Criminal Heart and her Fated Mates

The guards continue to patrol the area, one through the gardens, another along the wall, and I can see a bobbing of a head through one of the windows on the upper floor. Business as usual. My legs were starting to feel a little dead, I moved them into a more comfortable position, trying to not slide down the roof. It might be dark, but I would have some explaining to do tumbling off some stranger’s roof. The light of the moon was peeking through the clouds every now and again, but it was so overcast that it looked pitch black, besides the glowing aura of the lanterns the guards were using and the torches lighting the area. Every time I do this, I get nervous, I done it so many times, but it’s the castle where the king lives. I try to tell myself it’s not too bad, it’s not like I’m breaking into the royal chambers, it’s just one of the council rooms. Completely different, the girl tried to tell herself, the pay is at least good. Roughly about 3 months ago someone came to me asking about taking some documents from the councilor of the city, who worked in the castle. I did it, it was good money, and my unique skill set made it possible. I continued to work for them, though today was different. Instead of the councillor room, it was the royal diplomats. “Come on Lyla, you can do this” she quietly said under her breath. She noticed that there was a few more guards in the area. Alright it was time. She quietly slipped down the roof and the changed came over her, her body shrunk down, and feathers spurted from her. Her normal long fiery, red hair changing in colour to a blue, shifting its curly pattern into shorter feathers. She transformed into a blue bird, flying over the wall. Normally the guard swift swap over would be the worst time to break into the castle. She landed in the garden away from the current guards and then transformed into one of the guards. I focused on their armour matching its detail, and then walking out. During this time, there was more guards walking around, keeping track of how many guards are around was harder than usual rather than during the shift itself. She walked through the hallways, the guards that were on shift were too tired to pay her any mind, the new guards were too busy working out their routes to question another guard, it made for a great cover. She had become familiar with her route to the councillor’s office, though this was taking her to an entirely different part of the castle. Her contact that gave her the work had given over rough maps of the relevant castle layout, how they got that information, who knows she wasn’t paid to ask questions. After that she spent more time than she liked to admit studying the route, so she knew it off by heart. The councillor’s office was more on the outskirts of the castle, this was deeper into the heart of the castle. Lyla pushed down the thought that it may be close to the royal chambers, she dared not ask the contact if it was nearby. That way if I get caught, I can claim I didn’t know I was near the king, maybe then they wouldn’t execute me. Or maybe the king would just bite my head off there and then but let’s not get stuck on all the terrible things that could happen to me. With that in mind, it would be better if she was moving quickly through there, even if she was a guard, she would have some explaining to do. Lyla quickly made her way through the castle, she did not get stopped, she gave a salute here and there, a few hellos and general chit chat, but nothing that asked her about the specific details of where she was which made things easy. She finally came to the room that she was told where she needed to go, the guards around the place had thinned out by this point so she needed to be careful. On her first trip in she thought she could bring lock picks in, but using small animal forms to get into the castle make it impossible to bring objects in. Her clothes were enchanted, they would shift along with her, perks of being in a kingdom where there is werewolf’s, makes it easier to come by items like that. Though that did nothing for the object she was carrying however she managed to think of a solution. She took a deep breath and started shrinking down, until she was a beetle, in this form she could just crawl under the door, once she was through, she transformed back into herself. The down sides of her transformations are she losses her physical abilities and takes on the fragile nature of whatever she turns into. So, she tries to limit how long she spends in those forms. At this stage she had returned to her regular form, she was wearing light weight clothing which was easier to move around in and didn’t make as much noise as the armour. Lyla looked around the room, alright get the documents and leave she thought to herself. There was a desk towards the back of the room, it was as good a place to start as any she thought. She started going through drawers, she knew it would be in a large, dark blue envelope from what her boss had told her. After checking all the drawers, she still hadn’t found it, alright making things harder for me Mister kingdom level smooth talker, if I was keeping important documents, I would find a secret place to store them. Lyla started gently knocking on part of the desks, trying to find a hollow place within. Getting to the left side, towards the back she heard the sound she was looking for. Right, now is it a press to open, she started pressing down to try and find a button or something to that avail, but there wasn’t anything she could find. She sighed leaning on the back wall, sure I can best the castles security, but I’m topped by a stupid desk. Guess I should just retire now, save myself from the embarrassment of admitting to anyone that’s why I failed this job. Lyla sighed again, I could just smash it open right, worse case, I mean I can jump from a window or something. She looked over the desk, seriously weighing up if she could bust through the hollow panel. Wait, is the ornament in the back left slightly off to the right, she moved over to it, checking it over, this is different to the rest, grabbing onto it, she tried to turn it, which it did, and she heard a slight click sound. Right no more retirement plan for me, I have a job to do, checking by the section she found before a small slit had opened, which Lyla pulled free the envelope she was looking for. Alright there was other documents if there however that was not my target tonight, Lyla closed up the panel, and then made her move to leave. She would just make her way to the outer wall and then leave through the water grate. There is a river that runs through the gardens, that goes through the walls, they are reinforced and wouldn’t allow a person to get through, but lucky for me, I don’t need it to be that big. Trying the door, it was obviously locked with a key and couldn’t be opened from the inside so I gotta go out the same way I came in she thought to herself. Lyla listened against the door, not hearing any clear footsteps, she slipped the envelope under the door and transformed into the beetle. Getting to the other side, transforming back into the form of a guard, she folded the envelope and placed it underneath the chest plate of the armour. Looking around their didn’t seem to be anyone that saw her, but best to make a quick exit. She had requested the quickest route from this room to the gardens which was provided to her, it was better to walk a different route out anyway. The chance of coming across the same guards she had seen coming in was much less likely this way. She moved quickly through the castle, not seeing anyone on the way out. Lyla made her way to a large hallway that ran alongside the castle gardens, there was a half wall on the garden side which left the space open. She continued making her way to the garden entrance when a voice called out to her, “Hey!” a loud voice called out. “Didn’t know we had an extra guard in this section,” she turned to see a pair of guards rounding the corner into the hallway. They were carrying a lantern with them; she couldn’t make the details out, but it was a younger guard with an older guard. “A guard patrolling the garden without a light source on you?” the older guy questioned; they started moving toward her. She turned and quickly vaulted over the wall, grabbing out the envelope from her armour. The armour clanged against the wall making a loud noise throughout the gardens and banging part of her body against it as well. That’s gonna bruise she thought to herself as she charged into the gardens. The guards moved quickly into action, one of them calling out for reinforcements and the other charging after her. She placed the envelope into her mouth and transformed into a cheetah racing to the grate. She heard a loud thud behind her and the sound of multiple legs hitting the ground. Balls, she turned around to see a large wolf charging after her, well that’s what I get for breaking into a werewolf’s stupid castle. In terms of acceleration, I had the upper hand but trying to keep that while getting out through the grate was going to be rough, and hopefully keeping my body out of the fangs of that thing behind me. She could hear yelling in the distance, but she couldn’t tell what they were saying, she was just focussed or moving one foot in front of the other. Okay, you can do this just multiple quick transformations in near perfect timing, super easy right. Lyla tried pump herself up as she came out towards the grate, and she pounced. Transforming back into herself in the air grabbing the envelope and flinging it into one of the gaps in the bars. She flipped herself around bringing one of her feet down towards the ground, this was where I needed the perfect timing. As soon as the foot hit the ground she transformed into a mouse where her foot landed and used the momentum to launch herself under the grate. She skidded to a halt sideways on the ground, when she heard a loud thud against the grate. Being a town filled with the supernatural I betted that the grate was reinforced by something that would make it werewolf proof, seems I betted right. The grate held with a very angry looking wolf on the other side of it, I transformed back into my form grabbed the envelope and ran as fast as I could.