birds had not flown over the area, even with their vision in the dark, Henry might not have realized there was a second building. He crept around the trees, weaving through an irregular path that seemed purpose built to hide the structure in the back. Unlike the storage, the main building looked like any other sprawling estate house in the country, except that all the windows on the ground floor had been bricked up.

  Half the window on the upper floors had also been bricked up. He heard in some places this was to avoid paying window tax, but he couldn’t help but think the reason was more to hide what was happening inside. He observed behind the hedges, waiting to see any doors open or see any movements from the windows. A few were lit, but there seemed to have been curtains hanging over them.

  “Simir,” Henry called out in his head. “Do you sense any other summoners or spirits?”

  “Only the grass sprite, Master. And the grass sprite is exhausted and has lost consciousness.”

  Henry frowned hearing about it. That meant that the work the sprite did to loosen the bricks to help others escape had overworked it. It wasn’t a strong spirit to begin with and Henry didn’t see it as a threat.

  “Can you find any caches of money or weapons?” Henry asked.

  “No, Master. Metals are not within my element to sense, but I can search.”

  Henry frowned. “No, even if they can’t see you, you’ll create a temperature fluctuation that could cause alarm. We don’t know if there are mages within.”

  Simir was quiet for a moment. “Take me to the grass sprite, Master.”

  Henry knit his brows together. “The unconscious grass sprite?”

  “Ground floor, furthest room on your left-hand side,” Simir said. “I can wake them up.”

  He didn’t want to overthink it, but Simir sounded vaguely threatening. Henry suppressed his shudder and was careful to move within the shadows. Entering through an upper-level window wasn’t difficult, as the levels were staggered and getting on to the ground floor’s roof was a simple matter. He just had to be quiet.

  He was lucky it was already open, but he figured out why as soon as he landed on the creaking hardwood floor.

  The room he entered looked to be shared sleeping quarters and wasn’t large. There were eight beds in the room: two sets of bunk beds along each wall with the space to walk between them just enough for one and a half people. Curtains had been added to give some privacy to each bed area, but that didn’t stop the sound of snoring or the sharp smell of body odor and soiled clothes.

  Henry couldn’t help but hold his breath as he walked between the bunks, careful not to brush against any of the closed curtains. Only two were left open, showing that they were currently vacant.

  He reached the door and glanced over his shoulder, confirmed the even breathing, and during one particularly loud snore, he opened the door. Most places in rural areas used candles and lanterns, but it seemed the thieving ring had made quite a bit of money, as there were light crystals on the wall.

  Low quality, irregularly shaped, and small, and therefore, dim, but they were still light crystals. He took a quick glance outside before slipping out. He waited until there was another snore to close the door behind him.

  That was easier than I-

  “Hey, are you assigned to the west room?” His skin curdled as a woman appeared at the top of the stairs just a few steps away. Henry turned his head towards her, stifling his discomfort. He hoped that the dim lighting would be enough to skew his features.

  “Do they need more people?” he asked, mimicking the local Iverian Common accent.

  The woman paused as she stood in front of him. “No....” Her eyes went up and down his body, and Henry could almost see the appreciation on her face. He swallowed hard to keep from shifting awkwardly under her gaze. “Not to guard, but they need people to carry some boxes into the vault.”

  This place has a vault? Henry gave her a nod. “I’ll go to the west room.” He stepped around her and quickened his pace down the stairs.

  He passed another person on his way and gave them a small nod of his head while walking down the stairs as if he belonged. That was what was key: the confidence in faking it and appearing as if he belonged there. His family had faked their way through more than one situation.

  Henry reached the ground floor. “Which direction is west?”

  “On your right, Master,” Simir replied. Henry made a sharp right. There were more people in the halls and most of the doors were open. A few people were in each one and Henry tried to get a look inside as he passed without appearing too obvious.

  Most looked like small parlors or meeting rooms. He suspected that this was where they would entertain clients and show off stolen goods. He’d seen such places before.

  The room at the end had double doors open and several people were walking out, each holding one side of heavy wooden crates. A short line of large men were waiting to get in and Henry got into it.

  Before he entered the room, he heard a familiar language that shouldn’t have been spoken in the area.

  “These vases aren’t much, but it’s still a good start,” someone was speaking in Ashtari. “The more His Highness has, the more he can donate to those refugees in West Wind Valley and gain their favor.”

  Henry’s jaw clenched, but the rest of his expression and body language did not change. He continued to listen to the voices even as he entered, and then went through the motions of assisting with carrying the last of the boxes. He carefully bent down, trying to avoid ripping his sleeves, and lifted the crate up by a metal handle.

  Even in the dim light, he could make out the silver hair standing out from everyone else in the room.

  “Those elders haven’t announced an heir yet and there are multiple claimants. Your Highness, are you certain they will acknowledge you?”

  “They will.”

  He’d never heard that voice before, but instinctively, Henry wanted to hurl the heavy box he was carrying at it.

  However, he continued to walk out of the room without so much as turning his head towards the three men seated across the room. Another four men were dressed in the all too familiar Imperial Guard uniforms of Ashtar.

  “Has the Magic Tower figured out how to make longer lasting breathing pills yet?” A man snorted. “We paid so much money and even gave up one of the six-hour pills and they still haven’t managed to figure it out!”

  “We hoped that the mage who made them would come forward, so we submitted a request through the Adventurer’s Guild, but no one has accepted.”

  “Perhaps the mage is no longer taking requests.”

  Henry almost wanted to laugh. The last people, next to the Magic Tower, that Ash would be willing to take requests from where them. He followed the other men carrying boxes down the hall, then through a door that led downstairs.

  Instead of light crystals, oil lanterns hung from the ceiling, which were brighter and allowed people to see better. At the bottom of the stairs was a large stone enclosure. Its metal lid was held open by a series of chains, and the boxes were going inside. Each pair of men lifted a box and put it into the stone vat that only reached up to his waist.

  As soon as Henry lifted it, the sound of ripping cloth cut through the silence of the room. Henry grit his teeth as all eyes seemed to go back to him.

  The man who was holding the other side of the box squinted and looked at him. “Are you new?”

  Before Henry could answer, weapons were drawn and he was surrounded. “There hasn’t been anyone new who joined since the last orientation!”

  Henry remained still. “I was hired late.”

  “Hold him down!” The man holding the other side of the crate released the handle, sending the bottom crashing to the ground. The glint of gold could be seen when a panel of wood split open from the force.

  Henry let out a heavy sigh. Since he was caught, there was only one thing he could do to complete the rest of his mission.

  Silence the witnesses.

  He slammed his fist into the nearest man, sending him stumbling back against the wall. He grabbed the fallen sword and swung it around, parrying a cut before weaving his free arm around another’s and dislodging that man’s arm from his shoulder. Henry heard a pained groan before the other man slid to the floor.

  He needed to move quickly, as too much noise would attract attention. He didn’t restrain his attacks as much as usual.

  He was entangled with another man and stepped back to open distance. As he did, he saw someone racing up the stairs. His eyes widened and he threw out the sword in his hand, stabbing the man in the thigh and bringing him tumbling down the stairs. The man landed with a heavy thud on the ground and didn’t get up.

  “Foolish! What weapon do you have now?” The man he was fighting rushed forward.

  Henry took a small step to the side, avoiding the trajectory of the blade before grabbing the man’s elbow and twisting his arm behind his back. Henry leaned forward and answered in his ear. “The sword was just a tool,” he replied in a smooth voice. “I am the weapon.”

  Another low crack was heard and the man fell to his knees. Henry surveyed the area littered with about nine other men.

  Without a word, he reached into his back pocket and began to unfold a large piece of fabric that Ash had given him. It was a new tool; Ash had told him with a smug look.

  “Open it up....” Henry muttered as he whispered the instructions. “Lay it on the ground....” He spread the cloth about as wide as he was tall on the floor after kicking aside two men. “And put something in the circle.” He raised his brow and looked at the embroidery around the fabric. Poorly embroidered magic text. Is this even going to work....

  Despite his doubts, Henry tossed a gold bar that had fallen out of one of the crates on top of the sheet. A clank sound was heard as it landed on top, within the embroidered circle and magic text. Henry pursed his lips.

  Nothing happened.

  “Well, you can’t expect all of Second Young Master’s products to work all the time...” Raiju’s voice offered some solace.

  Henry shook his head and as about to roll up the fabric with the characters began to glow. The blank fabric inside the crude embroidered circle began to darken and, as if it had melted through a layer of ice, the gold brick fell into a dark void.

  Henry’s brows shot up.

  “I told you it would work! You owe me a cookie, Raiju!” Naali’s voice cried out with expectation.

  Henry ignored his spirits and pushed the entire crate of gold into the circle. He then climbed into the stone vat and heaved the crates out, letting them drop into the space fabric without a sound.

  Henry silently praised his brother for the new product.

  After he finished with the last of the crates, he folded the sheet into a small square and tucked it into his pants pocket. He was impressed, but now was not the time to dwell on it.

  He replaced the crates in the stone vat with people and then lowered the lid. A small part of him was tempted to lock it, but decided against it. If they all work up and worked together, they could still get out, at least.

  He wasn’t a monster.

  Straightening his clothes and adjusting his torn coat, he climbed up the stairs. Now, he needed to destroy some tools and weapons.

  “Far east wing, Master,” Simir’s voice spoke.

  “How do you know?”

  “The grass sprite told me.”

  Henry knit his brows together and almost paused as he reached the top of the stairs. “You found the grass sprite and they told you?”

  The fire spirit sounded as if whatever was happening was quite mundane. “They told me.”

  Henry turned down the hall and frowned. “Did you threaten them?”

  “I didn’t need to.”

  Henry felt a bit guilty, but headed east in the building. Just as he turned into the main hall, a commotion was coming from the west hall, where the meeting rooms were.

  “If we have any more, we will be sure to contact you, Your Highness,” a man speaking Iverian Common seemed to gush as he spoke. “Thank you for coming all this way.”

  The man with the silver hair gave him a flippant wave of his hand. “Let me know if you find any more items.”

  “Yes, of course, Your Highness!”

  A young man in fine Ashtari clothing was coming down the hall with two older men behind him that Henry recognized. Their guards surrounded them as they walked towards the foyer while members of the thieving ring seemed to steer clear by pasting themselves against the wall, refusing to move until the Ashtari guests passed.

  Henry took the clue and mirrored them, lowering his head and pressing his back against the wall, as if putting as much distance between them would make things better. He wanted to get a better look at the man’s face; not of the same minister and professor who’d accosted them in the Shallows, but of the man they were following. The dim light only showed much, but it was somewhat familiar. Older.

  They paused for a bit and the minister sniffed the air as he passed. In confused Ashtari, he asked out loud: Do you smell cookies?

  Dammit, Ash.

  The party passed him and Henry could smell the faint scent of sandalwood incense. The man in the local fine dress following them was smiling and promising to contact them should more Lunapsar relics be found.

  They turned into the foyer and those in the hall seemed to release their collective breath. They began to disperse, but Henry could hear their irritated grumblings about the guests. They were demanding, rude, or were expecting too much.

  Henry could guess what they were after, but thought it was futile. Did they think that buying a few Lunapsar relics would buy the title of ruler of the Lunapsar people? There was no physical kingdom anymore; a ruler would just be ceremonial. Still, Henry made a mental note to tell his Aunt what he heard.

  When everyone began to disperse, he followed Simir’s instructions, but found that the room was guarded. He raised his brow, somewhat unimpressed that they were guarding a room with all their tools and weapons, but not the vault.

  Then again, maybe those men I left there were the guards... Henry narrowed his eyes. Raiju, I need a distraction so I can get into the room and toss everything into the space fabric.

  “No problem, Master! Leave it to me!”

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  “Who knew robbing thieves was so easy?” Ash said, shaking his head. “You’d think that as professionals, they’d be more concerned about security.”

  He lifted a wooden crate larger than he was wide and turned it on its side before repeating the process to ‘roll’ the heavy box into the darkened fabric spread out on the floor. He was confident that he could collect the entire warehouse, as he had a new ‘bag’ tucked into his usual preservation bag.

  Perhaps bag was a misnomer, as it wasn’t so much a satchel or rucksack, which most adventurer’s used. It was more of a portable storage portal. It was a thin, but durable fabric that he’d applied the same principles of the space feature in their bags to. Still, it was in its prototype stages. While the fabric that was almost as big as a bedsheet could be folded out and create an opening where he could push large objects into, retrieving the large objects wasn’t something he could figure out.

  He could still reach his hand in there and grab on to whatever item he was thinking of, but if he managed to toss a horse in there, he couldn’t lift out the horse. He could only take out what he could lift.

  In addition, the storage void was a vacuum of time and space. It could still preserve food in the state it was in when it was added, but a living creature wouldn’t survive.

  I’ll figure that out later. The crate slipped into the void, as if it had dropped into a hole. Ash clapped his hands together and went to move on to the next large item. He tugged the storage portal sheet closer and then began the motions of ‘rolling’ another large crate.

  As he was rolling it, he noticed moving shadows on the wall. Each time the crate hit the floor, it let out a hollow thud.

  Thud. Roll. Thud. Roll. One more and it was going to go into the portal. Ash lifted one side and it tumbled into the void, but not without a thunderous crack. He jerked his head back and shifted his stance into a defensive position as his eyes darted around.

  The crate couldn’t have made that sound. He narrowed his eyes and stopped, turning towards the window where the light came from. Moonlight was faint, but the light coming in now was brighter and flickering.

  Ash used a shelf to climb up and peer through the window. His brows shot up.

  “Fire wasn’t part of the plan....” A black shadow appeared outside the window. “Ah!” He jumped back in surprise and heard the rapid tapping of a beak against the glass panes before it registered that it was one of the ravens giving him the signal to leave.

  Ash scrunched his face and looked back into the warehouse. All the smaller items had been taken already, but there were still several large crates. They were not only heavy, but well-sealed. It wouldn’t be easy short of blowing the lid off to see what was inside.

  The frantic tapping of the bird against the glass seemed to grow louder by the second. Ash stared at the remaining items, debating whether or not to leave them.

  His eyes narrowed. He grabbed the edge of the storage portal fabric and dragged the entire thing over one of the crates. He held his breath, unsure what to expect, but when the shape of the crate beneath the fabric suddenly deflated, Ash barely held back his cry and pumped one fist in the air.

  “I didn’t think that was going to work.” Grinning like a madman, he pulled the fabric over the remaining crates, watching with glee as crate after crate disappeared into the void.

  He almost cackled out loud when the last of the crates disappeared beneath the fabric. Filled with satisfaction, Ash turned around and looked over the emptied warehouse, wanting to remember his triumph.

  The bird’s tapping continued, but were drowned out by muffled yelling. The fire was getting attention. Ash quickly folded the fabric and shoved it into his bag before rushing towards the door. He opened it and peeked out. Yelling about the fire coming from further away and with the distraction, Ash stepped out, closed the door behind him, and walked in the direction of the fire.

  Though he wanted to get away, if he wanted to remain ignored, he needed to follow the crowd. He waited until he saw some people rushing back to the main building for buckets. He turned smoothly on his heel and followed. There was a well on the property and it was surrounded by men and women yelling for someone to ‘hurry up’.

  Occasionally pretending to pick up things or avoid running into people, Ash wove through the crowd, even repeating random orders that were given to blend in. His voice faded as soon as he reached the side of the building.

  They’d entered through the back of the property and part of him hoped that when he reached the front, the guards would’ve been gone so they could deal with the fire. He let out a ‘tsk’ as he saw that, though anxious and looking back towards the house, the two guards at the front gate remained.

  He prepared to turn back, but one of them called for him.

  “Sir! Do you need your horse?”

  Ash almost broke his neck snapping back in their direction. He was the only person walking forward and they were looking directly at him. One was unlocking and opening the gate. Ash kept his face neutral. They’d addressed him as ‘sir’, meaning they saw him in a position of power. Straightening his back, Ash approached and gave him small nods.

  “No, my people are near,” he said, purposely lowering his voice. A slight frown appeared on his face. “Why are you still standing here? They need people to put out the fire in the back.”

  The two men sucked in sharp breaths and hesitation filled their face. “We...we can’t leave until we are relieved.”

  Ash let out a small nod. “I see.” The two guards didn’t move from their posts, so Ash dared to take a step forward and then walk between the two of them to leave. “Very good work.”

  “Thank you, sir. It’s best if you hurry so you don’t get caught in the fire if it gets out of hand.” As one of the men said that a loud roar came from behind the mansion and the light of the flames appeared over the top of the building, making the two guards suck in sharp breaths.

  Ash didn’t spare it more than a glance before quickening his speed to leave. He was almost to the main road when there was shouting behind him. He dared to look over and saw that the two guards had abandoned their spots to help fight the fire.

  Without anyone there to watch him, Ash darted into the tree line of the woods. He then ran the rest of the way to the meeting point and found Henry already there, sitting on his horse while holding the reins of Ash’s horse.

  “Don’t worry, I wasn’t waiting long,” Henry said with a slight smirk.

  “That fire is still going,” Ash said as he reached his brother. He took the reins from his hand and pulled himself on to the saddle. “Did you mean for that to happen?”

  Henry shrugged and turned his horse around to leave. “I needed a distraction so I could get the weapons and leave.”

  Ash watched as the black smoke clashed against the brightening sky. His eyes crinkled up. “I thought you said we weren’t going to do anything that will attract attention?”

  Henry didn’t look back and kept riding with his eyes fixed south. “If you don’t look at it, you won’t see it.”

  Ash took a deep breath and exhaled. He looked forward, following his brother. “The point is this will at least cause them some trouble.” Also, it satiated his anger about being attacked in the burial pyramid. If such a thing could’ve been called an attack.

  Henry looked over at him. “Did you have any trouble getting out? When I had Raiju strike the piles of dried plants, people rushed outside. I was worried you’d be spotted.”

  Ash let out a low voice. “I was.” Henry snapped his head in his directory. “But...they just looked at me, bowed their heads, and moved aside. Someone even told me to hurry so as not to get caught in the fire.”

  His brother was quiet for a moment before replying. “That’s because they didn’t know it was you.”

  Ash gave him a strange look. “Obviously. But I didn’t expect to step aside like that.” He shook his head, replaying the memory. “Is there some silver-haired man who’s of high rank?”

  Henry’s eyes narrowed. “No,” he said in a low voice. “The Ashtari Prince was here.”

  Ash's very obvious nemesis: Magic Tower

  Last week, I was told that since no one wants to come into the office, my floor is consolidating and I will be moving floors...but the problem is, the floor I will move to has very little designated workstations, meaning I, who have come the requested 3 days a week, will likely have a hotel (first come, first serve work station). And now I'm bitter because I have accumulated so much stuff at at my current workstation (new ones are smaller, btw), so I will be spending the next week or so, moving things. Oh, and our storage room has moved, so we have to move that, too. I am so tired. =_=