They met up on the beach, close to the city walls. It was fairly dark by the time Rhenor and Elaya reached the spot, so even though a few guards were patrolling the area, they wouldn't notice them unless they got too close.

  From what Serina and Arion told them, it seemed that everything could go as planned. Apparently, they'd overheard some of the crew people talking to the guards about how they brought in a lot of coins this time, which made Rhenor both giddy and angry.

  Rhenor was given one of the backpacks, which he slung onto his back as soon as he made sure the buckle on it was undone. They needed to do this as fast as possible, and things like this were potentially very stupid mistakes that could cost valuable seconds.

  They waited for a while longer, for the night to settle in and hopefully get a few of the sailors to fall asleep. Some of them had opted for sleeping at the local inns instead, which meant that there would be fewer of them on the ship.

  From what he could see only around three guards were staying on the pier, but they were close enough to likely notice any commotion that might happen. There was also one on the ship, and since they all wore armor, Rhenor truly hoped Arion knew how to use those darts and hit some of the few spots that weren't covered. But Elaya had assured him that he was the best for that job, so Rhen would trust his abilities.

  So with everything else taken care of, they began to walk towards the ocean. Rhen didn't look forward to swimming in the cold water again, but it was the only way. They could hardly walk up to the pier and get in a fight with the guards. They would have to be quiet, as well, or at least no louder than the noise the waves were making.

  Rhenor shivered as he stepped into the water, his bare feet once again coming in contact with the ocean. They'd all taken off their shoes, which made sense because he couldn't imagine sneaking along the ship's deck in wet boots, but going barefoot there might be equally problematic. A badly hammered nail or a large splinter, and this whole plan could fall apart.

  They would each just have to watch out, he supposed. As weak of a comfort as that thought was.

  He tried not to gasp as he once again found himself with only his chin above the water, already shivering. Elaya wasn't using the glowing algae this time, since it would betray their location. They didn't need to call attention to themselves before even getting to the ship. Still, it made it fairly difficult to keep sight of everyone swimming before him as they were keeping a distance between each other.

  Rhenor slowly made his way over to the ship, swimming around it as fast as he could, though with the force of the waves keeping him back, that didn't mean much, unfortunately. He didn't like being in sight of the guards patrolling the pier, even though they had not noticed anything suspicious, and in fact, the two he could see seemed to be engaged in a conversation.

  As infuriating as it was that the dragons paid their workers as little as they could, this was a fortunate side effect of it.

  Rhenor breathed out as he reached the ship, finally disappearing out of the sight of the guards. He didn't like how close he had to stay to the ship's hull to not make the sailors suspicious, but it was still better than being out in the open.

  In front of him, he could see that Elaya had already reached the rear of the ship and the others were slowly catching up with her. He doubled his attempts to get where he needed to, trying not to pant loudly in effort.

  Over the sound of waves colliding with the hull of the ship, he could hear very quiet talking from above. He hoped that the people talking would separate because he doubted they could use those darts without alerting anyone like that.

  Taking a deep breath and swallowing as Rhen finally joined the others, he grabbed onto the rear of the ship and leaned on it with his back, looking up at where they were going to climb. He'd climbed up mountain walls higher than this when hunting near Arlow, so this should be easier for him than the swimming.

  Arion proceeded to take the grappling hook from his bag, unwinding the rope enough so that he could throw it. Rhenor was impressed with how well he was managing it, given that he had to keep trying to stay above water. Leaning onto the ship, Arion started swinging the rope and hook before letting it fly. The hook hit the wooden railing on top of the ship with a surprisingly quiet thud, the wood crunching a little with the impact.

  They all held their breaths for a second, listening for any sounds of confusion or alarm from above. But there was still only soft muttering, uninterrupted, and shockingly carefree. Perhaps the crew assumed no one would be foolish enough to try to attack them.

  Elaya looked directly at Arion, pointing up, to which he nodded and grabbed the rope, pulling on it with what full strength. The rope didn't budge, and neither did the hook, which was a good sign.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Rhenor watched as Arion started to climb with relative ease, spraying water at them as he used his legs to help himself get up to the railing. The surprisingly long tube that would serve as the device to deliver the dart was already in his hand, but it didn't seem to hinder Arion from climbing.

  As Arion reached the top, he raised the tube, and without hesitation blew a dart, followed by a mumble and thud. The voices still hadn't stopped talking.

  Arion gestured to them to climb up, and Rhenor nodded to himself. Whatever serum was on those darts it must have been incredibly strong to work so quickly. He climbed up first, pulling himself up and trying very hard not to let the sound of dripping water distract him. The sailors had clearly not noticed Arion, so why would they look now? Besides, Rhen couldn't do much to stop the water with how wet his clothes were.

  It felt good to get out of the ocean, though, although it also felt worse because the next part of the plan was going to be the much riskier one.

  Reaching the railing, Rhen climbed over it and crouched down, getting out of the way so that Elaya and Serina could join them. They were right behind the helm on the deck, with the sailor Arion had shot being dragged to the corner. There were thick shadows there, cast by the placement of lanterns.

  Those lanterns were what was causing them to be hidden as well, Rhenor imagined. As long as they didn't walk directly next to them, they could use them to their advantage.

  Looking at the rest of the ship, there was another sailor talking with a guard. Actually, it seemed like they were flirting rather than simply talking, based on how the guard kept laughing and looking down at her feet. They were at the other side of the deck too, which might give them a chance to sneak past them. They just had to stay silent and keep to the shadows. And of course, these two would have to not notice the knocked-out crewman.

  Elaya took the lead then, waving her hand as she crept along the wooden floor of the deck and towards the stairs leading down to the rest of it. And to the other stairs, which would lead into the hold of the ship, and hopefully to the silver.

  Rhenor tried not to wince at the rough material of not only the stairs but the whole deck in general, hoping that none of the wooden planks would creak under their feet. He could barely breathe as he snuck behind Elaya, somehow making it down the stairs without making any noise that would notify the crew people and guards about their location.

  Rhenor didn't spend any time reveling in that achievement and quickly headed towards the second set of stairs, disappearing into the darkness of the cargo hold. Once he was there, though, it turned out to not be as dark as he'd thought. There were a few lanterns around the place, on barrels and hanging from the wooden beams holding the ship together.

  The bigger problem was that between them and two large, locked chests in the back, which hopefully contained the tax money, there were five sailors, sleeping in hammocks hung from the ceiling. The only small comfort they had was that some of them were snoring, so that should cover up some of the noise they would make by handling the coins.

  Elaya gave the three of them a determined look, gesturing to the chests before starting towards them as fast as possible while also staying crouched and silent. Rhenor followed, now noticing even more than before how much his wet trousers clung to his legs and got in the way. He didn't dare breathe as he walked the full length of the cargo hold, flinching at every sigh and snore coming from the crew.

  When he finally reached the chests, only then did he take a deep breath, leaning onto one of them and closing his eyes for a moment. His heart was practically trying to leap out of his chest, and his stomach was in knots, but he kept up his steely resolve. He couldn't panic now that they were so close.

  He wished he could help with the next part, but he hadn't truly had the chance or felt the need to learn how to pick locks outside of loudly breaking them, so he let Elaya and Serina each start fiddling with the large padlocks on the chests.

  Each of the chests had three of them, so it took considerable time to open them. It felt like an eternity. Rhenor and Arion kept looking from one sailor to the next, checking if they were still asleep or if they were in danger of waking up. Every tiny movement from them almost made Rhen jump.

  He could hear the clicking of the locks, but he didn't dare look away from the crew people, as if they would wake up as soon as he did. He only turned around when he heard Elaya quietly confirm that they'd done it.

  Rhenor held his breath as she and Serina opened the chests, slowly to avoid the creaking noise their hinges might cause. He gaped at the contents as soon as he saw them. Given that these were chests, Rhenor had assumed that the coins would be freely inside, but they were in white, canvas bags, each large and heavy with coins. Rhenor had never seen this much money in the same place, and frankly, it was a bit difficult to comprehend.

  He would guess that one bag contained around five hundred coins, which was confirmed when Elaya carefully picked one up, and the number of coins was written on it.

  The slight jingle the coins made as Elaya deposited them into Arion's backpack made Rhenor wince. But there was no avoiding it, he supposed. He offered his own bag, eager to get things moving, and Serina immediately put two coin bags into it. They were so large that that was all the backpack could carry.

  Rhenor quickly fumbled with the buckle with shaking hands, pulling the leather taunt to make sure the bag wouldn't open while diving, before pulling it onto his back as carefully as he could, squeezing his eyes shut at the constant clicking of the coins.

  The backpack wasn't as heavy as he'd assumed it would be, but it was still far from light. Thankfully, it should be easier to carry underwater.

  With all the backpacks filled, and they were just about to creep out of the cargo hold and disappear the way they came. But all they could do at that moment was freeze in place. They all stared at their only exit in horror, as from the outside suddenly came the sound of yelling and loud footsteps.

  And in an instant, the cargo hold was flooded with guards.