Ekobean: Alright, here's chapter two.
Midnight Flight chapter 2Rioichi crept stealthily across the expanse of the room. There didn't appear to be any people here except for himself. But he knew not always to trust what you see. His ears were tuned in sharply to anything that did not sound right, such as a creak of a loose floorboard or the breathing of an alien lung.
Rioichi reached the thick wooden door on the other side of the room and halted. He made one final quick sweep of the dark room to make sure no one was sneaking up on him, and then opened the door, slipped through the small crack and shut it quietly. He found himself in an expansive hallway. Three small lanterns hung limply from the ceiling, illuminating a doorway on the right. Rioichi could just make out a staircase heading upward.
Rioichi pressed himself up against the wall and edged slowly to the rim of the staircase. The stairs were old and made of knotted wood. They would undoubtedly creak as he made his way upward. Frustrated, Rioichi scanned the hallway for any alternate route. Just then an idea sprung to his head. The staircase was roughly three feet across, and if he was careful he could probably shimmy up to the top.
The raccoon thief turned around the corner and pressed his back up against the wall, and then carefully began to walk up the wall on the other side. His teeth were grinding together, his muscles beginning to ache. He continued to walk slowly at an angle up the stairway.
One thing drove Rioichi to get to the daimyo. Rioichi had stolen many things in his short life. Gold, jewels, and valuable artifacts, he had taken them all. But just two days ago the daimyo had had the nerve to find his hideout and break in. If the daimyo had stolen anything else, Rioichi could have replaced it. Any of the gold, silver, jewels or artifacts that decorated his walls would have been no major loss. But the daimyo had taken one thing that threw Rioichi into a fit of rage. Shin Masaiya had taken the Thievius Raccoonus.
The ancient book that had been passed down the Cooper line for generations, that told every secret technique that the Coopers had ever made was now in the hands of the daimyo. And that was too much.
Finally Rioichi reached the top of the stairway. Carefully keeping himself safely perched on the wall with one leg, Rioichi lowered his other and carefully applied pressure to the top step. It made the slightest creak, but that would have to do. Rioichi abandoned his perch and leapt nimbly to the start of the next stairway.
Much to the raccoon's relief there was a railing wound artfully along the side. A slim string of blue auras danced mirthfully about the railing. Not wasting a second, the raccoon leapt up and balanced skillfully upon the rail. Rioichi slowly crawled upward, not daring to make a sound. He was blind to what lay at the top of the stairs, and any alien sound would rouse suspicion. A minute passed, and Rioichi reached the top of the stairs. He cautiously peered around the corner and immediately snapped his head back behind the wall.
A guard was standing just three feet from the stairway. Rioichi timidly dared to peer around again. The guard (a large mongoose) had it's furry back to the stairs. Upon closer inspection, Rioichi found that the guard was regularly tipping, shifting his weight from one foot to another. "He's half asleep," Rioichi murmured.
Again he wrapped his cloak about himself and stepped off of the railing. Immediately he crouched, making himself as short as possible. Ever so cautiously he crept towards the reeling guard until he stood a foot behind him. He could hear the guard's soft breathing.
Rioichi peered around the guard to make sure there was no other comrades in front of him, and finding that luck was with him, Rioichi leapt up and clonked the guard over the head with the blunt ends of his canes. The guard gave a startled gasp and fell to his knees.
Rioichi bent down and scooped up a small pouch of gold hanging at the guard's belt, stuck it into his backpack, and then moved on.
There was a door not short from the guard's post. As before, Rioichi opened the door and peered inside, and then slipped unnoticed into the next room. What he found was not to his liking. An enormous room lay before him. Rioichi was standing on a small wooden platform that was only about ten feet off the floor. But from this vantage point he could see that the room was like one gigantic maze.
Uncountable twists and turns and dead ends were set up everywhere. If that were not enough, roughly fifteen guards all sporting dual katanas and search lights prowled around almost every corner. He could plainly see another door on the other side of the maze. Rioichi shook his head and moaned. "He is expecting me."
He should have known from the beginning. The daimyo never did anything without a reason. "All powerful, all knowing Shin Masaiya." That is what he called himself. Stealing the Thievius Raccoonus had a reason, and that most likely had to do with Rioichi. "Let us see what that is," Rioichi muttered, and began to walk.
Ekobean: I hope you liked this one as much as the last one. I'm pretty sure that it lives up to the former.
