Dual Wielding

Wyn tapped his fingers on the dark, polished wood of Udyr’s desk as he glanced around the room. Udyr’s office didn’t match the rest of the guild building at all. Unlike the marble and gold of the main hall, the room was fashioned almost entirely of a dark wood, matching the desk. The back wall had two large windows, partially covered by drapes, dimly lighting the shadowy room. The rest of the walls were adorned with what were almost certainly expensive trinkets and treasures, but other than a few paintings and gemstones, Wyn struggled to see the value in most of them.

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air after they had explained their plan. Wyn’s instinct was to clear the tense air, but he’d agreed to let Kei handle the majority of the talking. It was her plan after all.

“So,” Udyr finally spoke. “You suggest I deliberately leave a warehouse understaffed in order to entice the thief to strike it?”

Kei took a breath, composing herself. “More or less. It’s clear that the biggest problem we’ll have is that we don’t know where or when this mysterious thief will strike next. We can guess, but we don’t know for sure. Which means that narrowing down the possibilities is our number one priority. You mentioned during our lunch that the thief has been attacking about once every week for the last month. It’s just a hunch, but I’m guessing he needs that time to scout out his next marks. He last raided one four days ago, which means the next one is due soon. We’re going to give him a target. Then, we’ll be there to catch him when he does show up. The only thing we need from you is to help us sell the illusion.”

Udyr folded his hands on the desk, peering into Kei’s eyes. She stared right back, and a moment later, he shifted his intense gaze to look at Wyn instead. A chill ran through Wyn’s body as their eyes met, and his skin prickled all over. It was different from the oppressive aura of Din Kai, familiar in a way he couldn’t put his finger on. It wasn’t bad necessarily, but it was odd, feeling like he was being watched. Though it was only a feeling, and though as far as he could tell, no one else noticed it, Wyn knew that there was something different about this man.

Then, the feeling passed, and the tension in the air subsided. Udyr clapped his hands together, his smile returning. “Well, that sounds fantastic! Did you have a location in mind?”

“Do you have a map?”

Udyr reached into his desk and produced one. “Please, feel free to look it over and decide.” It appeared to be a map of the city, with markings and even notes written in the margins and on top of the map. Most of the scribbles made no sense to Wyn, but Kei nodded like she understood.

“So the previous raids were here, here, here, and here correct?” Kei asked, pointing to what must have been each of the other warehouses.

“That’s correct,” said Udyr.

She thought briefly, her eyebrows furrowing before she looked over towards Wyn questioningly.

“I don’t have a preference,” he said, shrugging.

“Then in that case, let’s go with this one.” She tapped a spot on the map twice. “With the fissure to the east, and the river to the west, it should limit his escape options. If he tries to cross a bridge at either, he’ll get caught up in the crowd, so if you station a few men on the opposite side, we should be able to catch him easily.”

“Wouldn’t that just discourage them from raiding it in the first place? Furthermore, that warehouse isn't typically used for housing valuable goods. Are you sure removing guards will even entice him to appear?” Udyr asked.

“Perhaps, but the security should be loosened enough that he should still consider it an easier mark than the others. And don't worry, we can give him a plenty good reason to show up.” Kei grinned dangerously.

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“Well, starting last night we began spreading some rumors around, hinting that a rare treasure had recently come into the guild’s possession. Once that reaches his ears, it's simply a matter of letting it slip where it’s being stored.”

Most of the actual work was being done by Trell and the other members of the caravan. They’d been all too happy to help out when Wyn and Kei had approached them the previous night and earlier that morning. Kei hadn’t been sure how to spread the rumor at first, but Wyn had built up a pretty solid rapport with most of them, and figured it would be easy to ask. Even now they’d be talking about it amongst themselves, and spreading “insider information” around the city about a valuable magic stone coming into the guild’s possession.

For most merchants, one’s word was everything, but it turned out that saving someone's life and then befriending them was a great way to convince them to bend the rules a little. And besides, it wasn’t as though the rumor was entirely false. Wyn trusted Trell to handle things appropriately, and the merchant claimed to have some people he could get in touch with to make sure and spread the rumor to all the right places.

“I see, you’ve already prepared in advance under the assumption I’d agree.” Udyr smiled. “What will you do if he learns that the rumor isn't true?”

“It doesn’t matter, because it won’t be,” Kei said.

Udyr raised an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you have some sort of priceless treasure lying around then? I’m afraid I don’t have anything like that on hand at the moment.”

“Well…” Kei’s face grew nervous, and she hesitated as she reached for her bag. She looked at Wyn again, her eyes asking for reassurance.

He nodded. It would be fine.

Kei took a deep breath and reached into her bag, pulling out an azure gemstone larger than Wyn’s fist. It glowed ever so faintly in the faded light, a sure mark of a magic stone. She set it down gently on the table as Udyr’s eyes widened, his composure slipping for the first time.

“How much for it?” He asked immediately.

Kei pulled it back a little closer to her. “Unfortunately it’s not for sale right now.”

“I see. Your earlier reticence makes a little more sense to me now, though I stand by what I said. Still, this must be worth a great deal, even to your family. You might have even more faith in Wyn than I do. This alone would cost more than everything the thief has stolen up until now, ten times over. You’re using gold to purchase silver.”

“Well, I don’t know if I have quite as much faith as you’re thinking–”

Wyn gasped as though hurt.

“But it’s like you said,” She continued. “Nothing comes for free. I have to be able to take risks right?”

Udyr stared at her, eyes searching once again, before he finally let out a sigh. “You’re insane.”

“I trust you wouldn’t dare to steal from the Ameas trading company.”

Though his eyes looked at the gem with naked greed, Udyr nodded. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Then I have nothing to worry about,” Kei said.

Wyn inspected the gemstone with new appreciation. She’d mentioned it was valuable, but he hadn’t realized how much of an understatement that had been. Only then did he realize how little he knew about magic stones. Sure, he knew that some were better than others, but he didn’t understand why. In general, larger was better, but some monsters on the lower floors of the tomb left behind smaller stones than those above, and he knew they were still considered higher grade, so what was the difference? He'd have to ask Kei, but it was almost certainly related to mana or spirits. The more he traveled, the more he realized how often that was the case.

“One last thing, Miss Kei,” Udyr said. “Are there any other matters you wish to discuss while you’re here?”

Kei set her jaw. “There are, but they can wait until after this thief has been caught. I trust you to follow through on your end of the plan, and we’ll take care of the rest. Thank you for your assistance Guildmaster Udyr.”

She stuffed the gemstone back into her bag before getting up and bowing. Then she turned and walked out the door. Wyn followed, but stopped just before leaving. He turned and bowed to the elder merchant.

“Thank you for your help with our plan.”

Udyr smiled. “No, thank you. I’m not sure what change took root in her, but something tells me you had a hand in it. May the winds be at your backs, you’ll need good fortune for this plan to work.”

Wyn bowed once more, and then left the room, closing the door. Outside of Udyr’s office was a small waiting room of sorts, it was completely empty other than a few luxurious chairs and a short table in the middle.

He looked over to Kei, looking calm and composed as she stood with her eyes forward. Then, the image collapsed as she exhaled heavily and slouched over, tension draining from her body.

“That tough huh?”

She looked at him as if asking for permission for something. He nodded, and then she elbowed his side, smiling weakly. “I’m betting more than you realize on this. I have every right to be nervous.”

“You seemed fine to me,” Wyn shrugged. “But why even bother risking anything at all? Until I saw his reaction, I didn’t realize how valuable that thing must be. Even without the stone, the plan should work.”

“What, are you saying you might lose? You’d better not,” Kei said nervously.

“I don’t plan to, but still…”

“I have to,” she whispered, her eyes facing forwards again. “This is the least I can do. I'm not even doing the hard part.”

Wyn sighed. “Well then let’s make sure to catch him.”

“So, Corrin really won’t be helping?”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Wyn said. “He said he’d help if we really needed it, but he wanted to visit the mage’s and adventurer's guilds to see if he could learn anything more about mana. Also, something about ‘becoming one with the wind’.”

“What a pain in the ass,” Kei chuckled.

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, do you need his help?”

Wyn smirked. “Of course not. Let’s get going, I’ve got a warehouse to stake out.”

Kei was silent for a moment. "Wyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks... for the help."

"Any time."

***

At Kei’s suggestion, Wyn had borrowed a guard’s uniform in order to blend in. Despite only being in town for two days now, it was possible that the thief might put two and two together since word had already spread of Din Kai’s defeat. The uniform was to throw him off, a stranger wearing traveling robes might arouse suspicion, but a young guard fresh out of training would hardly warrant a second glance. It was a very small thing, but with their time so limited, they wanted to be thorough.

Kei, somewhat to his surprise, was masquerading as a simple worker in the warehouse, unwilling to let the magic stone out of her sight even for a moment. They’d moved it to a glass display case in the back of the room, with some alarms and traps rigged around it to create the illusion that it was being protected seriously. Other than the slightly lighter security, nothing should seem out of the ordinary.

It was probably for the best Corrin hadn’t come, Wyn thought. He’d never be able to stand still and maintain the cover of a guard for so long. There wasn’t really much to do other than look around the facility.

The warehouse was a large building made of wood which had been reinforced with a metal frame. Some light filtered into the room through small holes in the roof and walls. It wasn’t by any means watertight, and several patches were clearly in need of some repairs. Though perhaps they didn’t care, since most of the goods were covered in tarps anyways.

The most impressive part of the building to Wyn were the metal walkways which stretched out above the floor. The only building this large in Straetum was the church, and it had no second level. The craftsmen in the cities were truly talented. When he’d said as much to Kei, she’d rolled her eyes and mumbled something about “country bumpkins”. He didn’t think she knew he’d heard her.

Wyn had hoped that the thief would strike early, but it didn’t seem they’d get so lucky. As the sun beaming in through the holes in the roof got dimmer, it became clear that the day was coming to a close. There was a changing of the guards, and the warehouse grew less active as most workers left, leaving only guards, the few night workers, and of course, Wyn and Kei.

Kei walked over to his spot, pretending to move objects from one bin to another. “So, no luck so far. What do you think we should do?”

“Well, we would’ve heard if he’d hit another warehouse,” Wyn said. “So try to have some confidence; we did know we might have to wait. We should stay the course and see this through. Speaking of, do you need to go back and sleep? I was just going to sleep in one of these boxes if I needed. That one over there has blankets inside, seems comfortable.” He pointed towards a large box that reached up to his chest.

Kei laughed briefly, before taking another look at his face. “Wait you’re serious… Well I wasn’t planning on sleeping anyways. I can have someone fetch us coffee if you want.”

“No thank you,” Wyn shook his head. “I don’t need it.”

“I’ll get you some anyways, if you don’t want it I’ll drink it.”

Wyn started to protest, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

Despite their careful watch, there were no signs of any thief entering the building over the night. The next day passed the same, with Wyn taking only a single nap during the afternoon. He could supplement the sleep with spirit fire for another day or so if he had to guess. He slept nearby so Kei or Eia could wake him if something happened, but nothing did.

Thus, two days passed like that, with nothing happening. And as the time stretched on, Wyn couldn’t help but feel like he was wasting his time in Precipice. He could be sleeping on in a real bed, eating good food and exploring the first city he'd ever seen. But his boredom was brought to an abrupt end on the morning of the third day, when the thief struck.