He was about to move on when he noticed an orange glow inside of the guard's quiver.
Fire arrows?
He was surprised to see this, he had never seen guards carry these before. They were smarter than he thought. Not only did that provide them with deadly weapons, but if a torch was out, they could use them to light their way. They wouldn't carry torches, he guessed, because those could be extinguished, unlike fire arrows. He would really have to be careful.
Through the courtyard was an open door, but what lay beyond that, he couldn't tell, and he'd rather not risk being seen by the archer in the process of sneaking across, there weren't enough shadows. To his sides were dark hallways, probably containing servants' quarters, or at least a kitchen. He was sure he'd find one on every level, nobles didn't like to wait for food to be brought to them from a different floor.
It must be such a burden to them if they didn't have more than one, he thought sarcastically.
He waited a minute, checking his surroundings every once in a while, as he drew a map of what he had seen so far. It would be nice to have if he ever came back. After he finished, he opted to take the right hallway, when he saw an orange light appear further down. He quickly moved to the opposite hallway, not wanting any confrontation until he had a better idea of how the guards patrolled. One way that had been popular between estates was to check in with certain guards as they made their rounds. If for some reason they went missing, they would sound an alarm. It wasn't his favorite thing to sneak around in a castle that was heavily guarded, but on high alert he liked to avoid altogether.
He came to the first door on his right, and peeked inside. It was pitch black, and he could hear snoring from the far side of the room. Just like he thought. Servants' quarters. He shut the door behind him, knowing that there wouldn't be much to gain in here, but thought he would check anyway. With his mechanical eye, he could see perfectly, but it took some time for his flesh eye to adjust to the dark. A few beds lined the wall on each side, and chests sat at the edge of each one.
Only one of the beds was occupied, while the rest were vacant. He moved to the first one, and opened it. Servants usually bought their own things, and they couldn't afford chests with locks. The chest was full of clothes. He searched through them, but found no coins hidden among them. He repeated the process with each chest, but found nothing.
Garrett looked the sleeping servant over to see if he could find anything valuable on his person. He was surprised, not for the first time tonight, to see a dagger cradled in his hands. He drew back on instinct, in case the man stirred, but wasn't truly fearful. He was sure they didn't train their servants in combat, but he supposed that he shouldn't let his pride get in the way trying to call a bluff. He exited, making sure the way was clear before he came out all the way, and found that the hall was dark as it was before. He checked the rest of the rooms, but found nothing valuable, and was on his way. The end of the hall veered suddenly to the right, and he peeked around the corner to see an identical hall mimic the first. He guessed that the first two hallways by the courtyard came around to meet each other at the end of the plush garden, lucky for him. The only difference in this hallway was that there were no doors, so he crawled along the wall, and peeked around the corner as he had before. Already knowing what he would find, he peered down the rest of the hall to see the guard had doubled back and was going to patrol the hall he had come from. He brought himself back, and estimated the distance between the two walls, and decided that the way was narrow enough.
He ran quietly for the other wall, jumped towards it, and kicked off to bring his other leg toward the opposite wall, and placed each foot across from the other on both walls. The soft glow of a fire arrow pierced the blackness of the corner, and soon flooded into his area. The guard that came around was young and skinny, but well built. The grim look on his face showed that he hadn't noticed anything as he moved along the seemingly empty corridor, and right under Garrett. When the guard was well out of ear shot, Garrett dropped to the ground, his keen ears barely picking up the soft thud as he reached the floor. He moved into the hallway that connected the others, and took the open door on his left.
Obviously, opulence wasn't even lost on the main floor of the estate. Clean white marble lined the room, shimmering where torches had been placed in sconces on either side, and a grand staircase spiraled down into the middle of the room. If that wasn't enough to stop everyone in their tracks, then the two guards up at the top of the stairs would. He cursed under his breath. They absolutely didn't skip out on details. He had been excited about going through all of the Dantes' castles, but this wasn't an amateur job. This was a full blown job, guards armed to the teeth included. Not only did these two carry swords, bows, and arrows, but the bulging pouches were big enough around to indicate either a flash bomb or gas bomb.
Taking the torches out would only alert them to his presence, but he didn't rule it out completely. It was better to have blind guards after you, than having them be able to see you clear as day. Maybe a noisemaker arrow? But how many armed men were behind them? He decided his first motion had better be to get out of this corridor, or he would have three angry, armed men to deal with. He pressed as flat against the wall as he could, and slid into the right side of the marble room, barely making any noise on the stone. One of the men at the top of the stairs arched his head a little bit, but decided it was nothing after everything was silent.
Garrett sketched the new details onto his map, and was thinking about coming back later when he had more equipment. He was brought back to reality when the two men at the top of the stairs jumped in surprise, when they heard the guard in the hallway, behind Garrett, yelp. The two on the stairs came bounding down, boots echoing loudly on the marble, and ran right past him down the other halls. He took this opportunity to silently, but quickly make his way up the stairs, tucking his map back in its place. He was relieved to find carpeted floors at the top and immediately took the hall to his right.
Grandeur wasn't lost on the carpets, either. It was obvious that these weren't from around here, probably a gift from another country. Intricate designs laced through and around each other in plush colors on fine, soft material. Exactly the opposite of the marble, his feet made not even the slightest sound on the fabric. There weren't any torches lining the way, but he knew it wasn't a mistake. The hallway was only wide enough for two people to walk abreast. That might be a problem if the guards patrolled in that way.
He stopped abruptly, seeing a few paintings on the wall, not to appreciate, but to check for secret openings. He pressed his hand and felt around each one, and even checked behind, but found nothing. After a thorough, yet unrewarding search, he moved on quickly, not wanting to get trapped in the hallway. He finally came to a door, but before going in, he caught and orange light in the corner of his eye. He lingered to confirm his guess. Two guards came striding down the hall, side by side, as he had feared.
Before they could get too close, he cracked the door, and seeing that everything was clear, went in and shut it behind him, hoping the guards didn't come through after him. He surveyed the enormous room before him, and moved to the side of the door just in time. The door opened and one of the men stood just inside to take a look around. Nodding his head in approval, he closed the door. Garrett let out the breath he had been holding, and moved out of a shadowed corner of the dining room. A long, rich wooden table and chairs lined the middle of the room, fine china and unlit candles included, and a fire place to the side in between moon-lit windows. A large chandelier hung form a chain bearing un-lit candles.
Before he moved in to take a closer look, he picked up movement across the room. He relaxed his posture when he discovered that it was one of the servants, but was aware of the dagger hanging at her side. A calm look played on her face, so obviously she hadn't noticed him yet. He moved to the left side of the room with double doors at each end of the wall rather than windows, and scanned the table as he passed, keeping an eye on the girl at the same time.
Nothing specific caught his attention, as he moved across the room, so he moved on at a steady pace. He avoided the side doors, they either lead to hallways or kitchens, so he went through the door across from the one he came through. Checking on the servant, he opened the door and entered. He moved away from the door, but stayed against the wall, and put a hand on a flash bomb. It was a game room, and several off-duty, but armed, guards, sat around a table playing cards. Lucky for him, a single candle at their table was the only thing to interrupt the darkness.
He looked around the room and found a few chests, including the one nearest the guards' table, most likely holding the reward for whoever won the game. For now. Noise wasn't much of a problem, most of it came from the men, who were a bit tipsy, if not completely drunk, so his worries about picking a lock and attracting attention were gone. He brought his hand out of his cloak and made his way around the table, not letting his skill go to his head. If he was willing to try, the reward chest could be a bonus to what he found in the other chests. He wasn't as blinded by greed as other thieves were. He knew what a good find was, but when it's nestled between two armed men, sitting among several others like them, it's just not worth it.
The first chest was unlocked, and creaked a bit when he opened it, but was drowned out by the drunkards. Not surprisingly, he found nothing of value, and wasted no time moving onto the next one across the room. He picked it open within seconds, and found three stacks of coins. He pushed them into a pouch, not letting them drop, then repeated the process with the next chest, another small find. Just before he reached the reward, he was stopped when one of the men spoke.
"Come on Benny, don't hold back on us." His voice made it obvious that he had had quite a bit to drink.
"Yeah," another chimed in with a hiccup. "What are we playing for?"
"I suppose it's only fair that I tell you," one of the men the chest sat between replied, and unlike the others, he sounded completely sober. Obviously his find had been so wonderful that he had abstained from alcohol to stay wise in the head.
"I recovered it from the Pagans," he continued. "It doesn't look like something they made, though. Probably something from an ancient civilization."
He paused for emphasis, then leaned over to open the chest. What he removed indeed did not look like something the Pagans would make, but there were some similarities. It was a crown, not very elegant, but from what Garrett could see, valuable, none-the-less. Now he was interested. Benny quickly put it back in the chest and persuaded the others to keep playing. When Garrett was sure they had their full attention on the game, he slowly crept up to his prize and opened the chest. He drew back and waited to see it anyone had noticed anything. He grabbed the trinket and closed the chest, then started to back away slowly, but was stopped shortly when he felt cold steel against his neck. He swore under his breath, and quickly tucked his find into his cloak, but didn't remove his hand.
"Stay quiet and you might live long enough to see the outside," a deep voice whispered harshly near his ear.
Garrett pushed back his hood, enough to see, with one hand and looked back at his captor. He wore a black cloak and a mask similar to that of a Keeper Enforcer, but black with red designs. Despite the fact that the man was holding a dagger to his throat, Garrett managed to chuckle.
"Of course," he replied half-heartedly. "I wouldn't want to be a burden."
Before anything else could happen, he closed his eyes and dropped a flash bomb a little bit behind him. His would-be captor gasped and dropped the dagger. The guards at the table yelled in surprise, and jumped out of their seats, scattering playing cards all over the place. Garrett ran into the dining room, now empty, and tugged open a window. Before he jumped, he downed a slow fall potion, then leapt. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as he fell toward the streets of Dayport. A short time before he reached the ground, he felt the effects start to wear off, then dropped down at a normal pace. He wasted no time in getting as far way from the Dantes Estate as he could, and soon passed through the gates of Stonemarket.