“Leave the bottle,” Jeena said.
“You’ve already had…” the wench said.
“Leave it I say!”
Harkee nodded to the young woman, and pulled the bottle closer to Jeena. The wench shrugged, shifting her attention to the next nearly drunk customer.
“You were saying…?” Harkee said, and poured another glass. It was obvious that Jeena no longer noticed it was only her glass being refilled each time.
“We had everything planned, was what I was saying. E-ve-ry-thing. Down to the tiniest detail.”
“But it went wrong.”
A gulp, a knock on the table. A refill.
“The energy crystals, you know them? It was the perfect opportunity, what with the bloody things being auctioned. We had a buyer, we had a window. It was going to be fast and subtle.”
“And yet.”
“And yet.”
Slosh. Bang. Refill.
“The guards. At first we thought they were going to use automatons, but no. Automatons would have been easier. But those brute trolls are special, they don’t even flinch. But you know what? They’re curious.”
“That’s a racial…”
“That’s true. A fact. We just had to create a distraction. Two steamcarts crashed by the corner. We knew they wouldn’t move, but half their mind would be attracted to the din. They cannot help it. And that’s what we wanted, because right when the clash took place we broke in.”
“Through the kitchen floor.”
“Yes. From the sewers. Timed to the second, bless Nikaia. After that, the hiss from a pierced boiler hid any noise we made.”
“How did you know a boiler would… Ah.”
Swig. Crack. Refill.
“Next, the magical defenses. Nina took care of them. You should have seen her. She shone. Literally. She stood there, weaving her threads, picking locks and choosing paths. She took her own sweet time, and I was just about to call it off when she almost collapsed and said it was done.”
“Did you leave her there?”
“Who do you think we are?”
Harkee didn’t answer. It was obvious Jeena was alone at the inn.
“We ran upstairs. I’m no sorceress, but I’m experienced enough. I saw the traces of Nina’s work everywhere. The building had been a maze of magic traps. But they were all disabled.”
Guzzle. Smash. Refill.
“And then we faced the puzzle. An automated panel for the last door.”
“Your job.”
“Ha! No. Nikaia has built a… a can opener, though she’d kill me if she heard me call it that. She’s the most skilled artificer, though I’ll deny I ever said that. Anyway… anyway, she rested her device on the panel, and fried it from the inside. A click, and we were inside.”
“Now it was your turn.”
“Yes. The safe was, can you believe it, behind a picture of the auction house. Like in a cheap novel. And the bastard gave us a surprise. He had changed the safe.”
“No way.”
“Yes way. It should have been a Hacker Safeguard 3234, it was an Ironforge GY. Tough beasts. But I’m tougher. It took me exactly forty-two seconds longer to open it. And there it was, the carved wooden case with its own clockwork lock. But I knew the combination. It had… It cost me.”
Chug. Clap. Refill.
Harkee waited.
“The bloody crystals should have been inside. But they weren’t! There was a note. A note! ‘Better luck next time, ladies. The Ghost.’ And it burned up right there, in front of me, and dissolved in the air leaving no trace, as an alarm went off.”
Harkee didn’t wait for her to demand the next refill.
“We bolted away. Barely. And split, because that is what our contingency plans require, don’t you think I didn’t notice you questioning our loyalty to each other. And don’t even dare to deny it.”
Harkee picked up his own glass. He drank and remained silent.
“I’ll kill him,” Jeena said.
“Who?”
“That bloody Ghost. I’m gonna kill him. It’s the last time he crosses our path.”
“But you don’t even know who he is. Hell, you don’t know if he’s a man.”
“I’m sure he is a man. And I’ll kill him.”
Jeena quaffed yet another shot. She didn’t catch Harkee’s smirk.