Completed A Thief in the Night

[Rania]

Rania Dazeir was not a violent person, not unless she had to be. When Sung Chei took out the three remaining men with ease, the woman sucked in a breath and swallowed what she had wanted to say. Of course this was to be expected and even the mercenaries would have known that.

Still, to die such a meaningless death was something she was terribly afraid off.

Rania shook off the unease and gave a nod at Sung Chei. "Yes,let's go." She said and followed after him. To trust this person wasn't something she could do yet, but the thief couldn't deny his skill and how helpful it was in their situation. She had come here mostly for self-serving reasons, but perhaps together they were able to do more good after all.

"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish anyways?"

 

[Sung Chei]

"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish anyways?"

"A good thing. I do this and what comes after will be a good, continued existence." He said. "I am a monk after all. What happens when I die is very important to me, and the state of my soul is paramount. And I get to free some poor souls along the way."

Him saying they he was a monk wasn't entirely correct. He was very monastic in his lifestyle, but he wasn't a monk as far as Red Sky Monastery was concerned. But he considered himself a monk, so he was a monk. And he would stay to his ways with diligence.

They entered the basement quietly. The doors hinges had been well oiled so it made no sound, and they were light of foot, making no noise as they trod. Down below, there were eight guards and several cages stuffed with men, women and children alike. Eight guards, an obstacle, but not a problem.

He whispered, "How many can you take?"

 

[Rania]

Rania did not know what compelled people to act in such a way; the thief herself simply couldn‘t relate to their way of life.

To do good for others was selfless, of course, but also a risk to yourself and your own well-being. Rania‘s reasons for coming here were self-serving however, and it appeared that Sung Chei was no different.

He did this more for himself than anyone else, but at least he was being honest about it.

„I‘ve never seen a monk make use of such violence,“ the woman remarked dryly, with a quiet voice and arched a brow. She didn‘t know much about these type of people, but if he was a monk then she was the empress of Amol-Kalit.

Once they made their way through the building‘s countless hallways and into the basement, the tension rose and the hair on Rania‘s neck stood. There were indeed plenty of slaves present, and about eight guards to watch over them all. Freeing that many people and somehow getting them out of here unnoticed was one thing, silencing the guards another.

„Let's do 50/50.“ Rania suggested and drew her bow.

 

[Sung Chei]

„I‘ve never seen a monk make use of such violence,“

"Monks from my homeland are frequently superbly skilled in the martial arts. And they use violence whenever it is necessary. Monks who are raised as monks, and many are, are fully capable of piercing armor with their hands. Monks are by far the most dangerous warriors you will cross paths with back home." He said to her. "Though I didn't get very far before I had to leave."

„Let's do 50/50.“ Rania suggested and drew her bow.

"Sounds fair." He said drawing his swords it was time for death. A throat was cut, a jaw shattered, a heart pierced and a head smashed into a puddle of mush. His work was quick and ruthless, leaving the other four to her.

 

[Rania]

"Ah," Rania responded with wide eyes, simply offering a nod to Sung Chei. "I see." It's her first time hearing of armor-piercing killer monks, but after seeing what he was capable of, the dark haired woman simply decided to take his word for it. She was a sceptic by nature, but also curious and his homeland was unknown to her.

Still, this wasn't the time for idle chatter as they were both still in danger and had a mission to accomplish. With this in mind, the duo continued on.

He worked with quick, fast-paced movements and Rania had to admit that she did admire his efficiency when it came to ridding himself of obstacles. The woman wasn't nearly as cold-blooded, but as the situation called for it she silently dipped her arrows in poison and shot out four of them, until each target had been hit.

Once the guards were out of the way, Rania approached the bodies carefully and started looking for keys to open the cages. If there were none, she could still lockpick them.

"Do you see a key anywhere?"

 

[Sung Chei]

"Ah," Rania responded with wide eyes, simply offering a nod to Sung Chei. "I see." It's her first time hearing of armor-piercing killer monks, but after seeing what he was capable of, the dark haired woman simply decided to take his word for it. She was a sceptic by nature, but also curious and his homeland was unknown to her.

So she wasn't entirely sure about whether he was lying or telling the truth. It didn't really matter much, they were there and they had a job to do. So he needed to focus, and he needed to keep her focused.

"Do you see a key anywhere?"

He looked on the guards and looked around. "No. We'll need to break the locks or pick them open."

He took on of the bandit's swords and tried jamming it between the door of a cage and it's wall, right where the lock was, and with a bit of jimmying he managed to force the lock open, and open the door, one cage down, nineteen more to go. Five people saved, ninety five more left.

 

[Rania]

When Rania spent days prior today lurking in the shadows near this building to spy on the people coming in and out of it, she didn’t think once that something could go wrong. She was confident in her abilities and more often that not, Rania’s seismic sense kept her out of trouble.

The events of the night had shifted into a direction she could have never foreseen, but it appeared that at the very least she had been granted an unwanted partner who at least knew what he was doing – and she could both work and live with that. His true motives were unknown to her of course, but time would tell what Sung Chei really wanted.

“No keys, that’s unfortunate,” the girl mumbled quietly and uttered a sigh.

Lockpicking every single lock–or breaking it–would take quite a while and they were on borrowed time. They risked being found out and attacked, and while the place itself was massive the cages mostly took up all the space. Defending yourself or fleeing from the basement area would prove difficult.

“We have no time to waste,” said Rania and pulled a lockpick from her thick braid of hair. Then, the thief immediately went to work. Luckily those weren’t difficult locks, and it seemed that her companion had his own way of solving this issue. Not one she agreed with, of course.

“Ssshhh!” She hissed at the monk and glared at him through the darkness. “Are you trying to get us caught or something?!”

 

[Sung Chei]

“Ssshhh!” She hissed at the monk and glared at him through the darkness. “Are you trying to get us caught or something?!”

"I doubt that there are many more people here, having a building overcrowded tends to draw attention, and eat up resources. So they need to limit the amount of guards they have for the sake of practicality, and anyone left is liable to be no issue." He said to her, forcing open another cage.

 

[Rania]

„I guess that‘s a valid point,“ the raven-haired woman admitted with a shrug and returned her attention to the cages. She continued to work quietly, but swiftly, and eventually moved from cage to cage to open all of which were left.

The captives didn‘t seem overjoyed to be freed, but that was nothing unusual. Most of them were terrified, had nowhere else to go and feared the slave traders too much to run from them.

In fact, Rania assumed that most of them would end up imprisoned again in due time, as there was simply no helping them. Some people were lost causes.

Once the last cage had been opened, Rania turned back towards Sung Chei.

„I suppose we should guide them out?“

 

[Sung Chei]

„I suppose we should guide them out?“

“Evidently.” He said calmly once the last cage was open.

He lead the way out to the door and kicked it open. They went outside and he turned to his companion. “So we have two options. Leave them on the street or see them to the guardhouse and explain what happened.”

He said then, “if you do not wish to accompany them, then I bid you farewell. I know that someone of your profession would rather avoid law enforcement.”

 

[Rania]

Once the door had been opened, the former captives started moving towards the free world slowly, one by one. It wasn’t a joyful sight by any means, but from a former slave’s perspective Rania truly believed that this was better than being caged. Anything was, even death.

The thief followed after Sung Chei and nodded at his suggestion. “I have no intentions of mingling with the law,” she explained with a shrug. “I did more than I needed to for these people, the rest is up to them – or you, I suppose.” It seemed that Sung Chei didn’t mind giving this a proper finish and was even inclined to do so.

“Good for you, and farewell. And thanks for the help, it was actually,” she paused for a second, thinking about what she wanted to say. “Better than I expected it to be, I guess.”

And if Sung Chei had nothing left to say, Rania would turn on her heel and disappear into the night.