Embers in the Dust

Myla hugged the wall and held her breath as the changeling and Lyla walked past her and down the stairs. With a sigh of relief, she crept along the wall and kept herself as quiet as she could be. She wasn’t sure if the magic Mr. Muffins had on her would fade any time soon, so she walked through shadows, just in case.

The changeling went back upstairs and opened the door to the room at the far right. He struggled to drag the box into the room, but after a minute, he succeeded. She waited another minute before she heard Lyla’s voice in her mind.

Something is going on. I wasn’t able to see what was in the box, but he’s up to something.

We’re still inside. We’ll take a look. Myla answered.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. She watched as he moved down the stairs and disappeared to the floor below. Carefully, she walked down the hallway to the door. Opening it slowly, to avoid any noise, she managed to open it just enough to slide herself into the room and close the door behind her.

The room was small and filled to the brim. On the right side were a bunch of chests and boxes, much like the one he was dragging into the room. On the front of most of them were latches with locks closed tight on them. To the left, sitting by itself, was a large safe, with a combination lock on the front. Looking at the drag marks through the dust on the floor, she could see that the box was dragged over to it, before being moved to the others.

There’s a safe in this room. It’s large, but I think whatever he was moving is in there now.

Be careful. There are voices downstairs by the bar. Mr. Muffins responded.

No one came in or out though… Lyla added.

There must be another room we didn’t see. I’m going to try and open this safe.

She pulled out her small kit on her belt and laid it out onto the floor. Taking a few items and connecting them, she made a small listening device that she could place against the safe, near the lock. She turned the dial a few times, trying to listen for anything that would give a tell to what the combination was.

It only took a minute, with Mr. Muffins giving commentary of what was happening below, but she heard the first clicking noise, then the second almost immediately. Slowly, she turned the dial one more time slowly, until the last clicking noise joined a ping, and she knew it was unlocked. She closed her kit and placed it back on her belt, then stood up. Carefully, she lifted the handle and pulled it towards her. Inside, she saw the black hair, pale skin, and hazel eyes of a changeling staring up at her, lifeless.

The changeling is dead. He’s in the safe.

What?

“Who’s there!?”

The female’s voice echoed down the hall. Myla opened the door slightly, and saw a satyr looking down the hallway towards the door on the other side. The satyr grabbed a device from a pouch and tossed it down the hallway. As it hit the floor, smoke exploded out of it, and filled the hall in seconds. It wasn’t dense or very heavy smoke, but it was enough to temporarily disorient someone if they were caught in it.

In front of her, she watched as the smoke rolled up a leg with no body. As the smoke rose, more of the person became visible, and she saw Mr. Muffins standing there, his invisibility gone. The satyr took a step back to the edge of the balcony and shouted down.

“We’ve got company!”