Chapter 80: Heist II

The manor was eerily quiet. After living in the slums for the past five years, Leo was accustomed to the sound of floorboards creaking, of the wind constantly whistling beyond thin walls. Here, there was nothing. Even the flickering torches made no noise.

Leo’s eyes darted about as they inched further down the corridor. Despite the hall being very wide, the dim lighting and dark wallpaper made it feel narrow and cramped. Many nobles preferred flashy colors and elaborate, shiny decorations, but it seemed the Gillis household wasn’t one of them.

The only real decorations they passed were a few oil paintings on the walls, each one a portrait of, presumably, old Gillis family members. Leo steadfastly ignored them. He didn’t like the way it felt like their painted eyes were watching him.

Up ahead, the corridor widened into a large entrance area. A chandelier hung down from a thick chain, and engraved pillars bordered the space, converging at the high ceiling. For a brief second, his surroundings seemed to shift, and Leo saw a different manor superimposed onto this one. He dug his nails into his palm and shoved the memories away. Adrya and Avel’s nobles, it seemed, preferred similar architecture.

A quick scan of the area revealed that no one was around, though Leo was finding himself increasingly unnerved by the silence. Where were the guards? Asher? Darius Gillis himself?

He shook his head, forcing himself to remain focused. Several corridors branched out from this main hall, just as the floorplans had indicated, while a tall staircase led up to the second floor of the manor. That was where the bedrooms—and most likely Darius—were located, and it was where they would regroup.

Leo turned to Allan and Spade, shoulders tensed. He pointed at the stairs and made a triangle gesture with his hand, indicating their signal for if something went wrong, then a square, which was the walking pattern they’d use if they found the fragment.

They both nodded, and after one more scan to make sure they were alone, the three separated. In the party map, Leo could see Allan and Spade’s dots moving down to the east and west wing respectively. He would take the south.

Ducking his head, the former [Thief] raced ahead as fast as he could manage while still keeping an eye on his surroundings. He passed by more paintings and a few tables set against the walls as decoration. He doubted the fragment would be in them, but he stopped and checked each one anyway.

Leo’s pace slowed. Up ahead, he could just barely make out the sound of approaching footsteps. Glancing around, Leo slipped into the nearest room—a guest room, judging from the plain furnishings and the lack of personal possessions—and closed the door, leaving a small gap just wide enough to see through. The footsteps grew louder. There was a distinctly metallic quality to them.

He held his breath. Two shadows passed by the room. Through the opening, he could make out three guards wearing the same uniforms the ones around the manor had. His eyes narrowed. Judging from their slow pace and steady walking direction, they must be part of the nightly patrol.

Leo did some quick calculations in his head. They hadn’t run into any patrols after they’d entered from the northern back entrance, and this sounded like the only one in this wing. There were probably very few guard groups: three at most, possibly just this one.

The [Fragmentholder] frowned. Spade had said that the Gillis family was private, and nobles with wards usually didn’t bother with as many guards inside, but it still felt almost suspiciously low.

His eyes narrowed. Then again, if Darius Gillis was hunting fragments, he might purposely avoid hiring more to lower the risk of being found out. A guard could easily decide to turn him in to the city for illegally keeping fragments, especially if there was a bounty involved.

For now, this was an advantage for them. Once the sound of footsteps had disappeared, Leo slowly cracked the door open to double check that the hallway was clear. It was.

Taking a deep breath, the [Fragmentholder] exited the room and continued down the corridor.

—

Leo closed the drawer and mentally cursed. So far, he’d found the kitchens, a dining room, more guest rooms, and the manor library. They were all clear. No fragment in sight.

How much time had passed by now? An hour? Two? The moonlight didn’t provide the greatest gauge.

In the party map, Leo could see Allan and Spade’s dots slowly progressing through their respective wings as well. He’d been keeping an eye on them, but there hadn’t been any signals yet. On one hand, that meant no one was in trouble. On the other hand, it also meant they hadn’t found the fragment either.

Leo exited the room and proceeded down the hall. There was one more room left to check in this wing, and it was situated at the very end of the corridor.

He pushed open the heavy mahogany doors with a grunt, stumbling forward into the room. He looked around.

There were no candles here. The sole source of light was a thin strip of moonlight that filtered in through the crack in the curtains, highlighting the edges of the desk and shelves. Leo glanced around, taking in the dark silhouettes and searching for any signs of movement. Once he was certain no one was inside, he pulled out a match and lit a nearby candle.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

It was an office. The large desk sitting in the center of the room was stacked with different papers, and a cloak had been haphazardly flung onto the back of the chair. Leo rummaged through the drawers and shelves, but he found no sign of the fragment. He moved the candle over to the papers on the desk.

They were maps and notes, words hastily scrawled in dark ink along different circled cities and towns. Leo set the candle down and picked up the paper on top. A good chunk of it was comprised of random numbers that were meaningless to him, but a few bullet points stood out.

DREAM, one of them read. No contact after first night. Long distance mental spell. Powerful. From south?

Leo’s eyes narrowed. This had to be talking about Sol and that first night he’d used [Dreamscape], which confirmed a few things.

First, it meant Darius had already been a [Fragmentholder] before stealing this current one or Sol wouldn’t have contacted him, so he should have more than one fragment.

Second, it meant he knew how to absorb fragments and had probably already absorbed the one from the auction.

Leo cursed internally and set the notes down, grabbing another paper to see if there was anything he could use.

It looked like Darius had taken extensive notes about the day the Administrator crest had shattered, managing to copy down the initial message with remarkable accuracy. There was another page dedicated to the appearance of the wall of light and theorizing about what it was. It seemed he’d quickly come to the conclusion that it had to be Zelyra’s Sovereign.

Further down the stack, he had notes listing strange occurrences and other information he’d heard about through rumors at aristocratic gatherings. Blood rains. Restless fae in the Vemian League. Lightning flashes above the Graveyard of Demons. A strange mist and disappearances in southern Avel.

There was even a note about the recent tidal wave in the Glass Lake. It seemed the man was recording all of these and marking them down in an attempt to narrow down possible fragment locations.

Leo had to admit, he was impressed with the level of detail. Darius had to be spending all his time researching when he wasn’t attending noble gatherings for more information. That was how he’d learned about the fragment at the auction, judging from another page of notes, but it seemed his other searches hadn’t been quite as fruitful.

The maps were covered in circles, but there were far too many to meaningfully narrow things down. It was about as vague as the actual Fragmentholder map, not to mention that a lot of those “suspicious incidents” could have nothing to do with fragments at all. Still, just in case, Leo committed a few of the more prominent locations to memory.

He set the pages down. While he wanted to look at the notes more thoroughly, he didn’t have time.

A quick glance at the party map showed Allan and Spade still in their respective wings. Leo carefully walked in a figure eight pattern, wide enough to get picked up on the map. He kept going until both Allan and Spade’s dots repeated the shape, indicating they’d seen. Good. This was their signal to regroup immediately.

Leo exhaled and snuffed the candle, exiting the office and carefully shutting the door behind him. If they had time afterwards, he’d go back and look at the papers more thoroughly, though he was pretty sure he’d seen everything important. Right now, he had bigger issues.

Darius had the fragment. If they confronted him now, they would have the element of surprise on their side. Any longer and they risked discovery, which would make fighting him significantly more difficult.

Leo stepped as quickly down the hallway as he dared, keeping an eye out for the guard patrol from earlier. He hadn’t seen them since that initial encounter, so they were probably patrolling a different wing.

Up ahead, the corridor widened into the main entryway. He didn’t see Allan and Spade yet, but their dots showed them progressing in this direction. For now, he’d find a place to hide until they arrived. After that they would head upstairs to find Darius.

Leo turned to the nearest pillar. The dark shadows behind them provided a decent hiding spot that would still afford him a full view of the staircase and connecting hallways. Given how open this area was, they were his best shot. As he moved to take a step, however, he froze.

An icy chill crept up his spine, causing him to shudder. The hairs on his neck rose. His entire body tensed, every instinct screaming danger.

He didn’t think. Leo dove for cover seconds before an arrow embedded itself into the wall exactly where his head had been. He spun around.

There, just in front of the manor front doors, was Asher. He wore the same cloak Leo had seen on the roof that day, the fake suit from the masquerade abandoned. A quiver hung on his back containing 30 or so arrows. The feathers were all jet black.

Leo drew his dagger. For a second neither one moved, both studying the other. Asher’s eyes narrowed.

“You should be dead.”

His voice was low and gruff. Leo pursed his lips, but didn’t bother giving a response.

Allan and Spade still hadn’t arrived yet. A quick check showed he couldn’t use [Judgement] or other skills that directly targeted the man, the same as before, which put him at a disadvantage. But this would be different from the chase across Alnwick, he told himself. This time he was prepared.

The [Fragmentholder] inhaled, readying to lunge, but just before he could, a notification suddenly flashed across his vision.

[Darius has used the [Ignite] spell]

Leo barely had time to process the words before the air around him crackled. He activated [Sprint] and leapt out of the way just as the pillar he’d been using as cover exploded.

Stray chunks of debris scattered across the entryway, smoke billowing up the high ceiling. He could feel residual heat lingering on his back, the edges of his cloak singed. Leo coughed and quickly righted himself.

Atop the staircase stood Darius Gillis himself. The man was fully dressed in his noble finery, a sheathed sword resting at his waist. His eyes, dark brown that looked black in the light, were cold as he stared down at the former [Thief]. His hand was still raised, palm glowing with lingering magic.

Name: Darius Gillis

Age: 27

Level: 37

Class: [Fragmentholder, Tier 1]

Personal Skill: [Imitation Lvl 2]

Level 37, nearly at the Tier 1 cap. Leo swallowed. He instinctively moved to take a step back, but stopped when he caught Asher advancing in his peripheral vision. Leo’s eyes darted between them.

He was surrounded.