{NOVELETTE} A Heist To Remember - Part 06

The maid fell through the trap door, landing on the cold basement stone, shadows ever following.

What am I doing. What am I doing. Violetta didn’t want to believe the rumors; the taboo. She had led her life by the tenants, she was content. And now she let a lowlife thief make her question the Saviors.

A dim light in the corner of her eye made her turn abruptly. Violetta released a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Marco’s lantern. The retired guard was sleeping soundly on his desk. She didn’t blame him; the man was too stubborn to accept his leave from the lord’s service. Basement duty suited him just fine, he –

Focus! Right – the thief – she had to know.

She could not explain it, but she felt a dreary … kinship to the man. It was odd. She was so scared when she first saw him, but by the end she felt nothing. Nothing. She should have hated the men that made her do this, despise them. They were scheming against her lord, a Descendant from the sacred Saviors. The Saviors! The alchemists that spared the world from certain doom. The men Violetta respected, and awed.

But, something in the back of her mind made her doubt everything. Something he had said. King knows, leaving things as they are will certainly not help. Things were – unsettling – to say the least as of late. The Aldermen were playing their usual games, but they had become politicians, so it was natural. But recently –

*Focus! *

Violetta turned, and spotted the small stack of boxes marked fragile. She moved on silent feet, cautious but determined. She had sneaked this far, she just had to see what her masters were planning to do with the thief. She reached the boxes, went around them and found an imbedded plank door in the wall, a small blue light emanating from it.

Previously, when she got approached by that hooded figure in the tavern, she immediately reported back to her master. Violetta felt proud, but scared when she was told to go back to that tavern, and lie about the whereabouts of the document. Alderman Gile told her to inform them that they had to go to this specific room. When she asked why, he merely said they wanted to take care of matters discreetly.

So she did it, she broke one of her tenants, and lied. She did it obeying another however. One must always respect and accept a Savior’s wisdom. But now she was breaking that one as well...

As Violetta approached the door, a slight chill crept through her spine, this place was certainly cold. The next thing she noticed were, voices, singing – no – chanting in unison. The voices were coming from inside the ‘secret’ room. It wasn’t secret though; every member of the staff knew never to speak of it. The people that entered this room seldom came out of it. Only they held her lord’s favor.

She leaned in grasping the slick wall on each side of the makeshift door. Violetta knew from past experiences that if she put her weight against it, the door would open. She concentrated on the chanting coming from inside. The voices, what they were saying, it sounded – otherworldly. The cold from her hands started to creep through her whole body, but she couldn’t let go, she was entranced by the mysterious chant. What was it? Was this the King’s Blessing? Were they performing his work? But why did they need the thief? Why –

The chanting stopped.

“The offer has been made – my colleagues – we stand on the precipice of destruction, let us hope it has been accepted. “

That voice, Alderman Gile, she was sure of it. What was he talking about? What offer? She strained to listen for more but she heard nothing. Offer. She had heard her lord mention that before. But what did it mean? If the thief entered the chamber, and now Alderman Gile was in it, chanting with other men…were…were the rumors true?

Violetta stood there, hands freezing and eyes wide. If I am witnessing a ritual being performed right now… The tenants... I – I have to act! But what could she do? She heard at least four voices, and the thief might already be dead. They might have killed him and are offering his corpse right now. But no. Why then put the thief through all of this? It didn’t make any sense. Odds were he was still alive.

Hastily, Violetta reached in her pocket, taking out the smoke bomb she stole from the thief earlier. She would have to do it again; she never previously did it twice in one day. Could she do it? Violetta called upon her shadows, nothing. No imprint. She needed time to rest, but there was no time left. At least she felt her legs were still strong, that and the smoke bomb would have to do. She ran towards the corner, grabbing a bottle of wine that was on the top of some barrels.

Violetta pushed open the door, rolling the smoke bomb on the floor towards the 4 hooded figures. It seemed they were in deep concentration for none of them reacted until the smoke bomb went off. Violetta was already half way towards the alter by then.
“What – “ The men stammered.

Violetta blindly climbed the alter steps, and found the thief laying naked on it. She knew no one heard her, and hoped the smoke bomb concealed her, as she splattered the wine on the thief’s face.

“What’s that noise?”

“There’s someone else here!”

“Fools! The alter! The alter!”

The thief grabbed her hand, she gripped him back and pulled. We need to run. She hastily whispered. Hands grabbed for her, but were repelled by the shadows. They had to get out of there, had to move.

The thief elbowed one of them, he seemed remarkably lucid considering his circumstances. Now or never. “Run!” She yelled, bursting at the door.

“Stop them! You fools! Stop them!”

Violetta reached the door, feeling someone was on her heels, she prayed it was him. As Violetta side stepped to the right, the figure behind her kicked one of the lower boxes and jumped on her pushing her to the ground – as the stack of small boxes collapsed. Violetta and the figure hit the ground, hard. It was the thief; she knew it was him because he was naked. As they were getting up, he disappeared – before reappearing a moment later. I see… He has help as well then… He did not seem to know he had activated his ability, he looked utterly flabbergasted.

The stack of boxes was not much, that would not hold them off for long. Indeed, the stack was unraveling before she could get her thoughts together. Escape. Run. Now!