The Heist, Pt 1

In the dead of night, three figures stole their way towards a dark building that rose above them as a starless void among the diamond sprinkled sky.

The taller of the three whispered in a breathy voice to one of the others, "So did you have a plan?"

"I figured one of us'll pick the lock and I'll take us to where Brandyman keeps 'is tolls. I'll take my watch, you'll take your whatchamacallit, we all leave happy. How's that for a plan?" Said the other, feminine vocals softer and yet harsher than the boy's.

A brief chittering came from the third figure who was bounding across the sandy street towards the building.

The boy groaned and called out softly, "Riechis! Come back – oh never mind. Let's just go."

"Reckon the squirrelcat's got the right idea. Let's quit talkin' and get on with it." The girl muttered, giving a doubtful head tilt towards the boy. Then she started towards the house. The boy was left to catch up.

The squirrelcat chittered softly, almost crooning into the lock which he was picking, tiny claws working gentle over it, coaxing it open.

"So does Brandyman demand toll from all the passers though?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, when it suits him, lazy old sod. Keeps his treasure all locked up pretty in a room at the back of his house. Calls it his 'vault'." The girl had her hands behind her head and was sitting casually against the wall beside the door.

"How long had you been casing it?" came the curious response.

"A week. Just needed to make sure Brandyman always left for a drink at sundown. Was just plain old luck that you wanted in at the same time. Pays to have a partner with brawn, though," she considered, "you're really not that brawny. Either way, you can 'least be a meat shield if things go south. These ex-marshals are a tricky lot. Shame your red-head friend backed out. She'd have been real useful with those steel cards of hers."

The boy looked behind them worriedly.

"Can you hurry it up? You've been at it for fifteen minutes!" he muttered to Riechis.

"Oh hush Kellen, ya can't rush art." The girl said softly.

"Well his art is going to get us-" Kellen was interrupted by a soft click.

The whites of the girl's teeth gleamed softly in the moonlight as she grinned and got up, pushing open the door.

"Good job fuzzball, almost got it open faster than I would've."

Riechis growled.

She ignored him in favour of slipping past the threshold, silent as the shadows that deepened to darkness within the empty house. The squirrelcat and the boy hurried after her.

They followed her down a few dingy corridors and finally made it to a door with a big fat padlock over the latch. The girl fished a few tools out of a pocket, shaking some dust free in the meanwhile. The clothes were worn and torn and pretty thin, but they seemed to hold uncountable hidden pockets.

She carefully inserted a pick and her eyes narrowed, her tongue sticking out a little.

"Eeny…meenie…miney…bingo." She muttered with grim satisfaction.

Furious chittering accompanied the quick victory.

"Awww, don't feel bad fuzz, I'm sure you're just a little rusty." She said with a smirk to the angry creature. Then she pushed the door open with a creak.

They entered the dark room and stared at the shadowy shelves, objects left almost indistinguishable in the darkness, and began searching for their property.

"What'd Old Brandyman take from you again?" She asked Kellen scanning the piles of trinkets swiftly.

"My powders. A red one and a black one."

"You risked breaking and entering for coloured dust? If I knew you were after that, I'd've sent you back to the desert. They call this place the Seven Sands you know." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What'd you come for again? Some manners? Mind your own business." Kellen snapped back, his movements becoming jerkier and more frustrated.

"Don't need none of that, just askin' is all. Doesn't matter to me, s'long as I get my stuff back."

Some sounds from Riechis caused Kellen to abandon the conversation and walk over.

"No, you can't take that!"

"Mind helping me find my watch? The fuzzy thief is goin' ta steal, doesn't matter what you tell 'im." The girl said in annoyance.

"Can you watch blow people up? What's so important about a watch anyway?" He asked, and resumed scanning the shelves.

"Was my brother's, sentimental value." Came the quick response followed by a smug, "Bingo."

"Good, now can you help me find-"

They were cut off by the sounds of footsteps coming towards the door. They all froze, the whites of their eyes catching each other at the same time.

"We need to hurry, Gypsy!" He whispered urgently and went back to looking.

The door began to open, light beginning to spill into the dark room, and the girl's eye seemed to catch something on the shelf.

"What'd you say this stuff did? Blow people up?" She said, snatching something off the shelf and tossing the powder holsters to Kellen. "Reckon it's time to test it out."

Stepping forward, Kellen tossed two small pinches into the air, made a funny hand gesture and muttered a word.

BOOM!

The sound cracked like a whip and the door blew off its hinges, throwing the person behind it to the floor.

"Quick!"

The three of them rushed out over the burnt, flattened door, and the struggling person beneath it. Hurrying out the front door, they walked into a blaze of torches and voices.

Gone was the silent night and its disinterested stars and in its place, a mob of townies jostled and gathered around the house.

They skidded to a stop, caught between the house and the townsfolk.

"Silver H-" Gypsy managed to grind out, eyes blazing and darting like a cornered animal, but then a noise came from behind them.

"Oi! Thieves! Stop them!" Came an old crackling voice from behind them.

"Brandyman." Kellen groaned, shoulders sagging.

Author's Note:

Hey everybody! I know this is a little early, and the next chapter of The Experiment will still appear on Saturday, but I just finished Crownbreaker and I really wanted to write some fanfiction on the Spellsliger series. Especially since I had to request the category, there being none written on this site already.

Anyway, I probably won't post regularly on this story, but I'll keep up with it when I can. I've started Part 2, but haven't finished. This is also just suposed to be a bunch of short stories so if you guys have any ideas please let me know because I don't exactly have a truckload of them at the moment. At least not for this particular story.

See you next time!

Trix

Oh darn. Forgot the disclaimer again. Blah blah blah The Spellslinger Series belongs to Sebastian De Castell, not me. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk jk that doesn't belong to me either.

Cover Photo by Julius Drost on Unsplash