Fairy Opera Chapter 22: Diary

 

Diary

We returned to the Green Dagon inn. The barmaid from before, Jessie, greeted us. “You’re back.” She pointed to a table. “There’s an open seat here. We’ve got some good meat in, how about you try some?”

“Sure.” Jastle tilted his head. “Do you mind coming over here for a minute? I have something I need to discuss with you.”

Jastle and Jessie went to the corner, where Jastle spoke with her for a minute. Then they returned. “The owner, Paul, knows something. We’ll wait here until he gets back from his errands.”

We sat around the table and chatted about nothing for a while, until the food came. It was a large roast bird that I did not recognize. Covered in butter and garnished with herbs, it tasted very good. The smoke hovering above us gave everything a bit of a rustic feel. As we ate, the day ended. I felt a small tingle in my hand.

“Right.” I made a motion towards Tae. “I have something. He’s touched the diary and is writing in it now.”

“Can you tell us where it is?”

“I’m homing in on it.” I closed my eyes and allowed magic to give me a visualization. The Duke was sitting in his chair in his room, at a table, writing in is diary. I couldn’t make out exactly what he was writing about, but I was sure it was depraved. After a few minutes he got up and went to the east corner of his room, right underneath a large painting. He moved aside the painting and revealed a large safe. He opened it with a key and slid the diary inside, rolling the painting back over to hide it again. The vision faded away.

“I saw it. I know where he’s hiding his diary.”

Jastle nodded. “Then tonight, we strike.”

We finished our meal and returned to the room we were using. Jastle took out a map of the castle. “I acquired this from the thieves’ guild. It seems that the Duke’s castle is quite the quarry for your ordinary thief.”

“Which means that he’s probably got a lot of defenses. Dogs, gates, traps.” Tae crossed her arms. “We’re not getting in easy.”

“What about invisibility?” I looked at Jastle. “I mean, that’s the obvious solution, isn’t it?”

Jastle nodded. “Right. But the castle probably has a number of magical defenses around it as well. We don’t know what they’re comprised of. It’s very possible that the Duke and his security staff have already headed off the possibility.”

I sighed. “Then that’s a no go.”

“Unless you can come up with a spell that reveals enchantments.” Jastle tilted his head. “Can you?”

I thought for a moment. “Yes. I think I can.”

“I trust you, then. Put together a spell that identifies traps and enchantments and we’ll be able to get in.” Jastle nodded. “I have a couple extra empty spell scrolls that you can use.” He summoned a scroll and handed it to me.

I looked at the empty scroll in front of me. I needed to create an entirely new class of magic. “Jastle, do you know the callsign for detect magic?”

“I do not.” Jastle shook his head. “Sadly, I don’t know everything about Scode. In fact, you probably know ten times more than I do.”

I sighed. “Okay. I’ll come up with something.”

“Try not to blow us all up.” Jastle chuckled. “But I trust you.”

I thought for a minute. “Null Cassius.”

“Sounds about right.”

I started writing. I used several different libraries that referred to magic and hidden objects. The eventual spell was three lines long, with four referenced libraries, and some special wording that, when put together correctly, modified an individual’s line of sight to be able to detect enchanted objects—of which most of the traps in the castle would be.

When I was done I folded the scroll up and stored it in my scroll pocket. I then turned to Jastle. “We’re sneaking in tonight, right?”

“No. The Duke will be sleeping in his room. It’s best for us to sneak in when he’s not there.”

“Of course.” I tapped my temple. “I almost screwed us all over with that one.”

“That’s why we’re here.” Jastle smiled. “We strike when we know the Duke will be gone for a while.” He raised an eyebrow. “And that’s why we have an insider. You still have that card Andrew gave you?”

“I do.” I took it out of my pocket. “Is now the right time to ask for his help?”

“He’ll be able to tell us the Duke’s schedule. It’s probable that, if we can’t find a good time, he can distract the Duke himself.”

“Great. Let’s go then.”

“Tomorrow.” Jastle shook his head. “We don’t want to arouse suspicion by sneaking about after dark.”

“Right.” I looked at the bed. “It’s still a bit early.”

Jastle nodded. “Here’s something for us.” He pulled out a scroll. “Null storage. Manifest item seven.” A game board and bag of pieces appeared on the room’s table. “It’s about time I introduced you to Mako.”

“I’ve heard of that.”

“It’s a game that will stretch your strategic ability. If you get good at this, you’ll get good at real strategy.” Jastle began setting up the board.

The board was full of hexagons, and had a large number of dice to go with it. Jastle set up a number of pieces on the squares closest to him.

“Here’s how this game works.” Jastle explained how pieces moved, how the dice worked, and what the goal of the game was. When he was finished, we sat down to play a game.

I lost, again and again. Jastle was really good at the game, as far as I could tell. When it was time to go to sleep my head felt fuzzy. I lay down on my bed and drifted into a deep sleep.

The next morning I woke up filled with energy. Jastle was already putting on his clothes, while Tae and Jak were just getting up. We got prepared and left the room. Jessie, the barmaid, waved at us as we came downstairs. “Do you want something for breakfast, lads?”

“No, not today.” Jastle shook his head. “We have business to attend to.”

“At least take a muffin.” Jassie held out a tray of pastries. “It’s on me.”

Jastle took one. The rest of us did as well. The muffin was good, with blueberries in it. We ate as we headed across town to Andrew’s place. It was a small, but clean, house that sat at the corner of two quiet streets. Jastle knocked.

Andrew opened the door. “Did you get the diary yet?”

“We know where it is.” Jastle stepped in. “All we need is a chance to nab it. Do you think you could distract your uncle for a few hours so that we can infiltrate his room?”

“I think I can. I have a reason to be talking to him today anyways.” He paused. “Be careful of his son, though. That boy stays inside all day long and rarely ever leaves the castle. And people are grateful for that.”

“Right. We’ll have to watch over him. What do you know about the defenses of the Duke’s castle?”

“I do know that there are a lot of hidden tricks.” Andrew shook his head. “But I can’t tell you much about exactly where they are.”

“I’ve got that handled. Are there any guards in particular we should watch out for?”

“The castle actually does not have guards at all.” Andrew tilted his head. “There’s a rumor that anyone who tries to rob the castle is never seen again. No one knows what happens to them.”

“So it’s something magical that we have to watch out for.” I cracked my knuckles. “I’ve got just the thing for that.”

“Great. I was hoping you’d have a solution for that.” Andrew nodded. “At noon today, I’ll be in a meeting with my uncle for about two hours. Use that time to steal the diary.”

“Understood.” I turned to Jastle. “Are we ready, then?”

Jastle clapped his hands together. “Lets do this.”

Fifteen minutes before noon, the five of us hunkered behind a row of bushes at the back of the castle. The map we had been given showed a secret passageway that had an opening in the wall right about there.

Jak crept up to the wall.

“Wait.” I pulled out the scroll and read it. “Okay. Now you can.”

A spot right next to Jak it up with a bright red light. Jak recoiled.

“By the gods. Already.” Jastle whispered to me. “We almost fell into a trap and we’re not even in the castle yet.”

I shook my head. “That’s why we have to be very careful.” I took out a second scroll. “I made this one to defeat the traps. It disenchants an object for about half an hour.” I read the scroll, targeting the enchanted doorway. The enchantment shut down. I motioned to Jak and he pushed the stones. The door slid open on its own.

I motioned to Jak again and walks up to the door. With the scroll in my hand, I read the search spell again. There were no traps in the hallway.

The hallway was low-ceilinged, stuffy, with rough-hewn walls. The five of us entered one at a time, with Ruby sitting on my shoulder. The door slid shut behind us. Jastle took out a scroll and summoned a light, which cast long shadows on the walls.

We continued for some time through the passageway. Every hundred meters, I cast the detection spell again. So far, no traps.

We came to the spot that, according to the map, was right underneath the store room. Jastle found the alcove and pushed open the trap door that led there. We stepped out into the Duke’s wine cellar. I cast the detect magic spell and it illuminated a large number of traps—but most of them were focused on the valuable bottles of wine. There were no traps that prevented us from leaving the wine cellar and heading up into the castle proper. Jastle checked the map and pointed us in the direction of the bedroom. The bedroom was at the top of a spire in the east wing of the castle. Right now we were in the north wing. With care, we traversed the empty hallways, making sure to be stealthy and cast my detection spell frequently. We reached the east tower staircase. After climbing it, we came to the Duke’s bedroom.

I opened the door. It creaked, its heavy beams scraping against the stone floor. The Duke’s bedroom was luxurious. The bed was made with muslin and high-quality dyed fleece. Paintings hung on the walls—including the one that hid the safe. I approached it. The painting was a tasteful depiction of the God Emperor’s crusade.

I lifted up the painting, revealing the safe. Jastle approached it, took out a spell, and cast it. The lock clicked. I nodded at him and cast my detection spell. Two separate warning spells were embedded in the door. I shattered them both with a quick spell. Jastle opened the door, took the diary out, and closed it, locking it with his lock-picking spell. We nodded at each other and left the room exactly as before. It took about fifteen minutes to make our way out of the castle and return to the entrance.

It seemed we had succeeded. I looked at Jak, grinned, and gave him a fist bump.

“Mission accomplished.”

 

23

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