Chapter 11 - Meeting

Atzi walked towards the arena, its circular colosseum design capable of seating many thousands.

She approached the lizard announcer who also ran the ticket and betting stall. Sprouting from either side of his head were two large horns, and he wore a flashy outfit.

“What’re the fights?”

He jovially shouted, “It’s the big festival tournament, the elimination round! Tonight, we have two wonderful fights planned! The Terror of Tarsus versus the Sostrian Slammer! That’s just the first fight, though! The second fight of the evening is the Nicomedian Carver, versus a mysterious new challenger!”

Atzi weighed her options. Hm… terror sounds more powerful than ‘slammer’. Wait, I’ve got it. “Ten on the mysterious challenger,” she said, putting her money on the stall counter. Anyone mysterious like that has to be a sure bet.

The lizard took her money and quickly stamped a ticket before handing it to her. “Confident! I like it! Here’s your ticket!”

Atzi took it - the mysterious challenger paid out thirty bronze if she won, minus the ten she put in. She stuffed it in a tail bag as she headed up to the stands to watch.

The arena was packed. She could only get a seat in the very back, as far away from the action as possible. She spotted a wandering food seller and flagged them down, getting herself a greasy beetle kebab for a single bronze.

After some time, the accouncer came out onto a private balcony built into the stands. He shouted, “Lovers of violence and money, are you ready to win?!”

The crowd screamed. Atzi sank into her seat. It’s too loud, I’m just here to win money…

“Then get ready for the fight of their lives! In the east, we have… the Terror of Tarsus!”

A huge horned man - at least eleven feet, tall for even the ‘half-giants’ of Tarsus - stepped into the arena. He held a spear and ornate shield. Several more spears were on his back. His armor was also carved and intricate, looking closer to something ceremonial than anything used in battle. All his equipment was made of bronze.

Wait, I should have bet on this guy!

“Aaaand in the west, we have… the Sostrian Slammer!”

Out stepped a human woman with a fierce look of determination, wearing good looking iron armor. She also had a shield, and a morningstar.

“Remember what they’re fighting for folks! Winner of the whole tournament gets two hundred gold! That’s two pounds! But no killing- or else you’ll need to pay a penalty of ten! Surrender or knockout! And… begin!”

The woman rushed towards the half-giant. In response, he pulled back his spear and threw it.

She tried to deflect it with her shield, but it pierced directly through, forcing her to abandon the ruined scrap of metal.

Yep, it’s over.

She reached him and slammed her morningstar into his leg, drawing blood. He did not even grab another spear. Rather, he simply lifted up a boot and stomped on her- twice when she tried to struggle back up.

“Wow! And the Sostrian Slammer is out of the fight already! That was fast!”

I knew Terror would beat someone called Slammer! Ahh, I should have bet on him. Well, the mysterious newcomer will make me even more money, for sure.

The Terror left while the Slammer was carried off by arena crew. Several other helpers splashed buckets of water over the ground to clean the blood. She got a second kebab while she waited for the next fight to begin.

“And now… in the east, we have… The Nicomedian Carver!”

A mustached man covered in scaled armor stepped out. Rather than the usual melee weapons, he held a bow. He was already nocking an arrow, its tip spiked with barbs. There was a sword at his hip, however.

“And in the west we have the mysterious challenger! If they win this match, we’ll give them a nickname! They refused to tell us where they’re from, but let me assure you, they swept up the testing fights to join!”

They stepped out and Atzi recognized them. It was the strange person she had seen running from the guards, with statue-like sculpted limbs, and an unblemished face. They had no armor whatsoever, nor any weapons or tools, just the same robes Atzi had already seen them in.

Maybe a mage’s experiment that got loose? So weird.

Many in the crowd made confused noises or laughed at the lack of weapons or armor. “While the arena has seen hand-to-hand fighters before, this is the first one confident enough to go without armor! And… begin!”

The Carver drew back his arrow. Atzi watched the statue-person, true to their appearance, stand there unmoving. Do something!

The arrow flew. The statue-person caught the arrow midair, and snapped it in half. The crowd went silent… then erupted into an overwhelming roar of cheers.

“Yeah! Get him!”

The mysterious challenger rushed forwards, so quick to Atzi it looked like they traveled faster than the arrow, just a blur, and stopped just in front of the Carver, a hand pulled back - not even a fist, but a palm.

A strike, and the Carver’s head rolled off from his body.

Atzi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The statue-person shook the blood from their hand, and walked towards the fighter’s exit, a vague look of disappointment on their face.

Atzi shivered.

The cheering suddenly became a lot quieter. The arena promised blood and violence, but death was uncommon.

“W-wow! They must be confident about winning because they'll need to pay the penalty!" the announcer tried to save the situation.

Atzi got out of her seat and shuffled back down the arena steps. This is why I don’t fight. Imagine if that had been me! She collected her winnings, twenty bronze up.

Coin pouch heavy, she headed back towards the rich district for the meeting. She went up and down the spiked fence, once more. Once I’m rich they’ll let me through the front. As she approached V’s mansion, her thoughts turned towards Cory. Atzi was terrified. And excited. This time…

Her thoughts were interrupted as she passed by a party-in-progress. Various well-to-do people surrounded a tall man in a fancy black outfit draped in red ribbons. They all seemed distracted by his words. She surveyed all the fat purses available for the taking…

I… I… no, I can’t be late. I can’t risk it. My entire future hinges on this moment.

I’ll be back to rob them after the meeting.

Atzi hurried to the mansion. The guards took her dagger again, and patted her down just to be sure. They even dug through her tail bags. "Gettin' all handsy... easier last time..." she grumbled as she made her way in.

“On the right,” she heard a guard say. Atzi turned towards the dining room door. It was still closed, and she could hear indistinct voices on the other side. She pressed her ear to the door.

“And what, we’re supposed to forgive her?”

“You are supposed to work with her.”

They do still hate me. What do I do? Atzi deeply scratched one claw into the other. She felt like she was going to be sick. Should I lea- no, I can’t… Atzi slowly opened the door and peeked her head in.

Three people sat at a long, ornate dining table. V stood in front of it. All heads swiveled towards her.

“Welcome, Atzi,” V said.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“H-hey V… wow, everyone’s here already…” Atzi gave a nervous laugh.

Paulina scowled at her. The green haired woman had burn scars running up the right side of her face, gained through the previous job on the bank.

Atzi flinched, looking away, towards another - Aelia. For reasons she didn’t understand, the blonde haired thief was wearing the priestess robes of the Saintess. She had never been religious before. Her eyes looked towards Atzi with pity.

Fence was there too - last time they hadn’t really been part of the crew, just a helper and supplier. Atzi wondered what they had done to get a seat at the table. They gave Atzi a wave.

Where’s Cory?

Atzi stepped inside.”Um… where should I sit?” Then she felt a shift in her weight, and heard a jingle behind her.

She spun around quickly, coming face to face with Cory - she was smiling. She was always smiling, just a tiny tweak of her lips at the edge to make you wonder what she was so satisfied about. Her gray eyes squinted a hint, and she held up Atzi’s coin pouch between two fingers casually, playfully shaking it. Atzi took it all in, her short yet messy orange hair, her midriff top exposing her abs, her toned legs.

Atzi gulped down her poisonous drool. “Cory, y-you came back.”

Still smiling, Cory said, “Coraline.”

But she always let me call her Cory. “Coraline, can I have… that’s my…” Atzi gingerly pointed towards her coin sack.

Cory shrugged. “Mine now.”

Atzi twisted her claws together. “That’s fine! We’ll have a lot more soon anyway!”

Cory ignored her and sat down.

Atzi quickly darted over, taking the last empty seat at the dining table, next to Fence.

V cleared their throat. “Good, we’re all here. No questions until I’ve finished.” They took out a large leather map and unfurled it on the dining table. It spread out to reveal diagrams of the bank.

The interior of the entrance floor was about the same as Atzi remembered it - a waiting area, a front counter desk, and a door back to the office of the Braneki in charge. A ramp led down the basement. She scanned her eyes over it, reminding herself.

It was the basement that differed. There was an entire guard office, plus labels for ‘patrols’ going around long islands of miniature safes. In front of it all, visible from every angle, was a large vault door, behind which their collective prize awaited.

The map had several other labels. Biggest was the vault door - ‘New Lock, Blood Magic’. Scattered throughout were notes of ‘magic alarm’ and ‘scrying point’.

“The hells are those?” Paulina pointed at a ‘scrying point’ label.

V looked at her. “If you interrupt me again, you may leave.”

Paulina went silent with a sour expression. Atzi could hardly sit still, but felt terrified of making too much noise, settling into a constant fidget.

“After last time, the bank has invested in new security. They have doubled the number of guards patrolling and added scrying-based alarms in addition to the regular ones. The biggest change, however, is the vault itself. It’s been reinforced such that explosives are no longer a viable solution, and requires the blood of the bank manager or higher ranking employee to open.”

Atzi clicked her claws together as she snuck a glance at Cory, who was studying the map intently. She was a blood mage, trained in the swamps of Artaxta.

“Coraline will be in charge of harvesting and preserving the blood of the bank head without her noticing. Aelia shall be disabling the alarms using tools I have collected. Atzi and Paulina will work together to covertly disable the guard patrols without them noticing anything is wrong.”

Paulina’s hands tensed, and she looked ready to kill Atzi on the spot. Atzi hunched over to avoid her gaze.

“Fence will assist me in disposing of evidence and keeping away passerbys. Once all other aspects of the job are complete, Fence will be in charge of collecting the gold, using this.”

V laid a bag on the table. Atzi had no idea what it was.

Cory looked at the bag, then up at V, eyebrow raised.

“Yes, Coraline? You may speak.”

“That’s a Universe Call. Where did you get that?”

“From the same place I got your book.”

Coraline went silent.

Is this a big deal? This level of magic talk was so far above Atzi, it was hard to tell apart.

Paulina stared at V. They addressed her, “Paulina, you have something to say as well?”

“Why the fuck would you put us working together?” she jammed a finger in Atzi’s direction. Atzi flinched, looking downward. “Why is she on this job at all! Why-”

Atzi curled her tail around the back leg of her chair, gripping it tightly in fear.

“You two are working together because I believe you are the best for this part of the job. As for why I invited her in the first place, it is for the same reason I invited all of you. To make up for the past. In truth… it was not entirely Atzi’s fault, what happened.”

Atzi looked up, staring intently. V! You’re the best! I don’t even care how much you terrify me right now!

“For coming up with the plan, it was my fault. For not verifying the device properly, it was Coraline’s fault. For not working more quickly, it was Paulina’s fault. The only person who performed their job flawlessly was Aelia.”

Aelia sat up a little straighter.

“Let us put the past where it belongs, and replace it with something better.”

“My fault?” Cory interjected, still smiling. “V, you fat-assed little fucking-”

Oh no, they’re fighting again. In the past, it was always V and Cory who argued the most, jockeying over control of the group. Atzi had always sided with Cory in the past.

Cory finished her string of insults, then said, “Tell them, Atzi!”

Atzi looked between the two, fidgeting in her seat. “The device was fine. I-it wasn’t Cory- Coraline’s fault.”

“Oh? Then you are saying it was your fault?” V asked, ignoring Cory entirely.

Biting her lip, Atzi said, “It… no, it, in the moment, it just… can’t we focus on this new job instead?”

V hummed. “Very well. But you two…” They glanced between Cory and Atzi. “Insult me again and I’ll halve your payout for each unkind word.”

Cory stood. “I-”

“The book will be the first to go.”

Cory let out a frustrated sigh and sat back down.

Aelia raised her hand. V nodded towards her. She seemed to collect her thoughts before asking, “...is there anything else?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you don’t really need us for this kind of thing. You probably have better people you could work with now. And we haven’t done anything together in ages, not to mention the… internal issues.” She looked towards Atzi.

Atzi whined.

“Is there something going on you’re not telling about? Another aspect to the job?”

“If you do not trust the job is real, then you may leave. There shall be no repercussions for leaving, save no further work from me.”

Aelia remained seated. Atzi glanced at the door, where she knew heavily armed guards were standing on the other side, and remembered how paranoid Valentine had been back in the day. Would V really let someone walk away, knowing all this?

“Good. Any final questions before we move onto the prework?”

Fence spoke up. “Yeah! How much?”

“By estimate, over fifty thousand gold currently. Even split, six ways, eight thousand three hundred and thirty three gold each, or more.”

Fence pumped their fist. “That’s more like it!”

Atzi had to stop herself from drooling all over the table. Then she tentatively raised a hand.

“Yes, Atzi?”

“The… guard work. What do we know for pulling this off? How many?”

“Ten guards total. Two outside, two on the entrance floor, six in the basement. You will be granted a potent, fast acting sleeping poison. The guards exchange locations on a regular schedule. After taking out the guards outdoors and slipping on their armor, you will be rotated inside. An additional rotation will occur fifteen minutes after, sending you downstairs. From this point, you will need to take care of the other two sets of guards there with you. We will handle the ones that come outside.”

That’s crazy! I can’t do something like that! It’s too much! Wait… my entire future hinges on this. I don’t want to give this up! I just need to find a way… Atzi mutely nodded.

“As for the preliminary work, there are two halves to it. First is the blood harvest. Coraline, Fence will be helping you with your job. You can have one of Atzi or Paulina as well, the other is with me.”

Atzi looked at Cory expectantly. I stuck up for her, so it means we’re good. It definitely means we’re good.

Cory glanced her way. “I pick Atzi.”

She doesn’t hate me! She did nothing to hide her excitement.

“The second part of the preliminary work will be learning the guard patrol’s keywords. Paulina, Aelia, you two shall work with me on this - we shall discuss the details after this meeting. We will need to finish these by tomorrow night. If there is any trouble, withdraw. If we need to push the job back a day, we can. But no more.”

V looked at the gathered group. “Dismissed.”

As people began to leave or stay behind with V, Atzi caught up with Cory. “I can’t believe you came back… it’s been a while…how are you?”

Cory glanced around the mansion. “Okay. Not as good as V.”

“...yeah, seeing this place, I couldn’t believe how well they landed. I didn’t keep up with anyone, after it all. Well, Fence still gave me jobs sometimes, but-”

“I know.”

She knows? She wanted to know what I was up to?

Atzi almost forgot her dagger as she left, running back to grab it from V’s private guard before running back to Cory. “What are you gonna do with your big pile of gold?”

“I don’t care about the gold.”

Atzi looked at Cory skeptically. “But you always said you needed way more…”

“Yeah, well” - Cory rolled her shoulders - “things change.”

“The book, it’s a magic book, right? You’re getting that for helping out?”

“Yeah. V… I don’t know how they got it, but they showed it to me. It’s real. That thing is worth… I’m not sure you could even put a price on it. Maybe half a share of the job, if you found someone to sell it to.”

“F-for one book? No wonder mages are so paranoid about their security. Then again, where’d you even fence something like that…” Atzi vaguely recalled the missing spellbook posters, and a notice from Brea’s office with a title about a stolen one. She scratched the scales on the back of her neck. “Is that the one on all the posters?”

“It is.”

“Wow, the mage they stole it from must be going mad.”

Cory looked Atzi in the eyes. “Do you trust me?”

Atzi’s tail swished back and forth. “Of course!”

She held Atzi’s claws in her hands. “I mean really, really trust me? Life or death?”

“I… I…” She could do almost anything to Atzi right now, and Atzi would say yes. “Yes, I do.”

Cory exhaled. “I think Aelia was right - there is another aspect to the job. I think V’s going to betray us. I want to betray them first. Atzi, will you help me steal the spellbook?”