There was a shuffling of feet from the side, and a young woman entered the room from one of the side entrances.

  She had long red hair, blue eyes, and her footsteps echoed softly as she walked into the room. She wore silks befitting any wealthy person, but the difference was that they were in the style of old Avalon, a long-forgotten empire that once ruled and challenged the dragons.

  The lynx stood, stretched like a cat, then leaped down onto the tiled floor. It landed heavily but gracefully, and Darrow even sensed the floor vibrate from the impact.

  The creature almost stood at eye level with the young noblewoman, and she placed a hand lightly on its head, rubbing its fur as it purred.

  “What is it?” Darrow whispered, looking between it and the noble, trying to catch its every movement.

  The giant magical lynx purred once, then growled toward the brothers.

  She followed its gaze, and her eyes landed on the pair of them. An older-looking maid who walked behind her also looked at them, and Damian, whether he liked it or not, recognized her instantly.

  “It’s you,” Damian said, and to his surprise, the young noble nodded back at him.

  “Wait, you know her?” Darrow nudged Damian.

  “Of course,” Damian said, and stepped on his toes.

  She arched an eyebrow at their antics, but Damian pretended nothing had happened and continued speaking.

  The giant lynx beside her turned to the side and seemed to swing its paw at a flickering light in the air.

  “Thank you for healing our injuries at the ball.”

  “She is the one who helped us then," Damian said, bowing, and watched as Darrow followed his actions.

  Oh—ahm—we can’t thank you enough,” Darrow said, and gave a very elaborate bow.

  “Uhm, my name is Damian, and this is Darrow, my brother.”

  “I believe that should be obvious. You two look alike. You may address me as Rellina Vonn Avelon.”

  “May—does that mean we can call you something else?” Darrow asked, and to his credit, he sounded genuinely sincere.

  Rellina giggled. She placed her hand over her mouth and giggled, the only thing stopping her from going any further being her maid, who glowered behind her.

  Suddenly, the expression on the young woman’s face vanished, and her eyes seemed much older.

  The assassin stepped forward. She still held the satchel in her hand, and at the sight of the young noble, she opened it and checked through its contents.

  Rellina extended her hand expectantly, and before she knew it, the assassin handed her two of the scrolls Damian and Darrow had stolen from Lord Greldo.

  The young noble inspected the scrolls. She moved quickly past the first one, but the second she inspected carefully.

  “What are you going to do with that?” Damian asked.

  Rellina looked up at them. She held the scroll tightly to her chest, and for a moment, she was quiet. She didn’t speak.

  “You don’t understand.”

  The brothers looked at each other, then back at her.

  “What did we steal, then?” Damian asked, feeling like they had stepped into something bigger than themselves.

  “This is a long-lost contract holding my family in obedience to whoever owns it,” she said.

  She opened the scroll, looked at it once, then closed it again reverently.

  “We are glad that we can present it to you, but it’s not free. Surely you understand,” Damian told the young noblewoman.

  “What are you doing?” Darrow whispered harshly, his eyes darting from the assassin—who was definitely stronger than him—to the large cat that was lazily watching them.

  “But of course. You did me a favor, and I will pay you for both scrolls.”

  At her words, Darrow visibly relaxed. It seemed like they weren’t in any danger.

  “That would have been nice to know,” he muttered.

  Rellina stepped forward and placed the two scrolls gently on the tray the older woman held, then she continued talking.

  “My family was one of the richest of the continent New Calvassan, but we had to give up all that power.”

  “Because of the contracts?” Damian asked after listening closely, but he still wasn't convinced.

  “Yes. Every artifact my guilds and my noble house in this city get, sooner or later a house in possession of one of these contracts comes and takes the treasure away.”

  “Then why didn't your house refuse?” Damian asked.

  “If we refused, they would have destroyed my house. This was over six hundred years ago.”

  She ignored the lynx, which was still pawing at the air and swiping at the small light, but it seemed to see.

  “Six hundred years,” Darrow repeated, unable to imagine such a thing.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Yes, and that’s why I need you for something else. I will pay you once the job is done,” she said.

  “You need our help. Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why us? You have her,” Damian said, pointing to the assassin.

  “Think of me as a patron, and my request as a test.”

  “I still don’t understand. You’re a noble. surely there are more high-level people you can get.”

  She turned her head and looked at them then.

  “It’s my skill. It’s telling me that you two are much more than what you appear.”

  “No, no, I think there is a mistake,” Darrow tried, chuckling all the while.

  “What is it? A skill? Or your class?” She stepped forward and narrowed her eyes.

  “You must be mistaken. I’m sure we’ve taken up enough of your time anyway,” Damian said and started to turn to leave.

  “I have one of the rarest classes, and I know what it looks like when an inspect skill fails.”

  Damian turned back to face her, and He paused. Darrow’s lounging posture subtly shifted, and he straightened. The smirk that was permanently plastered to his face disappeared.

  “What do you want?” Damian asked and this time calmness usually in his voice was gone.

  “I want you to acquire a scepter from one of the nobles of Targid.” she said.

  “You mean you want us to steal for you?” Damian asked bluntly. There was no reason to go to adventurers when you could buy such a thing unless you couldn't and wanted to get it by other means.

  “I wouldn’t call it that, but if you can do this, I can help you as well.”

  “How?” Darrow asked, his eyes locked on the lynx, which was suddenly rising in challenge.

  “I can protect you. I have seen rare classes before,” she said, and there was a faint smile on her face.

  “Stealing from the nobles is not easy,” Damian said, and to make sure she understood, he nodded towards the assassin beside her and the magical creature behind her.

  “That’s why I chose you. You managed to steal from someone like Lord Greldo. I’m sure you can manage.”

  “What if we don’t accept?” Damian asked, turning to look her in the eye, but the young woman’s gaze chilled him.

  “Your class is legendary, isn’t it? Keep that in mind as you listen to my proposal.” she said and watched for any signs that could give them away.

  There was a moment of silence as the brothers just looked at her and frowned, then they relaxed all of a sudden, and it was her turn to frown.

  Darrow turned to Damian, and the two whispered harshly to each other.

  Once they were done, they looked up, but Damian still wasn’t happy about it.

  “Well then, I am sure we can come to an understanding,” Darrow said, and this time Rellina was the one narrowing her eyes at both of them.

  “Bring the scepter back, and I’ll make a deal with you that’s equally beneficial.”

  “Why is it so important?”

  “I will tell you that once you bring it to me.” She looked at Damian, her words challenging him as well.

  "And where is it now?" Darrow asked.

  "Word is the lord Targid has it in Archevium."

  “Stealing from a noble of Archevium is hard, you know that, right?”

  “I know,” she said, turning back to Darrow.

  “Ah—okay then. We’ll be off to prepare,” Darrow said, dragging Damian along. He wasn't sure they would be helping this noble steal from another noble, but then again, this noble knew their secret, and a noble with a secret was like a balloon ready to pop.

  They had to tell Aunt Cass or even get her advice and help.

  As they left, the assassin suddenly reappeared behind them and handed Damian the satchel, now empty of the scrolls.

  Then, as they left, the hallway felt even colder. Maybe they hadn’t noticed it before, but it was very present now.

  They reached the large door, and to their surprise, the old goliath knight who had been guarding it was now standing straight-backed by the door. If they had planned on not taking the deal, then they were sure they would have had to fight their way out of the castle.

  They exchanged a look, and just for a moment, they felt that they had made the right choice.

  The goliath waited for them to approach, then followed them outside into the courtyard silently.

  The spirit carriage waited by the gate outside, and the old half-giant nodded at them, giving the signal to move ahead.

  Damian looked back once. Then, in the next moments, they climbed back into the carriage.

  The gate closed behind them, and the carriage began to move back down the misty road they had used to approach the castle.

  It was long after that that the fog thickened as they got farther away. The driver flicked the reins again, and the castle shrank behind them.

  The spirit horse moved forward smoothly, and Darrow couldn’t help but stretch his back out. Damian, however, was thinking—thinking about how they had gotten themselves into this mess.

  The ride was unnaturally smooth, and that gave them the comfort to reflect on what had just happened.

  “How much do you think she knows?” Darrow asked.

  “I don’t know, but we need to be careful.”

  “Well, that’s nobles for you.”

  “She wants us to steal from one of the most protected cities,” Damian said, massaging his forehead.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.” Darrow tapped him on the shoulder.

  “So, are we going to do it?” Damian looked at him to gauge what he was thinking.

  “We have to. Before Aunt Cass finds out that we let her know about our class.”

  Damian sighed. “You’re right.”

  As the carriage rolled on smoothly, there was a sudden, violent surge of magic in the air. The blue mana lantern flickered, and they both stood up. The driver muttered something inaudible, and the carriage stopped moving.

  The fog swirled briefly, and the driver tried to calm the horses, but they panicked. One moment they were there, and the next they disappeared back into the enchanted holding the driver kept them in.

  The magical mist swirled one moment, then in the next, a magical portal opened right in front of them, and the carriage driver screamed.

  Something massive landed before the carriage, and before the man could scream again, the massive silhouette shifted forward, pulling its long body out of the dungeon gate.

  The creature roared, and the brothers froze. Then, before they knew it, the carriage was jolted sideways. By the time the brothers came to and realized what was happening, the carriage wheels were skidding across the wet stone.

  They braced inside, but the danger wasn’t far behind. The centipede-like creature jumped fully out of the portal, and as it did, the dungeon gate closed behind it.

  It reached out and clawed into the carriage roof, and wood split loudly as they were exposed. It struck the driver and threw him aside, and its eyes settled on them inside the carriage. Its reptilian eye turned to Darrow first, then, as if confused, turned to Damian.

  Its reptilian mandibles clicked, and the next thing the brothers knew, the carriage was being overturned again.

  Darrow cursed. He looked to the side, where the driver lay unconscious and motionless, but the creature had eyes only for them.

  It circled the carriage, and they knew they had to do something.

  “We need to move,” Damian said.

  Overturned as the carriage was, they climbed out and immediately ran for the nearest building they could find.

  Damian tried to gauge the creature’s size, but the fog covered most of its body, and even worse, it seemed to be searching for them.

  It roared once more, then swiped and tore into the broken carriage, metal and wood flying everywhere. When it didn’t get a taste of their blood, it roared again and continued searching.

  “Which way should we go?”

  “Back to the castle,” Damian said, pointing. As far as he could see, that was their only option.

  They hadn’t made it far from the castle—or so they hoped—and the mist made it nearly impossible to tell how much ground they were covering.

  Behind them, they could hear the skittering of clawed feet on stone, and they knew the creature had not been fooled for long. Whatever little time they had bought was gone, and the creature was giving chase.

  There were too many things to think about, but Damian thought about none of them. His focus narrowed when he caught sight of the silhouette of the castle ahead.

  Darrow dared to look back, and the creature burst into view. He stumbled, but Damian was there, pulling him onward.

  They ran. They yelled at the knight at the gate, and before they could even begin to explain what was happening, the gate was opening.

  They rushed inside, and as soon as the gate locked, a great barrier rose around the castle.

  “What—the—hell was that?” Darrow gasped, looking up at his brother, who was also panting heavily.