Chapter 34
CHAPTER 34
T he Fortuna Vault had no windows, was made of steel, and could only be accessed through a single entrance at the front.
Eleksi and Davron stood on the opposite corner of the bustling Klatos intersection to the vault.
“What are the chances of anyone recognizing you?” asked Eleksi, pulling his cloak’s hood further over his head.
“Do the chances truly matter, at this point?” replied Davron, doing the same. “We need that gold.”
Eleksi’s eyes tracked every person coming and going from the building. “If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to fend off Spider Kings as we pursue Meliohr.”
“Aye. Let us pray this works.”
A pair of armed guards were stationed at the entrance, dressed in gray uniforms and wearing helmets.
“I wonder if the guards at the vault are better or worse fighters than the royal guards,” mused Eleksi.
“Better, I’d wager. An establishment like Fortuna can afford it.” Davron crossed his arms across his wide chest. “What’s our story? What are we telling the guards when they ask our business?”
Eleksi thought for a moment, then chuckled. “We’ll say we’re acting on the orders of a man called Count Zemora. He’s an infamous womanizer throughout the pleasure houses in Klatos and he employs numerous agents to discreetly conduct his financial dealings for him. That’s who we are.”
The prince sniffed in amusement. “I vaguely remember his name. How do you know this, anyway?”
“His wife, the Countess Zemora, once issued a contract on his life and I was assigned the job. She rescinded the contract at the last minute, though. Change of heart.” Eleksi shrugged. “I wasn’t too disappointed. Zemora’s a frivolous, paper-thin man. He would’ve been a hollow kill.”
“Aye. It sounds like we have our cover story, at any rate.” Davron exhaled. “Are you ready?”
Together, the men crossed the intersection, dodging hand-drawn carts and frantic delivery boys and grubby-faced children. The guards hooked their thumbs into their belts as Davron and Eleksi approached.
“What’s your business?” asked one, trying to glimpse beneath the hoods.
“Withdrawing gold,” replied Davron.
His deep, rumbling voice was so distinctive that Eleksi worried he’d be identified by his speech alone. In the caves, Eleksi had privately thought Davron was overly nonchalant about the likelihood of remaining anonymous. Perhaps the prince had been isolated for so long that he’d forgotten how nosy and loose-lipped the average person could be.
The group only had a very short window to attack Meliohr by surprise. That window was rapidly closing. With every moment Davron spent in public, the chances of him being recognized multiplied.
“Name?” asked the other guard.
The guards didn’t seem especially suspicious, but they weren’t lax about their jobs, either.
“We’re in the service of Zemora,” said Eleksi.
The guards exchanged a look. One reached back and opened the door without further query, allowing Davron and Eleksi to enter.
The interior was utilitarian and spare. The bankers sat behind dark wooden desks that lined the unadorned gray marble walls. Davron’s footsteps echoed off the black marble floor. Eleksi’s made no sound.
“Which one is Jarin’s man?” mumbled Davron, his dark eyes scanning the bankers, most of whom were busy with customers sitting across from them.
“Blond hair, and he wears an eyepatch.” Eleksi frowned, unable to see such a man. “He lost an eye in the war with the sirens.”
Davron looked around uneasily. “None of them wear a patch. Not a single eye missing. He might not be working today.”
Eleksi’s attention was irresistibly drawn to a blond man who wasn’t serving any customers. His bright blue eyes were occupied with the stack of parchment in front of him. Now and then, he gazed into space, deep in thought.
The banker didn’t realize he was being watched, at first. Eleksi dropped his energetic cloak and the man looked up suddenly, a small frown on his face. As his gaze swiveled to find the source of his instinctive chill, Eleksi noticed one of his eyes didn’t move the same as the other. He wore a glass eye.
“Come on.” Eleksi led the way to the blond man and stood before his desk. “Selwyn?” he asked the banker.
The man nodded, his stare drifting to Davron, who lurked nearby with his head bowed. “And you are?”
Eleksi leaned forward, using a sleight of hand to dangle the gold pendant for just enough time for Selwyn to register it.
“Jarin sent us. He said you were discreet and that you could help us.”
Selwyn checked left and right. None of his colleagues were paying particular attention, but roughly a dozen armed guards patrolled the room. He turned back to Eleksi.
“I need more than that,” he said. “I’m sorry. You could’ve stolen the pendant.”
The assassin was ready with the words Jarin had shared with him. “Talia of Treatise Bay is your one true love.”
Selwyn’s face flamed bright red, his mouth turning down at the sides. “Aye.” He cleared his throat and bowed his head. “How may I help?”
“My friend requires access to his vault.”
The banker looked more closely at Davron, whose hood still concealed most of his face.
“It’s his vault?” asked Selwyn, as though wondering if he misunderstood.
“Yes.”
“Beg my pardon, but why do you need special help? Any banker could give him access.”
Eleksi wondered how on earth he would communicate Davron’s identity to the banker without anyone else knowing. Whispering in Selwyn’s ear was likely to draw the eye of the guards. They had to pretend to be regular customers.
The prince stepped forward, withdrawing a crumpled piece of parchment from within his cloak.
Wordlessly, he laid it on the desk in front of Selwyn. Eleksi couldn’t read the elegant cursive from where he stood, but he saw the parchment was some kind of official document, with a royal seal and ink signatures.
As Selwyn read, his eyebrows rose higher and higher. Looking left and right again, he hurriedly refolded the document and pushed it back across the desk. His flushed face paled as he regarded Davron, who returned the parchment to the folds of his cloak.
Selwyn rummaged through his desk drawer for a ring of slender brass keys, then beckoned to Eleksi and Davron to follow him.
The vaults were located in tomb-like depths, down a series of stone staircases. Davron had to stoop to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling. The air smelled surprisingly fresh, whistling in through cracks and grates.
Once they reached a landing several floors underground, Selwyn turned to Davron and peered up at him. The prince tipped back his hood and gave the banker a tight smile. Selwyn let out a small laugh of disbelief.
“It is you,” he said in a low, conspiratorial voice. “Please tell me you’re here to topple that vampire, Meliohr. The rumblings about her grow worse and worse.”
Davron’s face was somber, his distinctive features exaggerated in the shifting torchlight. “All I can say is that I need access to my family’s vault.”
“And that you shall have.” Selwyn bowed.
“It’s been a long time since anyone bowed to me,” said Davron with a hint of self-consciousness. “It feels peculiar.”
Eleksi chuckled as they continued walking in the narrow space. “Here’s hoping you’ll have to become accustomed to it again,” he said quietly, so that only Davron could hear.
Selwyn used three keys to unlock a vault, then he opened the heavy steel door and stood back. After a moment’s contemplation, Davron crossed the threshold. He probably never imagined he’d return to this place, thought Eleksi.
The assassin remained outside, practically toe-to-toe with Selwyn in the cramped hallway. From the vault, endless columns of gold and silver glowed like the sun and stars. When Davron mentioned that he had a lot , he had in fact been understating his position. The vault was cavernous and there were enough gold bricks alone to physically build a house with them.
Davron emerged minutes later while tucking two bulging velvet sacks into the depths of his cloak. Selwyn escorted the pair back to ground level at once, not wishing to compromise the prince’s covertness by lingering or making a fuss.
“Good luck,” murmured the banker as he bade them goodbye in the foyer. “And say hello to Jarin for me.”
“We will,” replied Eleksi. “Thank you again.”
On their way out, the guards at the front door barely glanced at them. The assassin felt sure they’d accomplished the first part of their clandestine mission without the prince being discovered.
“Now, pray tell,” said Davron as he and Eleksi swept down the street under a bleak afternoon sky. “How do we summon the Spiders?”