The Heist of Sigallah (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 3)

V - The Heist

They met up on the beach, close to the city walls. It was fairly dark by the time Rhenor and Elaya reached the spot, so even though a few guards were patrolling the area, they wouldn't notice them unless they got too close.

From what Serina and Arion told them, it seemed that everything could go as planned. Apparently, they'd overheard some of the crew people talking to the guards about how they brought in a lot of coins this time, which made Rhenor both giddy and angry.

Rhenor was given one of the backpacks, which he slung onto his back as soon as he made sure the buckle on it was undone. They needed to do this as fast as possible, and things like this were potentially very stupid mistakes that could cost valuable seconds.

They waited for a while longer, for the night to settle in and hopefully get a few of the sailors to fall asleep. Some of them had opted for sleeping at the local inns instead, which meant that there would be fewer of them on the ship.

From what he could see only around three guards were staying on the pier, but they were close enough to likely notice any commotion that might happen. There was also one on the ship, and since they all wore armor, Rhenor truly hoped Arion knew how to use those darts and hit some of the few spots that weren't covered. But Elaya had assured him that he was the best for that job, so Rhen would trust his abilities.

So with everything else taken care of, they began to walk towards the ocean. Rhen didn't look forward to swimming in the cold water again, but it was the only way. They could hardly walk up to the pier and get in a fight with the guards. They would have to be quiet, as well, or at least no louder than the noise the waves were making.

Rhenor shivered as he stepped into the water, his bare feet once again coming in contact with the ocean. They'd all taken off their shoes, which made sense because he couldn't imagine sneaking along the ship's deck in wet boots, but going barefoot there might be equally problematic. A badly hammered nail or a large splinter, and this whole plan could fall apart.

They would each just have to watch out, he supposed. As weak of a comfort as that thought was.

He tried not to gasp as he once again found himself with only his chin above the water, already shivering. Elaya wasn't using the glowing algae this time, since it would betray their location. They didn't need to call attention to themselves before even getting to the ship. Still, it made it fairly difficult to keep sight of everyone swimming before him as they were keeping a distance between each other.

Rhenor slowly made his way over to the ship, swimming around it as fast as he could, though with the force of the waves keeping him back, that didn't mean much, unfortunately. He didn't like being in sight of the guards patrolling the pier, even though they had not noticed anything suspicious, and in fact, the two he could see seemed to be engaged in a conversation.

As infuriating as it was that the dragons paid their workers as little as they could, this was a fortunate side effect of it.

Rhenor breathed out as he reached the ship, finally disappearing out of the sight of the guards. He didn't like how close he had to stay to the ship's hull to not make the sailors suspicious, but it was still better than being out in the open.

In front of him, he could see that Elaya had already reached the rear of the ship and the others were slowly catching up with her. He doubled his attempts to get where he needed to, trying not to pant loudly in effort.

Over the sound of waves colliding with the hull of the ship, he could hear very quiet talking from above. He hoped that the people talking would separate because he doubted they could use those darts without alerting anyone like that.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing as Rhen finally joined the others, he grabbed onto the rear of the ship and leaned on it with his back, looking up at where they were going to climb. He'd climbed up mountain walls higher than this when hunting near Arlow, so this should be easier for him than the swimming.