I heard that eating cheese before you sleep gives you bad dreams. Eating cheese makes me happy, so I choose to sacrifice my sleep for joy. I’m a pirate. I face bad dreams when I’m awake, so what’s a little disturbed sleep?

-Excerpt from ‘Silversea Saga’ by Norris Howell

The sandy stone of the city streets was set aflame by the sunset, mirroring the orange and violet sky. Here, the houses were built from a darker, brown wood.

“Acacia trees are native to Zoria. That’s why they use it in most of the city. It’s a status symbol to build your mansion with imported wood,” Trent explained when she asked why they were different.

These people confused her. What was the point of having a different house to someone else? There was so much more to discover and see on the oceans.

Maybe it was because they were too scared to venture beyond their homes that they wanted to feel better than the rest of their countrymen. Either way, one particular member of this district wouldn’t feel very superior after tonight.

Two guards were posted at the gates of the governor’s mansion, watching every passerby with hawkish vigilance. Entering via the front gates would be impossible.

“We’ll wait until midnight and sneak in the back way. There will be more guards inside, but we can deal with them as we go,” he whispered.

They were sitting in a café on the same street, receiving dirty looks from many of the well dressed patrons of the establishment. The waiter had treated them in the same manner until Trent flicked a gold coin at his head.

After that, he’d stumbled over himself to cater to every single order. He came by every few minutes to ask if they needed anything, which had grown annoying. Trent whipped another coin at him to leave them alone.

***

Rose had gorged herself on pastries and cake while they were scoping their target. It was the first time she’d experienced such a large variety of sweet foods.

Until then, she’d only had fruit. Trent told her the secret ingredient was something called sugar. Rose wanted to get some for Nasar. He would be her personal pastry chef when they set sail.

Her favourite was a puffy thing with dozens of layers of buttery pastry, filled with a jelly-like substance called jam. It was made with fruit, but adding sugar somehow upped the deliciousness by a factor of a thousand.

“Stop drooling,” said Trent, snapping her out of the daydream. “It’s time.”

Slipping a black cloak over her head that he provided her, the pair made their way through the alleys towards the back of the governor’s mansion. Suddenly they heard two men talking and pressed themselves against the wall, hoping to blend into the shadows.

Two guards walked right in front of them, chattering away. Rose held her breath, out of fear that even the softest noise would give away their position.

Skill up!

Stealth 5 > 6

A splash almost made her stumble, but she was used to the tide by now. The guards walked on by without incident and they continued making their way through the city streets under the cover of darkness.

Every step was fraught with danger, but her experience stealing The Crown of Salt had given her the skill to bypass the guards here without much difficulty. It helped that Trent was leading the way.

He seemed to instinctively know how to avoid the wandering guards and blended into the shadows so seamlessly Rose even lost track of him once or twice. Clearly he’d infiltrated a great deal of mansions in his time.

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Skill up!

Stealth 6 > 7

Stealth levelled up once more by the time they reached their destination. A trio of guards had just walked by and she’d almost been spotted, but by holding her breath and closing her eyes she somehow made it out.

Trent likely would’ve killed all three the second they noticed her, but the less fuss they caused the better. Leaving a trail of bodies would only serve to help people find them after they gave the governor a friendly warning.

Trent lifted her up to the top of the wall and she peeked over, making sure not to reveal too much of her head just in case one of the guards glanced their way. All she could see was empty gardens and a fox lounging on the grass.

After telling Trent he shoved her upwards. Surprised, she almost cried out but clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. She fell to the soft grass and did an awkward roll to cushion the landing.

Her infuriating captain gently touched down beside her and offered a hand to help her up. She refused it and shot him a look of annoyance. Rose didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

They made good time running across the grass. She was in very good shape after all her time at sea and with the Athletics skill steadily increasing the difference was noticeable.

At one point they had to hide behind some bushes to let another pair of guards walk by, but the hasty hiding actually worked in her favour as Stealth gained another level, increasing to 8.

Eventually they reached the mansion itself. There were plenty of lanterns scattered around, casting shadows and light and making it quite difficult to stay out of sight.

Luckily the number of guards this close to the house was quite low as they didn’t expect any intruders to actually make it this far. However, they faced a problem.

“So, where is the governor’s bedroom?” she whispered.

“Hmm? I have no clue,” he replied.

Rose had to stop herself from slapping the man on the spot. He was ridiculous sometimes. It seemed as though despite his confidence in dragging her here there was no plan in his mind.

He just wanted to make Yasmin happy and figure things out on the fly. They would need to make their way through the house to find where their target was sleeping without alerting any of the staff.

“It’s probably on the second floor,” she muttered, looking for a way to climb up.

She walked along the walls towards a drainpipe she spotted, hoping it would be sturdy enough to hold her weight. It was metallic and rusty—not ideal as she didn’t want to cut her hands.

However, there didn’t seem to be another way to make it to the second floor without first breaking in and making a lot of noise. Right as she grabbed hold and jumped up to test it, she heard the bang of a pistol.

Falling to the ground in surprise, she turned to Trent who was holding the smoking gun. Her jaw dropped open and she cried out, “what the hell are you doing, you bastard? Are you trying to get us killed?”

He cackled before grabbing her hand and tossing her onto her feet. Rushing towards the same bushes they were hidden in before he pushed her head down until they were both out of sight.

With a smile on his face and a glint in his eye he explained his plan. “It would take too long to find the right bedroom. Instead of wasting our time wandering through this place, it’s far easier just to bring everyone to us. Genius, no?”

“Oh yes, super smart!” she hissed. “Bring every guard in the place down on our heads. That’s just wonderful. And how exactly do you plan to have our talk with the man when he’s got dozens of armed men surrounding him?”

Trent held a hand over his heart and opened his mouth in shock. “I can’t believe you don’t trust me, Rose,” he moaned.

The act was pathetic, but she knew by now that despite his lackadaisical attitude and carefree nature he never acted without a plan. Whatever he was up to there was likely a method to his madness.

If all else failed, she would just hide behind him as he carved a path out of the city. Sometimes, having a golden thigh to hug was greater than any well thought out strategy.

It didn’t take long for the heavy footfalls of the guards to reach her ears. Rapidly they arrived, scouring the place for the source of the gunshot.

Somehow, staying crouched low behind a bush was keeping them hidden from these men. Her Stealth was far too low to achieve such a feat, so there was likely some influence from Trent helping them stay undetected.

Rose wondered if she would be able to reach the same heights one day. Perhaps if she continued to advance at her current rate it would be possible.

All of a sudden the guards straightened up and formed into neat little groups as a door slammed open and a rather chubby man wearing a nightgown stormed out of the mansion. That had to be the governor.

“Well, you certainly got his attention. What do we do now, captain?” she whispered with a smirk.

Trent turned to her and tapped the side of his head, still undaunted. “Just you watch, dear Rose. You’ll learn something very important tonight.”