The Scepter Heist (The Dragon Rogues Book 2), page 17
Jonathan turned to Elizabeth. “I need you to keep practicing with your facade. More than just moving with it. I need you to test different layers.”
Elizabeth nodded.
As he looked over to Matthew, he felt as if they were too poorly prepared. It was one thing to have an idea of what they needed to be doing, but they were dealing with a lack of information. They had to do something dangerous, he suspected.
He might have to go after Heziah simply to find answers.
Chapter Eighteen
Jonathan still had not found any sign of his sister, which irritated him. He needed her help, and he wished he could simply summon her. He swept past the palace, his gaze lingering along the wall, but he didn’t see any indication of her. When he was here before, she had come to him quickly, as if anticipating that he was here. She had made some comment about her ability to know where he was and when he was coming, so he assumed that the same would be said now.
The other possibility—and it was one that Jonathan tried not to think about—was that Heziah had somehow gotten to her. He didn’t think that was possible, but what did he really know about Heziah? Only that he was a powerful sorcerer. His sister was one as well, so she should be safe. He hoped.
If this was about revenge on Jonathan, which he suspected was Heziah’s primary focus, then it made sense for Heziah to be a threat to Jayna. She had been a part of forcing Heziah into exile, though as far as Jonathan knew, Heziah had no idea she had been involved in that.
Jonathan circled around the palace and made another pass before heading back toward their home. He had no intention of staying out here tonight, or any night in the future. Not with the potential for danger.
The city was quiet, which normally he would not mind. At least, not these days. There was a time when he enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city, the chaos of everything around him, but those days were long past. He passed several shops, all of them closed at this point. Otherwise, he didn’t even see any other people.
As he walked, he found himself drawn toward the Society house. The domed structure was easy to find. It was located near the center of the city, though not situated as centrally as the palace. The building was enormous, almost as massive as the palace itself was.
The Society house was made out of an ancient stone and exuded a sense of magic. There were sculptures situated on either side of the door, which Jonathan suspected were meant to be activated by those inside as some sort of defense mechanism. The wall around it was engraved with intricate markings—enchantments that would offer another measure of protection.
The building was said to be impenetrable. From what he could tell, and what he could feel, it truly was. It was the kind of place that he would never consider breaking into. There was no point in it, mostly because success would be impossible. Jonathan didn’t like taking jobs that were doomed to fail. He preferred opportunities where he could not only succeed, but also get away without anyone having any idea that they had been robbed.
He paced alongside the building and made a circuit around it, his gaze lingering on it. He drifted past for a moment before turning and moving farther along the street. Jonathan was careful, not wanting to draw any sorcerer’s attention to him. It was better for the Society not to know that he was staking it out, so he made a loop around it before heading back out into the city.
Even as he did, he continued to glance back at the Society house. Getting in wasn’t going to be easy. Jonathan had come up with a basic outline of a plan, but that was all it was at this point. An outline. What he needed now was something more distinct and definitive. They might be able to go through the front door, but depending on what protections were there, they would need to have a plan in place for dealing with any of the magic that might be there. Yes, the front door was an option, but it wasn’t a good one.
How would we get in, then?
He thought about Grayson and the lessons his old mentor had once given him. “Sometimes the obvious answer isn’t the easiest one. Always look for easy, kid.”
Jonathan remembered that conversation well, as he had been sitting inside the tavern they used as a meeting point—a dirty, run-down place that had terrible ale and even worse music, but there was something comforting about it. He remembered it because it was a time when Grayson had referred to him as a kid, but there was real warmth in his tone. Jonathan had suggested a complicated plan, and Grayson had objected.
“So how do you find the easy way?” Jonathan had asked.
“Like I said, it’s not always obvious. If it was obvious, then anybody would find it. You have to dig a little deeper.”
Jonathan smiled at the memory. Grayson was still out there. And unless he managed to overpower Heziah, he wasn’t sure he would ever figure out what had happened to Grayson. That was the other part of everything Jonathan intended: learn what Heziah had done to Grayson.
Obvious isn’t always the easiest.
Increasingly, Jonathan was convinced that “obvious” was what Heziah intended for them. If they went through the main entrance of the Society house, they would pit themselves against sorcerers, which was probably what Heziah wanted. Heziah had not specified how they should go in, though. He had only mentioned that he wanted them to break in and retrieve something.
There had to be another way in.
That might be something he could get from Jayna, if only she were willing to share.
Jonathan headed back to the Sorcerers’ Society and paused for a moment, looking up. It was growing dark. Jonathan could make out lights in the windows. The lights were probably magical, perhaps some sort of enchantment, but they looked almost perfectly natural. A light like that would be valuable, though difficult to carry. Still, he didn’t notice any movement inside the building.
If they were to break in at night, they would be able to do so under the blanket of Elizabeth’s facade, but even a facade might not be effective against the Society. Sorcerers would be attuned to the possibility of magic, even Elizabeth’s kind, so he doubted that her facade would be effective against them. It might hold for a little while, but eventually it would fail and they would be revealed. A better option would be to come in with enchantments created by a sorcerer, but even those might not be enough. If he were to use enchantments that could mask their presence and then add that to what Elizabeth could do, it might be enough.
Might.
He hated the uncertainty. With the kinds of jobs they did, and his responsibility for keeping his people safe, uncertainty would only put them in greater danger. Jonathan was not willing to do that. Not only that, he had to have a plan in place where they could get in and out as easily as possible.
He leaned back and stared at the house.
“I could get you in there.”
Jonathan jumped at the voice, then glanced over. It was Elizabeth. “I was just thinking about you,” he said.
“Were you?”
He nodded. “I was thinking about whether a facade would even work in a place like that.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Well, to begin with, we know the magic is similar, though not necessarily the same. It’s possible they would have a way of detecting when you first used it.”
“But if they don’t, then we could sneak in and get past them,” she said.
“We could,” Jonathan agreed.
“You don’t think it’s possible, though?”
“I don’t really know.” He looked out at the emptiness of the street. “I’d like to think that we will be able to use everything we can in order for us to get past, but I simply don’t know.”
“I don’t like this,” Elizabeth confided.
“I don’t either.”
“When he had me, he talked about trying to find a scepter. I forgot about it until now.”
Jonathan glanced over at her and frowned. “A scepter?”
She nodded as she stared into the distance, doing the same thing Jonathan was. “That’s what he kept saying. He was looking for a scepter.” She shrugged. “I don’t really know why, though. It doesn’t fit Heziah, does it?”
“Not particularly. If he was going to use anything on anyone, it wouldn’t be a scepter. It would be magic.”
“That was my thought as well,” Elizabeth said, “which is why I started to question it. Maybe he’s referring to something else as a scepter. You know, some sort of magical term.”
Jonathan’s mind raced through the possibilities. “You might be onto something.”
“I might be?” She smiled. “So… What do you think it means?”
He let out a heavy sigh. “I have no idea. I keep turning it over in my mind, searching for answers, but I can’t come up with anything. I’m not exactly interested in pulling a job that’s going to guarantee our capture, so I’m trying to come up with an alternative. Besides, whatever he’s after is probably dangerous, and I definitely don’t want Heziah to have something like that.”
“Something relating to sorcery?”
“I’m sure,” Jonathan said. “I’ve been trying to find my sister, but that’s like finding a pebble in a stream.”
“I think the saying is ‘a needle in a haystack.’”
“In this case, it’s a little different. There are plenty of sorcerers around the city, and I can feel them using magic.” Too often for Jonathan’s liking. “But finding a particular sorcerer is difficult, and my sister is one of the most difficult ones to find. I have gone by the palace more times than I can count, looking to see if I will catch sight of her going in or out, and have not seen anything. It leaves me thinking that either she’s not there, or she wants to make it seem as if she’s not there.”
“Or she just knows you’re coming,” Elizabeth said.
He snorted. “Maybe that’s all it is.”
“How would you stop Heziah without her?”
“That’s just it. When it comes to sorcerers, it’s not easy to neutralize them. Oh, I can come up with plenty of ways to get away from one, even to evade their magic, but neutralize?” He shook his head. “That implies something altogether different—not only stopping one attack, but keeping them from attacking again.”
“What about your sister?” Elizabeth asked. “How did she become one?”
If anybody else were to ask, Jonathan wasn’t sure that he’d answer. He had come to know Elizabeth, and he felt far more comfortable with her than he did with anyone other than Matthew. Well, and Grayson, but he still had no idea what had happened to Grayson. That was one more reason that he wanted to defeat Heziah, if only so that he could find out what had happened to his friend. Heziah would tell him, of that Jonathan was certain, but if Jonathan wasn’t careful enough and wasn’t fast enough, there was a real possibility that Heziah might do something to Grayson before Jonathan had a chance to save him.
“She became a sorcerer because of me,” Jonathan said. “She had talent. The problem was that she didn’t have the means to learn about that talent, nor did she have the opportunity to study.” He tipped his head, nodding toward the Society. “The sorcerers limit access to their training grounds. It’s expensive, for one, and unless you know a sorcerer or have some connection to them, they aren’t willing to train you.”
“How did she get in, then? Did you know a sorcerer?” Elizabeth said.
Jonathan grunted. “If I knew a sorcerer, most of my jobs would have been a lot easier than they were.” He smiled. “What I had was a particular set of skills. I was willing to use them, especially when it came to Jayna. I took jobs that were probably not the right ones, and yet, at the same time, I knew what I might be able to gain in doing them.”
“You worked for the Society?”
“Not directly,” Jonathan said. “And to be honest, I don’t even know if I was doing jobs for the Society or for somebody who made it seem as if they were from the Society. The jobs were difficult and dangerous, but I still did them.”
“I suppose any job they gave you would be dangerous.”
He grinned. “I was able to save up a considerable amount of money. When the time was right, I presented her to the Society.”
“If you did that, then why is she so upset with you?” Elizabeth asked.
“She doesn’t know I did it.”
“You kept it from her?”
Jonathan nodded. “I didn’t have much choice. I didn’t want her to know what I was doing, and I didn’t want her to be angry if she learned about it. She needed to believe that she had gotten in on her own merit. And she had, at least mostly. But the problem was that nobody gets into the Society on their own merit. Not really. Even her.”
Jayna was skilled, so she had every reason to be admitted to the Society on her own, but what he had done was given her an advantage. She needed it.
She was one person that he had never intended to betray or keep anything from, but she also was the one person who couldn’t know that her entire existence was tied to the kind of work he did—the kind that she despised.
“So you lied to her,” Elizabeth said. There was a hint of frustration on her face. “You still haven’t told me why she doesn’t like the type of work you do. Doesn’t she know about it?”
“That’s a very different question,” Jonathan said.
Jayna had her own distinct view of morality. The kind of work he did didn’t fit into her notion of what was right and wrong. In her mind, everything he did that involved stealing was wrong.
But what choice did he have all that time ago?
It was difficult to remember what it was like when their parents had still been around. Their family didn’t have much money, and he had not had any opportunity to take more traditional lines of work. He had gone down the only path offered to him.
“Why not tell her what you did?” Elizabeth asked. “If she cares about you, it seems to me that she would want to know.”
“Oh, I’m quite certain that she would want to know, but the better question is whether or not she should know.”
“You don’t think it would help her think differently of you?”
Jonathan shrugged. “I don’t want her to think a specific way about me based on what she believes I have done. Anyway, we should get moving.”
“I could get you inside the building,” she said.
It was the same thing she had said when she’d first found him, and he realized that she’d been holding on to a facade for most of their conversation. It had become increasingly difficult to tell with her. There were times when he could figure out that she was using a facade, but there were also other times when she didn’t show any sign of strain. He found her progress impressive.
“I don’t think we need to go that route quite yet,” Jonathan said, smiling.
“I’m not your sister. I know what role you have. I know what you’ve been doing.” Elizabeth’s facade started to slip, as if it were a candle getting ready to be blown out.
“We should move,” he said again.
“I can do this.”
“I know.”
The door to the Society house opened. Two sorcerers walked outside and looked across the distance toward them. Jonathan could feel their magic, though he had no idea what sort of power they were using. Likely, they had felt something.
Which suggested that they were aware of Elizabeth’s magic.
Perhaps his team needed to be testing the limits of sorcery. Jonathan had no idea what limits the sorcerers had, or how much they might even be able to detect. At this point, the only thing he knew about their limits was that they didn’t have any. How much could they perceive?
A simple facade might be enough magic that sorcerers could pick up on it, or perhaps they weren’t aware of it. Maybe there were layers of facades they couldn’t pick up on.
Jonathan and his crew were running out of time. The longer it took for them to come up with a strategy, the less likely it was that they would be able to complete the job. They simply needed to do it.
He touched Elizabeth on the elbow and guided her away.
“Why are we leaving?” she asked.
“Because you already proved something for me,” he said. “You proved that the sorcerers are fully aware of when you are using your power out there.”
“Why would that matter?”
“Because you weren’t using all that much. At least, I don’t think you were.”
He glanced over his shoulder back to the Society. The sorcerers had come out because they’d detected her, or maybe there was something else. The amount of magic Elizabeth would’ve been drawing on for her facade was significant for her, but subtle and faint for a sorcerer.
How are we going to get around this?
They couldn’t use enchantments. Not if they wanted to avoid the Society detecting them.
Elizabeth still held on to her facade while she walked next to him, and although he could feel the cool, tingling sensation along his arms, he didn’t detect much.
“What’s your hurry?” she asked as she kept up alongside him.
“I’m not sure about all of this,” Jonathan said. “I thought we were going to be able to use enchantments or your kind of magic to break in, but I’m starting to question whether that would even be possible. Maybe I was a fool for thinking it was an option. But if they can pick up on your faint ability here, we aren’t going to be able to do it this way. I’m going to have to come up with something else.”
“A different kind of magic, or a different way in?”
Now that Elizabeth said it, an idea came to him. He should’ve been thinking about it before, but he had been distracted and not thinking clearly. At this point, Jonathan no longer knew if Heziah wanted them to succeed, or if he preferred that they fail.
He grinned at her. “How about both?”
Chapter Nineteen
Jonathan studied the paper in front of him. The layout of the Society house was scrawled on it, and he was looking for anything that would help him figure out a plan, but anything he came up with seemed to be much more dangerous for them. They would have to deal with magic and different attacks, and pretty much anything would put them into the kinds of risky situations that he hoped to avoid.
