Weather Control

Chapter 13

The commander was, in fact, waiting for us out side on the steps of the building. The sun was setting and it cast beautiful colors across the sky. I was sad to go into the building with no windows.

When we got to the stairs leading to the vast doorway, the commander spoke dryly.

"Nice of you to show up. Lucky for you, you're not the last group. Get inside to the school room"

We followed his orders and went inside.

"What he mean by the school room?" I asked.

"Probably, he means that room with all of the desk, the annoying woman, and the books that almost no one could read." 

"Oh." 

Sunshine limped up the stairs. I realized now that he couldn't bend his knee, hence the limp, but I was still shocked I didn't notice what was wrong sooner. 

Just as Sunshine had implied, the annoying woman with the thin lips was up in the so-called school room. She wanted to know what we did with the money. 

Sunshine did the talking. "We bought ourselves lunch and dinner." 

The woman raised a thin eyebrow. "Is that all?" 

I nodded. The woman wrote something on her clipboard. I noticed she used the newer alphabet with less symbols rather than the ancient language's with ideas represented in symbols rather than sounds. There was no doubt that she could both read and speak the old language though. It was part of growing up in the clouds.

We were released to our sleeping room or the weapons room. Sunshine and I went to the sleeping room.

We both sat on my bed. There were only a few people in the room. I guessed most were down stairs or exploring. Either way, I took no chances. I kept the coins hidden from any wandering eyes from across the room. 

Sunshine's mouth dropped at the number of coins I had gathered. It dropped even further when he realized I was splitting it half and half.

"You can't do that," he protested.

The corner of my mouth twitched up. "Can't I?"

He shook his head, his eyes wide. He was simply confused.

"It's fine," I assured him, rolling my eyes.

He accepted the money and limped over to his own bed. I watched him for a while. He drew out a rough piece of wood and began to carve. Was that why he was so interested in the carpenter's shop? I was surprised I didn't realize earlier. I needed to start paying attention. I needed to act like a real thief. 

Nobody had anything to say before lights out, but I could already see sets of friends forming. Groups were more dangerous than individuals, but I also had a sword under my bed.

Remembering my promise to Gust, i stayed awake for many hours instead of sleeping. The sounds of soft breathing was the only thing to keep myself entertained. When it was time to go, I grabbed the sword. The end of the world was a good place to hide things. Especially things nobody should find. 

I exited the room with no problem. I had my picks with me, and I planned to use them.

I went down to the kitchen door and unlocked it. I tried a new place for the pins as a small practice. This lock had a master key. While it helped many people unlock doors without sifting through many keys, it was easier to be picked by a naive thief. Even easier for a skilled one.

The tunnel was the same as last time. There had been no changes and I ended up in the same room as before. It had been striped of its decorations and looked by far less grand. It only took me moments to figure why. Today was the anniversary of the queen's death. She had been very kind to many of the poorer people and made many good changes. The whole block of people on my street had cried. I had cried as well. 

I crossed the room, but there were no voices this time. I made a left once outside of the grand doorway. I knew how to stay hidden in the castle. At this hour, there would be few servants wandering about and even fewer people who would care I was here.

I carefully went up two flights of stairs. Stairs was the easiest place to be spotted. 

The guest room I needed was occupied by a man that snored loudly. It would not be a problem. The room next that would be just fine, it would just take some effort. Minimal effort. 

More effort than I had thought, I told my self when I entered the room. A drawer was shoved in the way of the underground, under-cloud I supposed with a slight grin, tunnel I needed to enter. I ground my teeth and tried the next room. I sighed with relief when there was nothing but a tapestry covering the hole. Moving a drawer was not the problem. The problem was moving it back when I entered the tunnel. 

I entered the tunnel without a second thought. I had been this way before, but I hoped I wouldn't get lost. The tunnel twisted and at the first split, I went right. The tunnel became so small I had to crawl. I remembered now why I never used this way much. When I could finally walk upright again, I still had to walk for a few minutes before I reached the end of the world. 

The door I had to slide open was locked just as I had left it. It was a ten pin tumbler lock, and it also had false pins. I got it open with no problem from years of practice, but anyone else would struggle with this. If the person was good enough to unlock this lock, I would be impressed. I pushed the door open with a grunt. Three years of abandonment and the hinges were already out of shape. I would need to fix that soon. 

Gust was waiting for me with a sword in his hand. Good. If anyone found us here, we would be in great need of weapons. This was the skin's property and could only be reached by traveling under the castle its self.

"We need to talk," I told Gust.

His mood shifted to an unpleasant one. "Agreed."