My Name Is Adela Kirigan (A Shadow and Bone Season 1 Fanfiction)

Chapter 16: The Archives Heist

Kribirsk (East Ravka)...

The cart squeaked to a stop. The door opened, and a man with a cane stepped out. Kaz Brekker was dressed in decorative clothing resembling that of someone in a crafting trade, like that of a sculptor, who he was currently impersonating. He smirked. 

'All right, Royal Archives heist. Here's the game plan. Watchmen are on guard around the deck,' Kaz said to Jesper and Inej. 'We want to get in and get out as quietly as possible. That means the hardware stays in the holster, Jesper.' Jesper groaned in exasperation and disappointment. 

'Ugh, fine.' 

'Inej, the dome on the roof is directly above the repository where the blueprints to the Little Palace are being kept.' 

He looked up at the roof to see the dome, and smiled as he made his way into the repository to request the dimensions for the entire palace. 

'Got it. That's my way in.' 

Kaz stepped inside the building. 

'Good day to you, sir,' he exclaimed, striding to the desk. 'My name is Ivanovski. The sculptor, yes.' 

'All right,' the older man said, looking at him through small glasses that perched on his nose. 

'I am in desperate need of your assistance. I am working on a real showstopper for the winter fete. I need the dimensions to the Little Palace entrances. The grand piece may be too grand to fit through the doorframe. The King will have my head if his statuary must be parked in the courtyard.' 

'Damned fete,' the man growled, walking to the small gate that opened access to the desk and opened it, stepping through. 'I have to pull the blueprints every day. Wait here.' 

'With bated breath,' Kaz said as the older man walked away. 

'I'll set a trail of phosphorus that will lead you straight to the target. The repository is secured at all times behind a two part mechanism. So, Inej, you have to leave the way you came in.' 

Moments later, the man came in with a scrap of paper holding the dimensions Kaz had asked for. 

'Dimensions to the entrances of the Little Palace.' 

'Ah! May the Sun Summoner bless you.' 

'Oh, I'm not a believer.' 

'Well, truth be told -' he replied, leaning forward to half-whisper, '- neither am I.' 

'Two hours after sunset is when you'll go in, Jesper.' 

'Easy.' 

'The lighting valves are on the second floor.' 

Jesper walked through the halls of the repository with a lantern. Setting it down, he found the wheel handle and turned it with effort, grunting as he did so, effectively shutting off the lights in the repository. 

'I'll take my cue once I see the lights go out,' Inej replied. 

In the building, Inej, wearing a hood, rappelled down to the floor with a rope, landing soundlessly on the tiles, creeping towards the place where the map to the Little Palace was held. 'And then follow your trail straight to the blueprints.' 

'The archivist has to pull them a number of times a day, so we can't steal them or they'll know something is up.' Inej laid a blank sheet of parchment over the existing one. 

'So? Make a copy.' 

'But careful. If you're heavy-handed, you'll bleed the ink.' She successfully, gently rendered the form, then rolled up the copy and placed it inside a carry tube. Just as she was about to go back up the rope, the lights switched on again. There were shouts from some guards, and one of them walked in. He didn't see Inej, so she kept walking around him, to his back, like a sort of spy dance. He walked to the door and she ducked behind a desk, making the guard turn. He saw nothing. 

'Anything?' someone called out. 

'Nothing!' the guard replied back. Inej breathed a sigh and walked over to the gate, attempting to get it open. It wouldn't budge. Just then, Jesper whistled, and she looked up. He aimed his gun and just as the clock rang its bells, loud and long, he shot the lock, opening the gate immediately. She came out of the gate and saw a man standing there. Just as she snuck up to him to stab him, the distinctive crow's head cane slammed on the ground. 

'Bit slow on the draw there,' Inej remarked as Kaz turned to face her. 

'Or just in time.' 

Moments later, the three walked away with their prize - and a way into the Little Palace... to the Sun Summoner. 

Much later...

The three Crows, including Arken, stood in the bar, at a table, going over the map. 

'What about...' Jesper began to say, pointing to an entrance, but Inej cut him off. 

'No, look.' 

'Oh.' 

'How about this hallway?' Inej asked. 

'No go. See? Guard tower.' Now it was Jesper's turn to cut Inej off. 'There's no way in,' he added despondently. 

'And no way out,' Kaz replied. 

'Well, I thought this plan might not work,' Arken spoke up, taking a sip of his beer. Just then, a acrobat woman screamed and fell from the scarlet curtains that held her in the air, thudding on the floor, making the crowd gasp. Arken took yet another sip, the crew saying nothing, the wheels turning in their minds somehow.