Outsiders 19.2

A Score Worth Settling, Part 2

Valerie observed the travel stop—that is to say, three buildings straddling the road in what would otherwise be the middle of nowhere—through a pair of binoculars Xigbar had "found in an alleyway." She was flat on her stomach, head just poking out over the crest of a hill, with the setting sun at her back to limit the chances of light reflecting off the lenses. 

"What do you see?" Arden asked.

"The tall building is an inn. The largest look like stables that might double as a toolshed? I saw someone go in and come out with some things to fix a cart's wheel. There's a lot of carts and wagons parked near it, which could mean this is the place, or just that this stop is busy tonight. The smaller building in the back is baths. There are towels and water runners. I see a clothesline too," Valerie reported. She turned to Xigbar. "It looks like a normal travel stop."

"It's supposed to," Xigbar said. "The Pavers built all of these places back when they actually worked on the roads. They're all safehouses."

Samira Shen had gotten word from a neighboring town that the Pavers had hijacked an entire trade caravan that had come from Lochmire Keep, and that had given her an idea.

As they were technically still a guild with an official civil charter, the Pavers were, on paper, civil servants of the kingdom employed by Digax—and his Chosen. Those ties meant that even today, the Pavers paid a percentage of their profits to Zaman. Their activities were one of his key streams of revenue, with his annual tribute to Digax due in only a little more than a season, there was no better place to hit Zaman than in his wallet.

Xigbar was more than happy to provide Shen with everything he knew about when, where, and how the Pavers operated. In fact, he did one better and singled out the safehouse most likely to contain the goods stolen from the caravan.

"Even if this isn't the place holding the exact haul we're looking for, they'll have something worth taking in their vaults," the Snake continued.

"Is everyone there working for the Pavers?" Kaleb asked.

Xigbar shrugged. "Maybe all the staff? But these places do hire outside the guild sometimes if they need a specific skillset, like a wheelright or something. And the guests are actual guests."

"So don't burn this one down," Valerie said, looking directly at List.

"I can control myself, thank you very much."

"What sort of numbers do you suppose they have inside?" Arden asked.

"Place this big? I'd put it at about what we had in Shadefall before you showed up, give or take," Xigbar said.

"So, not enough to stop us," List said with a smirk.

Everyone caught the wicked gleam in her eye, and Arden immediately cut in. "Let's examine our options before we charge through the front doors. A not insubstantial portion of our victory last time was the element of surprise, and we still don't know for certain if this really is the location where the caravan's goods were taken."

"Not to mention, we're a pretty distinct group, and I'm pretty sure all of us are on the Pavers' short list of enemies," Kaleb said. "As soon as they see us coming, they'll know who we are."

Valerie sighed, seeing the incoming roadblock in their discussion immediately. "We need to get a closer look to get a lay of the land, but we can't get closer without being spotted, probably recognized, and attacked. Even if we can win that fight, they know what happened the last time we hit one of their safehouses, and they'll probably just move all their loot while we're busy."

"It is something of a dilemma," Arden said. "Perhaps we should wait until after sunset, and approach under cover of darkness."

"Most of you can't see in the dark, and some of them definitely can," Xigbar said. "You'll be stumbling into them blind."

"Do you have an alternative suggestion?" Valerie asked.

She meant it simply as a reminder that they were all on a team and supposed to be helping each other, and that Xigbar shooting down ideas wasn't helpful. But he gave her a lopsided grin.

"As a matter of fact…"

Lin Fei sat behind the front desk of The Loch's Rest, only half paying attention to the inn's lobby. She could hear the sounds of raucous laughter from the lounge just next door as off-duty thieves and cutthroats partied with the on-duty whores and small smattering of actual travelers resting here for the night, and it annoyed her.

For starters, the front desk was possibly the most boring post in the inn, and depending on what kind of traffic they got, the worst paying. She was isolated from everyone else, alone in the lobby with nothing to do but sit and wait, and mark anybody who came in who might be worth stealing from.

Maybe she could have handled it if she was free to read a book or something—but the assholes next door were making too much noise, and she swore to the Light that Jeremiah was laughing that obnoxiously on purpose.

So she was stuck, sitting at a desk, rereading the same paragraph of The Dragon's Captive over and over again, and weighing the pros and cons of murdering her coworkers vs bashing her own head in on the desk.

A young couple came in. They were light-brown skinned, and the kind of happy that made Lin Fei want to roll her eyes. The woman clung tight to the man's arm, absolutely smitten, and the man was sheepishly avoiding her eyes like he couldn't believe he was with her. Between his unibrow, large mole, and sunken eyes, Lin Fei couldn't either.

Actually, something about the man was stoking Lin Fei's memory, but before she could work out what it was, the woman was in her face, asking about a room for the night and constantly giggling and casting glances back at her embarrassed partner.

Newlyweds. They didn't look particularly loaded, but maybe they had some decent wedding presents worth riffling through the man's bag for. Lin Fei marked them down as a "maybe" for midnight robbery, gave them a room key, and promptly forgot about them.

An hour later, the sun was gone, and the partying in the lounge had blissfully quieted down enough that Lin Fei could actually read her book. Maybe it wasn't professional to read smut in public and on the job, but if the sect leader had a problem with it, he could come upstairs and tell her himself.

Of course, just as she was getting to the really good part, another pair came in. These two didn't look like a couple—a stiffly dressed, bearded and gray-haired man walking a respectful distance behind a well-dressed, raven-haired young woman. They didn't have any bags on them, but the woman had the stoic, forced composure Lin Fei associated with the rich and boring. She made a note to check the stables for any bags they might have left with their transportation.

That made four different guest rooms in use tonight. Busy evening, and at least a couple chances for a real payout for her. Lin Fei idly wondered if there was some event going on somewhere before going back to her book.

As soon as the well-dressed young woman was through the door of her room, and her servant had shut it behind them, she pulled the skirt of her dress and shook her leg as hard as she could. The blue and silver snake coiled around her thigh got the message, releasing its grip on her and flopping to the ground before transforming back into Xigbar.

He grinned up at her from the floor.

"Not a word," she warned him. Behind her, her "servant" echoed the sentiment with a warning look.

"I was just going to say you make a nice brunette," he lied.

Xigbar had brought a small disguise kit along for the mission, apparently anticipating their difficulties getting inside. It had cheap dyes, makeup, some minor prosthetics and fake hair. Enough that, paired with clothes he'd snatched off the lines outside, he was able to make most of them look like completely different people.

But there was little he could do to disguise his own face, which left them with the question of how to sneak him in. Since his initial expulsion, the Pavers had implemented a "kill all snakes on sight" policy, which ruled out disguising him as a pet. The form was theoretically small enough to smuggle in, but the only bag or pocket they had big enough to hide a snake in was Kaleb's, and bottomless pockets and living things didn't mix.

Hiding under her skirt had been Xigbar's idea. Ohe'd carefully avoided suggesting until after List was already gone.

Valerie tried not to dwell on the lingering sensation of having worn Xigbar, and ran her fingers through her hair, and came away with cheap dye on them. From his coat pocket, Arden produced a handkerchief for her. It was a gesture that oddly suited his own disguise.

"This isn't going to last much longer," Valerie warned. Arden's would be even worse. She wouldn't be surprised if the back of his collar was powder white by now.

"Lucky for us then that it doesn't have to," Xigbar said. 

There was a rapid triple knock at their door a moment before it opened and a brown-skinned woman came in, smiling and the man she was dragging in behind her. When she closed the door and saw all of them, she gasped in surprise.

"I'm so sorry!" she said before looking to her partner. "Darling, I think this is the wrong room."

Valerie shook her head, even as an amused smile trace across her lips. "You get too into character for these things."

The woman gave a smirk that contrasted so sharply with her previous demeanour that it was like she became a different person. A shimmer of red light crackled up her body, and the illusory appearance over her vanish, leaving only List behind.

"It's fun," she said. "You should try it some time."

Behind her, Kaleb rubbed the back of his neck. He'd already removed the false brow and fake mole. "Sorry. I know I wasn't much help, but I was always bad at lying."

She waved the apology off. "You did fine."

Arden cleared his throat as a not so subtle reminder that it was time for business.

"We took a look around while you lot were sorting out your outfits," she said. Begrudgingly, she gave Xigbar a nod in acknowledgement. "Just like you said. Through the lounge to the back hallway, last door at the end. It's there, or I'm half-angel."

She waggled her fiendish tail behind her to drive home that she very much wasn't.

"What can I say? I'm good at finding things," Xigbar said.

Kaleb set his bottomless bag on the bed, and began pulling things out everyone's weapons, save for List's. She simply held out her hand, and a dagger flashed into it.

"There's a hidden tunnel connecting our room to the back hall," Kaleb said. "I'm guessing they were going to use it to sneak into our rooms and rob us?"

"Safe bet," Xigbar said. "Shall we?"

The Paver guarding the door to the safehouse vault saw the hidden passageway door open, and didn't immediately register that anything was wrong. People came and went through it all the time. It was only after a moment that it occurred to him that he hadn't actually seen anyone go in on this side. By then, Kaleb was already rushing out.

By the time the Paver was ready to act, Kaleb had already smashed his head between the wall and a black shield. The man crumpled, unconscious. There were three more Pavers in the hallway, and they went down in turn to crossbolt to the knee, a throwing knife to the eye, and a blast of golden light ot the chest.

List stood in the middle of everyone, poised to swing her dagger as it crackled with chaotic energy. But there was nothing left to blast. She sagged, unaccountably disappointed, and her power dissipated. 

"I get the next one," she muttered.

"It's not a competition," Valerie said.

"Says the one winning."

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Xigbar said, stepping forward and producing a set of lockpicks. "Now, gimme some space."

He knelt down to the door, and set to work. There were three separate locks in it, but in under a minute, Xigbar had all three of them clicked open. He opened the door and gave a victorious bow. "Ladies first."

List gave him the finger, but Valerie rolled her eyes and stepped inside. The room was dark at first, but as they stepped inside, lightstone fixtures automatically came on. 

Inside were dozens of boxes, barrels, and chests, some open, but most not, and shelves lined every wall. There were swathes of fabrics, jars of spices, statues of every size. It was easy to believe that the contents of an entire trade caravan had been dumped into this room.

And, sitting on top of the stolen goods like a mischievous spirit, was Arthur Masters, backed up by what was easily a dozen men.

"Xigbar," he said in a warm, friendly voice. "Long time, no see."

One of the men behind him blew into the loudest whistle any of them had ever heard, and immediately, the sound of dozens more footsteps could be heard throughout the inn. All of them were converging on the vault.

Valerie looked to Xigbar. All that talk about knowing the Pavers, all that effort put into disguising themselves, and this was the result.

The animaborn coughed, and eyed List. "I, uh, believe you said you wanted the next ones?"