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Collab with rielcz
"...it's been forever since we've seen this bloke around here."
The Midnight Smuggler raised an eyebrow. "How does a seal of one circle inside of another make it so obvious to you?"
Kanrik pinched the bridge of his muzzle. "It's the artefact Xandra used when Faerieland fell. That alone narrows it down, and if the letter managed to find itself here, there's only one Neopet it could be."
The Gelert huffed out a sigh. It had been ages since he had last seen Hanso. Ever since he helped save Neopia, he had been been tasked to hunt down dangerous artefacts by the former Queen herself. The pair had never been close; Hanso had always been too... much too confident for Kanrik's taste. Kanrik supposed it was nice to see that Hanso hadn't forgotten who gave him his start, though. That and none of the artefacts had claimed him again.
And if this letter was Hanso's doing, there was surely more to the letter. Kanrik gently held the invitation to a nearby candle. Slowly, more letters began to appear on the card.
Brightvale's gates. Midnight. Alone.
"Should we bring backup, Kanrik?" the Midnight Smuggler asked.
Kanrik dismissively waved a paw. "I should be fine. Let the others know I'll be away for a while. If you do not hear from me within a week, put everybody on high alert." He stood up from his desk. "I have a meeting to attend to..."
***
Well, thought Kanrik as he stealthed his way to Brightvale's gates, with only the stars and the light of the moon to guide him, at least that inept Ixi knew enough to pick a time and place that we could hide under the cover of darkness.
Kanrik found the Ixi right where he said he'd be -- but fast asleep on the cool ground, his back propped up against the iron bars. The Gelert frowned and raised an eyebrow. Gingerly, he knelt down beside Hanso and shook him awake.
The Ixi sputtered to life. "BRYNN! INTRUD--"
Immediately, Kanrik's gloved paw was over the Ixi's big mouth. "Are you trying to get us KILLED!?" the Gelert hissed in a voice hardly above a whisper. "Was this all a setup?" He stood up quickly, his eyes darting around, readying his body to run at a moment's notice.
"No no, sorry, I fell asleep -- it's past my bedtime, that's all. Brynn's not here. Everything is above board," Hanso quickly replied, wide-eyed, in a hushed tone. "Or at least... as above board as a situation can be, when two thieves are involved."
"That's some nerve, coming from you." Kanrik folded his arms and looked unsympathetically and unenthusiastically down at his former underling. "Calling yourself a thief again."
"Once a thief, always a thief?" Hanso picked himself up off the ground and shot Kanrik a grin that could rival Chadley's. "It's nice to see you too, boss."
The Gelert's frown deepened. "I'm not your boss--"
"That's right!" Hanso quietly exclaimed. "Because we're equals." He extended a hand to shake.
Kanrik just gave him the absolutely flattest look he could reasonably muster. "OK." He gave a pained exhale as he accepted Hanso's handshake. "OK. OK, why not. You got me this far, and you have me curious. What 'specific expertise' of mine could you possibly have any use for?"
Hanso's expression took on a darker hue than what the leader of the Theives Guild was accustomed to from the Ixi. "It's the whole situation with Faerieland," Hanso began. "As you know, Fyora has abdicated and the government is in transition. Well, part of that transition meant that my and Brynn's contracts as artefact hunters, put into effect by our former Queen, were effectively terminated. And the other part is that, with the absence of strict hierarchy, and with Luxinia and Iridesia wrapped up in the affairs of the Festival--"
"You..." Kanrik interjected as it dawned on him. "You want revenge for your termination. You want my help with a grand heist of the artefacts in the Hidden Tower."
Hanso gave a single affirmative nod. "With the faeries occupied, and your knowledge of thievery, and my knowledge of the castle's interior and where the artefacts are kept -- we'd be unstoppable..."
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