Erin moved swiftly down the empty hall, her green cloak flying like a flag behind her as she ducked between pillars. The hall was ornate, as would be expected from a noble''s house, even on the Fringe islands. Her mission was simple. She would infiltrate the treasure room of the house, retrieve the documents, and escape. It was a simple in-and-out job that was infinitely more preferable to her last one.


    Glory Plateau. An island turned into a black spot because a madman decided to hold his own personal blood sport for all to watch. Erin still shuddered at the thought.


    That job had been insane. She had run into two outlaws who had helped her escape, and she was thankful for that, but after a few weeks of downtime, she wasn''t sure anymore if they hadn''t just made the whole situation worse.


    "Don''t worry about it now," she whispered to herself as she peered around the next corner. "The chances of seeing them both again is ridiculously small."


    She had orders from the People''s Revolution. If she ever encountered the two men again, she would keep track of them and report back to Leneski everything they did. One man, ''Tin Man'' Ortega, was of particular interest.


    He was an artificially created curse user, responsible for at least two major catastrophic incidents if the World Daily Press was to be believed. Erin knew better than to believe it completely. After all, she had been there for one of the major incidents and knew the real story.


    The other man, ''Sword Saint'' Sayed, was a figure of sorts but not nearly on the scale of Ortega. He had made a name for himself by toppling a few regimes on the Fringes before disappearing into Glory Plateau for a month. However, he was on the loose again, thanks to Ortega and herself.


    At the end of the hall, she spotted the door she was looking for. A man dressed in light steel armor stood guard at the door. He held a halberd in his hand as he leaned against the wall and read a small book in the other. His helmet lay off to the side, and his curly brown-haired head was fully exposed. He was a man on guard duty, taking a break.


    "Alright, Erin," she whispered as she reached into her bag and pulled out a smaller pouch filled with seeds. "It''s time to get to work."


    She opened the clasp on the bag and took out a handful of little black seeds. She closed it and stuck it in her pants pocket. She might need more in a moment but needed a free hand first. She measured out the distance with her eyes. About ten meters separated her and the guard.


    She threw the seeds as hard as she could and ducked around the corner again.


    Ting. Tap. Tap. Tap.


    "Who threw that?" the guard demanded, and she could hear him picking up his halberd.


    "Thorn''s Grasp."


    Inside her heart, her gate opened, and the power in it grew out from the gate and through her body. It wrapped around her muscles and down her limbs until her entire body was suffused with energy. The seeds she had thrown were black-briar thorn seeds, and she could sense them scattered along the floor down the hall.


    Energy flowed out from her and into those seeds. Erin couldn''t see it but could hear the vines scratching and growing across the floor. They crept up as the armored man moved, and she had him ensnared in seconds.


    "What''s this," he said as his halberd clattered to the floor. "Ala—"


    Thump.


    Before he could finish, she had him completely wrapped and dropped to the ground. Erin checked the hall. The guard was on the ground, writhing as the vines wrapped tighter and tighter around him. She smiled. It was easy.


    She walked over to the man as the vines continued to wrap around him and make their way across the floor. He wouldn''t die, but he would be completely immobilized until she was done. She kept her gate open to pour small amounts of energy into the vines as she approached the door.


    The halls were empty except for the guard. So long as she was careful, she would be able to break in, get the logbook, and get out. All she needed was to get through the door without being caught in the next few seconds.


    "What do we have?" she whispered as she knelt and looked at the handle.


    On the white door was a handle cast in bronze, and below that, there was a keyhole for the lock. It looked like a more modern deadbolt style, but it was a noble''s house, so that was expected. She knew that the guards on duty didn''t carry keys. That was part of her research before she tried to break in. So she had to get through the lock with her own skills unless she wanted to try and hunt down the head butler for the estate.


    "Just a little work," she said, pulling out her pick and lever.


    She placed the lever in the keyhole and slid the pick inside. She wasn''t an expert in lock-picking, but it was something that people picked up when they worked for a revolutionary army. She started with the back pin before testing each of the pins in the lock. The middle one clicked in place first.


    Click.


    The sound made her look around, and she had to remind herself that the sound was louder to her than it would be to anyone else. She worked through the pins again and got another click on the furthest pin. One more time, and the lock turned from the pressure of her lever. She pulled out the pick and put both it and the lever away.


    "Okay," Erin whispered to herself. "In and out. Find the book."


    She opened the door a crack and examined the room beyond through it. She almost had to close the door immediately. Two men stood inside the room where they had no business being. One was a big brute, while the other looked more scrawny and wiry. The big one was pulling drawers of shelves while the smaller one was looking through papers on a desk.


    It took her a second to recognize both of them.


    The big one was Sayed. He wore leather armor over a blue shirt now with black pants, unlike his old clothes. Two prominent curved swords were strapped to his back, and his clawed silvered gauntlet was attached to his belt.


    The smaller one was Alexander Ortega. He was a man with dark brown skin and looked much the same as the last time she had seen him. He had his brown leather duster on, though it had several patches on it now that had mismatched colors, and as always, he wore a casual shirt and pants beneath it. The one thing missing was his black staff, which had broken on Glory Plateau.


    "Oh." Alex looked up at her. "Hey, Sayed. Look. It''s Erin."


    "What are you two doing?" Erin hissed at them.


    "Burglary," Alex said. "Albeit unsuccessfully at the moment."


    "How did you even get here?"


    "Through that window." Alex pointed to the broken window behind him.


    "But before that, there is a tale." Sayed laughed as he pulled out another drawer.


    <hr>


    Alex had a problem. Being an outlaw who didn''t rob people didn''t pay much, and he now had Sayed''s appetite to worry about. He sat across the table from Sayed in their booth at a tavern, leaning back on a chair and looking up at the dimly lit candle lantern above their table.


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    Sayed was chowing down on his food. Alex had already finished his own, but Sayed had wanted seconds and thirds. The man could eat enough to sink a small army, and there just wasn''t enough between them.


    "So, about our problem," Alex said as Sayed ate. "We need to find some work or something, or else we''re going to have a hard time out here."


    "You worry too much, my brother," Sayed said as he bit into a piece of bread. "God will provide what we need."


    "We do what we can for ourselves first." Alex shook his head, pulling the note from his pocket that explained why they were in that tavern to begin with. "You think he''s going to show up?"


    "He will be here, brother." Sayed took a swig of his mug. "He has called two men such as us to do work for him. He would be foolish not to come. One does not cross wanted men."


    "Hah." Alex laughed as he looked around the tavern. "Then you have to ask why he''s an hour late."


    There were other people in the tavern, for sure. They were on a small island in the nightsea, one so small that only one tiny landmass formed the bulk of the island. It was a port, for sure, but it wasn''t a major one. Alex hadn''t even gotten the name of it before they hopped off their previous ship. That was when a boy came up with a message that asked them to wait for a meeting.


    The other people in the tavern looked normal, as far as people who sailed the nightsea went. They wouldn''t be out of place in an old sailing adventure movie as extras in the background. The entire place was built almost like one of those B-movie sets before the hero would get out on a boat and sail off into the sunset.


    "What was this place called?" Alex asked, pouring another bit of Black Turtle whiskey into his glass.


    "Last Call," Sayed said through bites of food.


    "Not the tavern. The island."


    "Lastport."


    "Man, they really don''t think about these names, " Alex said, shaking his head.


    He leaned forward on the table.


    "You two must be my contacts," a woman who hadn''t been there a second before spoke, and Alex turned to her immediately. "My apologies for being late."


    She was dressed darkly beneath purple robes, and her hood shadowed her face as she stood a little away from their table. Delicate hands rested on her hips as she looked over both of them. Alex felt like he was being put up for sale.


    "You''re the one who wrote the note?" Alex asked, kicking out one of the four chairs at the table with his foot and motioning for her to sit.


    "I represent the person who sent the note," she said. "Again, I apologize for being late. Our contacts knew you were in the area, but I had to get on a fast ship to get here once we heard back. I only just arrived in port."


    Alex raised an eyebrow. Several islands were nearby in the nightsea around them, all of varying sizes. While large islands were the primary focus of most kingdoms in the nightsea, there were several outposts that also were necessary to get ships from place to place. Lastport was just one of these many islands.


    Alex didn''t like the implications of having that many contacts looking for him and Sayed.


    "And the person you represent is willing to pay us for something?" Alex asked. "What do you want us to do?"


    "Yes," the woman said, taking her seat and scooting the chair forward to the table before placing both of her pale hands on it. "There is an item that my boss wants, and you two are well equipped to obtain it from what we know of you."


    "You wish us to be thieves," Sayed said, stopping his eating and looking down with a baleful eye. "We are not thieves."


    "The item itself was already stolen, to begin with," the woman said, nodding to Sayed. "I would not dare dishonor the ''Sword Saint'' himself by asking him to be a thief. No, you''re going to take the item because it was stolen, and we will endeavor to use our resources to return it to its rightful owner after reading it ourselves, of course."


    "So what is it? Schematics? A map?" Alex asked.


    "A logbook," the woman said. "We don''t know how this noble acquired it, but it details some important events that we want to study. We haven''t been able to find the author himself, so this logbook will have to do until we find him."


    "And the pay?"


    "Two hundred gold dolers," the woman said, pulling out a bag. "Fifty as an advance. One hundred and fifty when the logbook is returned."


    "That''s pretty good." Alex smiled as he propped his face up with one hand.


    "So long as we are not thieves but merely returning the book, yes." Sayed nodded.


    "Give me the details and tell me where I can return it, and we''ll get your book." Alex reached out for the bag, and the woman handed it to him.


    "You will find it in the house of Lord Landry," she said, smiling. "He has his own private estate and small island not too far from here. You should be able to purchase one of the supply boats and get a ride out there. Take back the book and return it to me in one week''s time here, and I will pay the rest."


    "And what if we''re late?" Alex asked.


    "Then you can leave a message for Tania," she said. "The barkeep knows me well and will get the information to me."


    Alex looked over at the man working the bar at the tavern. He was a portly man with a dirty rag in his hand as he cleaned the tables. Alex nodded. That would work. Worst to worst, he would have a network of spies hunting him down if they failed for some weird reason.


    Not that they would. The job sounded easy.


    "Alright," Alex said.


    Tania stood and bowed to them before leaving their table. Alex made sure she was gone through the doors before he turned to Sayed. Sayed looked at him through one eye as he downed another mug.


    "Well, I don''t trust anything about this," Alex said. "That''s way too easy for that high of a price. Any two-bit thugs could break into a noble''s house and get a book."


    Thunk.


    "But would they have the flair we have?" Sayed said, slamming down his mug and revealing the frothy mustache that covered his black beard. "Would they be able to spin a story of a grand heist?"


    "No, but she doesn''t want that," Alex said, shaking his head. "Look at it this way. Why hire two people with our bounties to steal a book? You simply don''t do that. I smell a trap."


    "But you took her money, brother." Sayed pointed out. "Clearly, you intend to go along with the request."


    "I do," Alex said, sliding the bag back and forth between his hands. "There are tabs to pay, and sailing around has its cost. It would be so much simpler if we had a ship of our own."


    "That would have costs as well," Sayed said.


    "But we could sail where we wanted to, to more islands. Right now, we only visit the main ones."


    He didn''t add that those islands would have well-guarded island cores that the rulers of those islands would likely know about. There was only a chance the island core was unprotected on newly established islands. He needed to find more of them if he had any hope of getting home.


    He had been gone from Earth for over five years now. His nieces and nephews would be growing up, and his parents weren''t getting any younger either. Would they live long enough for him to find a way back?


    "We will find our way," Sayed said, raising his mug to the sky. "That is the life we live, brother."


    Alex sighed and shook his head. He didn''t like it, but he would take the job. There was a chance that it would lead to something more. After Glory Plateau, he took an interest in learning more about the world around him. This was the second time he had met someone who had organizations they worked for on Erth. The last time, it was Erin, and he had only gleaned a few details of what was going on.


    "So finish up there, buddy," Alex said, pointing at Sayed''s food. "I''ll pay the tab, and we''ll get a small slipship to take us to the island. Some of the deposit is going to those."


    Sayed nodded and began to devour his food again. Alex got up and paid the barkeep, making sure that he got the change in return. When he came back, Sayed was done, and they left the tavern together. They walked out into the muddy streets and down to the docks, where several slipships hummed as they floated in the air beside massive wooden platforms.


    "A small ship," Alex said, looking up at all the traffic flying in the air.


    Slipships were built like old sailing vessels from Earth, his Earth. The only real difference was that each one had massive stones bound by metal bands sticking out from its sides. Instead of cloth sails, they had shimmering golden light sails that caught light and powered their engines. Slipships came in many shapes and sizes, but they were the only things that sailed out in the empty void that was the nightsea.


    "Come on," Alex said as he saw what he was looking for.


    It would be a small fishing ship, something that gathered the small creatures that existed out in the nightsea and brought them in to sell. Fish was probably not the right word, but it was the closest. The ship was moored on a low dock, and a man sat in front of it, his eyes covered by a white cap as he leaned back on his chair. He wore dirty clothes and smelled of the sea salt around them.


    "You up for sailing?" Alex asked as he approached.


    "Depends." The man didn''t even move his hat. "Where do you want to go, kid?"


    "There''s an island nearby owned by Lord Landry," Alex said. "We''re going out to visit him and talk about a job he wants done."


    "Lord Landry, you say." The man reached up with one burly, calloused finger and tilted up the brim of his cap. "You happen to be sent there by Tania?"


    Alex frowned. "I may."


    "Then, I will sail you out there for the regular rate." The man stood up, looking over Alex and Sayed with sea-grey eyes. "Looks like she was right that I would be getting two visitors today. One gold doler for going there and back."


    Alex liked it less and less as he paid the man and stepped into the boat with Sayed. How many people were part of the intelligence network, and how far ahead did Tania tell him to expect them? Alex was a schemer, a planner by nature. If you left him alone in a room with a problem, the problem would come out of the other side, bruised and begging for mercy.


    However, he couldn''t even comprehend this level of foresight.


    "I had to take the money in advance." Alex shook his head as the old man started up the ship and set course through the air across the sea and toward the dome that separated them from the nightsea.


    The ride to the Lord''s island was an easy one, and it hadn''t taken much for the old man to get them to the docks. A quick cover story, and they were on their way, up the steep cliffs that surrounded the manor and onto the grounds themselves.


    All in all, it was too easy.