Stepping Wild, CH 59 (Patreon)

The invitation was on paper thick enough Tibs didn’t think it could bend it without causing it to crack, and read.

The Ladies Jenifer and Tabatal Kimcolial

cordially invite you to a soiree in the honor

of Lady Rabiria Hollomeir and her man

newly arrived to our city.

Under the text was the date and time of said soiree. The golden letters had enough metal in them, Tibs expected it to be actual gold.

“That’s tonight,” he told Cynta, who had intercepted him before he’d left to head to the library.

“I chased you down as soon as it arrived.”

They were gathered in the back room of a tavern, all four of them.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” Charlie said. “You get to prance in front of nobles.”

“I don’t know the layout of their house,” Tibs said. “You said the Fyrbrend were the ones who’d officially welcome us.”

“And that’s how it was looking,” she replied. “Lady Fyrbrend was looking forward to hosting you.”

“Wait,” Charlie interrupted. “Why do you need to know the layout of their house? It’s just a party.”

Uzoma was silently glowering.

“Because I don’t know where their safe is, and I haven’t hidden Fleet Finger’s costume there.”

Charlie looked more confused.

“Is there any chance the Fyrbrend will still have their party?” the archer asked.

“Why wouldn’t they?” the thug demanded, sounding desperate. “Can one of you tell me what the abyss problem is?”

Tibs nodded to Cynta. He knew enough about nobles to understand the problem, but explaining it was different.

“This is a play for influence by the Kimcolian,” she said. “As a less important house, They shouldn’t be doing this. Lord Fyrbrend told me he’d be throwing the party before our gathering was done. Even those who weren’t within earshot would have learned about it before the next morning. This is the Kimcolian trying to pull themselves higher by stealing us away from the Fyrbrend.”

“Then we just don’t go,” Charlie said. “They aren’t the target.”

Cynta took another card from a pocket. The lettering was darker, but the ink still contained metal. “They’ve made it impossible to refuse them, because along with the invitation that arrived with the sun, was included a message from me stating how overjoyed I was to be offered the honor of their invitation.”

“Why would you do that?” Charlie demanded. “We’re supposed to—”

“I didn’t.” She sighed. “This is typical noble politicking. I should have thought they’d do this, though. No matter what we do, we don’t come out of this clean.”

“Do we…” Charlie looked from her to Tibs and back. “Care?”

“No,” Tibs said. “But the nobles will, and that changes everything.”

Cynta nodded. “By making it seem like I knew about it early enough to have written this, while the Fyrbrend were clear in their intentions, there are going to have to oppose us. That means that no matter what I tell them, they won’t be welcoming us anymore.”

“But you didn’t write it,” Charlie said.

“It doesn’t matter,” she replied. “As far as the other nobles in the city care, I’ve either betrayed one of the highest noble family, or was stupid enough to let myself be maneuvered in looking like I had.”

The thug threw his hands in the air. “I don’t get it.”

Tibs chuckled. “Don’t bother trying.”

“Looking at it on a positive side,” Uzoma said. “The Kimcolial family isn’t as strict with how they expect their guards to act. It should be possible to distract those guarding the safe.”

“And Jenifer has expressed an interest in me,” Cynta said. “So I should be able to get her to give me a tour, which I can ensure includes where the safe is located.” She looked at Tibs. “If I know where that is.”

“Do they have a lot of money?” Charlie asked and Tibs smiled at the thug’s narrow mindedness.

“They’re nobles,” he said. “Even the most minor of them will have more money than you’ll ever know what to do with. And I can find out where the safe is, but getting a good layout of the house isn’t going to happen.”

“So we adapt,” Charlie said.

“Which you are doing rather quickly,” Uzoma said.

“What am I going to do? Cry because the plan isn’t going as I wanted? No plan of mines had ever gone how I’d wanted.”

“You make plans?”

The thug grinned. “Not anymore.”

“Then there’s the problem of me switching to Fleet Fingers,” Tibs said. “Getting out of what Herns made isn’t easy.”

“Can’t you just cut it off?” Uzoma asked.

“Not as easily as you’d think.” With being hidden in a room, Tibs would have been able to use essence to rip the clothing apart and get into his other set. Once the robbery started, there was no plan for me to get back into the role of a noble. He’d be Fleet Fingers for the rest of it. “And I’m going to have to somehow bring the extra clothing with me.”

“Wear them under the noble’s one,” Cynta said, and continued before he could point out that wasn’t going to help. “I’ll have Herns over to make the needed alterations. Making clothing that can easily be pulled apart is a quick change trick in theater. He’ll already be working on that by the time you come back from checking out their house.”

“Not too easily, I hope,” Tibs grumbled, before heading out to get the best sense of a house without having the time to get in and study each floor.

    *

“There’s two safes,” Tibs said, laying the rough sketches of the house he’d done. “The largest one is on the ground floor, in the room.” He tapped the pantry. “It’s in the back wall. It’s going to have to be the one you go for because that’s where most of money will be. The one Fleet Fingers will go after is the one here.” He tapped the bedroom on the third floor.

“How do you know they’re there?” Uzoma asked, studying the sketch.

“Checking through the windows,” Tibs answered. “And in this case.” He indicated the pantry. “The wall between it and the eating room on the other side is too wide. It’s hiding something, and a safe is the only thing it can be.”

“Okay,” Charlie said. “I can see you getting here in there, since it’s going to be discreet a place to get intimate, but how are you getting her to open the safe for us? That was the plan with Lord Fyrbrend. Thibaud is the only one of us who can open a lock.”

Tibs looked at Uzoma, who shook his head. “If I have time, I can open some locks. But I don’t know this one. There is no way I manage it under the situation we’ll be in.”

Cynta smiled. “That won’t be a problem. Getting people to do what I need them to is what I excel at. She will open it for us, and think it was her idea in the process.”

“If the group of you are done with your machinations,” Herns said from the other side of the room. “I need Thibaud in his costume so I can make sure no one will notice what he’s wearing under it.”

Tibs sighed, not looking forward to having to stand still for the rest of the day.

    *

“Presenting the Lady Hollomeir and her man,” the majordomo announced loudly enough Tibs had to keep from wincing.

Everyone in the large room turned in their directions, then parted to let the Ladies Kimcolial step forward. Tibs let himself worry about if the early evacuation of the house was proceeding well to distract himself from the certainty the nobles could tell alterations had been made to what he was wearing.

“My dears,” Jenifer greeted them, “we are so honored that you decided to join us.”

“We wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Cynta replied, and the women gave each other mock kisses on the cheeks. The look they exchanged as the step apart was less than innocent. At least it wasn’t directed at Tibs. The smile Tabatal game him was filled with cunning, but not lewd. She was taking pleasure in having outmaneuvered everyone.

“My Lady and Lord,” she greeted them, oblivious or uncaring about the look her woman had shared with Cynta. “Let us introduce you to Brokentia’s gentle nobility.”

Tibs nearly rolled his eyes at that comment. And then, he and Cynta were paraded before the attending nobles. There were more than he’d expected. Even they of the high noble families were represented, although not by the head of the households. Probably how they were hoping to appease the Fyrbrend, while positioning themselves to be in the Kimcolial’s good graces if this ploy worked out in their favor.

Soon enough, he and Cynta were separated, with the nobles more interested in intellectual pursuits pulling him aside while the more business savvy demanded her attention.

Throughout the talk of bard’s songs and their veracities—these nobles seemed to think that Tibs interest in dungeons meant songs about them—he kept an eye on Uzoma standing by the door, alongside other of the nobles guards. He would give Tibs the signal to excuse himself once Cynta and Jenifer had left the room.

That, and having to keep track of the inane opinions to give the impression he cared what the nobles thought, meant that as careful as he was, as they moved him through the crowd. The bumping into others was nearly constant. It almost seemed like they were purposely jostling him.

And then, after such a bumping, came the sound of ripping and the sensation of fabric falling off Tibs’s shoulders.

Author’s comments

• What I had to work from

Of course, things go wrong.

How this was going to go wrong, the change of venue, came to me two chapters ago, and is the reason I took the time to go over the gang’s plan in the previous one. I’m a firm believer in if you are going to tell the reader the plan, it’s because it’s going to be thrown out the window. What’s the point otherwise

Tibs’s noble costume being accidentally pulled off him, that came to me once I had the idea that was how he was planing on changing into Fleet Fingers.