It had happened all so suddenly. She heard Bethany say something along the lines of "oh for crying out loud", before pulling something from her waist and striding forward.
The guard looked around, having heard Bethany, and threw it in her direction.
Well, with everything going on, he didn't have a brilliant understanding of where she had been, so his throw had ended up sending it towards Oriana.
Oriana had been too busy focusing on her nature magic, thinking of the ways that she could move the man, and trying to catch a glimpse of what was in Bethany's hand that she didn't have enough brain power to think about moving.
The glass jar hit the ground near her feet just as Bethany managed to sneak behind the man. A gas blew upward with a considerable force, but it disappeared almost as soon as it had flown out.
What was left, however, was Oriana standing there… and not realising that her invisibility and illusion was slowly coming undone, starting from her hands, where the gas had ended up blasting first.
"Green…"
The guard had seen her, or at least the green fingers that had started to appear.
But before she could even contemplate what that meant for her, Bethany, in her invisible form, had stepped into the guard's close personal space, getting behind the man, and rammed a dagger into his side, sending it up and into his body.
The man cried out in pain, dropping his sword as he was stabbed. Oriana gasped upon seeing what Bethany had done.
Part of her wondered why she had done that. They could have easily dealt with the man using illusions and the nature magic that Bethany surely had seen forming behind him. Granted, the potion he threw, removing her illusion, was a complication, but Bethany had acted before any of that.
She had stabbed the man, and in his agony, Bethany quickly pushed him to the ground and kicked his sword away.
He clutched at his side, and if she didn't know any better, it looked like he might be finding it hard to breathe.
With the man down, Bethany quickly reached into the carriage and grabbed the box again, as if what she had done was just nothing important.
But that was not the case for Oriana.
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You stabbed him."
"He was between us and the prize for our job. He was swinging that sword around so much, and it was getting annoying. So I dealt with it. He also had something in his….wait, why can I see your fingers?"
It would seem that whatever the potion was, only the places that had been hit by the gas were affected, which was only her fingers on her left hand.
"He-he pulled out a potion, whatever it was, broke the…invisibility."
She made sure not to mention that it was both the invisibility and the illusion she had on herself to look like someone else, which is why her fingers were green and not the tanned tone they had been when they started the attack. Something that she was thankful Bethany had not realised yet.
"Huh, I did hear something break. Well, that's just another good reason for what I did."
Oriana just looked at her, unsure how to process it all.
She had never intentionally hurt someone before. At least not like stabbing or trying to kill someone. Pranks and illusions, to make someone annoyed or angry, sure, and tripping that servant to get into the castle was probably the extent of what she had done that hurt people.
This was something else.
"But, we have our illusions, and couldn't you see the vines I was growing? You didn't need to kill him."
"Please, he's not dead. And besides, it was taking too long. If he realised the wolves were just illusions to distract him and the guards, he would have second-guessed anything you threw at him. And he probably would have easily cut through your vines."
"…"
"And besides, if he were still standing and he could clearly see your fingers, then he would have a way to identify you. You would lose the persona that you use. This way, even though he saw it, getting attacked means he might not remember, or he can't be too sure. So, you might be in the clear."
What she said made sense. At least she wasn't saying they should kill him to be sure. Although it didn't really affect her, given that it was Oriana in the mud.
In either case, something like that was not something she would entertain anyway.
"He will be fine…I think. Anyway, once we are gone, the other guards will wake up and take care of him. Now come on, help me get this thing open."
The box was locked, added security, of course. But Oriana wasn't thinking about that. She was thinking about the potions they had brought with them.
Going through the pack they had brought, Oriana took out one of the health potions and another bottle of the sleeping potion and rushed over to the guard. She quickly poured it over the health potion man's wound and then down his throat.
It didn't take long for his wound to start to heal. With that out of the way, she realised she could try a little something extra to ensure her safety.
Another smashed sleeping potion near the man she figured was a bit of insurance. She didn't know if it would have any effect on him, given that he is already asleep. But if it did, it would probably add to his grogginess, making him unsure of what he saw. He might even think that he dreamed it.
She even cleared up the glass from the potion that the guard had thrown. If she removed the evidence, it might make him think he never threw it.
"The healing potion was unnecessary. He would have been fine. Now come over here and let's get this box opened."
Oriana begrudgingly moved over to the box and got to work using another twig, as she had on the warehouse door. Bethany had already checked for any magical lock and hadn't seen any.
Oriana had a few things to say about what happened, but she knew it would be better away from the scene of the crime. So, with a click of the lock, the box opened, and within were the five bangles that they were here for.
"Yes, we got it. Now let's get out of here. Don't want to be standing around here when the potion wears off on the guards."
Without further ado, Oriana and Bethany headed back to the tree line and to the camp they had left. On the way, Oriana looked over her shoulder at the guards, seeing a couple sitting up and rubbing their heads as they tried to figure out what had happened.
They then headed around and started checking on the ones still asleep.
She couldn't sit there watching all day to be sure the man she healed was fine; they had a tent and gear to pack up. Plus a crime scene to flee from. They needed to remove any evidence they had been in the vicinity before they could head back. That meant fully covering up the campfire and packing everything they could find.
---
It only took a short amount of time to do so. They had been more or less ready to go since the night before. Oriana hadn't done this sort of thing before, but it didn't take a genius to realise that camping out of your pack when waiting to commit a thievery was a good idea.
So, with the camping gear strapped to their backs, they headed out of the woods, towards the city, but away from the road. They checked to see how the carriage was, and by the time they saw it, found that the rest of the guards were almost all awake.
The driver, however, was still down for the count. His fitness and constitution were probably quite low compared to the guards, which might be why this was the case.
This gave them a short window in which they could head back before the guards did, allowing them to be free and clear.
---
The walk, or more like a jog, was fairly uneventful. The only thing it was, was silent.
Neither Oriana nor Bethany spoke about what had happened.
If it had gone smoothly, they probably would have been talking about how well the illusions worked together, and Oriana could have mentioned how Bethany should have her lockpicks closer to hand lest she end up being the only one doing it in their heists.
But that was not the case.
Even when they finally got to the gate and then handed over their identification, they hardly said a word to the guards, let alone each other.
In the city, they headed towards the slums, going to the same place as before in order to fence their prize. The decrepit house was just as before, and the darkness only added to the deafening silence.
Before long, they were back in the fence's room, standing in front of James like before.
"Oh, it's you two. Managed to get it alright."
Bethany very quickly perked up, knowing that the job was almost done. It's not like she had been silent for the same reason as Oriana. She was probably only quiet because Oriana had been. It had nothing to do with the near killing of a man.
"Yeah, got it right here. Easy job."
"You say that every time."
He looked over at Oriana.
"Your err, friend, ain't looking too good. She get injured or something."
Bethany looked back at Oriana, finding her just looking at nothing.
"Or something."
Oriana had pretty much just tuned out everything that was going on. She was practically on autopilot.
She was trying to sort through her feelings.
Now, she was no saint. She knew that. People could get hurt by what she was doing. At the festival, with everyone running away, some may end up a bit battered and bruised. Then there was the servant she had tripped, and that's nothing to say for the nobles that had eaten the poisoned food, even if it was temporary.
She had come to terms with that. You can't cause chaos and not end up with some people a little hurt.
But to intentionally hurt someone like Bethany had. And in a way that could have ended up killing the man. That didn't sit right with her. It almost seemed like Bethany would have had no issue with that man actually dying just so they could steal something.
Illusions could have worked. There was no need to go that far, yet Bethany had done so without hesitation.
It also irked her that casting the invisibility on her had even made it easier for her to do it.
"Hey, here's your share."
Snapped out of her stupor, Oriana found Bethany in front of her, holding out a rather large pouch of coin. She didn't like what had happened, but she did need coin to live and continue to cause chaos.
Part of her thought about rejecting it, taking a moral high ground. But did she actually have the right to step up and take such a thing?
The job was done, the man was alive. Leaving the coin now would be more of a petty act and wouldn't help anyone aside from Bethany.
So…she took it.
"Great. Now, want to talk about what's got you so annoyed."
"You know why I'm annoyed," Oriana said as she looked to the side.
"Because the guard saw part of one of your personas, or because I stabbed him. Look. We needed to get past him. Who knows how long it would have taken before the others woke up? It was also possible that another carriage could turn up. We needed to get past him quickly…so I did what I thought was best."
She could understand it. It made sense. But could Oriana have done it if it were down to her? If she were in Bethany's shoes, would she have resorted to that?
"…"
She didn't know.
"I'm guessing you've never been in a situation like that. You've never had to choose between yourself and someone else. It feels terrible having to do it. But, you have to get used to it if you want to keep doing things like this."
Oriana just looked up at Bethany upon hearing that.
"I mean, you didn't think you could continue to do what you have been doing without anyone getting hurt, did you. Surely not."
"No, of course not. I know some people could get hurt from what I've done. But that's different from intentionally stabbing a guy."
Bethany just stared into her eyes.
"…is it?"
…
Was it. She had thought it was, but. Was it.
"…"
…yes, she was sure it was.
"I need some time to think."
"I assume that also means you don't want to do any more jobs while you're…thinking," Bethany said with air quotes for the word thinking.
"No," Oriana said straight, not appreciating the sarcasm.
"Fine. Let me know when you're done thinking. Then we can get back to making coin."
"…Sure."
Oriana just headed out of the room, leaving Bethany with the fence, who had been silent through that whole exchange.
As she left, she could hear him asking Bethany, "What was that all about?", but was too far to hear her answer.
Getting out of the house, she headed back to the Inn and practically just passed Robert with hardly a word. He looked over at her as she passed by and realised something was wrong, so he left her to her own devices, thinking it best to give her some space.
Soon, she ended up in her room, a hungry belly rumbling away, as she just looked up at the ceiling.
Before long, she closed her eyes, allowing her brain to go over things in her head without any distraction.
But it wasn't long before even the hungry stomach or the mental acrobatics she was going through were enough to hold back the sleep that soon overtook her.