Rayne Read online

  With his new bag in hand, he took off on the same path he had seen others use. The woman hadn’t had any special identification badge or anything on her, so Rayne hoped the message bag itself was all the proof he needed. Luckily, he had checked the contents of the bag and saw one of the letters was addressed to Lord Lyan. Rayne hadn’t been proficient in reading until Rose had taken him in. She had insisted that a thief was useless if they couldn’t read and write. You couldn’t properly gain intel if you couldn’t read stolen dispatches.

  As he neared the gate, the guard there spotted him and looked to his side. Seeing the messenger bag there, he waved him through without a word. Rayne headed straight for the entrance to the side he had seen all the other messengers go to. As he entered the building, he could see the clean stone and the freshly beaten wall hangings. If nothing else, this lord maintained his home well.

  Rayne walked to his right as he entered and followed the hallway in. A guard was standing at the end of the hallway, and they held their hand up when he got near.

  “State your business,” the man said in a bored tone.

  “I've got a dispatch for Lord Lyan,” Rayne told him without hesitation. He couldn’t afford to stand out or raise suspicions.

  “All right, stick close.” The man told him as he turned and led him down the hall. They continued walking for a hundred paces before he turned them to the left, and they entered a spiral staircase. The stone was breathtaking, and he marveled at the craftsmanship. Their ascent took them all the way to the top, and they stopped on the landing for the third floor. The guard took a left turn and walked to the door at the end of the hallway. He knocked three times and waited.

  “What business have you?” A voice came from the other side.

  “Dispatch for you, M’lord.” The guard responded.

  “Come in.” The voice responded with a sigh.

  The guard opened the door and waved Rayne in. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he spotted Lord Lyan. The man appeared to be in his thirties with a dark black goatee that was neatly trimmed. He had short-cropped black hair to match the goatee and a hooked nose. His eyes were a startling blue that didn’t seem to match anything else about him. His thin frame left Rayne wary of the man, and he looked like he could be dangerous if he wanted. Rayne executed a quick bow and held the message in his hand.

  “Message for you, M’lord,” Rayne said in a deep voice.

  “Hand it over, son. I’m not about to come to you.” The man said exasperated.

  Rayne felt sheepish but walked over to the Lord and placed the message in his hand. He stepped back to the door and waited. His lessons had taught him messengers did not leave until dismissed and being tasked with returning messages was a prevalent task for them. While Lord Lyan read the letter, Rayne took the chance to take in his surroundings. The room was a large affair with a sprawling bookcase along the back. A large desk of an unknown wood was sitting squarely in the middle of the room. It looked to weigh more than a draft horse with its large size. An assortment of documents and quills dotted the desktop. Braziers hung along the walls at even intervals. The place didn’t have much in the way of decoration and seemed to be very business-oriented.

  They waited in silence as the man read the message and wrote another one of his own. Lord Lyan stood from his desk and walked to the brazier near the window. The letter that Rayne had just delivered was tossed in the fire and slowly turned to ash as the fire consumed it. Lord Lyan walked to Rayne with the new message and handed it to him. Rayne bowed his head as the man approached and held the message to him.

  Rayne took it from his hand, glanced at the name on it, and then tucked it into his messenger bag.

  “By your leave M’lord?” Rayne asked.

  “You are dismissed.” Lord Lyan said as he sauntered back to his seat.

  Rayne followed the guard back out of the house, through the gate, and into the street to keep up appearances. When he left the gate, he headed the way he had come from and made his way back to the alley he had left the young lady in. She was still in the spot he had left her, propped against the wall of the building.

  Rayne was conflicted about what to do here. The best scenario was for her to wake up, check her bag, see no letter to the man, and deliver the new one instead. The problem would come if she told anyone about the letter she was delivering being stolen and replaced. It would be a gamble either way, but he wanted the option that would cause her the least amount of harm. He returned the bag to her side with the new letter and even went as far as to return her money. Since no one had found her, it wouldn’t be as suspicious. Besides, she was just someone trying to make a living.

  The time passed by as he waited in the shadows. The woman began to stir in her spot with small jerking motions. He had his hood up and over his head to further obscure the details. The woman startled awake and looked around. She began frantically searching herself. After finding her money pouch and the messenger bag, she let out a huge sigh of relief. She dug through the bag and after a bit of searching, gained a panicked look on her face as her pace increased frantically. Rayne assumed she had noticed the letter she was delivering was missing. He stepped forward, so his outline was barely visible.

  “You can stop searching. The letter was delivered to the master. Due to its sensitive nature, it required additional security. You have been provided his response and can deliver that instead. You shall not discuss this on the Lord’s orders, or I will come to find you.” Rayne said menacingly as he showed the bare blade of his dagger and allowed it to gleam in a small ray of light near him.

  “O… Of co… course.” She stuttered to him in her shock. Her eyes had gone wide and were giant discs of stark white. She jumped to her feet, gave herself a quick pat-down, and took off out of the alley. Rayne smiled when he saw her taking the path leading away from Lord Lyan’s manor. It meant he wouldn’t have to kill an innocent woman for doing her job.

  Time to get back to work. Rayne thought to himself. He made one pass around the perimeter of the external wall so he could find his point of entry and nodded. There was the perfect place on the western side of the wall that was covered and shaded by an overhanging tree. It would allow his stealth skill to conceal him enough to make it over the wall. It also had the added benefit of not being in a well-traveled area, so the chance of someone spotting him would be unlikely. With these things in mind, he decided it was time to turn in for an early nap. He would come back in the middle of the night to finish this job.

  Chapter 3

  A Surprising Heist

  Rayne jolted awake from his spot he had been napping in. He didn’t want to deal with anything back home, so he had gone back to the warehouse they used for staging and took a nap in the corner. A glance at the window nearby showed him it was already dark, and judging by the moon tonight; it was close to the time he wanted.

  Rising to his feet, he looked around and stretched out his limbs. It was bound to be a harrowing night, but he would finish this test. The warehouse contained some tools of the trade they were allowed to use for missions, so he found a small, thin coil of rope that was just large enough to hold his weight but still small enough to be hard to spot in the dark. He already had the smoke bombs that Rose had given him, and he also found some metal spikes that strapped to the bottom of his boots. With his plan, he would need them.

  With the items now ready, he took off for the manor. His goal was to finish this mission in complete stealth as if he had never been there. This would involve avoiding the guards, reaching the room, taking the signet, and then making it out with no one seeing. Rarely did plans ever go smoothly, but he hoped his luck might hold today. One of these days, I might put more stat points into luck itself. Rayne thought to himself.

  The wall came into sight, and he hurried to his chosen spot for the first part of the plan. He wouldn’t need anything special to get over this wall, other than a good running leap. It took some momentum, and he had to rely on his Wall Running skill a little
, but he bounced his way to the top ledge.

  The Wall Running skill was one he had learned with Rose, and it had proven invaluable multiple times. His level in it was still low, but he could essentially get three extra steps up any vertical surface as if he was jumping on an angled surface instead. It didn’t give him quite the power of jumping off of a horizontal surface, but it gave him enough to get the height he needed here.

  Rayne peered over the edge of the wall before bringing himself over the top. It would be a shame for him to hop over right on top of a guard. Luckily, no one was in this area, and he could continue his journey. His initial thought was to try to sneak through the house and hope to avoid the guards.

  That idea came crashing down when he realized there had been too many during his brief reconnaissance. There was also no guarantee that Lord Lyan didn’t have more guards on shift during the night. Rayne knew he would. At night was when a thief or assassin was most likely to show up, so it would be the best time to have extra guards.

  Rayne carefully replayed their movements in his head as the guard had led him to the study. Following those directions from the door he had entered, Rayne could determine where on the third floor the study was from the outside. The best part was, he knew that the study had a window. It was wide open when he met Lord Lyan, and the man had burned the message in the brazier by the window. Because of this, getting into a locked window would be much easier than trying to sneak through a house, even if it was on the third floor.

  Rounding the building, he found the window in question. To his dismay, it appeared this Lord Lyan was no fool. A guard was watching this area of the yard from the ground floor on the corner of the house. This was unexpected, but the plan was still solid, and it wouldn’t do to change it now. If there was a guard here, he was sure there were many more inside.

  The man was wearing standard guard armor. None of it was anything special. Iron armor was common, and much of it could be pretty soft if you hit the right areas. The problem was, Rayne had been warned multiple times not to kill a guard of a noble unless your life depended on it. Nobles would get frustrated over a theft but would quickly forget about it, killing someone they had paid to equip, and train was not something they would dismiss very quickly.

  There was also the problem that Rayne wasn’t confident he could take the man quietly. Rayne only had his iron dagger, and it wasn’t the best quality by any means. The only thing Rayne could think of was a distraction. There had to be something he could do to get the guard to leave his post, but for it not to look suspicious.

  Rayne ducked away from the man and looked around the yard. It was broad, but in the back corner of the house, he spotted the thing he needed. There was an old tree that someone was using to stack some dry firewood against. It must be the local supply for the kitchen. Rayne thought. A convenient fire here should prove exactly what he needed to draw the guards over. Fires were one of the biggest dangers in a city, and with this being so close to the house, it would take priority.

  Rayne made it to the tree and ensured no one was anywhere near the area. He took his dagger and shaved bits of dry wood from one of the logs to make a small pile of tinder to help get a fire started. Reaching into his pouch, he produced a small metal box that contained a wad of spiral thin wood shavings, a small piece of flint, and a small rod of firesteel. Steel wasn’t very common unless you were part of the noble peerage, but this little box was an essential tool for any thief. It took him some time, but he was finally able to get the spark to catch on the wood shavings, and some soft blowing on it caused it to flare to life.

  Rayne quickly piled on some more shavings and kept feeding more and more onto the flame to get it to grow quicker. It didn’t take long for the middle of the stack to be completely engulfed in flame. Rayne ducked out of sight as fast as he could and made his way toward the window he needed to get to. Either the glow from the flames or the smell would alert the guards pretty quick.

  Rayne hid near the base of a tree by the wall that had a view of the window he needed access to. It took longer than he expected before someone had raised the alarm, and by then, Rayne could see the orange glow from where he was crouched and hiding. Small bells were ringing in the yard, and he could hear the trampling of boots as people rushed around the other side of the house. The guard at the window looked around for a while, hesitated, and then spotted the glow as he moved away from the building. The man took off in a dash around the corner when he realized what the light was.

  There was no time to waste, so Rayne ran to the wall. He pulled the spikes out of his bag and swiftly strapped them to his boots. Testing some handholds on the edge of the coarse stone, he slowly made his way up. The spike dug in just enough to help remove much of his weight as he pulled himself up. He didn’t want to rush and slip, but he also had limited time to make this work. The steady rhythm he used on his climbing allowed him to move without issues. Making sure to test the footholds and handholds before he committed his weight ensured a smooth climb.

  As he reached the window, he carefully peeked over the edge. The window appeared to be locked, but to his relief, he had seen no one inside. Rayne wedged himself onto the ledge and pulled out his lock picking tools. This window had a simple lever on it to latch it closed on the bottom, so it wasn’t very difficult for him to bypass with his slim metal tools.

  As soon as the window was open, he slid into the room and pulled off the spikes. They dropped back into the bag, and Rayne started sorting through the desktop and looking through the drawers. There was a large assortment of papers and little knickknacks on the desk. A vial of ink and a pile of metal-tipped quills was in one drawer. After searching all the drawers and finding nothing, Rayne was crestfallen. How am I supposed to find this signet now?

  Rayne scanned the room and was looking for any potential spots that could be used to hide something valuable. His eyes roamed the bookcase and kept on moving. Right before he was about to give up, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Near the back wall, he spotted an odd seam in one of the stones. He ran his hands over the area trying to find what it could be. An arm's width away, he spotted the brazier that Lord Lyan had used to burn the message and walked to it. Grabbing the now unlit brazier, he felt that it was a little loose.

  Turning it back and forth did nothing, so he tried pulling it off the wall. The brazier slid out of the wall and then stopped with a metal rod extending into the wall behind it. There was nothing special about the rod itself, so Rayne tried turning the brazier again. This time it rotated, and he could feel the smooth grind of metal on metal. The area he had seen the seam on started to open slowly as he continued to turn the brazier, and when it had opened far enough for Rayne to access it, he stopped turning the device.

  As he peered into the opening in the wall, he saw a great deal of wealth. The area behind had only looked to be one stone in size, but it must have been a flaw in the stonework. This space that had opened was a square yard section. Inside was an assortment of bags. From the look of them, they contained coins and, possibly, an assortment of gemstones. The amount of wealth contained in this one place could make sure he was set for life. Lying next to these was the signet ring he was here to retrieve. He quickly snatched it from the compartment and placed it in his bag. Rayne stood there contemplating the rest of the items.

  This could solve all of his problems with his sister, but Rose had held him to a strict code. They only did the assigned mission and wouldn’t take any action or items that weren’t directly necessary to complete the mission. This meant no running off with valuables that could jeopardize the mission or cause more trouble than they wanted to deal with. It truly hurt him to see the wealth in the hidden alcove and not take it, but he didn’t want to fail this assignment. Rose had taken care of him and his family so far, and he couldn’t let her down.

  The space was slowly closed, and Rayne made sure to push the brazier back into place. As he looked through the window to exit the room, he came acr
oss a sight that made him freeze. The courtyard below now had a small train of people running water buckets to each other. The damn fire brigade line had cut off his escape point. He sat there on the windowsill trying to figure out what to do when he heard footsteps outside the door to the study. In a fit of panic, he darted out the window and quickly shut it. There was no time to latch it, so he clung to the side of the building. With the commotion of the fire, he was confident he would be safe for a little while, so he started climbing up. If he couldn’t get to the bottom, he needed to get to the top. Without his spikes, the climb was quite slippery, but he was finally able to crest the roof and pull himself up.

  Rayne lay on his back and sucked in a few deep breaths. That last bit of the climb had been nerve-wracking. Between the people on the ground and climbing without spikes, it had definitely gotten his heart rate going. He rolled onto his stomach and started looking around. The sound of people running could be heard on all sides of the house, and it would be difficult for him to figure out how to get out of here.

  After a bit of thought, his eyes turned toward the tree sitting beside the part of the wall he had scaled to get here. The tree itself was only about ten feet from the house and was almost as tall as the roof. The branches looked to be sturdy themselves, so his best option was to jump to the tree and then climb down it to the wall.

  Moving in a swift crouch, Rayne crossed the roof to where the tree was. There were people in the area, but none were actually standing in the area below the tree. There were many running back and forth beneath it though. Rayne wanted some kind of a safety net, so he grabbed the small rope he had in his pouch, tied a thick knot at the end of it, and began swinging it above his head. After gaining a bit of momentum, he aimed for one of the large branches near him and launched the rope across. To his delight, the rope cleared the branch, and the knot was hanging about five feet below the branch itself.