Chapter 12 - Blood

Cory held Atzi’s claws in her hands.

Atzi glanced to the side, racking her brains. But she already knew the answer. “...Okay.”

Cory leaned in close.

Is she…? Atzi froze.

But all she did was whisper, “Thank you,” before letting go of Atzi’s claws.

Atzi fidgeted. “Ah-uh, Coraline, is there any way we can do this and still do the job…? I really need the money.”

Cory crossed her arms. “I'm not going to take the risk of stealing from V and then doing the job anyway. And without me, I don't know how the vault opens. But that's all assuming it's real anyway. It's too good to be true, isn't it?”

“Yeah…” Atzi tapped her claws together. “Well, I kinda only bought up enough time in an inn I’m staying in until after the big pile of money I was about to get.” Atzi gave a nervous laugh. Here’s my chance. “Where are you staying…?”

“Oh. Someplace.” Cory waved off the question. “Let’s talk about the important part, how to pull this off.”

Atzi scratched her arm. I should focus on the details. Then Cory will be impressed with me! “V’s place has a lot of guards on it at all times. Not to mention where it’s situated. Do you have any idea where they keep the book itself?”

Cory laughed. “You’re thinking too much like V would, Atzi. You can’t play things their way and expect them to work out. We don’t steal it from them without them knowing! We get them to bring it out, snatch it, and run.”

“S-snatch and run against someone who knows us?” Atzi’s tail drooped down.

“Yeah, well, we’d need to leave the city after.” Cory took off her- no, Atzi’s- coin pouch and held it forward. “Since you need money so bad, here’s your down payment. And after we succeed, I’ll give you five gold.”

Atzi took her money back. “So… we’d be running off together outside the city after this?”

Cory gave a mischievous grin. “That’s right.”

Atzi’s tail straightened out. Maybe this isn’t so bad. Actually, this is great. In fact, this is the best decision in my life!

“Atzi?”

“Right, sorry.” Atzi hummed. Focus! “For getting the book out, given how much the guards are looking into it, I doubt V's bringing it out easily. There's too much risk in it being noticed or checked. Maybe if they thought it was unsafe to keep it at the mansion?”

“That’s an option, but a little complicated. We’ll call it plan B.” Cory hovered her hand. “Plan A is I demand V proves to me they still have it before the job.”

“What if V only brings it out in the mansion with all the guards around?”

“Oh, they probably will. They're such a worry wart.” Cory rolled her eyes. “They'll show it to me from a distance and there'll be several guards on standby. Same as last time, when I accepted this job. The difference is... you'll be nearby to snatch it from them when they do.”

“So we need both a distraction and a good escape route…” Atzi rolled her tail. “Are you gonna do the distraction?”

Cory nodded.”I have a spell just for this situation.”

It’s just like old times, discussing a job. This is great. “When, then? Night before the vault job?”

“Yeah. We need to still get the blood from the bank head first, or V might not believe my bluff. I could fake the blood with someone else's, but that would require getting Fence on board… and I don't trust them.”

“Kind of a shame we're not doing the job, just imagine all that gold.” Atzi sighed. “Fence is definitely not gonna screw up the bank job. Needs it as much as I do.”

“Yeah. Hells, they might run to V the second I suggest the plan to see if they can't get an extra gold or two.” Cory gave a disgusted look at the ground. “Greedy little thing.”

Atzi shrugged. “Fence almost likes me and they'd sell me out for a bronze coin in a heartbeat. It's just how they are.”

Cory looked up at her. “Meet me and Fence tomorrow evening at their shop. After we have the blood, then we'll pull the heist on V.”

“What’s our escape plan after we have the book?”

Cory hummed. “Ah, I’ve got it. There will be parties going on here at night. We slip into one and once V's guards are mired, run out.”

“What about exiting the city?” Atzi twisted her claws. “Definitely gotta hide which gate we leave by, or use the wrong gate and circle around the city walls…”

Cory waved her hand. “Secure a rope to the inner city wall this afternoon. It will give us a vantage point to figure out our exact exit on the fly. Of course, pick somewhere the guards won't notice right away.”

Atzi nodded. “Got it.” She looked down, thinking if there was anything else she needed for the plan to work. For her new life with Cory to start.

She heard a clack, and turned her head to check, seeing a small rock settle against a wall.

That’s not good. If someone heard us…!

She turned back to Cory- gone.

I was just being diligent. Why did she have to trick me like that? She’s so awful sometimes…

I wonder if I steal the book well enough, she’ll let me sleep with her?

Atzi headed back to the inn and slept, alone. Part way through the morning, she awoke to a deafeningly loud chanting. Wait, someone’s not trying to burn down the place, right…? She quickly got dressed and padded downstairs, but no one was there, other than Marco in the kitchen. She heard the chanting coming from outside, so she peered out the broken boarded window.

She watched as a twelve foot tall woman with two massive horns jutting from her head hovered by. On her shoulder perched a giant two-headed crow. The Crow, god of Tarsus. Following her was a contingent of guards, ten feet tall and diligently holding up swords that looked almost as big as them. Just behind the guard were a blindfolded group of priests and priestesses, chanting loudly. Some were horned half-giants, and others humans.

Atzi groaned. Keep it down! After they passed by, she headed back upstairs and continued sleeping.

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Only come the afternoon did she finally wake up properly. She yawned in greeting to Marco once downstairs again. “Where’s Hemm?”

“She said she was going to the administration building.” Marco reheated her some biscuits.

“Why?”

“To complain about the guards not guarding her place.” Marco looked sad. “People are still harassing potential customers to keep them out.”

Atzi scoffed. “Well, good luck to her, but they're not gonna listen. The guards are all assholes.” She clacked her claws against the counter. “What even happened to Vance and, uhhh, Larry or whatever his name was? Did they really go to the temple?”

Marco served her the biscuits, but before he could respond, the door of the inn opened. Atzi turned around and saw not Vance, nor Hemm, but someone else she knew.

Paulina scowled at her.

Atzi winced and turned back around quickly, staring at her breakfast. Why is she here?!

Paulina did not say anything as she took the seat just beside Atzi, staring at her.

“...H-hey, Paulina… you eat here, too…?” Atzi knew she didn’t, but was trying to break the tense atmosphere.

“Fuck you.”

Atzi quickly stuffed a biscuit in her own mouth, chewing as she stared down at her plate.

The green haired woman leaned in, such that Atzi couldn’t avoid looking at her. “I didn’t get to say this last night because V’s a control freak, but fuck you. Fuck you for this.” Paulina pointed at the burn scar on her face. “Fuck you for everything.”

Atzi swallowed. “Th-the device wasn’t-” she started, but realized she took responsibility so Cory wouldn’t get blamed. “Um… maybe this job will let you pay a priestess for the scars?”

“Fuck you!” Paulina screamed in her face.

“Sorry!” Atzi pushed away her plate and got out of her seat, back away. “Sorry, I’ll… I should, um, busy day…”

“I don't want to fucking work with you! Last time it was the scar, this time it's gonna be my life, huh?! Maybe I should take care of you right now to save myself. Self defense.” Paulina remained seated even as she issued her threat.

Atzi held up her claws defensively. “I… soon you’ll never see me again, just, um… look forward to that…?”

Paulina got up. “Fuck you! Quit the job!”

“I didn’t ask V to hire me!”

“Yeah, well, you should just turn them down!” Paulina stalked forward.

Atzi backed up further. “I need the money!”

“You’re scum! Trash! You can’t even do the job!”

“I can! I-” Wait, I’m not gonna be doing it anyway. She’s gonna hate me even more. Or less, because I left? Who knows. Atzi noticed Marco had retreated into a corner. “L-let’s not cause a commotion here, wh-why don’t you get lunch and I’ll… I’ll get out of your hair.” She slinked towards the door.

“Fuck you,” Paulina said again, but didn’t follow, letting Atzi reach the door. The last thing she saw before leaving was Paulina turning towards the cowering Marco. “Get me a drink. Now!”

Atzi fled. How did she find me there? Did she follow me? But she put it out of her mind. I… won’t even be going back there. It’s the blood theft with Cory, then the book theft with Cory, then my new life with Cory… She smiled stupidly as she made her way towards the market stalls to buy rope.

She approached a merchant who she saw had some. “I’d like to buy some rope-”

The merchant grinned widely and got directly in her face, close enough his messy purple hair touched her forehead. She backed up. He practically screamed in her face, “How much rope?!”

“Guh!”

“Fifty feet? One hundred? Two hundred?!”

“J-just fifty!” The wall wasn’t tall enough to need more than that.

The merchant laughed. “Just three bronze, then, good customer! But if you buy one hundred, it’s a discount! Five bronze!”

“I only need fifty!” Atzi pulled out three bronze from her pouch and handed it over, before grabbing her rope and fleeing. What is with that guy…?

She headed over to the slums - she knew the area the best - and looked for a good place to secure the rope. While the foundation of this part of Sostra had long ago fallen out, the walls were well maintained.

After finding a good spot, concealed by foliage so nobody would stumble across it accidentally, she padded her way sixty minutes over to the nearest guard tower. She snuck inside, climbing the spiraling staircase. While there were still a few guard patrols she had to be on the lookout for, it was much lighter than usual. Good thing someone took care of the guards, hahaha!

Once she made her way to the top, she checked that the coast was clear before running back over to her spot. She secured the rope around a parapet, double checked that it didn’t stand out too much at a casual glance, and then took the rope down. Better to test it now to make sure it can support our weight.

It was a good thing she did, because she noticed part of the rope was overly stressed halfway down. So she climbed all the way back up, untied the rope, and pulled it up, re-securing it below the bad section. She found no more problems when she climbed down.

If he wasn’t so annoying to deal with, I’d yell at that merchant for selling me a shoddy rope. What if I fell and got hurt!

It was almost evening, so Atzi headed towards Fence’s.

Cory nodded at her when she arrived. Atzi waved at her, smiling dumbly.

“Hey, pay attention!” Fence clapped their claws in her direction.

Atzi focused back towards the job. “I am!”

Fence shook their head. “Great, now we can get to business. What’s the plan?”

Cory spoke up. “Bank head stays all day at the bank, only leaving to go home at night. She has plenty of guards in both places, so it’s inbetween we’ll need to catch her.”

Atzi waved her tail. “She probably lives in the same district, yeah? Still gonna be a lot of heat there for any obvious stuff.”

Cory nodded. “Right. Also, we can’t just… beat her up and take her blood, for example. Then she’ll know something is wrong and the bank is locked down too tight.”

“So how do we get it? An ‘accident’ where she gets hurt?”

Cory held out a hand to Fence. “Your claw, please.”

“Yeah, sure.” Fence casually offered their claw.

That’s supposed to be me!

“Do you feel anything?” Cory asked after holding Fence’s claw for a few seconds.

“I feel like I’m going to charge you for it if you keep touching me.”

Cory withdrew her hand. “Now watch.” She waved and a stream of blood suddenly appeared, circling above her palm.

“Wow…” How did she do that?

Fence rubbed their claw and shuddered. “Creepy fucking mages…”

Cory casually spilled Fence’s blood against the ground. “It’s a spell called Mosquito’s Bite. She’ll never know. All I need to do is touch her for a few seconds. Consecutive.”

“What if she recognizes you?”

Cory shook her head. “She’s not the same bank head as when we got caught. So unless she memorized our faces from the wanted posters, it’ll be fine.”

Atzi paced. “So... we need an excuse where you're in close contact with her.”

“More than an excuse. We need to get her to want to touch me.” Cory leaned back. “Otherwise she might suspect something is up.”

Atzi eyed her, giving a dumb grin. “Maybe if we stuck you in a skimpy-”

Fence leapt and struck Atzi over the head.

“Bugeh!”

“That would only work on you,” Fence said.

“W-well what’s your idea, then?”

Cory laughed. It was like the sweet song of birds. Not that Atzi particularly liked birdsongs, but she would if they sounded like Cory.

Atzi sighed happily.

Fence stuck up a clawed finger. “Everyone loves money. Especially a banker. What if Coraline said, ‘You dropped this’ and handed her a gold.”

Cory arched an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering your money, then?”

“Fuck no!”

Atzi shook her head. “Her whole job’s being paranoid about money, I think she’d smell a rat.”

“Wait, I’ve actually got it!” Fence clapped. “You take something from her and she grabs you to take it back.”

Atzi thumped her tail. “Or screams and calls for the guards. Well, she’d do that either way. Suppose she has a good grip, too?”

Cory hummed. “It’s not a perfect plan… but I’m sure I could get out of her grip at least. I’m very flexible.”

Atzi drooled, before snapping back to attention. “So, Fence and I as backup in case anything goes wrong?”

“Yep.” Cory nodded. “You’ll need to distract her personal bodyguard too - just one, though.”

Atzi considered Paulina yelling at her. She shook off the urge to shiver.

“Oh that’s easy.” Atzi put on a fake grin. If that’s what Cory needs, then I’ll make sure that guard is distracted! “I’m good at pissin’ people off.”