Rosehill Irregulars: The Closed City

Chapter 7

 "How long do you have left on that spell?" Paige asked.

Paige and Orvus crouched under a ground-floor window. Thaddeus, Krissa, and Duncan had gone to the front of the store, leaving their two resident stealthing experts to the first part of the plan. Although going directly through the cellar door would have been infinitely easier and quicker, a particular Justiciar had lost his hammer, and as such, wouldn't be much help if it came to blows inside. When Paige asked Krissa to just teleport them in, she learned that apparently magic had its limits. She needed a route in - eyes to see through, something linking her there.

And so here they were, two half-bloods sitting outside a window preparing to break-and-enter. Paige had wrapped a bandage around her hand, clenched into a fist.

"A minute, give or take," Orvus replied.

"Well, best move quick, then."

Paige stood slightly, cocked her arm back, and punched the window. Glass scattered across the floor inside, yet made no noise. "Teach that to Kriss or Duncan when you have the time," Paige joked as she punched out the remaining jagged shards. Once it was done, she hoisted herself over the sill and touched down softly on the interior wooden floor.

"We pull this off, perhaps I'll give them some lessons," Orvus chuckled, following in her wake. The articulate smoothtalker seemed to seamlessly transition into a practiced thief, climbing through the window gracefully, and with no hesitation. He landed gently. Boards creaked softly beneath their boots as they moved.

Paige looked around the room. A study, she guessed. At least judging by the elegantly carved desk and collection of shelves. Her eyes danced over the desktop and stopped on the open journal sitting at the center. She stood and began to skim the pages. Columns and rows lined the page; numbers were scribbled in the boxes.

Ten emeralds: forty crowns. Platinum ingot, two pounds: two thousand crowns. So on and so on it went. Paige felt her heart begin to beat faster at the sight of such large numbers. She hadn't seen such an aggregation of wealth on paper in her entire life.

"Orvus," she whispered, eyes still locked on the page, "d'you think your pals in the guild could turn around some of this stuff?" She pointed to the columns for Orvus, who examined it from over her shoulder. She could feel hot air brush against her neck as he exhaled sharply.

"Holy shit," he grunted. "We'll have to take some if we can. But first, we find Winter."

"Right, Winter first," she said, stepping away from the desk. She followed Orvus to the door, closed tight. They stopped right next to it and fell silent. A long silence fell over them. No sound came from the other side for nearly a minute. Her hands trembled slightly and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Orvus's own urgency was rubbing off on her. Giving Orvus a look, Paige reached up and grasped the doorknob. She turned it and felt the lock click.

Someone on the other side of the door coughed.

Paige's arms went stiff. Her fingers were wrapped motionlessly on the knob. Orvus's eyes met hers, wide with fear. After a few moments, the person beyond the door stirred. Heavy footfalls echoed as he walked down the hall. The sound faded, eventually abruptly falling off as he presumably rounded a corner. Paige let out a long sigh. She didn't even realize she'd been holding her breath.

"Okay," she pulled the door open, "let's go."

"Hold on," Orvus said. He reached out and touched her arm.

His fingers curled around her bicep but he didn't squeeze. She flinched in surprise, but felt a familiar sensation. Pins and needles spread up and down her arm, from there it moved across her chest, then up her neck and down to her toes, which disappeared before her eyes. Orvus also began to fade starting at his fingertips. Nothing Krissa or Duncan had ever cast had done that. Her heart caught in her throat, but excitement also gripped her.