“Good job,” Bassi breathed in my long pointed ear as she passed me by, the other four following in her wake.

Those were the only words anyone spoke as we swapped to hand signals, and with Bassi leading the way we snuck through the fort towards our objective. There were guards everywhere, but Bassi was very good at directing us, keeping us in place when we needed to wait, and rushing us when it was time.

My shadows were utilised more than once to quickly create distractions, drawing guards out of our way. It was easy really, now that my nerves had subsided and I had my comrades at my back. I’d just slink past some guards at a door, make a noise around a different corner and then slink back while the guards investigated the disturbance.

The treasure we were after was apparently held down in the basement, which meant we plunged down into the bowels of this place. As with literally every building in Anamoor, there were a lot of tunnels below the castle, and it was only thanks to Ward’s information gathering abilities that we knew the way.

Another thing we had to contend with was magic, in a variety of forms. That was where both Bassi and Singer came in. Singer was an expert at spotting and disarming magical traps, while Bassi could keep us hidden from any mages that might be watching directly. I had no idea how it worked, but apparently it did.

We made it all the way to the hallway before the vault room when bassi stopped us, frowning in confusion. Breaking what felt like an hours long silence, she murmured, “That’s strange, I can feel a breeze coming from… inside the vault.”

“The guards are gone too, in case anyone hadn’t noticed,” Whistle told us, peeking around the corner. “Well, actually… not gone in the sense that they are missing, but gone as in someone knifed them.”

“There’s a pretty big difference between the two, yeah,” I commented dryly. To Bassi and Singer, I asked, “Is the coast clear, or do you want me to go and look?”

“Can’t see anything magical,” Bassi mused quietly, and Singer nodded agreement.

I gave a long sigh, rubbed at my face and prepared to do my job again. Scouting time.

When I went into shadow form, for a strange moment I thought I felt something. It was like, there was a length to my ability, but not in terms of time. No, this felt like I hadn’t explored the depths of this ability, as though there were more ground I could tread on some axis outside of my comprehension.

I’d have to explore it another day though, because right now it was time to sneak down a hallway. My footfalls were silent as I dashed along, vigilant for potential attackers or traps. I couldn’t see anything though, except for the two dead guards.

As I slowed and came up to the door, my eyebrows lifted at what I found. There appeared to have been guards stationed in hidden nooks on either side of the door, ready to jump out with crossbows to stop anyone coming down the hallway. They too were dead, however.

I turned and signalled the all clear to the rest of the party, then carefully crouched to investigate the bodies of the hidden guards. Small crossbow bolts had taken them all in the heads or throat, the aim a little sloppy, but more than enough to get the job done.

As the others came up behind me, I carefully reached put and plucked one of the bolts from the head of an unfortunate man. It was a little gross, with a bit of brain matter dangling from the end, but I carefully wiped that off on his shirt before holding it up so I could inspect it.

“Light crossbow,” Bassi mused, turning to look at the scene. “Looks like they came out of the door too, not from down the hallway like us. At least two to kill the ones on the side, while a third stabbed these two with a knife.”

“Not just a light crossbow,” I murmured, spinning the bolt in my hand and showing it to her. “The top and bottom have been flattened out, the nock isn’t set up to grip the string and the fletching is more of a suggestion than the real thing. They used repeater crossbows.”

She frowned as I said that, moving over to get a look. “You’re right, huh. Not many of those things around anymore.”

“Sounds like these guys knew what they were doing,” I commented, glancing around at the dead guards again. “None of the guards even got their weapons out of their sheaths.”

“Door’s unlocked,” Dancer grunted, somehow still making that curt masculine way of communicating seem musical. He also pulled his twin hatchets from their place at his back, signalling that we might have a fight on our hands.

Quietly, everyone followed his lead, and with weapons at the ready, we pushed silently through the door.

There was a flash of movement, a sharp cracking sound and a thump.

Bassi stood in the middle of the room, gently allowing a cloaked and unmoving man to the ground. Singer whistled quietly, watching the scene, “Dang boss, I always forget how fast you can be when you really need to be. Did you kill him?”

“Of course not,” Bassi said mildly. “He might wake up a little more stupid than before, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

While they bantered, I made sure he was the only one in the room. The small room was lined with shelving on every wall, about one third of which was empty. Gold and silver coins lay scattered across the floor where they appeared to have fallen from hasty hands as they shoveled them into bags.

The most interesting feature in the room was the big ass hole in the wall. As large as your average door, if not nearly as rectangular, the thing went about three meters deep before it connected with a dark passageway. A passageway that looked suspiciously like an offshoot of the ruins that lay underneath all of Anamoor. Holy hell, someone had actually found a path that allowed them to just blast a hole and take the gold.

“This guy is Docksgord gang,” Jitters murmured, poking at a tattoo on his hand.

“What, really?” Bassi asked sharply, turning back to the man in question.

Jitters nodded, her noticeably calm hands fishing a large bronze coin out from his pocket. “Yup, even got the token.”

“Shit,” Bassi said with false calm.

“Shit is the right of it,” Whistle frowned, staring down at the unconscious man. “We going to let him live?”

“It’s not in the snake’s code to kill,” Dancer advised from where he now stood guard at the hole.

“Yeah and we threw that out the damned window the last time we fought the gangs,” Whistle said as he thumbed a knife free from a wrist sheath.

Bassi stood over the man with a look of someone who very literally had a man’s life in her hands. She could say yes or no, deciding his fate. “Not now,” she finally told the room. “Jitters, throw us those sacks you’ve been carrying. Everyone, get to work on loading yourselves up with as much gold as you can carry. I’ll keep watch on the hole. We’re going to be leaving through that hole. If we haven’t been caught by the time we’re ready to leave, then he dies.”

“Why?” I asked, nodding to the guy on the ground. “I mean, why not just kill him now? I assume that gang he’s from isn’t cool or whatever.”

“No, he very much is not cool,” Jitters sneered, looking like she wanted to kick the unconscious man. “The gangs are like… so the thieves guild and its chapters are focused on one thing right? One aspect of crime, stealing. We have an honour to how we operate, yeah? Some might not agree, but we don’t steal from those who can’t afford to lose a little, and we don’t kill out of habit or what have you.”

As Jitters spoke, I was nodding along with her, but my gaze kept flicking to Bassi. She seemed scarily calm, the type of calm where a person was very much not calm underneath it all.

“Well, the gangs ain’t like that,” Jitters continued, unaware of the turmoil that dwelled within feet of her. “They do it all, stealing obviously, but also selling potions that addict and rot you from the inside out, extortion and intimidation, even sellin’ slaves... women, for… uh…”

She faltered as she spoke, her hands beginning to shake again. Ah crap. Shiiiiit, I knew exactly where this was going. Her expression went stone cold, and she took the pack off her back, fishing the sacks out of it in perfect silence.

I ignored the sacks as I made my way to her, and instead wrapped my arms around the shaking woman.

“What’re you doing?” she protested weakly, frowning up at me.

“Hugging you,” I told her matter-of-factly. “You looked like you could use one, and I’ve decided that I give hugs to friends who look like they need them.”

“Oh,” she said quietly, breaking eye contact to look down at my chest. “A small one then, we’re on the clock,” she mumbled, closing her eyes and placing her forehead to my collarbone. I was quite a bit taller than her.

Over the top of her head, I found Bassi watching me, a sad sort of smile on her face. She gave me a brief nod, then moved to stand over at the hole, trading places with Dancer. I could feel Jitters taking several deep breaths as her weight leaned more and more heavily onto me. Gently, I set my chin down on the top of her head.

Around us, the others got to work filling the bags with gold, although I noticed quite a few worried glances in the small woman’s direction. In a strange sort of way, it made me happy to see the worry in their eyes. These people actually gave a shit about each other. I was one of them, part of this family of strong, shattered people. 

“I’m good now, thank you,” Jitters said from below, and I stepped back to find her smiling shyly up at me. “Whistle said you was a softy,” she grinned, punching me lightly in the chest.

Well, boob really, and the light blow caused me to wince and cover it with a hand. “Ow, I have tits you know,” I grumbled, although it was through a smile of my own. “Even if they’re tiny.”

“Enough talk about Mist’s little buds, it’s time to get rich,” Bassi chided from over near the hole.

“Alright, alright,” Jitters grumbled, passing me a sack while she went to throw random gold objects into the second one she carried. Under her breath, she added, “Like we aren’t already filthy rich or anything.”

Fighting a smile, Bassi raised an eyebrow at the shorter woman and rolled her eyes. Oh, yeah… wind fae with the cheaty hearing.