Koyl led me along the side of the warehouse to the location of the broken window which, as he had predicted, was boarded up from the inside. The glass had been cleaned up quickly, but some shards still remained around the edge of the wall. Koyl gestured to the window with his eyes, and I pressed on the boards experimentally. Fairly well secured, I thought, I wonder how they have it attached on the other side.

“You want this done quietly, right?” I asked, glancing over to Koyl.

“I figured you would smash it,” he shrugged. “If you can take it off without making noise that’s better for us, though.”

“Give me a few minutes then,” I replied, and turned my focus back to the boards. There were four, each around twelve centimeters wide and fifty long, not counting the obscured parts where whatever manner of fastener used was securing them to the wall. Laying my hand flat on the upper-middle board, I concentrated and formed a structure for external force magic. I never really considered doing something like this before, but it should work, I thought as I pulled the board towards my hand. Then, in an opposite motion, I began pushing inwards.

At first, nothing happened except the wood flexing. Then, with only a slight squeaking sound, the board began to slide inward. I kept pushing, slowly, until I felt it come free. The force magic kept it stuck to my hand, allowing me to rotate it and pull it out through the window. Four long nails, clearly made for affixing things to stone, were still stuck in it. I'm surprised these didn't make more noise coming out, I thought.

“Interesting,” Koyl grunted, watching as I gripped the board properly with my fingers and then cancelled the magic effect. “I didn’t know you could do that.” Handing him the board, I set about removing the other three. I could see that the room on the other end was dark inside, so it was unlikely anyone would be entering. A few minutes later we set the boards down against the building and climbed through the broken window. Looking back, I could see that the window frame was wooden, and had several holes in it from nails. I also spotted a lantern on the wall by the door, but instead of lighting it, I decided to use my own magic light.

“So where are we going?” I asked Koyl, who was staring at the magic light above my head.

“Uh, there should be a hallway outside this door,” he explained. “It winds back and forth through the building, and if we follow it to the back we should find the storage room.” As he spoke, his eyes kept going to the magic light, then back to me.

“How do you know that?” I asked. Koyl blinked again, looking back to me, then shook his head quickly.

“I got led back about halfway-” he said, stopping abruptly, brow furrowed in confusion.

“What?” I prompted.

“When did you learn how to do that?” he asked, looking at the light. Is that really an appropriate question right now? I scoffed, giving him a disapproving look. “Right, sorry,” Koyl muttered, “I thought I was hallucinating it back in Vehrehr. Just… turn it down a bit before we leave.” At his request, I decreased the glow of the light until it was just barely above the luminosity of a torch.

We followed the hallway, making sure to be quiet in case there were any guards about, until we reached the back of the warehouse. The stone construction of the building was both useful and not. Any noise echoed through the whole hallway, but the acoustics were such that the sound did not reach the interior of any of the rooms, at least not without a significant loss in volume. After the last turn, the hallway had three doors on its left and right, each metal and presumably locked, and a seventh door at the end.

“Alright, well, let’s open up the first one then,” Koyl whispered, walking to the first door on the left. Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out a device that was unmistakably a primitive lockpick and began fiddling with the door. How much did that cost him? I wondered silently, maybe he blew all his money on it which is why we’re here today instead of later. With a thunk, the lock on the door released, and Koyl slowly pushed it open.

The room was certainly a storage room, but exactly what it contained was a mystery upon first viewing. We both entered quickly and shut the door behind us, then turned to the numerous crates stacked on shelves along the walls. Under my light, I could read some of the labels, but none of them contained actual words so much as coded shorthand and numerals. Primitive serial numbers, I realized, so they should follow some pattern. I reached out and cracked the lid on one of the crates, then recoiled at the smell that wafted out.

“What?” Koyl hissed as I made a racket with my footsteps.

“Bones,” I replied, gesturing to the crate, “they’re quite fresh.” Koyl walked over and I opened the crate again, revealing evenly spaced rows of thick bone packed with salt. The serial number on the crate was, if I were to translate it to a Latin format, something like ZTAH-02. Considering that the Uwrish word for skeleton was ztahveymeyl, the label made sense.

“Try another one,” Koyl suggested, directing me to a nearby crate with the label JHPEY-14. I popped the lid and, unlike the first crate, was not assaulted with a terrible smell. The crate appeared to contain a number of small leather pouches, and Koyl gestured at me to help him move it onto a more open area of the floor so he could examine it. He picked a pouch at random, opened it, and squinted at the contents.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Bring the light over here,” Koyl instructed, and I lit up a second orb near my hand to give him better visibility. The pouch looked to contain some kind of ground-up plant. Koyl smelled it, then reached inside and took a small amount to taste it, slipping it under his mask.

“Spices?” I suggested.

“If spices can get you high, then yes,” Koyl replied. “This is a drug, it helps people sleep.” Putting the pouch down, Koyl dug deeper into the crate and retrieve another, then popped it open. His eyes went wide, and he quickly touched some of the powder inside and then brought it under his mask, taking a deep whiff.

“Znahdeyvtih?” I asked, my nose picking up the familiar smell.

“Definitely,” Koyl replied, quickly stuffing the pouch into his tunic.

“Still legal though, isn’t it?” I asked. Koyl shrugged, then began digging deeper into the crate.

“Depends on where you are,” he said, “it’s legal in Klehkah if given by a temple or a royal herbalist, but somehow I doubt Dkehpmz has either. Look, this one is tertihl.” Koyl held up another pouch which had a more granular powder. Though it was hard to tell under the mostly purple glow, it looked green. “This isn’t legal in Klehkah, in fact it’s not legal in Uwriy at all unless you’re in the navy.” Koyl continued, “It looks like the pouches on top are mostly innocuous, and the ones deeper in are contraband.”

“Let’s check the other rooms for money,” I suggested.

“Are you crazy?” Koyl laughed breathily. “This pouch alone is worth at least a hundred ngoywngeyt if we can sell it. Let’s just grab some of these, seal the crate back up, and get out of here.” Oh no, I know where this is going, I thought, remembering exactly why Koyl was banned from work with the Steelheart Company.

“Do you have a buyer in mind?” I challenged. Before Koyl could even respond, I kept going. “Do you know where we could go to sell it safely? How illegal is it to sell this? What is the punishment for being caught? This isn't Vehrehr, do you know people here who can deal with this sort of thing?” Koyl opened his mouth, then sighed and grabbed a few more of the pouches.

“I’m still taking some,” he muttered. “I can’t believe you’re being so risk-averse.”

“If you want to get yourself into legal trouble, do it after we get out of this city,” I advised.

“Oh it’s a bit late for that,” a voice said from the direction of the door, and I felt as though my blood froze in my veins for a moment. My head whipped toward the voice and the man it belonged to, who had just entered the room with a lit lantern. I blinked my magic light out, but I wasn’t sure if he had seen it or not.

The man was small and, more surprisingly, alone. His face looked lumpy, as though his features were made mostly of spherical shapes under his skin, and his near-shaven brown hair was contrasted by a long, bushy beard of the same color. His eyes, also brown, were locked onto Koyl and me, and he pulled on his buttoned shirt to flatten it against his round belly. No weapons? I thought quickly, scanning him, but as he began to walk I could tell he had something strapped behind him on his lower back.

“My, you are a big one,” the man drawled in a strange accent. “I would’ve expected a man like you to make a bigger noise busting into my warehouse at night. But perhaps you’re just the muscle, and your friend over there made the plan. Is that right? Say, boy, didn’t I see you earlier today?” The last comment was directed past me at Koyl. The masks sure were worth wearing, I thought sarcastically.

“Don’t kill him,” Koyl advised, “that’s Dkehpmz.”

“And why is that a reason not to kill him?” I asked, already drawing my sword and advancing. The sooner he’s dead, the sooner we get out of here, I thought, he’s the only witness, we can get away cleanly. Dkehpmz clapped his hands twice, and there was the sound of moving feet outside the open door. Okay, only direct witness, I revised, there can’t be more than two more judging from the noise. I can take care of them too.

“Oh the only one doing any killing tonight will be me,” Dkehpmz declared, reaching back and drawing the blade I had assumed he possessed. It was a simple straight dagger with an ornate wooden handle.

“Wrong,” I said, running at the man. Dkehpmz clearly didn’t expect my action, because he fumbled his footwork and tripped over himself as he stepped back. His fall was the only thing that stopped my sword swing from splitting his skull, causing it to instead break his left shoulder and throw him to the ground. Miraculously, his lantern stayed lit and in a position to illuminate the room. “We’re killing him and getting out of here, now,” I said, expecting Koyl to still be near the crate. To my surprise, he was standing right behind me with his sword drawn, pointed at Dkehpmz’s throat.

“Where’s the money?” he demanded. A guard ran into the room wielding a metal shortspear, stopping as I took up a position opposite to him. “Don’t move,” Koyl demanded, looking at the guard, “you won’t be getting paid if I skewer him.” Though Koyl was putting up a good front, I knew he probably had no such intent. Or he could be serious, I considered, his disposition changes considerably when his medication is active.

“Put the sword down!” the guard yelled at me, or perhaps Koyl.

“Put the spear down,” I commanded. “I won’t hesitate to kill you.” In fact, if you put it down I’ll kill you anyway, I added silently, you lacking a weapon will just make it less messy. I began forming the structure of an extruded heat magic volume in my head and preparing to grab the man’s skull, but Dkehpmz coughed and spoke up, distracting me.

“Okay, okay, you got me boys,” he sputtered, “but you can’t be thinking you’ll get away with this. I’ve seen your faces, enough of them to identify you anyway, and so has my man here. You can kill us both, but you still have to get out of the building. I’ve got six more guards on the way, and we’re already sent for the city guard to meet you outside.” Probably a bluff, I reasoned, he wouldn’t want the city guard to see the contraband.

“Ngiyvdoym,” Koyl retorted, “you wouldn’t call the city guard for a break-in. Not with what you have back here.” Two more guards entered the room, also carrying short spears, and stood opposite to me in ready stances. I can still take them, but if he actually has three more on the way we need to hurry up, I thought. I didn’t want to look back at Koyl in case breaking eye contact initiated combat.

“Okay, sure,” Dkehpmz chuckled, “but you’re still dead if you try to leave.”

“As are you,” I replied, “you won’t be leaving alive if we don’t.” The middle spear guard stepped forward and tried to stab me, allowing me to pull his spear from his grasp with my left hand. I jumped back, flipping it around into a reverse grip and avoiding two more stabs, then threw it at the guard on the left. Surprisingly, he managed to deflect it mid-flight with his weapon.

“So why don’t we all just calm down and talk this out like men, then?” Dkehpmz suggested. “Put the weapons away, nobody has to die tonight.” What a transparent attempt to save his own life, I thought with amusement.

“We’re taking the drugs,” Koyl said.

“We can talk about that,” Dkehpmz replied. Two more guards entered the room, and I felt my chances of escape dwindling. The disarmed guard had already picked his weapon back up, and I wasn’t sure about my chances of winning without significant injury. And if I do escape, I’ll need food to recover, I thought, I barely have any money left. Will the temple give me food if I’m covered in blood? “Come on boy, even if you manage to kill your way out, that many deaths will mean your head when they catch you,” Dkehpmz said. I knew the comment was directed at me even if I couldn’t look to be sure.

“I’ll be leaving town shortly,” I countered.

“Not with the swarm outside,” Dkehpmz laughed.

“I’ll just climb the walls,” I said, “there are plenty of ways to leave.”

“And fight a bear?” Dkehpmz laughed louder.

“I’ve done it before,” I deadpanned. “I’m stronger now than I was then.” The room was silent for a moment, then one of the guards laughed at me.

“Well shit, maybe I should hire you then,” Dkehpmz joked, “I’ve got a caravan going out in a few days, and my caravan guards all ran off.”

“How much?” I asked. The room suddenly got deadly quiet.

“Are you serious?” Dkehpmz asked after a few seconds. Nobody said anything, then Dkehpmz continued. “Wait, you… Koylzmeyl, right? Didn’t you say you were looking for a guard job? Is this the guy you were going to bring along?”

“What, you want to offer me the job now?” Koyl mocked.

“I don’t like your tone,” Dkehpmz grumbled, “but if it gets me out of this, I don’t see why we can’t come to terms.” Against all my better judgment, I glanced back at Koyl to see him looking more confused than suspicious. Then I looked forward just in time to avoid a spear thrust at my face. I spun around it, advanced past the spearheads, and slashed down with such force that the flesh and bone I struck felt no thicker than water.