Fool's Errand (50 page)

Thatcher could not resist this opportunity. He pretended to need Jeslyn’s help even to walk. Deliberately putting nearly his entire body weight on the girl’s shoulders, he hoped to get her to stumble. His plan failed.

Despite a bit of grunting at the effort, the girl was not as skinny and waifish as she looked. She proved easily strong enough to have carried the young rogue upstairs without any assistance. Thatcher’s arms around her shoulders felt beneath them the streamlined but well-toned muscles of a budding young woman. This thought hit Thatcher about halfway up the stairs, and he immediately returned most of his weight to his own two feet, his face flushing inexplicably.

Jeslyn must have caught sight of the change in the hue of Thatcher’s face and noticed the reduction of the weight he was putting onto her shoulders. She whispered tauntingly in his ear.

“What’s the matter, Thatch? Don’t worry, I ain’t got nothin’ that you are gonna catch. Besides, I could toss your scrawny behind over my shoulder and carry you up the stairs if you wanna pretend to pass out. Rajiki women are raised strong on hard work not like them lazy city-girls you no doubt are used to seeing.”

Thatcher did not respond but felt his face continued to burn a beet red. He had absolutely no idea why.

As the five companions entered their room, they heard the outer deadbolt drawn behind them. They were locked in for the night. Making a good bit of noise in the process, they began banging beds and groaning exaggerated mumbles a few minutes longer for the benefit of anyone who might be listening at the door.

There was a little light in the room coming from a low-burning oil lamp on the room’s single table. Through the small, barred window in the west wall, Thatcher could see the slimmest sliver of the waning crescent moon peeking through a mostly clouded sky. With the clouds blocking the stars and the tiny sliver of moonlight fighting to shine through at all, the best conditions they could have hoped for were manifest to cover their escape.

Thatcher and Melizar motioned for the rest to quietly join them under the small circular-barred window. Melizar whispered instructions.

“According to Thatcher’s map, we are located just above and to the east of the stables. This window should be aligned with the second stall from the big doors.”

Jeslyn, looking impatient, interrupted.

“We heard them pull the deadbolt. We are locked in. Even if we knock out this window and rip our way into the stables through the roof, we are still inside the walls of the keep.”

Thatcher heard a disgruntled noise emerge from below Melizar’s cowl. He felt he had better intervene before their mage decided to freeze the Rajiki archer solid.

“Jes, have patience and listen for once. We have it all worked out if you will just give Melizar time to explain.”

The girl stuck her tongue out at Thatcher, but did hold back any further comment, returning her attention to the mage.

“As I was saying,” Melizar continued, “you will need to trust me. There was no place for guards to sleep inside the stables, according to Thatcher’s reconnaissance, so I will cast a shadow door. It is a
kashaph
power that will allow us to walk through the end in this room and appear out of the other end.”

“Um,” interjected Goldain with a skeptical arching of eyebrow. “Where exactly will the other end be?

“I can cause the other end to appear anywhere within a few dozen feet of this end. Thatcher has given me the distances and so I have a clear mental picture. Thanks to his map, I can easily place the other end inside this empty stall in the stable.

“Our horses, their tack, and harnesses are in the stables as well, so we can quietly ready our mounts. After that, I cast another shadow door inside the stables with the outlet here,” he said, pointing on the map to a narrow alley between two buildings about twenty feet outside the walls of the keep. “The guards at the corners of the walls won’t have line of sight on us this deep in the alley, so we should be able to, with a little luck and quiet horses, maneuver away from the hostel before anyone notices anything amiss.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Gideon said, “but the city itself is locked up for the night, what do we do about that?”

“I noticed when we came in last night,” Thatcher explained, “the gate guards were all watching the outside. Everyone in the city knows there is no entry or exit after dark, so the guards won’t be looking for anyone approaching the walls from the inside the city. That’s the hope anyway. We draw up to the wall near the gates as quietly as we can, and Mel casts another shadow door right on the wall itself.”

“But,” Goldain interrupted still looking not wholly convinced at the soundness of this plan. “Where will that door come out?”

“Good question,” Thatcher answered. “We passed a small copse of trees about forty-five feet past the gates. From there, we should be able to slip away.”

“Uh, look,” Goldain said, “I am not a great numbers guy, but you said you could push the other end of your shadow-door thingy a few dozen feet. Can you reach the trees from inside the wall?”

“Well,” Melizar replied, “admittedly this is the weakest point in the plan. If we are spotted inside the gate, we may have to fight our way out unless we can get close enough to the walls to shadow door just past the walls and make a run for it. That will pretty much sound the alarm and ensure a pursuit. Assuming, however, that we can make it up to the walls without being noticed, I can push my
kashaph
to its maximum and hopefully reach just to the other side of the trees Thatcher has shown here,” he said once again, pointing to a drawing of the front gates of the city in Thatcher’s notebook.

“Hopefully?” Goldain pressed with a raised eyebrow.

“I have prepared one more
kashaph
in anticipation of avoiding detection should anything go amiss with the plan. The spell is called
shadowdusk
, and it will engulf us in a moving cloud of shadow, which in this low light will make us nearly invisible.”

“Sounds spiffy. What’s the catch?”

“It doesn’t last long, and I only have the components to cast it once, so unfortunately, we cannot use it to cover our approach to the walls as well as our retreat on the other side. We will have to trust to luck and stealth to get us to the walls. At least, if I cannot manage to push the other end of the shadow door all the way to beyond the trees, the
shadowdusk
spell will keep us hidden. I will use it on us right before we enter the last shadow door and center it on whoever goes through first. It will attached to them and follow wherever they go. As long as we stay close, and the cloud cover holds, we should be able to get a good distance away from the city before the
kashaph
wears off.”

“I dunno,” Jeslyn added. “For all your plotting and scheming, it sounds like we got a lot of chances to get caught.”

“Well,” Thatcher replied, “it is either try our plan or sit here and wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow morning. Something tells me we won’t find the princess’s reaction to Mel’s detection spell to our liking.”

Gideon looked thoughtful and scratched his short beard for a few moments before rendering his verdict. Thatcher’s heart was pounding in anticipation of whether their leader would see the merit of their meticulous plan or reject the risks as too high. Thatcher had pulled off capers ten times this complicated without a hitch, but Gideon was a paladin, used to politics and decorum, not walking on the edges of life’s cliffs. Thatcher held a breath as Gideon finally answered.

“While I am not thrilled about possible combat with Cyrians should we be discovered, I do agree our situation is vulnerable. Getting out of town on our own timetable is probably best.

“I want everyone here to understand one thing,” he continued, as he swept the room with his azure eyes. “No one takes any hostile action inside the borders of Cyria unless it is absolutely unavoidable. Are we of one accord on this point?”

The others nodded their assent, save Melizar.

“I have a question, captain.”

“What is it, Melizar?”

“I do not understand why you are insistent on being so careful to protect people who would slit your throat without a second thought if the roles were reversed. Honestly, the plan is as unsure and convoluted as it is because young Thatcher rejected my version of the plan where we would kill the guards along the north section of the wall from a distance. Doing that would make our stealthy escape an absolute certainty, well, until the bodies were found anyway. He insisted you would never approve of the plan, but I could sense in his eyes he had little taste for it either. Goldain, surely you see that casualties are expected in conflict, no?”

“Hah, Mel, leave me out of this one. My job is to hit things with a sword when it is necessary. I’ll leave it up to more strategic heads to tell me when it is and isn’t necessary.”

“That is a cowardly answer. If it were just you alone, what would you do?”

Goldain set his teeth and took a deep breath.

“Mel, I like you. Because I like you, I’m going to give you a benefit I don’t normally give. You might want a handful of
kashaph
components already in hand before the next time you insinuate a Qarahni is a coward. That generally doesn’t play well to that particular audience. To answer your question, however, I am not alone, so what I would or wouldn’t do is irrelevant. There are five of us to consider, and we all go or we all stay. I trust Gideon to decide the best way to get us out. Given the delicate politics between Cyrian and Parynland, there is more at stake here than just our survival.”

“Melizar,” Gideon began with a genuine smile and a look of compassion on his face. “I realize in your home culture things probably work very differently. Goldain is correct that there is more at stake than just our survival, but it goes well beyond just the political situation between Cyria and Parynland.

“Tarynna has the expectation in her heart that we, or at least some of my countrymen, are behind these attacks. If we slaughter our way out of here after attempting to using
kashaph
against her, it will only reinforce and amplify whatever preconceptions she has. I want to change her perception and the way we do that is to leave without doing harm. Perhaps this soft answer to our cold reception and virtual imprisonment will turn away the wrath in her heart.”

“I cannot pretend to understand it, but I will do my utmost to respect your instructions, captain.”

“That is all I can ask, Melizar. Thank you.”

For better or worse the plan was set. They gathered all of their personal gear and assembled silently near the small window. Melizar reached into his component bag and withdrew a small piece of charcoal and a handful of grayish-black powder.

He drew a large archway on the wall of the room just below the window and spoke in a low mumble words none of them could understand. After half a minute, he tossed the powder in an arc in front of him, and the plastered color of the wall within the bounds of the drawn archway dissolved into a wriggling sheet of shadow.

“This is a shadow door. It will remain active for about two minutes, so if Goldain wouldn’t mind drawing his sword and going first in the event we were wrong about there being no guards in the stable.”

“Oh, fine,” Goldain said with a smirk. “We might be ambushed, so send the Qarahni in first. Oh well, higher body count for me I guess,”

He shot a sidewise glance at Gideon, who glowered his disapproval.

“Just kidding, captain. I know, I know, kill them gently.”

Without waiting for a response, the large prince ducked his head and stepped right through the shadow-covered wall.

“Captain, you next if you please. Then Thatcher, Jeslyn, and I will come through last.” One by one they proceeded through the magical portal.

Goldain found no resistance from the wall past the shadow, but instead, in a single step he traveled from the upstairs room to an empty stall inside the stable. At least from the smell of dung, the crunch of straw beneath his feet, and the sounds of breathing horses he surmised he was in the stables. Truth was, in the pitch black surrounding him he could have been anywhere for all he knew. Wherever he had emerged, he realized he was still standing very close to the shadow-door exit. Taking three steps forward, he gave some room to those who would come behind.

In the next moment, he heard footsteps behind him. Spinning instinctively he held his sword in a defensive posture in front of him and whispered blindly. His outstretched sword clanged against metal.

“Who goes there?”

“It’s Gideon,” came the response. “I can’t see you, but be careful where you point that sword. I don’t intend to be skewered by my own comrade if I can help it.”

Sensing there was no danger waiting in the stable, Goldain carefully sheathed his sword just as more footsteps and the sound of bumping bodies came from the direction of the shadow door. The companions jostled in the dark until Melizar finally emerged from the shadow door.

“What are you all doing just standing around the exit for?” inquired the mage. “Why haven’t you started getting the horses ready?”