Connor opened the door and stepped into the hallway, making sure to close it behind him before heading up to the door that stood between him and the rest of the ship.
He crouched down and peered through the keyhole, his heart thumping with the fear that another patrol would choose just that moment to come through. What he saw was much the same as before with the staircases, mast, and guards conversing near one of the staircases.
So, he got to work, pulling upon his alchemy power and eating through the bolt of the lock.
He tore through the metal as fast as he could, while still doing what he could to keep the cut clean. It was only a matter of time before the guards noticed something was off. He didn’t like relying on the guards’ habits and sheer luck but there was nothing for it.
He paused periodically to look through the keyhole, just in case another patrol was coming. But each time he saw nothing, so he kept working on the lock.
Thankfully, its enchantments didn’t include a regeneration one and he sheered through it rapidly.
His alchemy was starting to feel more than a little fatigued for burning through multiple locks in so short a time.
But, the time he’d spent trying to heavily refine the lock of his cell had made him stronger and granted him more than enough endurance to be up to the challenge.
Once he’d cut through the last of the lock, he blew away the evidence and peered through the keyhole.
Between the dim light of the room beyond and the limited view offered by the keyhole, it was hard to judge the situation beyond the door all too well. For all he knew, there were guards standing right next to the door with no way for him to see them.
But, what choice did he have?
Connor stood up, forcing himself to look something like a guard as in the low light he could potentially pass for a patrolling guard but if anyone saw his silhouette creeping along, it would instantly draw attention.
He opened the door and stepped through it, swiftly closing it behind him and moving with purposeful stride toward the closest stairway. He didn’t try to fish the cut piece of the bolt out of the door as he wanted to minimize the time anyone had to see him there and potentially wonder what he was up to.
He hoped it wouldn’t fall out at the wrong moment…
As he walked, he saw around the mast and got a better look at the rest of the room.
There were indeed three stairways. Three only went up with the remaining two possessing a way down directly under the stairs up.
There were several grates running through the centerline of the ship through which Connor saw barely a glimpse of the deck below.
Across the way from him was another door similar to the one he’d just come through.
Another prison section no doubt.
He reached the stairs without any reaction from the guards who seemed absorbed in their hushed conversation and walked up it as though he knew exactly where he was going.
The floorboards creaked softly as he stepped onto the deck above. There, he saw a walled-off section similar to the prison he’d come through, with a door of the same design as the one to the lower security area. Yet another prison section, he was sure.
But, there were rooms here too. With far less sturdy doors and no visible viewports.
Connor saw no guards about. He crouched down and peered through the keyhole into what he thought was another prison section. He saw another prison hallway, confirming his suspicions.
He turned away from it. He wanted to save any of his people he could and failing that, wanted at least to know who or what else the Syndicate was transporting. But, he couldn’t afford to cut through yet more locks with alchemy. To do so would cost time, stamina, and risk getting caught.
So, he focused his mind on the keys. Once he got those, it would be far easier to investigate the other prison sections and what they held. And, more importantly, to free Adelia.
Provided it actually was Adelia…
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He did his best not to hope it was truly her. But failed.
Connor peered through the keyhole of the closest of the less sturdy doors. He saw nothing but an impenetrable gloom beyond.
But, the door lacked enchantments, and he heard a very light snoring coming through the door. There was something odd about the noise though and he focused on that, trying to interpret it.
The rhythm of it didn’t quite make sense for just one man… it sounded more like two or three… and if two or three were snoring, it seemed likely there were far more than that number within the room.
Some kind of guards’ barracks? Connor wondered.
If there were as many guards within as Connor suspected, he doubted the keys to Adelia’s cell would be within. Given the level of thought the Syndicate had put into their operation, it seemed likely that only a limited number of crew would have access to keys to the cells themselves.
So, Connor moved on. On his left was another room with a weak door opposite another stairway. Connor looked around, ensuring nobody was there, then crouched and peered through the keyhole.
Like the last room, the inside was too dark to see anything. But, Connor heard at least as many snores. So, as with the previous room, he moved on.
He came to another room on his right with yet another stairway on his left. The interior of this room was light enough to see by with several magical torches glowing easily. He saw tables and chairs. It looked like some kind of mess hall. There was nobody inside but Connor doubted the keys to Adelia’s cell would be there.
Or whatever is really in that cell…Connor reminded himself, unwilling to discard the paranoia that scurried in the back of his mind.
There was another room adjacent to the mess hall. Again, when he looked through the keyhole, he saw only darkness. But, when Connor listened… it was completely silent.
He frowned, unsure what to make of it. He left it for now though. Stumbling into a room full of guards would be… less than ideal for his escape plans. Particularly as he had no weapons. Still, he made a mental note of the mystery room as it was the first room he’d come across that seemed as though it might be worth checking for the keys.
He walked into a more open section of the ship with yet another stairway. Though this one only went up and granted no access to the deck below, further confirming his suspicions that there was another prison section beneath his feet.
His nerves were on edge as he crossed to the next visible room which was placed more centrally, allowing passage on either side. Connor went left around the room and found a door, again far less sturdy than any of the prison doors.
He didn’t even need to peer through a keyhole this time as the door had a large glass window between waist and head height.
Within, he saw a stove complete with a chimney heading up through the deck above. As well as counters, cabinets, trays, barrels, and an assortment of everything a galley needed to sustain the ship’s crew.
A slight smile tugged at the edge of Connor’s lips. It wasn’t what he’d been looking for. But a galley meant knives and knives meant weapons.
Connor tried the door and it opened easily for him with a faint creak.
It made him wonder if they’d locked any of the other doors.
He rifled through the cabinets with haste, yet tried to keep the noises he made as quiet as possible. The last thing he needed now was to arouse the curiosity of a guard.
He selected a small razor-sharp knife that could be easily concealed and a fork with slender tines. He repeated his trick with it, turning it into a makeshift lockpick and tension wrench in the process. He’d considered preparing a fork like this for his escape but it would’ve raised Erik’s suspicions and ruined the idea that Connor had given up, which he’d spent precious time creating. Now though, there was no reason not to especially when it was likely to come in handy.
He thought of taking more knives, so he’d have something to give Adelia when he freed her, but if he was discovered, it would be a lot easier to hide what he was carrying and attempt to pass himself off as a member of the crew as he was now than if he had half a dozen kitchen knives tucked into his belt.
He left the galley and walked around it where he saw another room extending out from it.
Judging by the way the ship itself tapered to an end, he thought he must be in the front of the ship, its stem. He’d already begun to suspect that but now he was all but certain.
Not that he felt that information did him all that much good at present, but the clearer his mental picture of his environment, the better he should be able to evade guards.
The door of the room behind the galley was the most secure of all those save for the prison doors. Much like them, it was thick wood and reinforced with dark iron but he saw no runes or other visible signs of enchantment. Connor looked through the keyhole and saw neat racks of weapons that gleamed in the soft light of magical torches.
Connor tried the door and found it locked. Despite the knife he’d found in the galley, it seemed useful to equip himself with weapons from the armory. Even if he was able to avoid a single fight before making his escape, having the same weapons as the guards ought to make his profile more akin to theirs which should make him less suspicious in the dim light.
And it would go a long way to lending his story credibility if he got caught by a guard who failed to recognize him immediately.
He brought his bits of fork to the lock and they slipped in easily without any of the resistance he’d come to expect from a magical lock.
The pieces of fork were unwieldy and awkward to use and even with the tines being as slender as they were, they were still a poor substitute for real tools.
It took nearly a full thirty seconds to pick the lock and then he was in.
Connor stepped into the armory and immediately looked it over for keys. Not because he thought anyone would put them there, but because assuming they wouldn’t seemed like a stupid thing to do.
He found no keys, as expected, and looked over the available weapons.
Spears, runed rods, spears capped with runed rods rather than a blade, crossbows, bows, enchanted arrows, enchanted crossbow bolts, a variety of different swords (most of which were cutlasses), axes, shields, and a wide selection of daggers and throwing knives.
Almost every item in the armory was enchanted. The handful of exceptions stood out by their rarity. Another chilling reminder of the Syndicate’s wealth and power.
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