“Nathan has asked me to help him when he casts the spell to summon the imp-spirit, so you four will have to deliver the next shipment of elf porn balls,” Rose said to Glorissa, Sylis, Kylus and Yarid. “According to Nathan, if the spell goes wrong, the imp might turn violent and attack him, so he wants another wizard to be there to restrain the imp if need be.”

  “Rose, you have been handling the delivery of the, um, the things, so please tell us what to do,” Yarid said. Yarid blushed, even though he had not even spoken the name of the magical elf porn devices.

  “When evening changes to night and the last traces of sunlight are gone, a horse-drawn carriage will ride up in front door of our hideout,” Rose said. “Five wooden barrels are waiting in the foyer of the Van Rozen house, near the front door. The barrels are labelled to say that they contain pickles in brine, and, thanks to a colorless trickery spell I cast, if you shake the barrels, you will hear pickles sloshing around in fluid inside of them. The fake elf porn is hidden inside those barrels. When the carriage arrives, bring the barrels outside and load them into the carriage. Do not speak to the driver, and, if he or she asks you anything, do not answer. The carriage will go down into a back alley in the Poor District, if things go according to plan. There, men will approach you. They will unload the barrels from the carriage and hand you a bag of coins. Again, do not speak to them and say nothing if they talk to you.

  “The bag should contain two hundred gold coins. It is very important that you count each one of those coins to make sure two hundred are there! Those coins will give the team enough money to buy the gnomish hot air balloon and complete the payment for the bribe to plant the bomb, marking the completion of the phase of the heist where we collect money to fund the heist itself. The night of the Festival of Darkest Night is next week, and this final sum of gold will have us ready to spring our heist upon the Temple of Light next week, on next Friday night.”

  Friday night? Sylis thought. Why do I feel like Friday night should remind me of something? Oh, right… it would have been Game Night with my friends back in Tamm, before all this happened.

  “You haven’t told us what to do if there are less than two hundred gold coins in the bag they hand us,” Sylis said.

  Rose chuckled. “Leave it to a Blue to ask questions! I don’t expect you to start a fight with them and force it out of them. Just give them the contraband and leave, but report directly to me. I will reach out to my contact I have been selling them to and tell him that if he doesn’t make good on the full promised payment, he will have an angry Red wizard rolling dice down his throat. If the coins are not given to us, then the time might come to use force. But he’s been good for the money so far, so I expect he will pay properly. His profit margin on the elf porn is very high, from what I understand, so he wants the deal with us to be done without any trouble, same as we do.”

  “We are on the job, and we will see to it that the, um, well, gets delivered and we get paid!” Yarid said.

  “Great. I trust that you will,” Rose replied.

  Yarid, Glorissa, Sylis and Kylus took up a position in the entry hall of the hideout, next to the five wooden barrels full of counterfeit elf porn, waiting for the sun to set. Yarid paced back and forth while they waited; the three humans leaned against the wall of the foyer. Glorissa began to play with her hair out of boredom, and Sylis snuck peeks at Kylus to see what Kylus was doing. Kylus was just staring at the blank wall across from himself and waiting. Kylus did not look at Sylis even once, nor did he look at Glorissa or Yarid. Sylis went up to the door and looked through the peephole: it was getting dark; night would fall soon. He walked away from the door and resumed his posture of leaning against a wall in a place from which he could see Kylus out of the corner of his eye.

  They heard a horse-drawn carriage ride up outside. Yarid opened the door; it was almost completely dark outside, save for the light of the moons above. The four of them hauled out the barrels and loaded them into the carriage, whose interior was empty. After all five barrels were in, the four of them squeezed themselves into seats in the carriage next to the barrels, although there was barely enough room for them because the carriage’s inner space was full of the barrels. Sylis’s body lurched backwards as the carriage abruptly rode off into the night, causing him to bang his elbow sharply against one of the barrels. “Oh, darn,” he muttered, as he held his stinging elbow with his other hand.

  The carriage rode down streets whose paving stones were bumpy and uneven, causing Sylis to be shaken even worse and get knocked against the barrels repeatedly. Eventually, the carriage came to a stop, and Sylis exhaled a sigh of relief. I will find out how many bruises I have once I get home, he thought. He and the others got out. A group of men, dressed all in red, was standing there on the street.

  “Were you followed?” one of the men asked.

  “I hope not,” Yarid said.

  “Is it in there?” another of them asked, pointing at the carriage, which was waiting at the street corner.

  “It’s in there,” Yarid said. “All of it. Take it. And give us our money.”

  One of the men handed Yarid a relatively large cloth sack, whose bottom hung low as if heavy with coins. Yarid sat down on the street pavement, dumped the bag’s contents out, and began counting coins back into the bag, one by one, while the men in red unloaded the barrels. The light from the nearby streetlamp and the moons was so dim that the coins did not shine with the radiance of gold, and they looked like dead, dull metal disks instead. All five of the barrels were taken out, and the men carried them up to the door of a wooden building set back off this street, and the wooden barrels vanished into the door, one by one. Once the final barrel had disappeared into the doorway, Sylis smiled. This is it! Next up: the heist!

  “Stop! Surrender yourselves in the name of the King!” a voice said from beyond the area lit by the streetlamp. Suddenly many soldiers became visible, heading straight for them. One of the men in red who had taken the shipment of fake orbs turned and said: “It’s the City Guard! Run! Run away!”

  “Oh no!” Sylis said. He turned and looked for Yarid, Glorissa and Kylus. Yarid reached out with both arms and scooped the pile of coins off the street and back into the bag, using his fae agility and keen senses to get almost every coin back in one wide sweeping motion.

  “What do we do?” Sylis said, as the City Guard came closer, and he saw that the soldiers had their swords drawn.

  “I think we do what the man said: run!” Yarid said, and Yarid began to charge away in the opposite direction from which the soldiers were coming. Sylis, Glorissa and Kylus turned and ran after Yarid. Sylis could hear the noises of fighting behind him, so he assumed that the City Guard had entered the building that the men had taken the barrels into. That might buy us some time, I hope!

  The four of them ran down a dark street, with dirty wooden buildings on either side. Yarid was fast, but the three humans could not run as swiftly as the faerie, and Sylis could hear the rapid footsteps of the police, chasing him and gaining on him.

  “Help! They’re going to catch us!” Sylis said.

  “Look!” Glorissa said, and she pointed at the doorway of a nearby building, whose front door was wide open. “We can hide in there! Go!” The four of them darted into the door, just as a large group of police soldiers reached the street where they had been.

  “Where did they go?” one of the soldiers asked.

  “I don’t know, it’s so dark and I didn’t see them,” another soldier said.

  “Fan out and sweep the streets. But leave behind a few soldiers on this street to keep a look out. We know they’re here somewhere. And we will find them, even if we must blockade this entire section of the Poor District and search every building here. But I want orders from Commander Kyra before we do. Send a runner to report back to Kyra the Red,” the first soldier said.

  “Yes Sir, Captain Daniels!” a soldier said. Most of the soldiers walked away, heading in many different directions, although a few of them remained standing there on the street.

  Sylis, Yarid, Glorissa and Kylus were hunched behind the doorframe they had gone through. They heard what Daniels had said. They turned around and looked at each other.

  “How are we going to escape?” Sylis asked.

  “Well, first question is: where are we?” Glorissa asked.

  The four of them turned around and looked to see where they were. Sylis’s eyes widened in surprise. The inside of the building was a large room constructed of wood, its walls, floors and ceilings painted a soft snowy white. Rows of wooden pews with seats were arranged in horizontal rows, facing the rear of the room. A large altar stood at the back of the room. An arrangement of multi-colored gemstones and crystals were mounted at the top of the altar. The room was lined on all sides by iron staffs whose tops were topped by candleholders holding thick, fat white candles; the candles were lit and flickered with fire, creating a clear, warm yellow-orange light that filled the room. Above them, a white banner with black letters hung, saying these words: Welcome to the Temple of Crystals and Candles. Be at Peace, and Please Pray to God. May God Judge You Favorably, Defendant. His Honor Kaed of White, Chief Priest of the Temple, Welcomes You.

  “Oh my God! We’re in a church,” Sylis said. Sylis saw something else, blinked, and then looked again, but what he saw was still there, and there was no denying it: a priest, his head shaven bald and his clothes all white, was standing at the far side of the room, near the altar.

  And the priest was looking directly at the four of them.

  Kaed the priest had not been expecting any defendants to come into his Temple looking for guidance at this hour of night, so he was grateful when four people wandered in off the street. People very rarely came into the Temple of Crystals and Candles: it was in a section of the Poor District where people were not known for being pious or devout, so, aside from a handful of elderly couples who came to his Friday and Sunday services, he was usually alone in the room, by himself. He was never truly by himself because God was always with him; nonetheless, the sight of other humans tonight was a blessing, for which he thanked God. This is the task God has given me, so I should get busy doing it, Kaed thought. He began to walk over to these four strangers, who looked cold and alone. Kaed saw fear in their eyes. I wonder why they are so afraid? And… one of them is an elf! Well, preach to him too: God gave the gift of life to us all, after all, so it is our task to spread mercy and peace to all.

  As Kaed got closer, he could hear the four people whispering to each other. “What do we do?” “I am an elf loyal to God. I have no fear here. Let us just wait and see what happens. Do not run away—yet.” “He is of White, we should not be afraid, right? Why would he rat us out?” The elf was holding a large bag that was filled with something heavy and disjointed, but Kaed could not tell what it was.

  Kaed came up right next to them. The four stopped whispering and stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.

  “Hello, defendants,” Kaed said. “Welcome to my Temple, and may God judge you favorably and find you innocent. I will not ask why you have come to my Temple, because I do not need to know. What matters is that you are in a House of Prayer. I do hope that you feel welcome here, and that God’s safety warms you like a soft blanket, making you feel safe enough to speak honestly in your prayers.”

  One of them, the fae, glanced back through the door to the Temple. Then he turned back to face Kaed.

  “Your Honor, may we approach the altar?” he said.

  “Yes, of course. I assume that means you want to discuss your doubts, as is the custom of those who stand with a priest at the altar of God. Come, let me lead you.” He turned and walked back to the rear of the room, and they followed him. Kaed did not see who it was who whispered, but the voice was male: “Let’s just stall as long as possible. Prayers can take a while.” “I have not prayed at a Temple in a while. Not since the team assembled. This could be good for me,” a female voice whispered back. “I am an elf, but I am as loyal to God as any human. I, too, have not prayed recently and I could also use a chance to pray at a Temple. I had recently wanted to see a priest but never got around to it. This may be convenient for us,” another male voice whispered. Kaed shook his head but said nothing. It is not my place to judge. That role belongs to God. Just do your job. God gives you rare opportunities to perform your function, so, when God gives you the chance, do it and do it well.

  Kaed reached the altar and took the traditional position standing directly behind it, while the four strangers stood in a straight horizontal line in front of it.

  “To whom do I have the pleasure of helping with prayers tonight?” Kaed asked.

  The four of them looked at each other.

  “We would… rather not give you our names,” the girl said. “Our doubts are so strong that… we do not want you to know who we are, lest we be embarrassed before you.”

  “The rules of the Temple do not require that I know your names,” Kaed said. “I will do anything to give you a sufficient sense of safety for you to speak freely before God. What brings you here tonight? What doubts trouble you?”

  “Your Honor, I contemplate doing terrible actions, committing horrible sins,” the elf said. “I am tempted to do evil things, and I know that I will do them. I intend to do something to something that is sacred to God, and to take something from God, which God does not desire, and which God will condemn me for, and will perhaps condemn others because of my actions, too. Pray for me. What am I to do?”

  “You know that these things are evil, defendant, yet you think that you have chosen to do them,” Kaed asked. “Why? Why do you think that you choose to do them?”

  “I have reasons,” the elf said. “My reasons will compensate me for my evil once the deed is done.”

  I will not ask what those reasons are. Obviously, he will not tell me. “A reason is a justification, and a justification is an excuse,” Kaed said. “If you need to make excuses for your actions, then maybe you shouldn’t do those actions at all.”

  The elf laughed, but it was a short, dry laugh, devoid of joy; in fact, it sounded sad. Is he laughing at himself, or at my words? I don’t know and I suspect he does not know either. “I may choose to ignore my reasons, but my reasons do not choose to ignore me,” the elf said. “I am honor-bound to obligations that force my hand. I do not desire to act against God, yet I must.”

  “Your reasons do not choose to ignore you. God, also, does not choose to ignore you,” Kaed said. “Remember that. When times get dark, and indeed they will, if you choose the path of evil, remember that. God is always watching you, and God wants you to be good and to do good. God will not abandon you, defendant, even after you abandon yourself. God wants you to be good. I do not know what the honor of faerie binds you to; I have heard stories of such things, but no obligation can be more important than your honor before God. And, if you have not chosen faith now, that path will remain open to you, at any future date, at any future point in time. It is never too late to save your soul, until, perhaps, you are dead, and even then, the chance might still exist, or so some claim.”

  “How are we to do things, if not for reasons, Your Honor?” the girl asked. Her voice was now loud and angry in a way it had not been mere moments earlier, and her facial muscles were tight, making lines around her eyes and mouth. Her eyes darted about rapidly, looking at Kaed and the others back and forth, as if she saw something behind them, although nothing was there. Some words in my conversation with her elf friend have triggered her. “How would you have any sense of purpose if you did not have a reason for your actions? Why would anyone do anything, ever, if not for reasons? Surely God will not condemn me for doing something that I didn’t really want to do if I have a reason why I must do it! No one could judge me for that! I had to do what I did! I must… do things!”

  She seems to have some specific reason of hers in mind. I wonder what it is. And I suspect the judgement she fears is her own. “Faith means never having to give a reason, defendant,” Kaed replied. “God is the reason. God is the only reason you need, for God is the ultimate reason behind all things. What reason do you need, besides God? What reason do you need for your actions, other than: because it was the right thing to do?”

  “None,” the girl said, and the tense lines in her face relaxed. Her face seemed clear and whole. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them again. Her eyes were now constant upon Kaed and the three men with her. She even smiled a little.

  You are of White, so you should have known and well understood that truth already, but I choose not to point that fact out to you, Kaed thought. White may as well be Blue or Green these days. “I am glad you find solace in my words, defendant. I hope they steer you well,” Kaed said. “Remember this: There is no reason to do anything. The only reason to do something is: because it was the right thing to do. There is no other reason.” He gave the girl an intentionally wide, toothy grin, to return her slight smile. She noticed his smile at her, and he caught the sideways glance she gave her three friends and her repressed giggle. Oh well. One tries one’s best.

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  “We thank you, Your Honor,” the elf said. “You have given us much to think about. I will think about what you have said.”

  “Good that you do,” Kaed said.

  “May we make one request?” the elf said.

  “Speak,” Kaed replied.

  “May we sit in the pews and pray in silence? I believe this is a perfect place for us to pray, and the more time we spend praying, the more likely it is that God will hear our words,” the elf said.

  That’s not how it works, but why argue with them, Kaed thought. They seem troubled, and I do not desire to make their problems worse. “Of course, defendants. Sit and pray for as long as you desire. You may pray in silence; I will bother you no more. I shall be standing here and praying for you that God the Judge of All Souls finds you not guilty and esteems your innocence in your life.”

  “We thank you, Your Honor,” the elf said to Kaed. The four people took seats next to each other in the pews, close to the aisle that bisected them, and bowed their heads in what Kaed could only hope was silent prayer.

  There was a commotion outside, as of many people running down the street. The four strangers stood and walked up to the altar to approach Kaed.

  “Your Honor, may I ask something?” the elf said.

  “Yes, defendant. Ask,” Kaed said.

  “The custom in most Temples is that the Temple’s sacred scrolls holding the writings of the covenant between the sentient species and God are kept in a small, locked back room, and only the chief priest of the Temple holds the key,” the elf said. “Do you keep sacred scrolls in this Temple?”

  “Yes, I do,” Kaed said.

  “May we see them? I believe we have the right to ask that we be allowed to read them,” he said.

  An unusual request, but not unheard of, Kaed thought.

  “Come with me, defendants,” Kaed said. He led them to the left rear corner of the room, where a small door opened into a tight, narrow passage. At the end of the passage was a door. Kaed took the key tied by a white rope to his belt and unlocked the door. Kaed went in and the others followed. Kaed pointed at the wooden cabinet where he kept his copy of the sacred scrolls.

  “They are there. The cabinet is unlocked. Please, read the words of God and be fortified by them,” he said.

  “Hello! Is a priest in here?” a voice said from the outer room.

  “Please feel free to read the scrolls while I see who has come,” Kaed said. The elf and the humans nodded. Tonight is a busy night! God blesses me with work to do! Kaed made his way back out the passage, into the Temple’s main room. His head bobbed backwards in shock when he saw that ten soldiers had entered his Temple. At their head was a small, short woman dressed in red. Her face was flushed a red like her clothes, and her brown eyes also almost seemed to glow red with anger, although that must have been a trick of the light.

  “Are you in charge of this Temple?” the woman asked. She was already tapping her foot impatiently before Kaed had even opened his mouth to reply.

  “Yes, I am His Honor Kaed of White,” Kaed said. “To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”

  “I am Kyra, Wingardian Zealot! Have you heard of me?”

  “No, but I have heard of the Order of Wingard. I have the deepest and utmost respect for Reds who commit themselves to the path of goodness and virtue.”

  “I am also known as Kyra the Red!” the woman said; she was screaming so loudly that Kaed’s ears were starting to hurt. “I am Commander of the City Guard! I am hunting a band of thieves! My spies have been tracking them for a month, and tonight, we tried to capture them! But they escaped! And they are probably somewhere nearby! Have you seen any strangers tonight, Kaed?”

  Kaed paused. I assume my four new friends who prayed with me have gotten themselves into some form of trouble. It would be rather hypocritical of me if I asked them to have faith in God when I did not have faith in them. I have no reason to help those four strangers… but faith means never having to give a reason. Kaed shook his head in answer to Kyra. “No. I do not recall seeing any suspicious people tonight. I have been alone here in my temple all night.”

  Kyra gazed at him with such ferocity that Kaed thought her eyes might bulge and pop out of her head. “I am not sure I believe you, priest! I have a feeling they might be here! Daniels, have your men look around!” Several of the soldiers began to roam around the room, looking this way and that, poking at a candle or tapping on a wall.

  “No one, Commander,” a soldier said. Kyra the Red made a fist and punched into the air in frustration. Then her eyes went wide. “Wait a minute! Every Temple has a back room where the priest keeps the scrolls! Kaed, do you have a key? Take us there! Open that room!”

  I do not think I have a choice. I dare not disobey the King, Kaed thought. He led Kyra the Red to the back, into the passage, and to the door. Kaed took a deep breath, turned the key, and opened the door.

  Kyra stormed into the room, but no one was there. Kaed exhaled.

  “We believe that one of the thieves in this criminal ring is a fae!” Kyra said. “Elves have the ability to turn invisible! Men, feel every inch of this space with your hands! Find me those rogues!”

  Kaed stared in horror as the soldiers filled up the small room, touching every surface, and outstretching their arms to try to feel for someone invisible. The soldiers’ boots were dirty, and they were leaving muddy footsteps on the white carpet in the room. Kaed shook his head.

  “No?” Kyra asked. “No one?”

  “We cannot find them,” a soldier said.

  “Arghhh!” Kyra said; her sound was a scream of frustration. “They must have escaped into some other nearby building! Let’s go, men! I want them found, and I want them to be found now!”

  “Yes, Commander Kyra,” a soldier said. “Don’t worry. We’ll get them.”

  “I am not worried! I’m angry! Throw a blockade around this area, Daniels! I want them found at any price! Go! Find them, find them, find them! A promotion to any soldier who brings me their heads on a spear! Now let’s go!”

  Kyra stormed out of the room, and her mass of guards followed behind her. Kaed followed them out into the Temple and kept careful watch until the last soldier had walked out the door into the street outside. He then slowly walked back to the private chamber where the sacred scrolls were kept. The door was open; he had not relocked it after Kyra and her City Guards had left. He walked in and looked around.

  “Hello?” Kaed asked.

  “We’re in here,” a voice said.

  “Really?” Kaed asked. He opened the cabinet that held the sacred scrolls. Somehow, the elf, the girl, and the two boys had wedged themselves into the small space within the cabinet; the elf had curled his body around the scrolls themselves, almost like a snake. The girl in white was contorted into a position where she had her foot on the elf’s face and she also had a smile on her face, so Kaed assumed those two did not like each other.

  “Impressive hiding,” Kaed said, while the four people unfolded themselves, crawled out of the cabinet, and climbed to their feet. They stumbled a bit while blood flowed to their limbs, but then found their footing. The elf fixed Kaed with an intense, focused stare.

  “We owe you our lives,” the elf said. “How can we repay you?”

  “Be loyal to God,” Kaed said. “I ask for no other repayment.”

  The elf and the girl of White looked at each other. “I will try. We will try,” the elf said.

  “Please do,” Kaed said.

  “I have the ability to teleport people to a different location,” the elf said to Kaed. “That Yellow-magical spell is very taxing and physically draining, and I avoid using it because when it is used to move many people a long distance it can be so draining to a fae as to become life-threatening, especially when I use it to teleport humans instead of fae. But now I have no choice. I intend to teleport myself and my friends a far distance away from you. I will need a few moments to cast the spell, and then we will be gone. I do not know if you and I will ever see each other again, Your Honor, but, if we do not meet again, thank you.”

  Kaed smiled. “No, thank you for bringing some light into my church other than just the candles,” he said.

  “Join hands with me,” the elf told the three humans. They formed a square, with their four bodies forming the four sides of the square, and they took hold of each other’s hands at the center of the square, so that all eight of their hands were clasped tightly together. The elf’s body began to glow with yellow light; the yellow light flowed like yellow fire from the elf to surround the bodies of the three humans holding hands with him, and all four of them began to glow with light. They remained there, bathed in golden light, for several moments. There was a blinding flash of yellow light, and, after Kaed blinked his eyes repeatedly and he was finally able to see again, the four strangers had vanished.

  Well, that was interesting, Kaed thought to himself. Now it’s just back to me being alone and lonely in my Temple and waiting for someone to come pray with me. Tonight has been exciting, although I am sure it won’t really end up meaning anything to anyone in the future. He walked out the passage into the main room and took a position of prayer, kneeling before the altar of God.

  Sylis lay in his bed, fully clothed, face up, wide awake, his eyes open. His mother floated just off the foot of the bed, so that he could clearly see her. Sylis’s mask was off, and his cheeks were wet with tears.

  “I am going to go on that heist with you,” Sylis’s Mom said. “I almost lost you once. I will not let my son die again.”

  Sylis said nothing. His mind contained no thoughts, it held only a nonverbal tangled-up ball of solid pain and sadness. While there were no words, there was an image: Kylus’s face.

  “You know I cannot answer you when you ask me why Royal assassins would attack our farm,” his mother said.

  Sylis said nothing.

  “Snap out of it, Sylis!” his mom said. “Get over the boy! Get over Kylus! It’s never going to happen! Just accept that!”

  Sylis looked at his mom. He blinked. He sat up. He reached over to the table next to his bed, grabbed his mask, and fitted it around his head and over his face. He got up and walked to the door of his bedroom.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” his mother asked. Sylis did not answer. He opened his bedroom door and walked out into the hall.

  Sylis walked up the stairs of the Van Rozen house to the third floor, reached a door in the hall, and knocked. The door opened.

  Kylus stood there, looking at Sylis.

  “Hi, Sylis!” Kylus said. Kylus grinned at the sight of Sylis; he could not see the sad look on Sylis’s face through Sylis’s blue mask. “What brings you up here?”

  “I want to date you,” Sylis said. “I’m madly in love with you. I think about you constantly. It makes me very upset that you are asexual so you can’t date me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you for being asexual, and it’s my fault for loving you; you have not done anything wrong. I want to apologize for the fact that I love you. There. I said it. I needed to say that. That’s it.”

  Kylus laughed. “I had no idea you liked me! We can date.”

  Sylis blinked. “What?”

  “I’m asexual. I’m not aromantic,” Kylus said. “I’ve had plenty of boyfriends—and girlfriends too. Not while I was training to be a soldier, but in my youth, in Leree, I dated a lot! I enjoy romance, if it’s with the right person. If we date but we do not have sex, I’m fine with romance. The most I’ll do with you physically is hug, cuddle, and maybe kiss. But the best part of a relationship is the romance and the emotional connection—I think so, anyway. If you’re okay with that, I’d be happy to date you!”

  “Really?” Sylis asked. His jaw dropped.

  “Sure! I like you enough to give us dating a try. You’re the only member of the team I would say that about, too! The more I think about it, the more I know I would probably enjoy dating you, Sylis. You have all those Blue book smarts and knowledge and intelligence which is the one thing missing in my life.”

  Sylis laughed. “I’m a Blue, but I’m not that smart.”

  Kylus gave Sylis a friendly punch in the arm. “Don’t give yourself less credit than you deserve, Sylis! You’re a smart guy!”

  “So you’ll… date me? So, I guess, that means… you and I are dating now?”

  “Yes!” Kylus said, laughing.

  I have a boyfriend! Sylis thought. I’m so happy! But I have never dated before… what do I, well, do?

  “So, I guess that, um, now that we’re dating, we should spend some time together?” Sylis said.

  “Yes, that is probably a good idea,” Kylus said.

  “Great! You and I should do that!” Sylis said. “Back in Tamm I used to play games with my friends all the time—card games, board games, all sorts of games that the merchants sell. Do you play games, Kylus?”

  “Not really, but I’ve never really tried,” Kylus said. “Can you teach me? I can try, if you can teach me how to play.”

  “Yes!” Sylis said. “Kylus, I can teach you! I have some games I bought in the markets in the Central District, but I haven’t really had anyone to play them with. I love games. And I can absolutely teach you how to play. Do you feel like waiting a few minutes while I run down to my room and get some of my card games and dice games, and we can play a game together? Are you busy right now?”

  Kylus smiled. “Sure, Sylis. I would enjoy that. And, no matter what I am doing, I will always carve time out of my day to spend time with my boyfriend.”

  Sylis blushed. “Aw, thanks! Wait, I’ll be right back!”

  Sylis practically flew through the halls as he ran to get some of his games for Kylus, his blue robes billowing out behind him like a blue cape as he ran. The smile on his face was so wide that his grin almost cut his face in half, and the tears that dripped from his eyes behind his mask were tears of joy, not sorrow.

  “All right, team! Let’s go, team! We can do this! We’re going to go steal that Crystal of Light from those priests, and we’re going to get rich from doing it! It will be easy! We’ve got this heist! At the end of this night, all of us will be filthy rich!” Rose said. “We are going to win! This heist will go great! Raise your hand if you’re with me!”

  Yarid, Nathan, Sylis, Kylus and Glorissa were standing together with Rose in the dining room of the Van Rozen house. The curtains were drawn over the windows, but had they been open, a very dark night would have been visible outside: it was the night known as the Darkest Night. The five others raised their hands up in answer to Rose, and she raised her hand up to join theirs. Their six hands were held high, illuminated by the flickering candlelight of the candles on the dining room table. The six kept their hands raised up for a moment, while each one of them looked at the hands of the team raised together in unity. Then they lowered their hands. The night of our heist, Sylis thought. He gulped. This is it. No turning back now! Although I think I reached the point of no return a long time ago.

  Nathan wore his black necromancer’s robes and mask, but the other five had already donned their disguises: the suits of armor of Servants of the Sword, complete with helmets that had a visor which could be lowered to cover and hide the face. Sylis was incredibly uncomfortable: the rules and taboos about wizards needing to dress like wizards and the fact that it was forbidden for a wizard to go out in public without his mask and robes did not magically disappear just because he was going to steal a magical crystal. So he had to wear his wizard’s clothes under the suit of armor. He was packed into his clothes and armor so tightly that he felt like he was a sausage that had been squeezed into a casing that was several sizes too small to fit itself inside properly. He was barely physically strong enough to make the joints and hinges of the armor move. His vision was cut sharply, with the visor down but also with it up and open. His wizard’s mask already always slightly chopped his range of vision, and this Serve-Sword helmet made that even worse. How does a knight move while wearing this stuff? Or see anything? It’s so heavy and clunky and cumbersome and awkward!

  “Are you sure I can’t just wear my blue wizard clothes?” Sylis asked, addressing the question to no one in general. “I mean, doesn’t the forbidden taboo require it?”

  “Absolutely not,” Rose said. “You’ll be wearing blue clothes underneath your Serve-Swords armor, so the rules for wearing the clothes of your color are satisfied by your conduct. Kylus has told us that a typical Serve-Swords uniform has two components: a suit of iron armor, forged in a distinctive Serve-Sword style, plus a green cloak worn over the armor. However, many soldiers do not wear their green cloaks while in the Barracks: they just assume that they all have green underclothes underneath their armor. We will wear the armor without the green cloak, and Kylus says we should be okay. Kylus will, of course, wear the green cloak, and he will be leading the team through the halls of the Barracks, a place he knows well. The armor is gray in color, and gray doesn’t count for purposes of the rules, so it is as though your blue clothes on underneath are the color that you wear.”

  “Oh, well, all right,” Sylis said. “I suppose it’s okay with the rules, if you say so. I guess I’ll just do what you say, Rose.”

  Rose smirked. “Only good things result from doing so,” she said.

  Sylis could feel beads of cold sweat forming and massing like a small army on his forehead and starting to charge into battle by dripping down into his eyes. I am beginning to soak with sweat because I am wearing two layers of clothes, not because I am afraid of what might happen tonight! Well… maybe I am a little bit afraid. But only a little! I need another bath with all this sweat soaking my robes and mask within my suit of armor, but… too late to have one now.

  “Once we leave the hideout, we will not be coming back here again,” Rose said. “So, when you leave, say your last goodbye to the Van Rozen house. I will remember it fondly: it proved remarkably serviceable to us, despite getting off to a poor start by being literally a giant pile of garbage shaped like a large house. I took the boxes of valuables you gave me and placed them into a safe-deposit vault box at a gnome bank. After we finish the heist, escape, get paid, and go our separate ways, I will give each of you instructions on how you can get the gnomes to mail you your boxes of stuff by parcel-pony to whatever location you go to after this mission is complete.” I’m not sure I trust Rose to handle my things, but I did not have any real choice about that part, Sylis thought.

  “I do not like the fact that the City Guard tracked my final shipment of contraband,” Rose said. “So, when we leave the hideout, Yarid will teleport each one of us a very short distance away, so that no spies watching our front door will see anyone leave. We will then go in different directions, and all of us will meet up at the rendezvous point, from which we will set out with intent to steal the Crystal of Light. The rendezvous point is the intersection of the Imperial Boulevard and the North Avenue, which is a place in the north of Imperia, near enough to see the Temple of Light yet also close to several tall buildings that we can duck behind to avoid being seen while we wait for the other members of the team to show up. I have everything we will need in a magical bag I keep in my robe-pocket: the gnomish hot air balloon, the Dark Wizard’s magic box, and a magic ring that contains the imp-spirit Nathan summoned for Sylis to use to break and solve the combination lock on the locked door in the Temple. We are already wearing the Serve-Swords disguises to get us past the Barracks. We will need nothing else.”

  “Excuse me, but I am not wearing a Serve-Swords disguise,” Nathan said.

  “I assumed that you would know your role, Nathan,” Rose said. “You will raise an undead army and lead it into combat against the Servants of the Sword, so that they open the gate and empty out the Barracks. Did you forget that?”

  “No, I did not forget, but you forgot about me,” Nathan said. “If you speak as though we’re all wearing the disguises, and I am not, it makes me feel left out.”

  Rose glared at Nathan with a stare so fierce it could have cut a man’s throat more efficiently than a dagger. “As I was saying, we are all wearing everything we need, so we need nothing else,” Rose said. “I ask each of you for one final check to confirm you are ready, and then we go. Then Yarid begins the task of teleporting us out, and our heist begins.” Rose looked at the gathered faces. “Well? Are you ready?”

  “I am ready,” Yarid said.

  “As am I,” Nathan said. Nathan seems more shifty and nervous tonight than he normally is… but I guess that’s just his nerves from the heist? Sylis thought.

  Glorissa sighed. She took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled, while the others waited and watched her. Sylis could see Glorissa’s shoulders and body relax and grow less tense as she blew the air out from her mouth. “I will do this thing,” she said. “I will commit this crime.”

  “I’m in!” Kylus said. He was practically jumping he was so giddy and excited. “Can’t wait for it! The Serve-Swords will learn that they let the best soldier in the realm walk out that door, and tonight I’ll walk right back in and steal the Crystal of Light from under their noses!”

  The others looked at Sylis; he was the only one yet to speak. Sylis gulped but said nothing. They all continued to look at him. Sylis’s eyes glanced from face to face: from Rose to Nathan to Yarid to Glorissa to Kylus. Sylis tried to grin, and he managed a small, weak smile, although probably no one could even see it past his blue wizard’s mask and the metal Serve-Swords helmet he wore over his head.

  “I think I am ready to go,” Sylis said. His words sounded hesitant and nervous to his own ears. Come on, be more enthusiastic than that! You have to really mean it! “Yes, I am good to go!” Sylis said. “This will be fun! Nothing will go wrong, and this will be easy! It will be the easiest heist in the history of crime! We have a great team, so what could possibly go wrong? We are going to steal the Crystal of Light and we will not have a single problem! What are we waiting for?” Sylis said.

  Nathan leaned over to Sylis. “You realize you just gave the entire heist bad luck by saying nothing will go wrong,” he whispered.

  “I know,” Sylis said. “But in my heart, I already feel something bad will happen, so I figured I could not possibly make it any worse.”

  “We shall see,” Nathan said. “You might still have made it worse.” Yarid began to glow with yellow light as the elf prepared his fae teleportation magic. “I have not forgotten my promise to say something clever and funny to you right before you and I die together during this mission,” Nathan said to Sylis. “I am still thinking about what to say, but don’t worry, I’ll think of a good joke by the time it happens.”

  “I had forgotten. Thanks for reminding me!” Sylis said sarcastically.

  I will not die tonight. I will just steal the realm’s most valuable magical object from the realm’s most powerful wizard in the realm’s most fortified fortress. This will be fun! Sylis laughed—and then he saw Yarid throw a bolt of yellow light at his chest, the Yellow-magical teleportation spell hit him, he was engulfed in yellow fire, and, just like that, he was gone.