Into the palace

I must’ve fallen asleep at some point, because suddenly I heard another knock at the door. Aldo had come to fetch us. He chuckled when he found us in the same room.

“Wake up lovebirds, we’ve prepared a banquet fit for a royal break-in! We’ll go over the plan as we eat.”

Chiyo and I turned red with embarrassment as we got up to follow Aldo.

We walked with him back through the labyrinth as he effortlessly took turns left and right until we arrived back at the underground tavern from earlier, where seven people were already seated.

The small tables had made way for a large monastery table adorned with red candles, probably all stolen. There was a wide variety of food stalled out on the table: roasted chicken with gravy, fresh bread, potatoes, beef cuts, and vegetables of all sizes and colors. In the middle sat Elegast. He welcomed us heartily.

“Welcome back! Have a seat and dig in! You'll need the energy.”

The other thieves at the table nodded at us and let out grunts to be taken as a friendly greeting, after which we went to sit with them.

As we were eating, Elegast started to reveal the plan.

“The ten of us will enter the castle. Aldo and the other six will break into the treasury, and I have some other business to take care of. Do you think you can teleport more than one person at a time?”

Chiyo frowned. “I haven’t tried it, but teleportation takes a lot of energy out of me. So if I take 9 other people with me, that might drain all my mana. I’ll try it, but it’ll only be over a short distance. Ideally we’d need to be on the square in front of the castle, then it might work. To get you out however, I can’t make any promises.”

“Not to worry! We’ll take care of that after robbing them for all they're worth." Elegast's voice took an ominous turn.

"Uh, okay", I felt like it would be best not to press too much on that point since it didn't involve us either way, "So is there anything else we need to know about the part we'll be playing? I mean, if we just need to teleport you in, it doesn't sound all that challenging to break into the palace."

"You'd be wrong on that point!", Elegast corrected us, "There may not be a mana nullification barrier in place like around the Inquisition headquarters, but there is a different kind of enchanted barrier."

He leaned in closer, as if he was telling us some kind of secret.

"It's the kind that makes it impossible to tunnel under the castle. It detects any unauthorized presence passing through it, and has made it a hopeless task to get in. And believe me, we've tried. But if you can really teleport, we can easily circumvent that so-called foolproof defense mechanism."

I decided not to tell Elegast about our idea to take a sneaky tour of the palace itself, because he would most certainly disapprove of us getting in the way of his meticulously crafted heist plans. I felt like he didn't need to know everything, after all.

The clattering of metal forks against stolen porcelain gradually ceased as we all finished our meals one by one. It was time for action.

Elegast gracefully rose from the table, his shadow growing longer against the guild room's walls as he did. Despite his friendly and reliable demeanor, he was still an overwhelming presence.

As the ten of us were making our way outside, I ended up walking next to Elegast. I struck up a conversation about something that had been lingering in the back of my mind.

"Elegast, why are you so hell-bent on stealing from the royal palace? I imagine there's a lot of easier, more valuable targets for the Thieves Guild to strike."

A distant look came over Elegast's face.

"There's more to this operation than just money, Oliver. I have my reasons to choose the royal palace, but I won't go into details now. It's not a story I should burden you with anyway. Let's just say for now that it's about sending a message to the aristocracy keeping this continent in an iron grip."

I was none the wiser after this explanation, but it wasn't as if I could keep probing after his rejection to talk about it in more detail. 

We came to an especially tiny tunnel through which we had to shuffle through in single file, which ended up cutting the conversation short. These tunnels were in much worse shape than the ones we initially came from.

Some parts were so narrow that I had to breathe out all the air in my lungs and crawl sideways into them, they seemed like no more than large cracks in the wall. It felt like the walls were closing in on me.

Chiyo's smaller stature made it easier for her to get through the tunnels, but she was obviously not having a good time. When we came to a wider opening I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Focus on breathing, Chiyo. In a little bit we'll be out of here and you'll be under the open sky again."

She took deep breaths, her eyes met mine.

"Right, let's just get through this as quickly as we can." She responded with a sigh. I wasn't sure if she was suffering from claustrophobia or had the realistic concern that these rickety tunnels would cave in on her.

At various points we saw what appeared to be exits, but the master thieves simply walked past them. They had memorized the tunnel system that must've spanned the whole city. They only had one objective in mind: the palace.

We came to a flight of stairs leading up and before we knew it we were bathing in the moonlight, next to the royal palace's square.

Not a soul was to be seen as we came out of an opening beside the canal. Above us was the royal palace and its square. All lights were dimmed or shut off entirely, leaving only the moon to brighten up the city.

Chiyo was trembling, but courageously walked up to the square nonetheless. I tried to calm her nerves by distracting her.

"When you run into one of those nobles, don't scream in fear! You might just think you've seen a ghost with the way they dress!"

Chiyo showed a faint smile. Her nerves were still clearly present, but she welcomed my silly comment.

The ten of us went to stand in a circle in the shadows at the edge of the square, next to the golden fence leading into the palace. We put our hands on top of each other, there was no going back now.

Chiyo stared straight ahead with a look of complete concentration on her face. Then it happened. In the blink of an eye we warped.

We were now standing in one of the royal palace's inner rooms, far beyond the golden fence where I'd seen the aristocrats earlier that day. It was time for the heist to begin.

The eight thieves must've diligently studied the ground plan of the palace, because they immediately seemed to know where they were and scattered without a sound. In front of me the book "What We Know of the Devil" was lying on the floor for me to pick up.

I grabbed it, and triumphantly turned around to show it to Chiyo. What I saw next made my heart sink into my stomach however. She had gone pale and was supporting herself against a pillar while panting. There was clearly something wrong.

"Chiyo, you need to rest. You've used too much of your powers, let's just sit here for a while until you feel better."

 I tried to not sound panicked. Panic was the last thing we needed in this situation. Even so, I couldn't help but worry about Chiyo's wellbeing. Her being unable to teleport us out again was also concerning to say the least.

As we sat on two chairs waiting for Chiyo to recover some energy, my eyes scanned the room - paintings of kings and heroes surrounded us - and fell on a large object covered by cloth in the middle of the room. 

My curiosity got the better of me and I went to take a look. Below the cloth was a wooden closet decorated with gold leaf. I opened it and was shocked by the carelessness of the royal family. I shook my head to ascertain that what lied before me was real.

 Before me were two crowns on a wine-red cushion, inlaid with large gemstones of all colors imaginable.