Alcingeria Chapter Three: The Heist

The Scorpions are putting their master plan into action! Will they succeed in stealing fifty thousand dollars from Jonathan Haywood? Or will the plan backfire?

Chapter Three The Heist:

Monday June 21^st 1690

There was the quiet murmur of our voices as we filed out of the door. Robert and Don took the lead while Macalister and I walked behind them.

            “Are you all clear on the plan?” Asked Don.

            “Yes.” I said with a nod.

            “Yes.” Macalister said blandly, although I could almost hear the anticipation in his voice.

We continued walking through the woodlands, our destination set for Relin. I rehearsed the plan in my head: Get to the border, kill the guards, take their firearms, go to the nobleman’s house, order everyone in the house into the common room, have Robert and Macalister guard them, I would go with Don and grab the money, then we would meet up with Robert and Macalister back in the common room. At that point, the carriage carrying the nobleman’s goods should arrive, and we would hijack the carriage and head towards Yutsa, hide it well away from the border, get the money, walk closer to the border and make camp.

I looked ahead after the plan played itself out in my head and I saw Robert hold his hand up, signaling for us to halt. We all stopped walking and waited for Robert to give us an order. Robert then thrust his hand forward, pointing at something. I looked over his shoulder and saw the border guards through the trees. There were four of them sitting at the opening to a great wall that wound itself around the province of Relin. All of the big cities had walls around them, but there was a grand forest that was in between all of the provinces, in the middle of all of them. This grand forest spread for a few squared kilometers.

            “Ready?” Asked Robert.

            Everyone was silent with anticipation. The guards were fifteen feet away, through the break in the trees we could charge them and be over halfway to them before they even realized what was happening.

            “On the count of three.” Robert cautioned.

Robert waited a few seconds.

            “One.” He said.

I could feel everyone’s anticipation building.

            “Two.” Robert said quietly.

I could see the border guards walking around their posts.

            “Three!” Robert shouted.

With that, the four of us charged out of the thicket. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my dagger. As I predicted, we were around seven feet in to our charge when the guards turned to face us. They saw that we were hostile and they all took defensive positions, readying their lances.

When we arrived within attacking distance of the guards’ lances, which was about two meters, the guards thrusted at us. The four of us each took on one of the guards. When I got to the one that started to attack me, he stabbed at me with his lance. I ducked underneath it. The guard’s missed attack caused him to lose his balance a little and because the lance was long and heavy he couldn’t pull it back in time. This gave me a chance to plunge my dagger into his gut. I heard the squelch of tearing skin and muscle as the steel blade of my knife sank into the man’s stomach. I heard the man yell out on pain. I twisted the dagger, forcing the man to double over. The man collapsed and blood was spilling from his open wound. The man was either dead or about to die. I felt no remorse for killing him, he was an obstacle in the way of our objective and he had to be removed. I had ’removed’ plenty of obstacles in the way of an objective before, I was used to it.

I looked over and saw that the others had already killed their opponents.

            “Great work, now take the guard’s weapons and dispose of the bodies.” Ordered Robert.

I bent down and searched the guard’s belt. Sure enough, I found a flintlock pistol in a holster attached to his belt. I unbuckled the holster to remove it from his belt, took it and buckled the holster to my own belt. I searched his pockets and found three gold coins, a flask of gunpowder, and a few bullets for the flintlock, I counted seven in all. I unlatched the holster and checked the hammer at the back of the pistol, it was pulled back. That meant that I had eight total shots. I put the gold coins, the flask of gunpowder and the extra bullets in my pocket.

            “What did you find?” I asked, turning my attention to Macalister, Robert and Don.

            “I found a flintlock and five bullets, counting the one that’s loaded into the chamber.” Said Robert.

            “A flintlock, two gold coins, and seven flintlock bullets, counting the one loaded into the chamber.” Said Don.

            “I found a flintlock, a gold coin, and six flintlock bullets, counting the one in the chamber.” Said Macalister.

            “Great, I found three gold coins, eight flintlock bullets and a flintlock.” I said.

            “Excellent! We’re going to do this right!” Exclaimed Robert.

This earned a cheer from all four of us.

            “We need to hide the bodies.” Said Don.

With that, Macalister, Don, Robert and I grabbed the guards we had killed, and we dragged them into the thicket that we were in a few minutes ago, the guard’s corpses were now out of sight. We all then put the flintlocks that we had takin in the holsters on our belts.

“Let’s go guys!” Shouted Robert loud enough so as to be inspiring, but not loud enough to allow the people inside Relin’s walls to hear us. So far, the murder of the four border guards had gone unnoticed.

Macalister, Robert, Don and I walked through the main gate of Relin. The province was huge, but the city of Arc was also very large. Seeing as it was the capitol of Relin, it seemed only fitting that it’s a large city. Small, modest dwellings could be seen all over, packed together tighter than food at a general store after a fresh shipment arrives.

            “Which way is the house?” Asked Macalister.

Don led us through the streets of Arc. On either side of the cobblestone road, vendors selling various goods could be heard shouting about their offers to attract customers.

            “This way.” Don said, adjusting our route when we came to a crossroads.

We turned right and were greeted by more vendors. The dwellings that seemed humble and modest eventually gave way to larger, more upper class dwellings. The houses here had at least two floors, whereas the ones back by the main gate had only one floor.

            “The house is at the northern end of the city, by the palace. We must make our way there before noon.” Don said.

I cast my glance upwards. I saw that the sun was almost reaching its apex in the azure sky. I estimated that we had around thirty minutes to get to the house, take the money, and leave on the carriage.

Done led us down another street at a crossroads. It was a left turn. We followed that road for a few minutes. When the next crossroads came, we took a right turn. The two floor houses soon gave way to three floor houses, the three floor houses had ornate patterns on the walls and roof, making them seem new and inviting. Finally, in the distance loomed Queen Mycta’s palace. Don led us down the road that led to the palace. We were walking along, when something caught my eye. Without stopping, I turned to my left to see what it was. It was four sheets of brown parchment paper attached to a grey wall. The color change is what caught my attention. Upon closer examination, I saw what they were.

Fear and excitement filled me. The four pieces of parchment paper were wanted posters of Macalister, Robert, Don and I. The posters didn’t have our names, or even our aliases, which was good. They did, however, have our pictures and descriptions. I stopped.

            “Look!” I said, beckoning the other three men over to the wanted posters.

The others walked over.

            “Come on! That just isn’t fair!” Don complained.

We all looked to him.

            “After all these years that we’ve been criminals, they still can’t get my hairline right.” Don joked, pointing to the poorly drawn hairline in his poster.

We all laughed. After a minute or two, Robert stopped laughing.

            “Alright lads, we need to get to the Haywood estate. The second the occupants of the house see us, they’re going to know who we are. We need to get in and get out. The carriage should be at the Haywood estate in about fifteen minutes. We need to get to the house in at least five minutes. That will leave us with ten minutes to grab the money and get out.” Robert said.

            “Do we know where the money is?” I asked.

Don fidgeted with his hands for a second.

            “Well, not exactly, but I have a good idea where the money might be.” Don said.

            “Well, good enough for me. You’ve never steered us wrong before, aye?” I asked with a chuckle.

At this, Don smiled and laughed. He continued leading us down the cobblestone road that led to the palace, from there, I trust that Don could find the Haywood estate. After a few minutes of walking, the palace drew nearer and nearer. When we were within a hundred feet of the palace, Don turned right, going down a short path. In a minute, we saw a house that was around a hundred feet from the palace. I looked back at the palace and saw that there were a few guards standing sentinel atop the roof. One of them pointed us out to his comrade, and they just starred at us. I turned back around so as not to draw their attention further.

            “This is the place.” Don said.

            “Not a moment too soon.” Robert added.

I regarded the Haywood estate. We were coming up on a house of immense proportions. Sprawled out in front of the house on the opposite side that we were on was a vast lawn that rolled on like a calm green ocean. The entire estate was surrounded by a thick treeline, except for a portion of the perimeter with the walkway, which was where we were. We all walked silently towards the front door of the house. I saw Robert draw his flintlock from his holster. I followed his lead, as did Macalister and Don. A second later, Robert opened the door quickly. We all rushed inside.

            “Everyone who is in this house, come out and gather in the common room! Now!” Robert yelled menacingly.

A few seconds later, a man who looked around the age of forty stepped out of a room across from us. He had deep brown hair, blue eyes, and was fairly tall, around 5’5”. A woman who looked about the same age, presumably his wife, followed him. She had golden blonde hair, brown eyes and was around the same height as the man.

“What the devil is going on?” Asked the man.

“What the devil do you think is going on?” Said Don, mocking him.

            “Is there anyone else in the house?” I demanded.

            “No! It’s just my husband and I! Please don’t hurt us!” The woman yelled.

This earned a chuckle from Macalister.

“Troll, Rapier, watch them.” Don ordered.

Macalister and Robert did as they were told and watched the man and woman. Macalister aimed his flintlock on the man, Robert aimed his flintlock at the woman.

            “Try anything funny, and you’ll regret it.” Macalister warned.

Don took my arm and led me down the hall to a study. He started looking around at the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

            “You think it’s in here?” I asked him.

            “Yes, I think it’s in here. A study is a private room in the house, there is usually nothing in a study other than books and papers, nothing a thief would want. That makes it the perfect room to hide money and valuables.” Don explained.

I nodded, and helped Don look around. I looked at the floor, there was a rug and a desk on the floor. The walls were adjourned with paintings and a bookshelf.

            “Move the bookshelf and paintings, I’ll move the desk and the rug!” Said Don.

I nodded and did as I was told. I picked the paintings off of the walls one by one. I pulled off all three paintings, nothing was behind them. I went over to the bookshelf. I went to the side of it and began to push. I felt the bookshelf giving way and about to topple over.

            “There’s nothing underneath the desk, and beneath the rug is normal as well!” Said Don.

            “Try… Looking in the… Desk…!” I said through my teeth. My voice was strained from the effort it took to move the bookshelf.

With a yell of triumph, I pushed the bookshelf over! It hit the wooden floorboards with a loud whack! Behind the bookshelf was a square cut into the wall. It was a square of wood, but there was a seam between the cut out wood and the wall. I knocked on it. It sounded like it was hollow! Don then stepped up and inserted the blade of his dagger in the seam between the square of wood and the wall. He wiggled his dagger for a few seconds, and he eventually eased the block of wood out of its place in the wall!

            “Got it!” Shouted Don.

He found that the wooden box had a lid on it. He removed the lid and looked inside the box. Inside was a sight to behold! Inside that box was more gold coins than I have ever seen in my entire life!

Just then, we heard a sound coming from outside. It was the sound of hooves on cobblestone.

            “Right on time.” Don said with a wide grin.

He ran out to the common room. I followed him.

“Troll! Rapier! We got it! Let’s go!” He shouted without stopping.

Macalister and Robert looked to each other, turned to the man and his wife, and they each simultaneously shot the person who they had their flintlocks aimed at. Blood flew everywhere a split second after the two gunshots sounded. Macalister and Robert then followed Don and I as we ran out the door. We ran to where the sound of hooves on cobblestone was coming from, and we saw a horse drawn carriage, just like Don had said. Macalister stepped in the way of the carriage, aiming his flintlock at the driver. The driver’s face became filled with fear as he realized what Macalister was pointing at him, and he dove off of the horse and ran in the opposite direction, towards the palace.

            “We can’t let him tell Queen Mycta that we’re here!” Yelled Robert.

Without thinking, I reached for my flintlock. I took aim on the driver, looking down the barrel of the pistol and lining up a shot. I pulled the trigger. The resulting gunshot created an almost deafening sound, and the pistol kicked in my hand. The driver fell to the ground, a pool of blood was quickly pooling on the ground beneath him.

            “There’s no time to hide the bodies! Just get on that carriage!” I yelled, my adrenaline was spiked.

A second later, all four of us were climbing onto the carriage. Robert hopped on the horse’s back where there was a saddle. Macalister, Don and I entered the carriage that the horse was pulling. Inside the carriage, there were barrels of dried food. This must have been the shipment of goods that Jonathan Haywood was expecting. A few seconds later, I heard Robert yell.

“Yah!”

I then felt the carriage lurch, and the sound of hooves pounding against the cobblestone filled the air. We began making a swift escape from the Haywood estate.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Shawn]

The plot is gripping, and the characters are interesting. However, I can't resist editing for conventions. It's just one of my issues. Understand that I'm just being picky.

One thing I noticed was switched capitalization in the first line (instead of 'asked Don', you said 'Asked don').

Another mistake was a past tense-present tense mistake when Kid is going over the plan (instead of 'hide it ten kilometers from Yutsa', you said 'hid it ten kilometers from Yutsa').

The paragraph after that, last sentence, you said 'squared kilometers' instead of 'square kilometers'.

When Robert says 'On the count of three', use a comma instead of a period. This mistake is repeated when he says 'One' and 'Two'.

In the paragraph when they charge, you said 'in to' instead of 'into'.

When the guard loses his balance, put an 'and' before the 'because' to make the paragraph make grammatical sense.

When the guard yells out in pain, make sure he yells out IN pain instead of ON pain.

Sorry, but I don't have time to edit farther than this. I enjoyed your story so far and look forward to reading more!

[Ryan Henderson]

ah, thanks so much! I'll fix those errors. :D

[KeithKVH]

Wow they're more than just edgy, they're merciless! I'll admit I knew they weren't a bunch of Robin Hoods, but it really wasn't till they just shot the man and his wife that I really realized how cutthroat these guys are. It's good, it's interesting, what with the heroic nature of your other story's protagonist I was not expecting this book to star real thieves who won't hesitate to silence witnesses. It truly makes realistic sense that they're like that though, even if they were forced into it through certain circumstances, they lead the life of a criminal now and hold loyalty only to each other.

The heist was quick, Don's reasoning was pretty good but they're still lucky they found it when they did, that carriage was there almost right after them. It seemed a bit easily done but I get the feeling the escape is not yet complete. The guards that were supposed to be the biggest problem didn't even have a presence, and while it's true they went inside out of view (why wasn't the door locked btw, did they break in?) I feel like after guns were going off in the house and even in the streets that they should be on alert by now and will probably raise alarm and try to cut off their escape.

It seems to be just starting out still, but now seeing them in action you just know these guys don't mess around. Whether they become anti-heroes or just continue their heists, I could see interesting developments in the future.

[Ryan Henderson]

Thank you for the review! And no, the escape is yet complete, I have an interesting turn of events planned for chapter four... I will be reviewing your writing very soon, as I have been busy in the last few days, but I WILL return the courtesy of the reviews, do not worry! I believe I am on chapter ten of your book, and will get to reviewing it ASAP!

[Laura Lynn]

They seem quite victorious. It's almost as quick and easy as a video game. This is certainly written in a certain framework. Why the money seems to just pour down on top of them, it's quite terrible with how the bodies just sort of flop over and disappear. It seems to be a virtual satire.