“Stay here for a sec,” I said to Cali. Fitch didn’t like it when strangers learned where his shop was. I descended the steps and knocked on the door. The slot opened.

“Who’s the girl?” he demanded, having listened in to our conversation through the door. He always had a sixth sense for that kind of thing.

“Nobody, let me in.”

Fitch didn’t argue. He trusted me enough to give me this one. I hoisted my sack onto the counter for the second time this week and revealed my spoils. The books I’d stolen from the Nightwalker’s camp. Books were pretty valuable to the right people. Fitch organized them into a small pile, “Where did you find these?”

“I was giving someone a hand with a job, stiff had these in his hideout.”

He grabbed the red book from the top of the stack. He flipped to the first page on the inside of the cover and inspected the small print. He gave me a toothy grin, “These books you found are pretty damn valuable. They’re mage tomes, union made.”

Valuable? “Why’s that?”

“Mage’s Unions like to keep the trade secrets to themselves. These books are written by union members for union members. They keep a tight lid on them. When one manages to get out of their system and into private hands, one of two things happens. Some independent mage wants to get it for themselves and bids big money for it, or a union member spots it and tries to outbid them to get it back.”

“A bidding war.”

“Exactly, suddenly a book that’s as cheap as the paper it’s printed on is worth six or seven times what it used to.”

I grinned, “Everything’s coming my way recently. I just got paid big for that job too.”

“When you’re living the good life in a walled compound, don’t forget about us little guys.”

“I’d never forget you Fitch.”

“You’re gonna’ make me blush,” he tittered sarcastically.

He reached down and handed me four iron bars, but before he could give them to me I held up my hand and stopped him. “Let me keep that one,” I asked, grabbing the beginner’s book, “I’m interested in giving it a read.” Fitch nodded and put one of the bars back, leaving me with three. After consuming the Nightwalker I’d gained magical skills, I wanted to know the basics before I tried to use them.

“Since when did you get so interested in magic? It’s a rich man’s game, remember.”

That it was. Not only did you need to be born into a family that maintained it and could afford the books, tutors and academy scholarships, but the individual items used to cast magic were eye-wateringly expensive. The reason Cali was so angry about using her Catalyst on some bandits was because she was seriously out of pocket for the effort.

They were similar to guns, some used powder cartridges, while experimental Catalyst weapons were edging closer towards repeaters and revolvers. Those cartridges cost a lot of money. It was slightly cheaper to buy a catalyst that didn’t come attached to an expensive weapon like Cali’s, but it wasn’t ideal for fighting battles. Having the trigger in arm’s reach was essential to using it during a fight.

For me to start using magic in battle I’d need a Catalyst weapon. I could get one that resembled a flintlock pistol, but Stigma was so large and heavy that using both at once wasn’t practical, at least not until I massively buffed my strength stat and could use her with one hand. The reason I wanted the book so badly was because finding one was going to be tough. I had a perfect opportunity to grab the fundamentals without having to pay for it.

“I’m hedging my bets,” I explained, “At the pace I’m going, I might just stumble across a catalyst and ammo sometime soon.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Fitch chuckled, “No more breaking and entering jobs. Hitting the big time.”

“Don’t get me too excited, somebody’s going to shovel a load of shit in my face soon enough.”

I took my leave and returned to Cali’s side next to the main avenue. I had a pouch full of cash and nothing much to do. I considered heading to the bar and drinking myself under the table again, but Cali didn’t strike me as the type to enjoy getting smashed with friends. Unfortunately, someone else found me first. I felt a strong desire to dive into the nearest alleyway and run as fast as I could. Bell had found me.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting out here for hours.” Handsome, blonde, about my age. Bell was a lady’s man and the cause of all my worldly suffering. Over-ambitious was a word Cass used often in the wake of whatever idiotic scheme he concocted falling apart at the seams. He immediately forgot whatever stupid thing he wanted to con me into and moved in on Cali, “And who is this pretty lady? You been holding out on your old pal?”

“Put your cock away and get to the point.”

He held up his arms in mock surrender, “Geeze, okay! Man, you really are a downer sometimes.”

“I wonder why.”

“I’ve got a huge job lined up. Seriously big stuff, even by my standards. Problem is, I can’t get anyone to back me up on it!”

“That’s because these big jobs always turn out to be really dangerous and not worth the damn effort Bell. You’ve burned your bridges with every rogue and mercenary in the Federation… and the Kingdom.” I told him this every time he complained about it, but the solid brick wall that covered his ear drums ensured that he would never internalize it and learn.

“It’s nothing of the sort, I promise.”

“And who’s paying for it?”

“…Sull.”

“You’ve already lost me.”

“Not the Kingdom, one of their knights from the bordering county. He’s putting up some of his own money. He wants some rogues to sneak into the Feddies’ supply depot and put the torch to the lot. Demoralizing action, he called it.”

“The depot near town?”

“Yeah, that’s the one!”

The depot in question used to be a small farming community, what they were harvesting I didn’t know. The ground here was so boggy and waterlogged that only a few types of plants could be cultivated in any serious numbers. When the people moved away, their homes and barns were left behind to rot. When the Feddies took over it was turned into a base for their men. The barns were repurposed as storage units for their food, weapons, medicine and armour.

It was lightly defended in comparison to the forts dotted throughout the swamp. They were confident that nobody would attack them. The Feds had a strong grip on the main lines of travel through the forests. Moving any number of troops would quickly be spotted and a counter-attack launched. Carts would visit the farm houses and gather supplies, before distributing them to the bases throughout the day.

“Sounds like merc work Bell.”

“Ah come on! I heard you went galivanting off with a mage the other day to kill a Nightwalker!” Bell finally connected the dots and turned back to Cali, “Oh. This is the mage that’s got everyone talking?”

I tried to keep him on-topic, “Killing a monster’s different to picking a fight with the Feddies,” I said, “If something goes wrong – there’ll be nowhere to hide. You’ll have to run back to Sull and stay there.”

“What’s your problem with Sull anyway?” Bell asked, “You talk about it like it’s some kind of god forsaken wasteland.”

“Bell, have you ever had the misfortune of working in Sull, for real, for an extended period of time?”

“No.”

“Keep it that way. If you think those blood-iron bastards are bad enough here, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve been down to Sull. They’re a bunch of lunatics. Killing, raping, pillaging. You name it, they’ve done it. Not to mention that the bailiffs over there are worse than in the Fed.”

Bell didn’t seem convinced, “Are they really that bad?”

“The only people who ask that question are the people who’ve never had to deal with ‘em. You get your damn paved streets and working sewerage, but if one of those fucking Inquisitors points a finger at you, your head’s going to roll.”

“Sure, whatever. You in or not?” My better judgement told me to turn him down. This stunk. It had that classic Bell air to it that I hated. Light on details, getting involved with the major players when he didn’t need to. He’d be caught with his pants round his ankles again. “He’s paying in gold.”

I stopped, “Gold? He’s paying you in gold for burning down a shed?”

“He said it was… important to the war effort.”

“Interesting,” Cali added, “To earn such a large bounty. I wish to hear more.”

“Cali, this guy is trouble.”

I only realized after I said it that Cali enjoyed trouble. She was a certified lunatic just like Bell was. She wanted to be hurt, maimed and beaten. Cali’s eyes hardened as she gripped her halberd tight.

“Let me come with you,” Cali demanded. Bell was beside himself with joy. Not only had he suckered someone into joining him, but they were a busty, beautiful and powerful dark elf mage! I needed to act fast before Cali killed herself by following his orders.

“Fuck. I’ll come too then.”

“Huh? What? That's enough to get you to come along?”

I scowled, “Because I can’t trust you two to get this done together. I’d rather not get Cali back in a cardboard box.” Despite our rocky initial meeting I felt a little bit responsible for her. Part of me might have even liked her.

Bell pumped his fist, “Alright! The dream team is together and ready to make some money!”

“You better not be fucking with me Bell, or I’ll cut your balls off.”

“Please unleash your anger unto me instead, Ren,” Cali interjected, “I will endure any torture or abuse you desire.”

Bell’s enthusiasm was snuffed on the spot like a campfire in the rain.

“Uh.”

“Yeah. I know. This is why I’m coming with you.”

Bell scratched the back of his head, “Okay. I should tell you the details. We’re doing this tonight, he wanted it over with as soon as possible. We burn the place down, give them a signal using this,” he held up a small magical cartridge, “Signal flare. Light it, watch it go up. Then we go to the tree at the crossroads tomorrow and get paid.”

“Okay. We do this quiet, I don’t want them seeing us, at all.”

“Right. Those places are packed with flammable crap. Those medicine regents go up like explosives, not to mention all the leftover hay in the air. All we need is to throw a match in there and watch it go up.”

“Easier said than done with their scouts watching the perimeter.”

“We’ve snuck through harder roadblocks before. We just need to take our time, co-ordinate our advances, and set all of them off at the same time. Let’s give the new girl the easiest shot – we’ll handle the tougher ones. I already got their patrols mapped out, been scoping this place for weeks.”

It was an unusually cohesive plan by Bell standards. It still did little to alleviate my worry about taking on this job. I didn’t want to leave Cali out to dry with him, and if the money he was promising was real – I wouldn’t need to work another day for years. Still, I knew that things were never that simple with Bell. Nobody offered that much cash for such a simple job. He was keeping something from us.

As it turned out, my instincts would soon be proven correct.