Episode 42
The system of power turns like a wheel
You can rise to the top through money or steel
You could lift up others or leave them in muck
But it’s the poor who will suffer when the wheel becomes stuck
If the problems aren’t met with any solution
The wheel must turn in bloody revolution
The vermin will rise as the predator sinks
Let’s see then if the fox can outsmart the lynx
Lilian had to remind herself to keep breathing. Her heart was thumping so heavily she worried that it might give her away. She and Mr Attorcop had successfully infiltrated the Weardian headquarters in Laga quarter with the goal of stealing a large sum of money from their coffers. It was their hope that taking this stash for their own would rob the Weardian of their pay for the next few months and without a cash incentive to work, the group of uniformed thugs would disband. With the army off quashing a revolution in some far off land and the city devoid of police the people might be persuaded to turn on their leaders and the palace would be easier to overwhelm and the system of power could be overturned. Simple enough, thought Lilian, but first things first. She had just seen Mr Attorcop disappear around a corner and taken down to the dungeon. Under any other circumstances this would be deeply troubling, but thankfully it was all part of the plan. Lilian had lifted a spare set of keys from one of the guards outside and she planned on using them later to set him free. The keys would hopefully also prove useful in accessing the coffers, but that remained to be seen. At this very moment Lilian was waiting for a Weardian officer to move away from a table. He was blocking her path to the next staircase and she needed to make it all the way to the top floor to find the room with the safe in it. Thankfully she had prepared for a long time before starting the mission and was currently using the ability to turn invisible that she borrowed from a few strands of Fritha’s fur. All she had to do was be patient, breathe quietly and she should be fine.
The first floor was one large, open space filled with desks. There was no order to their placement, they seemed to be dotted around the room in a fashion dictated by time and convenience. Each one had sheets of parchment scattered on its surface and most had a Weardain officer seated by or standing next to them. Lilian had expected the building to be filled with men but there was the occasional woman sitting and scribbling away. The place looked built for rigorous record keeping but as the Weardian powers had grown, the need for strict records must have faded away and this office space had become neglected. When your word is law, you don’t need to justify your actions to anyone. The officer blocking Lilian’s path was deep in thought, studying a letter of some kind. He had an angular face that for a second Lilian thought she recognised. He must have been one of the officers that had stopped her and Katherine that day she first met the imposter Simos Helmont. She didn’t let herself become distracted.
“Taymor?” A voice from the other side of the room caught the officer’s attention. He stood up straight to see who had called his name and then moved away from his desk to go and see what they wanted. Lilian thanked the gods. Keeping low she moved up along the path between the desks. Her camouflage was impressive but it would not survive close scrutiny and it worked best when she kept very still. Even with all the wonders of gloaming on her side, Lilian still had to be careful. Keeping her head down then she dodged round a wicker basket filled with scrunched up parchment, waited four seconds for a young woman to walk past her and darted between two desks and then stopped again. The staircase was within spitting distance, but she couldn’t risk it right now. There was a small group of officers, two men and a woman, standing close in conversation. One of the men was regaling the others with a story.
“So I pick up the pouch and give it a sniff right? And I look at him and say, ‘you got a permit for selling this stuff?’ and he looks at me like he’s seen his dead dad’s ghost.” The man couldn’t help but laugh at the memory. Suddenly, his colleague chimed in.
“You don’t need a permit for tobacco.”
“I know that you twit but he didn’t” the rest of the group joined in with the joke, throwing their heads back in glee. “So anyway, fortnite goes past and I’m downstairs chattin’ to Francis and this little fellow comes in, never seen him before, shakin in his boots, goes up to the front desk and says: ‘g-good morning, I’d like to apply for a tobacco license please’” the group erupted in another explosion of laughter. The storyteller slapped his colleague on the back and choked words out between cackles, “What’d I say? Eh? Word gets round! Jeremy on the desk looked like he’d been slapped. He didn’t know what to give the poor bloke!” Suddenly the laughter was cut short, replaced by strict silence. Lilian craned her neck round a corner to understand why. The man who had impeded her progress moments ago was walking over to the group. His angular face stern and his gait filled with reproachful purpose. He had fair hair that was cut short and the shoulders of his long green coat were adorned with blue straps, marking him out as some kind of senior officer, Lilian didn’t know the right term. A sergeant perhaps?
“Jacobs, Smythe, Anders.” He spoke the officer’s names like he was spitting out poison.
“Sir,” the three of them spoke in unison, standing to attention when they heard their names. The senior weardian left them to stew in an uncomfortable silence before speaking.
“Seeing as you all have the time to swap such… amusing tales. I trust this means you’re finished with your duties for the morning?” The man who had told the story, spoke up, not daring to look his superior in the eye.
“Yes Sir, just on a break after patrolling Bonneville…”
“Excellent,” the fair-haired man cut him off, “I’ve just been told that we’ve apprehended Attorcop,” Lilian watched the three officer’s eyes widen in surprise, “Seeing as you’re all finished with your duties you can process the paperwork before his interview.” Judging by their body language, it looked to Lilian like they had just been told to clean out the stables with their bare hands. “Dismissed.” The officers dispersed, crestfallen, and Lilian watched the fair haired sergeant pause before going back to his desk. In the brief moment before moving, she could have sworn she saw his eyes narrow in suspicion and glance around in her general direction. She knew there could be no way he could spot her, but she ducked her head down just in case. When the area was clear and everyone was on the other side of the room, Lilian took one final glance around to see if anyone was watching the stairs. With everyone’s heads down and no one blocking her path anymore, Lilian headed for the upper level, keeping low and slow so as to not alert anyone. Strangely, her heart beat had calmed down. As she crept closer to the staircase, she began to feel as though the plan might actually work, the thought eased her nerves and renewed her confidence.
The top floor of the Weardian building was thankfully much quieter. The stairs lead on to a single hallway that seemed to stretch the entire length of the floor. Doors lined the walls on either side and lead to one set of large double doors at the very end. The corridor was quiet but Lilian could see shadows moving in the crack at the bottom of the set of double doors, she was not out of the woods just yet. She knew that the room containing the coffers was on this floor, but she did not know which room they were in.
As soon as she stepped towards the first door, she felt a wave of tiredness wash over her body. She had stayed in gloaming this long before, but she was approaching her limit and her body was reminding her that she had the whole journey back down the building yet to go. She persevered and moved up to the first door. A whispered curse slipped her lips when she realised that all the doors were blank. None had plaques or signs denoting what was behind them so Lilian would have to try each one. This would add time to the mission, time she did not have. Lilian sighed and reached her hand out to grab the handle on the first door. Nightmare scenarios were running through her mind, what if there were people in the room? What if the doors were rigged with some sort of alarm? Her heart began to beat quickly again. Come on Lilian, she thought to herself, you’ve come this far, no sense in backing down now. She felt the cool metal of the handle on her fingertips and was about to twist it downwards when she noticed the keyhole beneath it. Idiot, she thought, just look through the keyhole! Kicking herself and calming down a bit, she removed her hand and leant forward. She couldn’t see much through the small hole, a few tall cupboards, some with metal grating over them instead of doors. Kissandra had assured them that the money would be kept in a safe and so, not seeing one of those, Lilian moved on to the next door.
It wasn’t until the fifth door, which was the third on the left, that Lilian got lucky. Seconds before looking through the keyhole, she thought she heard someone coming up the staircase, but thankfully it was just a pair of heavy boots sounding at the bottom of the stairs. As she went to look through the keyhole she noticed that her hand was regaining some of its opacity. She whispered a silent prayer to the Padda Stone and looked through the small hole. The room was a messy one. It was a similar size to the others she’d observed but had a lot more papers strewn about it as well as a shelving unit, tall as the ceiling, stacked with leather bound folders, papers tied with string and even the occasional cylindrical map case. Lilian’s heart skipped a beat however when her eyes landed on the large metal safe in the corner. That must be it, she thought. She reached down to the ring of keys on her belt and sent another prayer to Gorakja himself that the right one would be on here. The officer to whom they belonged to would have noticed they were missing by now, but if Mr Attorcop was to be believed then ‘he would be too busy trying to fix his mistake before admitting to anyone he’d lost something so important’.
It only took two wrong keys. The third one slid into the lock and with a satisfying ‘click’, twisted easily to the left. Lilian slipped into the room and locked the door behind her. She considered trying to move the shelving unit in front of it to prevent anyone coming in, but thought better of it when she realised that she may need to make a speedy getaway. With a sigh of relief, she came out of gloaming and let herself rest. If anyone came down the corridor to check on the coffers, she would be able to hear them and she had a few spare hairs of Fritha’s in her pocket for when she would need to become invisible again. For now, it was better to conserve her energy. She didn’t know how long Katrina’s liquid would take to eat away at the iron walls of the safe.
Pulling the vial out from her sleeve (another habit she seemed to be picking up from Mr Attorcop) she inspected the safe. It was nearly as tall as she was and was sitting, squatly in the corner of the room like a large and very stubborn child. It was made of black metal and had painted curling details on the corners in faded gold. On the front were the names of the safemakers in large and slightly chipped lettering,
Messrs Gripe and Falcon
Combination Safes
No. 000324
Below the text was the large, black spinning dial. It was encircled by a hundred little notches all individually painted in painstaking detail. Lilian couldn’t resist giving it a spin. It sped around quickly, clicking all the way as the tiny teeth inside tried to find purchase on the locking mechanism. Lilian had heard of expert thieves who could crack open a safe just like this just by listening closely to how each little click differed from each other. But she had no time to pick up such skills, hers was a more destructive form of thievery.
Lilian unscrewed the top of the vial and carefully tipped the liquid over the top edge, letting it slither down the side of the safe. She held her breath as she worked, not wanting to inhale any dangerous fumes. Katrina’s strange liquid was thick and dark green. Lilian knew that just a few drops would probably do, but she did not want to have to repeat the process again and so emptied out half the vial. At first, nothing happened and panicked thoughts of betrayal rushed through Lilian’s mind, quickening her already stressed out heart. But after a few more seconds the green ooze began to bubble and hiss. Lilian glanced back at the door hoping the noise wouldn’t attract anyone passing through the corridor. She accessed her gloaming powered hearing once more and tried to listen over the din of hissing and gurgling coming from the safe for any Weardian officers outside. Thankfully, there were none. A few mumbling words from the office at the end of the corridor, but no oncoming footfalls from the staircase. She turned back to check on the safe and was amazed at the progress. In a matter of seconds, the liquid had thinned out a large section of the thick metal wall so that it was nearly as thin as parchment. There was still some of the acidic mixture left, bubbling and eating away at the metal like it was boiling water poured on a sheet of ice. Lilian stepped closer and could already see the glint of gold through tiny holes in the safe wall. Those holes grew bigger and then bigger still until Lilian could comfortably fit her hand right through the wall of the safe. She waited ofcourse until all the liquid was dissolved and used up, but as soon as it was safe she reached in and grabbed a fistful of the safe’s precious contents. Pulling out her hand slowly so as to not catch it on the now jagged metal, Lilian marvelled at her spoils. With just one hand she managed to grab nine golden crowns, and four silver bits. The reflecting glow of the gold lit up the dark corner of the room and Lilian let out a slow breath. This was more money than she would make in a year working for Mr Twitchett, and this was just the first handful!
With a jolt, she snapped out of the daydream of bringing this money back to Benlunar and began filling the hessian shoulder bag she’d brought with her. A small fear began to creep into her head as she moved the coins from the safe to the bag. Each handful that landed in the sack did so with more noise than the last. Would she be able to sneak past everyone downstairs again with this clattering racket strapped over her shoulder? Pushing that fear to the side for the moment she leaned into the safe until her shoulder touched the broken wall. She swept her hand across both shelves, checking that every last coin was gone. Her fingers fell on a stray crown which she picked up and pulled out so that it could join its brothers in her bag. Before she put it away though, Lilian could not help looking at the etched outline of the Empress’s profile on the side of the coin. Even though the job was not over yet, she permitted herself a gloating smile. Sorry I could not keep our appointment your majesty, she thought to herself, I was too busy stealing your money.
Just then she heard a sound that made her stomach lurch. Someone outside in the hallway, just a few feet from the safe room door, coughed loudly as they cleared their throat. Lilian hadn’t heard them come up the stairs, perhaps they had just left the office at the end of the corridor and she had been too distracted to notice? Either way it didn’t matter, because the sound was so loud and surprising it caused her to flinch and drop the coin she was holding. As it hit the ground it made Lilian wince. She knew that to anyone else it would have sounded like a light ringing, but with her heightened hearing she experienced it as a deafening high-pitched reverberation. She brought her hands up quickly to her ears while she recalibrated her senses.
“Who’s there?” A low voice came from beyond the door. Lilian’s eyes widened in shock. Bending down quickly she picked up the coin and shoved it into her bag. Her stomach dropped as she heard the distinct rattling of keys. She glanced around for somewhere to hide but the room was too small. She was panicking so much she nearly forgot that she didn’t need a hiding spot, she could cloak herself from sight. Quick as a flash she reached into her trouser pocket and pulled out one of Fritha’s hairs from the bunch she had stored there. With the sound of feet getting closer to the door, she did the first thing that came to mind and popped the hair into her mouth, and threw her body as silently as she could at the space behind the door. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She could feel the hair distinctly between her tongue and the roof of her mouth. With a calming breath she let its essence flow into her body and combine with her gloaming. Had she tried this three months ago it would have taken her the better part of half an hour, but thankfully with all the practise she had been doing recently, it worked in a matter of seconds. Having the hair in her mouth seemed to help for some reason. She supposed that made sense, after all, that was how the body traditionally absorbed things. She knew she had to keep calm and breathe as deeply and normally as possible but when the keys rattled in the lock and clicked the door open she couldn’t help but hold her breath as the handle turned and a man walked into the room.
He was old, not quite as old as Mr Attorcop, but older than most of the officers downstairs. His hair was grey and he had a very impressive mustache which had been waxed at the ends into curling tips. Lilian caught a glimpse of some shining badges on his uniform so she assumed he must be some sort of Captain. He entered the room cautiously and looked around. Lilian’s heart lurched when he turned around to glance behind the door but her skin and clothes had shifted just in time for him to think he was looking at an empty space. It helped a great deal that the light was low in this room and that she was in a particularly dark corner. Gloaming invisibility was incredible, but did not stand up well against strong scrutiny. Thankfully the man’s gaze did not linger on her but instead shot swiftly to the ceiling and then back around to the shelving unit on the opposite side of the room. Lilian saw his bushy eyebrows wrinkle in confusion. Suddenly, he saw the safe and he froze for a second before approaching it.
“What the blazes…” she heard him whisper as he approached. His movements quickened when he realised what he was looking at. He rushed over to the safe and bent down to have a look through the hole in its side. When he saw that its contents had been emptied he shouted a very loud and very rude word. Lilian saw the panic in his eyes as he turned around sharply and rushed out of the open doorway. She let out a long breath as she heard his footsteps clattering down the staircase. She was equally thankful to have evaded detection and nervous about what the captain was about to do.
Quickly collecting her thoughts she took steps to avoid panicking. If she let nerves or chaos cloud her judgement, she would not get out of here in one piece. She shut her eyes for just a second, took in a deep, calming breath… and let it out. She relaxed her shoulders and tilted her head from side to side, stretching her neck. When she opened her eyes, the plan was clear in her head.
Checking on her energy reserves, Lilian guessed she would have just enough time to get to Mr Attorcop before she started to black out from exhaustion. She had barely moved three hundred feet since entering the building, but her body was already feeling like it had run several miles. She exited the little room, pressing the bag against her body so as to limit the jangling sound it made every time she moved. As she stepped back into the corridor she could hear shouts and heavy steps coming from down below. The alarm had been raised. Every weardian in the building would be on high alert for the next several hours. Lilian’s heart dropped at first but then she wondered if the chaos caused by her theft might work to her advantage. If everyone was rushing around like headless chickens, they might not notice a little invisible girl slip by. She took a few steps towards the staircase, glancing down at her free hand just to make sure she was still hidden. It was still a strange sensation to look down at where her hand should be, only to see straight through to the floor. Lilian was nearly at the top step when she heard the footfall of heavy boots heading up in her direction. This corridor was too open to be an effective hiding place, even with Fritha’s camouflage. Lilian turned around and ran back down the corridor. There wasn’t enough time to find the right keys for these other doors so she headed back to the room she’d just come from.
No you fool, she thought to herself, that’s probably where they’re all heading. She glanced around desperately for another way out, a hiding place, a window or… an open door. There, at the end of the corridor, the large double doors were slightly ajar, a slither of light escaped from where they met in the middle. It hadn’t been there when she’d arrived. She ran at top speed, keeping the coins from rattling as best she could.
As she hit the door she allowed her momentum to carry her through it. She’d been right about it being unlocked but she barely had time to glance around what looked like a lavish office before closing it behind her, turning around and peering through the gap. Four men in weardian coats moved into view at the other end of the corridor half a second later. They moved quickly and with purpose. However, instead of heading to the safe room, like Lilian had thought they would, they headed to the first door on the right. Lilian remembered this room to house several cupboards and storage units some of which were protected by locked, metal grates. Lilian heard the sound of keys jangling and watched as the men piled into the room as soon as the door was open. The one at the end of the line lingered a little, he looked younger than the rest, his expression was different, less intense. Nervous perhaps, Lilian thought. He barely had time to collect himself and enter before the first man was back out again, handing him something. Lilian strained to listen.
“Remember, only if you need it.” Lilian saw the young officer nod his head, his eyes looked wary. She strained her neck to see if she could catch what had just been handed to him, but the other officer was blocking it from her view. A weapon perhaps?
“First time?” The older man said.
“Yeah.” The young officer’s face was pale.
“Don’t worry, you get used to it. Only if you need it, though, understood?” More nervous nods.
“Let’s go.” With that, they rushed back downstairs and Lilian breathed out a sigh of relief. She knew she had to follow them in a moment, but for now, she was alone.
She looked back at the office behind her. It’s walls were panelled with dark polished wood, with pictures of serious looking men in uniform hanging on all sides. A pink and cream floral carpet covered the floor. It was bigger than Lilian’s bedroom, with perfectly combed tassels at either end. The centre of the room was dominated by a desk, tall and dark, its surface polished to a mirror shine. There were various ink wells, feather quills and candelabras arranged neatly along the edge nearest the door. The object that drew the eye the most however was a large vase made of cut crystal with a beautiful bouquet of lavender and white roses inside of it. A red leather chair, faded in places from years of wear, stood behind the desk proudly, framed on either side by two large and overstocked bookcases. Lilian gulped. One look around this room told her she would probably be treated with more leniency if she were to be caught physically robbing the safe, than merely stepping foot in this opulent office. Her curious heart was desperate to explore, but she had a job to do and the next step involved going all the way back through this building, and rescuing Mr Attorcop. She turned back to the double doors, but stopped before her body was fully facing the exit. Her eyes had fallen on one of the windows and a thought crept into her racing mind. Did she really need to creep all the way down the stairs, back through the room filled with desks and panicking weardian officers? Or could she simply reach the ground level by climbing down the outside of the building? She tiptoed over to the window to check exactly how high they were from street level.
Three weardian officers, suited in leather armour and carrying swords, rushed out from the main entrance to the building and dashed down the road towards Old Town. Lilian’s breath fogged up the glass as she studied the scene. The office was not as high up as she’d thought, she’d certainly climbed higher buildings during her time in Freedos. The officers below seemed so preoccupied with chasing an imaginary thief they probably would not think to look back and up at their own building. All this combined with the fact that she was still invisible, was enough to convince Lilian.
She reached up and flicked the latch open. A breeze drifted into the room as she opened the windows. The day had cooled down significantly now that evening was approaching and Lilian took a deep and calming breath of the fresh city air. She gripped the stone edge of the window sill and was about to hoist herself up and over, when there was a knock at the door.
“Sir?” There was a voice, coming from the otherside. Lilian had missed their approach down the corridor and now there was someone knocking to come in. With no time to waste, Lilian lifted herself up and began to swing her leg out and over the window sill. Her ears just caught the squeak of a door’s hinges before she heard a man’s voice cursing.
“Twelve Hells, hey!!” Lilian held her breath as she swung her other leg out and turned to lower herself down the walls. She would have preferred a more graceful escape but she had clearly been spotted and so a frantic scramble would have to make do. She’d found a foothold in the wall below her and was close to starting her descent when she felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder.
As her body was lifted up and back into the room she wondered at how she had been spotted. Doubtless the man had come in, seen that the window was open and spotted her moving form trying to escape. As she sailed into the air she cursed her inability to achieve perfect invisibility. She’d come far, but it hadn’t been quite enough. A jolt of pain shot through her arm as she landed unceremoniously on the carpeted floor. A few soft thumping sounds accompanied her crash as some coins escaped her bag. She didn’t have time to count how many, for her attention was drawn immediately to her aggressor. She looked up from the floor to see a young man, the same young man in fact that she had seen moments ago accepting the weapon, or whatever it was, from his superior. Despite his age, he was strong and had been able to hoist Lilian up and through the window before throwing her to the floor. His boyish face was a picture of horror and confusion. Lilian realised that she hadn’t quite come out of gloaming so she must have looked like a strange, amorphous shape that occasionally leaked gold coins.
She stood up quickly and his eyes followed her. His baffled look turned to fear as Lilian got to her feet. He tried to speak but could only utter staccatoed parts of words.
“Wha… you… you…” Lilian cursed. She would have taken a seasoned, grizzled fighter over a scared young man any day. Experience is calming, fear is unpredictable and violent. She breathed out a low breath and removed the camouflage effect from her skin and clothes. She was thankful not to have to keep it up any longer. Taking it away gave her body a boost of energy and she was able to focus completely on the task at hand.
“It’s okay,” she said, as calmly and gently as she could, “I’m not going to hurt you I just need to leave, you can tell your boss I overpowered you. No one needs to get hurt…” The young officer shifted in his large green coat, the sleeves of which extended a little too far beyond his wrists. His face had gone from fearful to furtive. Lilian noticed his eyes twitch towards the door. She moved slowly to the right so that they were at an impasse. He blocked her way to the window, she blocked his exit to the door. Lilian looked back at him, her vision, still slightly heightened by gloaming. She noticed him take in a breath and shift his chin upwards. He was about to shout.
“Don’t call out.” Lilian spoke again, more sternly this time. She needed to control the situation and wasn’t above making a few threats. She took a step closer to the man.
“You’re the one who stole our gold.” He said, his voice cracking with nerves. Lilian saw no sense in denying it.
“I am. But that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is everyone staying safe and calm. You can rush downstairs and alert the rest if you like, I won’t stop you, but I do need to get out of that win…” The officer interrupted her.
“No. I’ll… I’ll stop you.” Lilian was getting frustrated. This wasn’t the time for pointless heroics. Her eyes fell on a glass paperweight on the desk, three swift moves and she could knock him out. He must have guessed her thoughts because he moved a shaking hand round to the back of his belt and reached for something hanging there.
Lilian watched with horror as his hand emerged clutching a large, glass cylinder. It was capped at the top and bottom with intricate silver and was about the size of a Lilian’s forearm. Her eyes widened in horror when she caught a glimpse of the dark, purple liquid sloshing around inside of it. The young officer was looking at it with trepidation.
“I’ll stop you…” he muttered to himself. Lilian was frozen in place. If he drank that… her thoughts were interrupted by the young officer moving his free hand up to the bottle. The atmosphere in the room suddenly got very close. Lilian took another step and put up her hands in what she hoped was a calming gesture.
“Woah easy there… I don’t want you to hurt yourself. That’s very dangerous stuff.” He glanced up at her one last time, his eyes red and stinging with fearful tears. All he could do was repeat the mantra that had brought him to this point.
“I’ll stop you…” Quick as a flash he unscrewed the top of the canister.
“No wait!” Lilian shouted in a last ditch attempt to stop him. The blood rushed out of her head and she felt a bead of cold sweat run down her cheek as she watched the young officer bring the container of Nightshade to his lips, tip it up, and drink the entire amount.