Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 38: Mission Start

Toren Daen

Hofal and I bounded over the rooftops, making a beeline for the warehouse owned by Blood Jasper. I jumped through the air, a pulse of telekinesis launching me a good thirty feet. The air whipped at my cloak, and it would've made a fluttering sound if I wasn't constantly suppressing any noise around me with my magic.

I hit the next rooftop running. Hofal jumped from where we had just been, using the extra strength his runes provided him to leap across the gap. Noticing he wasn't going to neatly clear the street below, I used two telekinetic pulls on his body, adding extra momentum to his leap.

At the same time, I pulled on the opposite edge of the rooftop, using a single pull instead of two. I ground my feet into the wood roof beneath me, making sure I wouldn't be lifted into the air by my own magic.

Hofal landed the jump with barely a stumble. With a nod, he ran toward the edge of the roof, making to leap again. I added a couple of pushes of telekinesis to his back, stabilizing myself so I wouldn't be thrown backward.

He soared over a wide street, then kept running. I jumped after him, continuing our roof-bound trek toward the warehouse.

Hofal couldn't jump as far as I could, so whenever we reached a particularly wide gap I had to assist.

It was a foggy night. The clouds hung low in the sky, blanketing the streets and obscuring the senses of all. For anybody else, it would be foolish to be running about right now. There could be thieves and scoundrels about, ready to jump you from the mists.

But I was that thief and scoundrel, so I embraced the cover the fog provided.

The blithe warehouse we were going to was owned by Blood Jasper. It was just along the border wall of East and North Fiachra, making it far out of the way of the other two stockpiling locations further south. One of those was being tackled by Karsien and Naereni together. The other was assigned to Wade. Once those went up in flames, they'd all join Hofal and me for a final assault on the distillery.

After a bit of maneuvering, the buildings began to be more sparse. We were entering the wealthier–relatively, of course–parts of East Fiachra. Our objective was easy to spot: the symbol of Blood Jasper was, unsurprisingly, an illustration of the mineral from which they got their name. With the logo plastered prominently on the large three-story warehouse, it was easy to tell that this was our target.

Hofal settled onto the rooftop next to me. It had been explained to me that Hofal and I would work together for the same reason Naereni and Karsien would: a more experienced mage working alongside a rookie helped balance out chances for failure.

I stared at the windows of the warehouse. I knew the inner mappings of it well because of Wade's reconnaissance, and just like my last attack on a warehouse, I knew the best entry and exit points.

Hofal noticed my hesitation. The man wasn't smoking tonight, something I found a bit odd. His older face was hidden behind a familiar mask. "Feeling nervous?" he asked.

"A little," I admitted. I had talked with Lady Dawn a bit before finally setting out tonight. It had been a day since the plan was first explained to me, allowing me to get my thoughts in order. She had agreed with this course of action, believing it to be my best shot at Blood Joan.

"It's just... this is it. I've waited for months to actually hit the Joans, and tonight is that night."

I would be avenging my brother soon. I felt a wave of guilt as I remembered that I hadn't even visited his grave since I left the Healer's Guild in a huff all that time ago. Would I be able to when we were done? Would I deserve to?