The next night arrived fast.
The slum had its own clock measured by shouted deals, breaking bottles, and the echo of footsteps that didn't always belong to people you wanted to meet.
Kaze and Vyre slipped into those shadows like they had been trained by the darkness itself.
They hadn't.
But desperation was an excellent teacher.
Kaze exhaled shakily. "So… we're really doing this."
Vyre didn't answer. He just kept moving, eyes scanning, mind working through every piece of Callo's intel filtered, evaluated, stored. Callo might have handed them a map, but Vyre wasn't naïve enough to trust the man. Not fully.
But to save Joren?
He would use whatever tools the world offered.
They approached Lufton's territory. The air changed first thick with smoke from cheap torches. The walls changed next covered in symbols meant to scare off thieves. Then the guards came into view.
Kaze swallowed hard.
"Okay, Vyre… please tell me you're not planning to walk right up to them and say hi."
"No talking," Vyre murmured.
"No attention. Wait for the rotation."
"How do you know they rotate?"
"Everyone gets bored eventually."
Kaze blinked.
"…That's not comforting."
They crouched behind a pile of rusted scrap. The two guards at the warehouse door leaned against each other, half asleep, half arguing about dice games.
"Five minutes," Vyre whispered.
At exactly five minutes, the guards began wandering toward the gate to swap with another pair.
Kaze blinked. "How the hell "
"I listened."
"Right. Sure. Let's pretend that's normal."
Vyre signaled with a hand gesture simple, sharp, decisive. Kaze followed.
They slipped behind the crates and around the outer wall until they reached the back.
The crawl-space entrance.
Just like Callo described.
A thin metal grate sat half-buried behind debris. Kaze took one look and muttered, "This is not built for humans."
"It's built for rats," Vyre corrected.
"Same difference," Kaze muttered.
They pressed their palms against the grate. Loose. Someone had pried it open before likely scavengers. They crawled inside.
The air turned stale instantly.
Pitch black.
Cold.
Metal brushing their elbows.
Kaze's whisper trembled. "This feels like a horrible idea."
"Stop talking in the tunnel," Vyre whispered.
"I'd love to stop talking forever, but I'm currently dying"
"Kaze."
"Right. Shutting up."
They crawled deeper until Vyre spotted the thread-thin wires along the walls.
Bells.
Silent now but deadly if one snapped.
"Callo wasn't lying," Vyre murmured.
"I hate that he wasn't," Kaze muttered back.
Vyre studied the tension, found the weak point, and slowly pushed the wire aside. Kaze held his breath. They repeated the process three more times, sweat sliding down their temples.
Finally, they reached a panel of wood a makeshift wall patch inside the warehouse structure.
Vyre tapped it lightly.
"Hollow."
He pressed his shoulder against it.
A soft crack.
The panel gave way.
They tumbled into the warehouse interior, landing on old sacks of grain.
Kaze groaned. "Okay… okay… we're in. Alive. Limbs attached. I'm proud of us."
"Quiet," Vyre said.
The warehouse was massive. Lanterns burned low along the walls, throwing jagged shadows across piles of goods stolen items, scavenged tools, crates of relic junk Lufton hoarded like a dragon with poor taste.
And somewhere in here…
They needed money.
And Callo's strange relic plate.
Vyre pointed to the back room.
"Plate first."
"Are you sure?" Kaze asked. "Shouldn't we y'know grab the medicine money and run?"
"If we don't get the plate, Callo will make this worse."
Kaze sighed.
"You're terrifying when you're logical."
They moved carefully across the warehouse floor, stepping around loose nails and broken glass.
Halfway across, they froze.
Footsteps.
Heavy ones.
Lufton.
Kaze mouthed a silent curse.
They ducked behind stacked crates as Lufton himself waddled past, mumbling to himself while chewing something greasy.
"Stupid thieves… stupid beggars… touching my things… they'll lose fingers next time… yes… fingers…"
Kaze's eyes widened. Vyre grabbed his arm and shook his head don't move.
Lufton eventually entered the front room, his humming fading.
The boys exhaled.
Vyre whispered, "Move. Now."
They slipped into the back room. Shelves lined the wall each packed with relics of questionable value.
"Callo said third shelf, left corner," Kaze whispered.
Vyre scanned it.
Not there.
Vyre's jaw clenched.
"He lied?"
"No…" Kaze checked again. "Wait look behind that old compass."
Vyre reached in and pulled out a flat metal plate covered in jagged symbols.
The relic in question.
Kaze frowned. "Doesn't look valuable."
"That's why it is," Vyre murmured.
They pocketed it.
Now the money.
Vyre pointed to the open vault across the room filled with coin pouches, silver scraps, even a few small gold chips.
Kaze's mouth fell open.
"Why is it open…? Is he insane?"
"Paranoid," Vyre said. "He checks it all night."
They grabbed only what they needed nothing excessive. Excessive meant questions.
Kaze whispered, "This is for Joren. This better save him."
"It will," Vyre said.
They turned
And froze.
A tiny bell above the vault jangled.
Just once.
Soft.
But loud enough.
Lufton's voice immediately roared from the front of the warehouse.
"WHO TOUCHED MY MONEY?!"
Kaze's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Vyre grabbed his wrist.
"Back to the tunnel. Now."
They sprinted across the floor as Lufton barreled toward them like an enraged boar.
"You filthy sewer rats! I'll rip your heads off!"
Kaze crawled into the chute first, scrambling forward. Vyre shoved the panel behind them just as Lufton reached it
SLAM.
His fists smashed against the wall, shaking dust loose.
"GET OUT HERE! I HEAR YOU! I SMELL YOU!"
Kaze crawled faster than he ever had in his life.
"Vyre Vyre he's going to kill us"
"Keep moving."
The bells rattled as Lufton hit the tunnels again and again. His screams echoed inside the chute.
"YOU'RE DEAD! BOTH OF YOU! DEAD!"
Kaze whimpered, crawling so fast his hands burned.
Vyre stayed behind him, pushing him forward, never once losing his composure.
It felt like hours.
Finally, they tumbled out the other end into the alley.
Gasping for air.
Shaking.
Alive.
Kaze clutched the coin pouch.
"We did it… Vyre, we actually"
From the shadows behind them, a slow clap.
Callo stepped forward, a different toothpick between his teeth this time, smile razor-sharp.
"Well done," Callo said softly. "Very well done."
Kaze froze.
"H-How did you"
"Predictability," Callo said. "Remember? Desperate people walk paths I can read."
Vyre's jaw tightened.
"You followed us."
"Of course I did. I needed to confirm results."
He held out his hand with casual confidence.
"The plate?"
Vyre hesitated but only for a second.
Then handed it over.
Callo slipped it into his coat.
"No strings attached," he said with a smile that absolutely promised strings everywhere.
Kaze's voice cracked. "You used us."
"Use is a matter of perspective," Callo replied. "Did you get what you wanted?"
Vyre answered, "Yes."
"Then our exchange was mutually beneficial."
He stepped back into the dark.
"Good luck saving your little friend."
Then he was gone.
Kaze turned to Vyre, voice trembling.
"I hate him."
Vyre stared at the shadow where Callo disappeared.
"Then don't forget him."