Rune Stealer

Tricks

"All clear," whispered Zyn after peaking into a window on the second floor of the fief. He reached forward from the tree branch we were perched on and pushed the window open. Once he leaped inside, I followed suit, landing with a soft thud.

I unsheathed a dagger as we looked around the room we landed in. We were in a small room with a desk on one side of the room and a simple bed on the other and it looked pretty much unused.

Zyn crept to the door of the meager room and I joined him as I reached out my mind to the halls and rooms near us. We had no clue where the Lord Plianne was, but we figured I could coerce a man or two to tell us where he was. Zyn placed his palm on the door and looked at me. I shook my head and inched closer to the wall; my mind was still fuzzy from the energy I spent saving Jhestan, but I could manage.

A soldier stood at the end of the hall and I easily slipped into his mind and ordered him to silently walk into the room Zyn and I hid in. I motioned Zyn away from the door when a lanky, wide eyed soldier came into the room; Zyn closed the door and stood in front of it. I sauntered up to the soldier, playing with my dagger in my hand. The terrified eyes of the soldier looked back and forth between my sharp weapon and my face that hid under the shadow of my hood.

"Tell me something soldier," I said pointing the tip of the blade at the man's nose," where is the Lord Plianne located at the moment?" The soldier began to mumble and breathe quite frantically and I exclaimed, "Oh, I forgot I stopped your mouth." I let the soldier's mouth go and it fell open with a gasp from the man.

"You scream, I kill you," I threatened, putting the point of the dagger against his throat.

"I-I won't," the soldier stammered.

"Good, then tell me where Lord Plianne is," I demanded.

"In his o-office," he blurted.

'Which is," I drawled, getting annoyed with the frantic soldier.

"E-east side of the t-top floor. Big door flanked by soldiers down a long hall. Can't miss it."

"Thank you," I said with a grin.

"Are you going to k-kill me?"

"Of course not," I giggled as I turned away from the soldier.

"Then what-" I leaped up in the air and spun around as I lifted my foot up. I clipped the soldier's temple with the toe of my boot and he dropped like a rock.

"How many floors are there?" I asked Zyn, turning to face him at the door as I picked my hood back up that fell as I was jumping.

"Three," he answered. I sighed and nodded, expanding out my sense.

"So we have to go up one. I wonder where the stairs are," I whispered to myself. I put my palm on the door and searched for nearby souls. "I should've asked him where the stairs are," I grumbled.

"We'll just have to find them," said Zyn as he wrapped his fingers around the doorknob.

"Head to the right first," I told Zyn quietly. Zyn nodded and twisted the knob and let me bolt out of the room in front of him.

Zyn and I took a sharp right, staying near the wall, our footsteps non-existent. Zyn went into full stealth mode and it was as if he was not even there. I couldn't feel his presence at all, but I knew he was right behind me.

We stalked blindly through the halls, turning down random halls in a fruitless attempt to find the stair case. Avoiding as many guards as we could took time and a lot of ducking into empty rooms. This was taking too long and we had to find this stair case soon, so Zyn and I hid in another empty room and I called another soldier to tell me where it was.

"Servant's stair case is hidden in the wall of the servant's study," the soldier told me and then I took full control of the man.

"Show us," I demanded. He took us hastily and quietly to the servant's study, which was nothing more than a sad, windowless room with a set of an old table and equally old chairs with torches set up on the wall. The man went to the far back wall and pushed on a panel in the wall and it popped open, revealing a dark stair case barely wide enough for two people.

"Go straight up," the soldier told us. "Don't mind the halls branching off from it."

"Thank you," I said with a smile as the hilt of my dagger connected with the soldier's temple and once again, he dropped like a sack of potatoes. I turned back around and headed up the stairs, Zyn close behind me.

***

"I gather that that is the door," I whispered as I peered around the corner. The men were right, it was a big door that was flanked by strong runed soldiers down a long hallway. "Their minds might be too strong," I hissed. "I don't know if I can break through them easily." One soldier had an incredibly strong combat rune and the other had a strength rune that wasn't quite as strong, but still fairly powerful.

"Then we'll just have to fight them," started Zyn as he moved to charge down the hall.

"No, wait," I growled, stopping Zyn. I sighed as I was able to slip into the soldier with the strength runes mind and I easily took control. I told him to knock out his friend.

"Hey, what are you-" I heard the other soldier say before there was a thud of him dropping to the floor. I checked to make sure he was unconscious before I made the other guard unconscious. He was falling down to the ground when Zyn and I stepped out from around the corner and began scurrying down the hall.

"Ready?" breathed Zyn as we stopped at the large door. I checked the air inside and for some reason it was all fuzzy and blurry, like it was when I woke up after saving Zyn.

"Wait, Zyn it feels off in there," I warned, trying to clear my radar from the fog. "What if it's another trap?"

"Then we'll know soon enough." Taking a dagger in each hand, Zyn and I pushed open the heavy door.

"Ah, the Golden Girl," cheered a voice. Up ahead was the Lord Plianne, his arms held out wide in a greeting. The advisor Tinahta stood next to him along with three other soldiers. Down on the ground to the right of Zyn and I were four more unconscious bodies. It was the other boys; Jhestan, Toril, Brynley, and surprisingly Kian were tied up with ropes and lied at our feet. Idiots.

"Nice of you to join us," chuckled Lord Plianne as the doors closed behind Zyn and I.