Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima.
Chapter XIV – A Thief in the Night
Tonight was the night, Viscount Wardes had departed yesterday and taken some of his household guard with him. Not many to be sure, but fewer guards was always a good thing, no matter how small the difference. There was also a chance that with the master absent the servants would be more lax in their duties; when the cat's away the mice will play, as they say.
She had wanted to try last night but the sky had been largely cloudless, and the moonlight had illuminated everything far too well. Tonight's conditions were much more favourable.
Fouquet approached carefully, keeping her eyes open for anybody close by. Even a passing civilian could cause a scene, and that was the last thing she wanted.
There was an archer on the roof of the mansion, and she waited in the shadows until her moved to the other side.
Wardes' manor was surrounded by a huge stone wall. It looked imposing and impressive, but what was a stone barrier to and earth mage? She pointed her wand at a section of the wall and the centre began to crumble, leaving a hole large enough for her to squeeze through.
The first thing she did once she was through was to look around, to make sure there were no guards looking her way. Fortunately there were no guards at all near this part of the grounds, the patrol had already passed by.
She pointed her wand at the broken bits of wall on the ground, and used it to guide them back to where they belonged. They slotted back into place perfectly, and blended in near seamlessly with the rest of the wall.
She took a deep breath before quickly moving on. This was most definitely not her preferred way of doing things. She would much rather infiltrate in disguise and ingratiate herself with the staff and owners, before making off with the loot. Believe it or not, attempting to sneak in to a heavily guarded fortress was actually much harder than the stories made it sound.
Unfortunately, the grounds around the manor itself were largely empty. There were a few trees and bushes decorating the gardens, but not enough to completely cover her approach. Instead she pressed herself to the ground, and slowly began to crawl along the dirt, sticking to the cover of the plant-life where she could. The clothes she wore were dark and colourless, they should not stand out too much against the grass, not on such a dark night.
That was when she heard the clinking of metal, and the pounding of feet against earth. The pace was slow, unhurried, so she had not been spotted, but it was growing closer.
She cursed under her breath, but maintained her pace. Going faster would only make her more noticeable. As the sound grew louder she had to concentrate on keeping herself from growing too tense.
There was a row of hedges not far from her, and she crept steadily towards it. She dragged herself beneath it, and waited.
She focused on her breathing, keeping it low and steady, as the guard drew closer. It almost stopped entirely when a pair of feet entered her vision and stopped right next to her hiding place. Then they moved on, and after a couple of seconds she allowed herself a sigh of relief. She counted to ten in her head, before crawling back into the open, and continuing on her way.
Her heart was in her throat for the rest of the crawl, if it felt like she was too exposed, like someone would see her at any moment and raise the alarm. Why was she doing this? She could just leave right now and tell the Valliére girl that Wardes had become a shut-in, she doubted very much that the brat had the experience to expect more.
However, there was something pushing her to continue on. She remembered the way Valliére had taken that maid in, when most in her position would have cast her aside, or used her as a scapegoat. Really, she acted contrary to what Fouquet had learned to expect from nobles. Gods help her, she liked the little brat.
This was not the time for self-reflection!
Finally she was able to reach out and touch the side of the manor itself. She slowly rose to her knees, and pressed her back against the bricks. Now she had to find herself a way in.
The front door was not an option, for obvious reasons; but she may be able to find an open window in the back. If that did not work, well she had other options open to her.
There was such a window, but it was up on the second floor and there was no way she was making that climb without being seen. With that option off the table she took a quick peak through the nearest window; on the other side was what appeared to be a parlour, and it was empty, excellent.
Once again she produced her wand and pointed it at the window. She was tying to detect the latch so that she could unlock it, as a triangle-class earth mage, she had the ability to manipulate metal. Unfortunately, it seemed to be actively resisting her magic. It seemed she had come upon her first defensive ward of the night.
Unfortunately that put her in a difficult position, she had lingered for too long against the walls of the house, much longer and she would surely be caught.
With a sigh she produced a slight, metal bar from underneath her clothes. It may have been slight and not look like much, but she had reinforced it as much as she could. It was time for something a little more crude.
She slipped the bar between the window and the frame, and began to pull. The wood groaned, and then gave way with a slight crack. Quickly, in case any of the guards had heard she pulled the window open and climbed through, closing it again behind her. Hopefully no one would discover the broken window too soon.
She hugged the wall beneath the window and waited, and sure enough, she soon heard the sound of footsteps approaching the window. She stayed completely still as she heard his feet shuffling against the ground, then they began to move further away.
Another relieved sigh escaped her lips and she began to move, it was time to see what secrets this place held.
That was a task that was easier said than done however. She had no idea what the layout of this house was like, the only thing she had to go on were things the guards had let slip in a drunken stupor.
If Viscount Wardes was hiding any secrets, they would most likely be kept somewhere he felt the most safe. With that in mind she supposed her first port of call should either be the master bedroom, which would most likely be upstairs. At the very least it gave her some sort of goal, and that beat wandering around aimlessly.
She pressed herself against the door, and put her eyes to the keyhole. She felt a little silly, like she was child playing at being a spy, but she did it anyway. The next room was actually a long and narrow hallway, and at the moment it appeared to be empty.
She eased the door open as gently as she could, wincing as she hinges squeaked. Could a man as wealthy as Wardes presumably was not afford some grease?
Out in the hallway she saw a number of works of art on display; from vases, to paintings, to busts, and she had to resist the urge to examine them further. Perhaps on the way back out. If nothing else it would help to hide the true reason behind her visit.
There another door at the end of the hallway, and through the keyhole she could see that one of them led to the main hall, and the main staircase. Unfortunately there also seemed to be guards in there, she could not see them with her limited view, but she could hear them.
She examined the corridor she was in carefully, houses like this often had hidden passage ways for the servants to move about unseen. It was only a few seconds later that a smile broke out on her face. The second door was disguised, but not that well. It had simply been wallpapered over, but she could see the seems where the edges of the door were. Excellent, from experience she knew that the servant's corridors were usually left unguarded.
Slowly she began to push it open. All the servants should be asleep at this hour, which meant she should be able to use the secret access-ways unimpeded.
The inside of this corridor was noticeably less refined than the one she had just come from. The walls were made from rougher stone, the supporting beams were more obvious, and the floors were less well polished. It was all clearly less well-maintained than the main house.
It was things like this that helped sustain Fouquet's anger against the nobility. They relied upon their "inferiors" for their comfortable lifestyles, but then treated them to lesser conditions and tried to pretend that they did not exist!
This was not the time, she reminded herself.
The corridor seemed to carry on for some time, and took several turns, to the point where Fouquet almost felt like she was doubling back on herself. Then she came to a branching pathway, almost like a crossroads. The first turn she tried took her to the kitchens, they were empty, but the smell of cooked meat still hung heavy in the air.
She doubled back and tried a different route, and it was not long before she found what she was looking for. There were a set of stairs leading up to the next floor, they were unvarnished, but they felt sturdy enough when she set her feet upon them.
A couple of the steps creaked as she climbed them, and she winced each time. However, there was no helping it, and this was still better than attempting to take the main stairs.
Finally she reached the top, and there before her was another door. She crept forwards and pressed her ears against it, attempting to hear if anyone was on the other side. She could hear nothing coming from the hallway, but there was a scratching noise coming from within the wood itself. Probably bugs.
She eased the door open gently, half expecting to hear a voice call out in alarm at any moment. She did not open it all the way, only until the gap was wide enough for her to squeeze through.
The hallway beyond was empty, except for yet more precious items on display. There was even a thick, red carpet laid upon the floor, and she swore she could feel the plushness of it through the soles of her soft shoes. Once again she had to suppress the temptation to take anything, at least for the moment. It was not the items themselves that tempted her, but taking them from under Wardes own nose, and despite the heavy guard.
Still, the presence of the carpet was fortunate, as it helped to muffle her footsteps as she crept along.
She would need to be careful here, the presence of servant corridors suggested that the servants had there own quarters somewhere; and she doubted Wardes would just leave if he had guests. Still, she did not now if any of these rooms had guards posted in them, if they had anything of particular value in they just might. It would be the height of shame for her, if she got so far only to be caught with her goal within reach.
Once again she took to peeping through the keyholes, scouting out each room in he corridor before entering any of them. None of them seemed guarded, although she did only have narrow view.
She identified the master bedroom by the bed, it looked to be grander and more elaborate than any of the others, but when she tried the handle it refused to budge. She sighed, but it made sense that this room would be amongst the few that were actually locked. As with the window, the lock was protected, but she knew the spell that had been used. It was designed to protect things from being altered through magic, and there were other ways of getting things done.
From within her top she produced a set of lock-picks, and set about working on the door. It was a skill that had taken her a lot of time and effort to learn, and it was much slower than using magic, but it was worth it. There was so much magic could do, that sometimes people forgot that there were other ways around a problem, even if they were not as efficient.
It took quite a bit of self-discipline for her to keep at her work properly, and not try to hurry. The guards may not be stationed in the hallways, but they had to walk through them every now and then, she was sure.
Eventually the lock gave way with a most satisfying click, and the door swung gently open. This time it did not squeak.
She stepped into the room and took a look around, it was richly decorated in red and gold, and proudly declared a life of privilege. Aside from the bed the was a wardrobe against one wall, a writing desk against another, a set of drawers, and a bedside stand. She immediately set to searching, only to discover something unfortunate, everything was locked. Every single drawer or compartment, had been locked and reinforced with magic.
With a sigh she produced her lock-picks once again, this was going to take longer than she had hoped.
The obvious first choice was the writing desk, so she set about unlocking it's compartments. Inside she found quills, ink, blank paper, and eventually stacks of letters. Most of them were barely notable being legitimate, if occasionally distasteful business. Then she found something that drew her attention, a letter written in elegant handwritten, written by a woman if she had to guess, although she could not be sure.
W
Your package was received, and you were right, it is most interesting. We will hold it for safekeeping.
In the meantime, ensure that the princess continues to cooperate. The time will soon come.
S
Well, that was certainly suspicious. They did not say so directly, but it sounded to Fouquet that Wardes had an accomplice. She slipped the letter into a concealed pocket inside her shirt, evidence of betrayal would most certainly be of interest to Valliére.
There were more letters of a similar nature, each from this mysterious "S". None of them stated anything directly, but from putting the pieces together, Fouquet was able to come to a disturbing conclusion.
It seemed that someone was planning to strike at Tristain, and Wardes was role to make sure that the kingdom would be unprepared for the attack. However, none of the letters seemed to hold any specifics on when and where the attack would come. Sensible, she supposed, in case the letter was intercepted, still frustrating though.
What had she stepped in? When she had first made that offer to Valliére she had not expected to be caught up in something like this.
She began to search the rest of the room for anything else of interest. It was only a quick scan really, she likely already had more that enough to satisfy her employer, but she would likely not get another chance to be in here.
Unfortunately, she was unable to find anything else of political interest; although, she did find a small purse in the bedside table that she was only too happy to take for herself.
As she was preparing to leave she took a quick glance out of the window, and felt her heart drop. There were guards crawling over the grounds, and they clearly were not walking there usual patrol routes. It looked liked someone had caught on that she was here.
The most likely thing to have been discovered was the broken window in the parlour, which meant the entire ground floor would be crawling with guards looking for her. she would need to find another way out.
Then she heard she heard the sound of voices coming from the hallway, and she knew she was out of time. She threw open the window and leaned out, grabbed a hold of the edge of the roof, and hauled herself up. Just in time too, for she heard the door to the bedroom open, and one of the men shouting something to the others.
"He went out the window!" she heard him say.
So she had been spotted, well that was an embarrassing stain on her reputation. Although, she supposed Siesta had already ruined that.
The man on the roof turned, and raised his bow. She was only just able to avoid being shot, the arrow whistled by her so close that it made her hood ripple.
As the archer reached for another arrow she charged forward, and bowled him over. As he was trying to scramble back to his feet she pointed her wand at the roof tiles, the tiles were made from clay, and that was within her power. As the poor sod was getting his bearing one of the tiles shot up, and struck him in the back of the head. The man fell like a heavy sack, and landed with a dull thud.
There were too many men on the ground for her to get down, if she were to try she would be caught in seconds. She needed a distraction.
A smirk crossed her lips, well then, she guessed it was time to use one of her favourite spells.
She pointed her wand at a patch of earth and began muttering the incantation. Pieces of rock rose from the ground, coalescing into the shape of a hand, then five more joined it. Almost as if there where things trying to claw there way out from beneath the earth. Then three hulking figures emerged, each in the shape of a man, but a little taller.
They were not nearly as large as the one she had used against Valliére's rescue party, but the numbers would be more useful here.
Being so focused one her, the guards did not notice the golems until they were upon them. Each of the creature's grabbed one of the men and tossed him across the lawn. After that, they were far less concerned about her.
Unfortunately, at that point she heard more yelling from behind her, and she turned to find the first of the men scrambling on to the roof as she had.
Without giving herself time to think about it she pointed her wand at the ground directly beneath her, and jumped. She landed, and when she landed the ground yielded some beneath here, cushioning her fall.
However, in her rush she had apparently not performed the spell properly. She sunk up to her waist into the mud, it was sticky and thick, almost likely walking through treacle. It took her a moment to drag herself out, a moment she did not really have.
She was still on her knees, when one of the guardsmen noticed her, and came charging forward. A quick flick of her wrist, and he was caught in the same spell that had just caused her so much trouble.
Unluckily, the other guards seemed to draw ideas from their friend, or else come to realise that getting rid of her would stop the golems. In this situation she did the only thing she could do, she ran.
She raced straight for the wall, without any care for cover. Another arrow whistled passed her ear, apparently more archers had joined the fray, but she did not stop.
As she drew close she used the same spell she had gotten in with; but due the adrenaline flooding through her, and her need to maintain her creations, it was not as precise as before. The whole she created was much bigger than intended. No matter.
She gave new instructions to one of her monsters, telling it to leave the main group and head to the wall.
She all but leapt through the breach she had created, and the beast lumbered into place to guard her back.
However, she did not stop there; she weaved through streets and alleyways for some time until the sounds of shouting faded into the distance. Sure that no-one was following her, she allowed herself to collapse against a nearby wall, and began to catch her breath. Suddenly her limbs felt heavy, and her lungs burned. That had been a bracing experience.
She was not able to rest for long though, pretty soon the streets would be swarming for soldiers looking for her. She dragged herself back to her feet, and forced herself to start walking. She needed to get herself back to the inn, and her room before she was discovered.
The window to her room had been left slightly ajar, but not so much as to be noticeable in the dark. Using magic she pulled out some of the stone on the wall, just enough to give her some handholds, and clambered up. Once through the window she undid the spell, leaving the side of the inn perhaps a little smoother than it had originally been.
Knowing that if she allowed herself to rest now she would not be getting up again for the rest of the night, she set about finishing up.
The first thing she did was to change, divesting herself of her tarnished garments in favour of her nightclothes. She ripped some fabric off of her relatively clean shirt, and used it to begin wiping the mud off the floor. When she was done she shoved he dirty clothes into a sack, and hid it under her bed, she would need to dispose of them tomorrow.
With that done, she clambered into bed and finally rested her head against the pillow. She did not fall asleep immediately, instead lay there staring up at the ceiling and contemplating her next move.
She needed to get those letters to Valliére as soon as possible, and it would be best done in person. A courier could not be trusted, and other methods were too easily intercepted.
Would it be be worth waiting the extra couple of days before reporting back, or should she leave at first light?
Her original plan had been to stay for an extra couple of days after the event, leaving earlier would be too suspicious. With her having been spotted however, was that still the best idea? She would already be a suspect, as the newcomer that rode into town days before the heist; she had not had the time to spend ingratiating herself as she had at the academy. If she were to disappear immediately after, well, that would only confirm her guilt. It was true that no-one had seen what she looked like beneath that mask, but they could get that from Sophie.
She would stay for now, she decided. She was confident that she could feign ignorance if needs be, and she was capable of escaping if it became necessary. She would stay an extra two days and then leave, but she would need to come up with a plausible excuse.
Her decision made it was time for her to get some rest, after all, the guards would spend tonight assessing the damage, but would likely be going door to door tomorrow. As a stranger she would be under extra scrutiny, and she would want to be at her best to fool them.
All told, this had been a bit of a hatchet job, and she had stumbled into something she would rather not have. The little noble brat was going to pay through the nose for this one.
Omake - Yuletide Yuri
It was the winter solstice, a joyful time of the year for many, but not all. Louise François Le Blanc de La Valliére was not inclined to participate in the festive spirit. She had just spent the last two hours out the cold snow, trying to make any sort of spell only for it to explode and cover her in snow every time. Now she was cold, wet, tired, and hungry.
However, being such a foul mood as she was, she was also disinclined to take her meal in the Great Hall with the rest of her schoolmates. Instead she opted to take it alone in her room, she would ask Siesta to fetch her some food when she had finished her other duties.
So Louise stalked through the vacant hallways of the grand castle, feeling the cold permeate her bones. There was a tingling in the tip of her nose, which she knew heralded the beginning of a cold. Perhaps she would skip the meal and proceed straight to bed.
When she reached the door to her chambers she pushed it open; only to feel a wave of fierce warmth wash over her. Feeling curiosity grip her she crossed the threshold, and gently closed the door behind her.
Inside the was a fire roaring brightly in the hearth, and sprigs of holly and mistletoe had been hung. On the table was a bottle of wine, and plates filled with amuse-gueule, foie gras, smoked salmon, and even turkey; Louise felt her mouth water at the sight.
Standing in the centre of it all, smiling brilliantly at her, was Siesta. Louise turned her head away as she felt the warmth rise in her cheeks, clearly sudden change in temperature was getting to her.
"Welcome back, Miss," Siesta said. "Come on, let's get you changed and then we can have dinner."
Her heart began to flutter as she stepped closer to the maid, and a jolt of lightning ran down her spine as she began to help her change. Really, what had gotten into her?
Minutes latter Louise was sitting in her nightgown, since there was no point changing into another set of clothes at this point, with the lavish meal laid-out before her. Siesta poured them both a glass of wine, before taking the seat to the left of her, and watching her with great eagerness.
"Well, Miss," she began, raising her glass. "Bon appétit."
"Bon appétit," Louise answered, raising her own glass.
Louise took a sip of the wine, tasted the sweetness of it on her tongue, and the warmth of it seeping down her throat. When she put her glass down she found that Siesta had already taken one of the amuse-gueule, and was extending it towards her. Her smile had turned somewhat sly.
"Say "ah", Miss," she said.
Louise quickly realised what Siesta intended to do, and there was no mistaking the cause of her blush this time.
"I - I can feed myself," she stuttered.
Siesta's smile never wavered.
"Of course you can, Miss," she replied. "But this way is more fun."
She was on the verge of making a retort, but she could not bring herself to wipe that smile from Siesta's face. So slowly, hesitantly, she opened her mouth, and allowed the maid to feed her.
It was simple thick, sweet cream with a hint of vanilla, but it was delicious. She had eaten today of course, but after her long hours in the snow, the simple sweet tasted like heaven.
The way Siesta's smile widened and her eyes sparkled was worth the embarrassment.
The rest of the meal proceeded in much the same way, with Siesta alternating between feeding Louise, and feeding herself. For her part Louise felt a strange mixture of tension and contentment twisting inside of her; it was nice to be waited on in such a manner, but it was also embarrassing to have someone perform such a basic task for her.
All good things must come to an end, and eventually there was no more food left. A comfortable silence descended between them, and yet, that sense of unease never left her.
"That was delicious, my compliments to the chef," she said, as a way to distract herself.
"Thank you, Miss," Siesta responded.
It took a moment for Louise to realise exactly what she had said.
"Siesta? You mean you prepared this?"
"Yes, Miss," she answered.
"I... I never knew you cooked this well."
"Well," Siesta replied, a colour rising slightly in her cheeks. "It took some practice, and I had a little help."
"But, why go to all the trouble?" Louise asked.
Now Siesta's cheeks were a bright scarlet, and her gaze was fixed upon her own hands.
"I just wanted to do something nice, Miss," she answered. "And I wanted us to have some time alone together, before you returned home."
Suddenly Louise's eyes began to burn, and it felt like her throat had shrunk. Damn it, no! She would not weep over something so simple! Her fingernails bit into the palms of her hands as she fought to master herself.
Siesta coughed as though clearing her throat, and when Louise looked, that brilliant smile was back on her face.
"But enough about that, Miss," she said. "It looks as though it's about time for bed."
She rose to her feet, and offered her hand to help Louise stand.
"I am not tired yet," Louise replied, taking her hand.
Suddenly she was jerked forward, and she fell against Siesta, her arms wrapping around her for purchase. She felt Siesta's arms snake around her waist, and hold her tight, pressing them together. She could feel the heat from her body permeate her. Siesta leaned in so that her mouth was right next to her ear, and the feel of her breath made Louise shiver.
"I never said anything about sleeping, did I Miss?"
Before Louise could formulate a response, those lips had captured her own in a sweet, tender kiss.
Author's Note: Here's chapter fourteen, just in time for Christmas!
Firstly, I am sorry this took a little longer than I intended to release. The reason for this, is because I went and rewrote the first ten chapters of this fic (the ones that existed before the recent revival). You don't have to reread any of the previous chapters if you don't want, because the story content is mostly the same, but hopefully the technical stuff (structure/grammar/what have you) should be better.
I intended to post the rewrites before posting any new chapters, but time was dragging on, and I was not getting any closer to finishing, so I just decided to continue the story.
Secondly, please let me know how this chapter went, I've written "sneaking" scenes all of about once before.
Finally, because I've had people ask. The omakes are not "canon" to the main fic, they're just little bonuses I thought would be fun to write/read.