Chapter 15: Louis

In no time at all, today became the big day. I had no idea it was supposed to be the day of Princess Harmony's wedding, rather it had been learned from overhearing people talking about it in the streets. Being the gentleman thief that I was I chose to say nothing. We tried to sleep as late as possible, given how late we were probably going to be awake tonight.

We missed lunch, after all the work we did to set this grand theft up it didn't surprise me. We had an early supper and then began to prepare ourselves.

Clothing was dark brown shirts, with black slacks had shoes. We wore long tan overcoats on to further obscure are appearance. Underneath we had fitted black shirts and pants that were easy to move in, dressing in all black while walking around was a sure way to attract attention.

"Double check that everything is here and in place." I told harmony as we rolled up our tools in cloths and placed them in plain duffle bags. I shouldn't have been so nervous, but I wanted to give Harmony the gift I got her. Strange that I was more nervous about this handoff than I was about the impending heist.

"Here." They were just wrapped in simple brown paper, but I hoped she loved them.

"What's this?" She asked quizzically, taking the package from him. With an open them jester, she slowly pulled at the paper, a curious half smile on her lips.

"No good thief goes without his gloves." I told her as she pulled out the soft black leather gloves. They were simply designed with minimal stitching to allow for as much give as possible. More importantly, I had them embroider pale green wind symbols, matching her magic.

"Their wonderful" Warmth filled me, and relief was second as I no longer was so worried that I got someone so important what amounted to trash.

Leather goods were not fashionable in high society, commoners used leather because it was common after all. So aside from rare full pelts or furs, only a few high artisan goods made it to the ballroom floor. There was no way for Louis to know that he was the second person to give her such goods. Xavier had been the only other, a solid leather belt, ideal for storing pouches and things for when she would escape. She had ben young her first birthday with her new guard, who felt that she should have something practical. It sat on one of her selves since she had obviously outgrown it.

"I'm glad you like it, since this will be your first big score. Also, fingerprints are a thing to." I told her. "So, gear up."

She smiled brightly delicately placing the gloves on her hands. After flexing slightly getting a feel for it, the princess looked at the gloves beaming.

"Now I feel like a real thief." A quick victory poses before she resumed packing up.

That almost killed me, she looked so adorable. The girl was not in the cute category, more elegant and dignified, with tall looks both noble and regal befitting her lineage. Strange hair colors weren't uncommon in nobles either. Mana had all sorts of effects on everybody. Mana marks, left over from when mana cause minor discolorations in skin, to strange hair patters were par the course. I had simple brown hair and eyes, so her luscious silken lavender locks and those gilded almost hawk like eyes were stunning examples of the effect of mana on her body.

It was no wonder she was such a powerful mage.

"Let's head out than." One of the things that tended to be left out, when one recounts the story of a theft was how long it took. The daring moment when he attempted to switch out the real for fake items. A guard on alert after a minor slip up, did they notice me or not? Those are what made for a thrilling segment in a story.

Slowly plodding along, your arms getting tired from carrying a bag full of climbing equipment, the general bored nervousness as you walked to your target was not. That and other activities, such as setting rigging or pins, climbing or scaling, waiting for the night to deepen took up far more time than normally mentioned in the real story.

Which is why when arriving to the museum, more waiting off to the side for the rest of the people to leave, awaited us. Sun slept, people wandered, guards yawned, and we made a few stupid comments to ourselves to pass the time.

"Is it time yet?" The princess did not wait well I had discovered. To be expected, no one kept a woman waiting if they wanted any peace.

"Not quite." I replied waiting some more. Honestly, I wasn't certain when the right time was, I was more hoping to impress that I had some mystical knowledge, so the royal would fall for me.

I gave it a random count and said now was the time.

"East wall is our goal." We wondered along the fence line; our target was a shorter wall just before the loading dock. It was ideal because a small tree and bush sat there, which would obscure us. Scaling walls is one of those things that looked easy, and in our case it was. From the base of the wall Harmony used a short blast of wind to launch us up. The wall formed the edge of the magic wards and detection range.

Getting down was easy if a bit more disconcerting since it wasn't a short wall. Landing wasn't much trouble after dropping our bags ahead of us. Hiding behind the bushy tree we scoped out to see if the guards were patrolling at all. They did patrol rounds every hour, but it wasn't uncommon to walk around to alleviate the monotony. After a clear signal we slowly moved forward. This time we were heading for the joint between the storage warehouse connected to the loading dock, and the museum proper. There was a nice corner there that had all sorts of shrubs and greenery present. It was here the real work began.

Lady Harmony was holding up well. Her posture was clearly nervous, but she didn't speak or ramble on. Other than darting about trying to look everywhere at once, you wouldn't think this was her first time robbing a joint.

Safely tucked away after struggling through the plants to get to the wall, there was an audible sigh from the princess, it seemed she was more wound up than she showed.

"Rig up." I said, it was almost too dark to see, so we pulled out a small red light and sorted ourselves out. Swapping the pins and hooks needed for the outer clothes; one last quick check to make sure no one was coming before we started to work.

Things weren't as easy as simply pinion in clip a rope and scale. These walls were not stucco or any rough surface that you could scale simply. The pins were special made to mechanically remove materiel and screw into the walls. Screwing the first one in and attaching the foot hold to it, each pin took time to place. Despite this it wasn't a completely quite operation, after I placed first two, we waited quietly for the walking guard pair, before we started hoisting up.

I was grateful the blacksmith didn't switch or change the design, the material also made it easier to drive. Since the force of our weight was redirected to the pins below, it was a simpler task to drive spikes into the wall as we climbed upward.

Not exciting method but an effective non magical way to get to the roof. Leaving Harmony's bag behind we took mine and unclipped before softly walking across the gravel surface. Various structures required for the building were present, vents, pipes, and connections for the plumping systems, a few strange looking items that were twisted were part of the magic systems in place at the gallery.

It was easy to walk around them. There was a simple over reliance on magical means to protect things. For instance, all the motion sensors on the building were at the roof accesses points. Nothing would detect two people walking across the roof, if one ignored the hatches and doors, it was simple to walk past. It was probably deemed unnecessary as the umbrella of magic that covered the building included malice detection.

Unless of course someone placed relays hidden in various places that would conceal malcontent that is.

Since there was no indication of taking or attacking the magic grid, it just sent things to the filters on the magic circuits before they broadcasted back. No one would notice our intrusion or our ill intent.

As we approached the target building, there was some ledges and lips to crawl over.

"No magic." I whispered; she had a habit of using small bits of wind to make clambering over things easier. I got an annoyed look for my troubles.

"I know." She hissed back before approaching the glass domed skylight. As a show piece it was placed in the middle of the room, directly under the sky light to allow ample tourist to see it. On the gray pedestal coved by a crystal glass box to protect it was our prize.

Now than time for the Midnight Terror of Alexandria to strut his stuff.