With few cuts and bruises they got in and found themselves in the attic. Zia's eyes were burning with excitement, but Nick motioned for her to stay still. Silently he took few steps on the beam and lay down to take a look between the planks that separated the attic from the top floor.
What he saw made him quite a bit annoyed, 'Did the king do this on purpose? Or is this the regular protocol?'
There was a guard sitting at the table, reading a book under the dim glow of a runic light formation. They already thought of a possibility that there might be a guard or several inside, but the big question was if he was a Qi master. The man had long gray hair and a gray beard and was definitely not a simple person since he was allowed to freely read books here.
Nick carefully positioned himself above the guard and checked on the possibilities how to enter the top floor. There was a trapdoor further away, but it was quite big and most likely it would be impossible to open it without a sound. The planks were nailed to the to the beams and also were hard to move. They only needed one loose plank to get in though, but the guard would definitely notice if they moved around too much.
Kneeling over the biggest gap between the planks, Nick looked at Zia and motioned by pressing his nostrils with his fingers. They both held their breaths and Nick took out a leather sack in a size of a bucket that looked a bit like a balloon. Then he carefully made an incision and slowly squeezed the air, or rather the odorless and colorless gas, between the planks out of it. After approximately two minutes the guard dropped the book on the table and passed out with his head falling on it with a soft thud.
'Thank god he was not a Qi master.' Nick smiled. There were too many uncertainties and risks involved in this endeavor, but for now they were lucky enough.
He started to check the surrounding planks. They could go straight through the trapdoor, but there was a high chance it could have some rune formation guarding it.
After two more minutes he heard a soft knock on the wood. Zia was calling him and it looked like she found a plank with one loose end close to the wall.
Nick carefully cut the plank vertically in three parts, then removed one piece after another. The gap they created was above a shelf and, after checking everything around them, they slowly and silently landed on it.
The man was still passed out and they both continued to hold their breaths. With the diving experience they could easily do it for at least ten minutes and, according to their plan, they should be out of this place by then. Both knew they had to act fast and noiseless, therefore they mostly concentrated on their movement and not that much on the books and scrolls that were stacked on the many shelves around the top floor.
Suddenly Nick got suspicious – this was too easy! This guard had such a high clearance and, although he was old, he most definitely had to be a Qi master! Nick didn't think much more and took out a long and sharp needle that glinted in a greenish color, made a quick step towards the guard and poked him in the arm with the needle. The guard raised his head with a furious gaze and tried to reach for his sword, but then dropped back on the table again.
'Thought so! This old man is as cunning as a fox. He felt that the 'sleeping gas' was filling the room and pretended to pass out to catch the intruder, almost making us get careless.'
They had some several backup plans and Zia was not surprised at the events at all. She knew the guard was paralyzed and not dead.
'Five!' Nick showed her five fingers.
Five minutes was the minimum time limit in which a skillful Qi master would be able to wake up. Zia nodded and they proceeded towards the staircase.
Nick's theory was that on the first floor would be mostly cash as it was only logical for it to be accessible conveniently and regularly to bring in or take out the silver and gold. The main hope was that the swords Zia was looking for were found on the second floor. They would only take a quick look and then immediately leave. In fact, he already completed the king's task and all that was left was to 'escape'.
There was also a risk of more guards being present inside the treasury. Nick was sure there will definitely be at least one on the first floor, but he already got surprised by the Qi master who currently slept soundly on the table thus didn't want to take any further chances.
While taking few steps towards the staircase, both Nick and Zia carefully looked around. On the top floor were stored only books and scrolls – most likely legacy and important documents of the kingdom. The regular books and even quite a few valuable ones were available in the royal library.
Nick was the first to go down. He carefully glanced behind the corner to make sure there were no guards around. There were none, but he wanted to curse anyway. In a dim light of lighting formation he saw that the height of the ceiling was below two meters! Even he could easily touch it with a stretched out hand! It meant only that in the treasury there were at least four floors in total.
The current floor was stacked with shelves again, but this time they were filled with many small cases and sacks. 'Probably alchemy ingredients.' Nick thought and pointed down. They were still holding their breaths and Nick could not verify, but it was a logical guess.
They went straight down to the next floor which to his great relief also didn't have any guards. And to the princess's big joy this was the floor that held the kingdom's most valuable artifacts. This floor also had a sole lighting formation that shone a weak blue light at the neatly stacked items and unfortunately there was no way for Nick to light up a torch or turn on another formation in order to improve their vision.
Nick pointed at his eyes with index and middle fingers, then waved them across the room and then raised a sole index finger again.
'Look around, one minute!'
Zia showed 'ok' sign and silently started to carefully move between the many weapon racks and armor stands with glistering eyes. Since they first started diving together Nick used the signs he was taught while learning how to dive back in the PADI club to communicate with her under the water and now they became even more handy.
He himself didn't really need anything, therefore didn't care enough to look at the treasures that were stored in here. He only prayed that Zia would only look and not touch anything, because there might be some rune formations guarding these items.
Thankfully the little princess kept her hands to herself, but still, she was currently standing frozen, with slightly raised hands and burning eyes, in front of a weapon rack that had a single piece on it. Obviously Zia was fighting herself on the inside to not take it.
Nick didn't intend to let her stand there for half a day, therefore quickly grabbed her hand and pulled back towards the stairs. This time she tried to resist.
Zia gave a pleading look, but Nick, after throwing a glance at the weapon she wanted, shook his head and pulled her up the staircase. After few moments she stopped resisting and they both arrived at the top floor. Then quickly climbed in the attic and moved towards the ventilation opening. Although it might seem they were only few moments inside, Nick knew they had almost reached the time limit. He tied another rope on the closest beam and made sure the patrolling guards were on the other side of the building. Then he dropped the rope and they both silently slid down.
After five more seconds they vanished in the shadow of a nearby wall and only two ropes – one still in the air and another hanging down from the oyal treasury building were proof that the two kids had just entered and escaped unhindered.
After they were certain no one was following, Nick stopped Zia and instructed her to go straight back to her room, have a good rest and meet him later during the lunchtime. It was obvious that the adrenaline was pumping through her veins and surely she won't be able to sleep, but he still had some work to do. They bumped their fists and parted.
As soon as Nick was alone and made sure Zia left towards her quarters, he took off the mask, walked out from the shadows and approached the treasury building again.
"Halt!" A guard shouted.
'At least they are able to notice when someone walks right in front on them.' Nick grinned to himself.
Then he took out the silvery token and just like the king instructed said, "According to the king's orders a training exercise took place to simulate a break in to the treasury. Inform his majesty and the Qi master inside." Nick gave a command.
Guards on duty looked at the child with blank faces. They all knew who he was, it's just what he said made them stupefied.
"It's his majesty's orders! It doesn't matter if you have to wake him up." Nick looked at the seemingly paralyzed guards and got a little annoyed. It was not easy to break in, he was tired and only wanted to go to bed, "Are you sure you can ignore the orders of the person holding this token?"
"So...sorry!" One of the guards finally came to his senses and ran away to inform the king.
"You, take this and feed it to the Qi master on the top floor if he's still passed out." Nick took out a small bottle that held a transparent liquid and passed to another guard, "Oh, right. Do you have any means to call the closest patrolling Qi master? There are couple of ropes we need to take down and we don't want to sound the alarm in case someone finally notices the fake break-in that just happened."
"Yes, right away." Another guard answered and made a strange quiet whistle.
After few moments a man dressed in dark robes appeared.
"What's going on?" He questioned the guard.
Nick pulled out the token again, "We had a training exercise. Please help me to take down two ropes – one is stretching from the building over there towards the treasury and the other is freely hanging on the other side of the treasury building. His majesty will be here in a minute, but he doesn't really need to see the ropes himself."
The Qi master looked at Nick for a few moments, then nodded and disappeared again.
A couple minutes later king Alexander Maxwell showed up.
"So you managed to pull that off after all, hahaha!" He laughed, "Where's Zia?"
"I sent her to bed. I thought you might want to keep this a secret for now." Nick smiled.
"Alright. Show me and explain how you did it and then we can discuss the rest in my study."
They walked around the palace's territory while Nick explained their simple plan. As it turned out, his 'stealth powder' was even more effective than the one assassins used during the assault, so he passed a sample and alchemy recipe to his majesty.
When Nick complained about the old Qi master guard on the top floor, the king got surprised.
"What Qi master? The few Qi masters that are on the duty patrol our grounds, but none is stationed in the treasury house." He furrowed his brows.
They both quickly returned to the treasury's entrance to find a blushed old man coming out.
"Uncle Henry?" King exclaimed.