Chapter Twenty Four: Close Encounter

Even with the cover of the rain, Calin crawled carefully to the edge of the hill. Down in the valley the fort loomed ominously. It marred the idea of the place once being a peaceful village, bustling with life. The thought of the men with the red suns running the place now only reinforced his absolute determination to rescue the girl from them. A quick adjustment of his hood shielded him from the rain drops that kept hitting his face. All the while he studied the fort for what they were going to attempt. He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat as he nervously scanned for any movement through the rain that gently patted against the cloth of his hood.

On the sentry towers there were only three lonely figures of the guards, but to his dismay there were now five guards patrolling on the inside. They must have increased them after the escape attempt. He suddenly wished he had tried to bail out the girl earlier. But Tyas was right in the matter; they needed all the help they could get.

He kept his gaze locked over the camp trying to spot any other possible patrolling sentries, but after a minute he was content with five.

Inching back down to the others, Calin said, “There are three guards in the towers. They are watching the perimeter with a keen eye. We have to be careful. Inside I saw five patrolling.”

“Five? Man, I was hoping our luck would hold,” Tyas said while he was busy making sure the items they would need were secured on his belt.

“Yeah well,” Calin agreed with a helpless shrug. “At least we still have the element of surprise. Okay everybody ready? Remember we move from tree to tree and check every time before we make the next dash.”

Satisfied as the others nodded Calin couldn’t help but feel dread for the task that lay ahead. He breathed in deeply a couple of times before scrambling over the hillside for the first tree.

A few seconds later he thudded into his second tree and looked back to see Jerry coming up to the first. With a quick peek around the edge of the tree, he was satisfied with the guard’s position on the sentry tower and he dashed for the next.

In silent succession the group made their way down the steep hill behind him. The second to last tree Calin almost slipped on the muddy slope.

He grabbed at a branch and with luck he stopped his momentum. With a tense grunt he pulled himself upright, accompanied by a sigh of relief. But it was short lived when out of nowhere Jerry came sliding past the tree down the slope.

Calin desperately grabbed at the sliding boy but missed. All he could do was watch as Jerry slid at an increased tempo down the steep hillside.

Immediately Calin looked up past the tree and the guard was busy coming their way. He panicked and was sure Jerry would be spotted.

With a cringe he looked down. To find to his surprise that Jerry had somehow reached the palisade in time.

The boy had his hand over his chest. Even through the rain it was clear that Jerry’s eyes were wide with shock. With the guard approaching, he moved back behind his tree. He glanced back and motioned for Evany to stay behind cover as her head came peeking around a tree three meters from his position. Promptly she disappeared from sight and he pushed his back against the tree and waited, trying to calm himself a bit after the slip up.

After a few moments he dared a look. The coast was clear and he scrambled to the next tree.

It wasn’t long before Calin reached the palisade with a short sprint as he slid in next to Jerry.

“Jerry! What happened?” Calin asked without hesitation. The boy lifted his hands in defence. “I’m sorry mate. I slipped while I was running for the next tree... Man that was too close.”

“Far too close,” Calin agreed as he patted the boy’s shoulder and stepped past him. A minute later everybody was there and Calin set the troupe off towards the area with the gap.

They were making good time, but the next moment the gate of the fort swung open right in front of him. He skidded to a halt as the large wooden gates stopped at a ninety degree angle. Jerry almost crashed into him, but Calin pushed the boy back against the palisade and they squeezed into the corner of the gate, waiting in fear.

The seconds passed by incredibly slow and the anxious faces beside him mirrored that feeling.

The sound of hooves reached his ears and he couldn’t resist peeking through a tiny gap in the gate. There came a horse, the biggest he had ever seen, it was black with white around its hooves and a beige spot behind its ear.

The man riding it was attired in a long waist coat, with a hood coming from within the collar. The man had an extravagant fiery orange and burgundy shirt that showed proudly on his chest. Calin studied the man carefully and surmised he could be the captain those other two guards had been speaking about.

The captain turned the horse back only long enough to shout at the guards. “I won’t be gone more than half an hour, see to it that no more accidents happen, or I will have the lot of you lashed for your pure incompetence.”

Kara must have been a thorn in their side, good girl! They don’t take us Cresties easily. A grin split his face, but it was short lived as the massive horse galloped out of the gates.

They stuck like rats to the wood, open for the birds to pick if the captain so much as turned his head. Calin held out his hand to keep the others from moving a muscle.

He held his own breath until the horse finally disappeared between the trees. With a whoosh Calin let out his breath and wasn’t surprised when the other three also exhaled loudly.

Through some effort he scraped his nerves together and realized the gate stayed opened. Not able to help himself he silently cursed and moved to Tyas. “We need to find another gap,” he whispered. “I don’t think we can make a run for it past the gate.”

The man agreed with a nod and soon Calin led them the other way around. Each gap they came to was too small.

Even with each small disappointment, he trusted his gut and soon they found a reasonably sized gap.

To Calin’s frustration he again needed help squeezing through the tight fit, he couldn’t understand it. He was shorter than Jerry and Tyas but somehow they just slid through without trouble.

On the other side his friends were huddled behind the closest house.

“Jerry you know what to do,” Calin said. “We need that distraction sooner rather than later. Join us at the barracks if you can after.”

The boy nodded and sat ready for when they would move out. Next, Calin looked to Tyas and said, “Are you sure about your plan to sneak into the barracks? I can help.”

Tyas just shook his head. “It will be easier to sneak past any guards if I’m alone from the other side.”

It still troubled him that the man was going in alone. But regardless of it he shook Tyas’ hand. “Good luck...” Calin said tentatively before signalling to his side. “Evany you follow me, let’s go.”

With some trepidation Calin stepped towards the corner and peeked. All clear... Okay, here goes nothing.

A hard flick of his hand signalled the others and Tyas rushed around the house immediately to his front. After a few moments there was no sign of the man and Calin signalled for Jerry to go. The boy disappeared around the other corner leaving him alone with Evany.

Gathering his nerves, he motioned her to follow as he rushed towards the closest crates. Before he wanted to jump for the next crate Evany grabbed his arm and said, “Calin are you sure this will work?”

Incredulous he glanced at her. “Evany, couldn’t you pick a better time to voice your doubts?”

At her frightened look he sighed and with a comforting smile he said, “Don’t worry I’ll stay with you, now let’s go, we don’t have much time.”

She breathed deeply and he took her hand, heading onwards.

Upon reaching the next crate between the two stone buildings Calin got his first glimpse of the open courtyard in front of the barracks. He glanced around for any sign of the five guards, but panic brushed against him as he only spotted three. Where are the other two? Man!...

He wished he had more time, but the captain’s untimely return could ruin their escape. He looked at his digital watch, truly glad he had not taken it off through the chaos of the previous night.

Alright, we have twenty minutes left,It bothered him that they had already lost ten minutes, but he was going to use the remainder of time to the best. The moment the three guards walked away from his direction he ran for the barracks dragging Evany along by the hand.

Through it all his heart was beating wildly. The other two guards could be anywhere. He prayed as they ran for the barracks. Through his dash he repeatedly glanced around, just to make sure they went unobserved. His luck held only until they hit the building.

He pushed Evany around the corner towards where the small barred window was. Kara’s cell. But before he could step around he looked back past the barracks where the other two guards came into view.

It was Pror and Feron. He was glad they had made it before those two had come into view. He was about to head after Evany when he caught movement other than the two guards. He glanced back and froze. It caught him completely off guard as they coaxed a black creature from around the corner. Calin’s heart stopped for the briefest of moments. His own cards suddenly looked like a severe disadvantage.

Though, even with his plan feeling a lot less secure, the small hope he had was that the creature was much smaller than the ones that had chased him halfway over the country side. Nevertheless, it was very bad news.

No! Calin groaned and slipped around the corner, only peeking around. Evany queried behind him. “Calin?” but he motioned for her to wait as he listened carefully.

The two guards were a slight distance away, but Calin could still barely make out their loud banter. “... glad the captain convinced Mishael to send us one of these very rare beauties, don’t you think Feron? I can’t even imagine how they even got one in the first place.”

“Only you would think Nighthounds are beauties,” The guard named Feron said quite seriously, it was to Calin’s surprise to hear the tension in the big guard’s voice as he continued, “You know the stories about them, what if she attacked us? No… the sooner I get away from that thing the better.”

“Come now, Feron,” Pror said without hesitation. “This is not like you. Don’t mind it, you can see she likes me already.”

Calin watched the man pet the hard scales of the dark creature lovingly. A shudder in disgust ran through him. Even though the creature was much smaller than the ones he had barely escaped, it still sent his spine crawling.

Having heard enough he slipped back and just checked if the other three guards were still out of sight before he turned around. Only to find Evany already busy speaking to Kara through the prison bars, the girl had tears streaming down her cheeks as she was, in a way, reunited with her missing friend. Calin walked to Evany as she said, “...will get you out of there soon.”

At the small barred window, Calin looked into the prison. Kara was smiling with tears running down her cheeks. She wiped it the moment she noticed Calin.

“Kara, hang tight,” he gladly said. “We’re coming in.” With a nod from her, he gently pushed at Evany to follow him. They still had a job to do.

A second later he stepped around the back corner of the barracks only to tumble backwards.

There was a guard standing ten meters away from them. His back facing towards them as the man started taking a leak.

With some trepidation Calin gathered himself again and glanced around the corner. This was their way into the barracks and now it was compromised.

He groaned with the failure of this part of the plan, but before he could step back to rethink their next step, he noticed Tyas looking from the back door, three meters away. The man motioned anxiously for them to hurry. Calin gave him an incredulous look, but Tyas motioned all the harder and Calin threw caution to the wind, dragging Evany by the hand as they scrambled as silently as they could towards the door behind the guard’s back, suddenly very glad for the rain as it covered their somewhat noisy entry. He pushed Evany into the door and glanced back.

The guard was finishing up and Calin cringed as he squeezed into the back door. Tyas closed it softly behind him, but Calin whispered, “Hurry, hide! He’s coming back.”

They scrambled down the small corridor into the big room. The place had beds and small wooden tables with crude cutlery and a skull of a thing with giant teeth on the wall that took up half of the space on it. Calin didn’t even want to know what it was.

The others flopped around trying to find a hiding place. Through it all he was keenly aware of the lack of other guards in the mess hall and thanked his lucky stars for it.

With an awkward flop Calin fell behind one of the small beds as the door’s lock clicked.

Immediately it was followed by the footsteps of the armoured figure. Calin just laid as flat as he could behind the bed while he waited in fear. The wall pressed tightly against his ribs in the small space.

Don’t come lie down...Don’t come lie down, he repeated in his head, hoping to will the message to the guard.