Ascension (49 page)

Ξ

“
There they
are,
”
Jean and Croxley were crouched
behind a hedge of bushes in front of the wall. They had followed
the line of the wall in the direction of the gate until they
spotted the beginnings of the troop
’
s base. Set up between the hedge
and the wall were a series of tents. A few men were pacing back and
forth between the camp, while others were keeping a perimeter
around the gate. Croxley and Jean ducked when one of the patrolling
guards passed them, but they didn
’
t have much to worry about,
based on the glazed expression of the guard who was nearly dragging
his sword as he walked by. After he passed, they slowly walked
along the perimeter of the forest until they reached the end of the
camp.

Overall, there were about 200 tents
set up, and Croxley knew each tent could hold three to four men.
This added up to a group of about 800, not including those sleeping
outside of tents and those being housed elsewhere, such as in the
wall itself or in the homes of citizens unlucky enough to have
their home near the wall.

“
I
’
d guess they probably have
around 1,000 troops, give or take a few. We
’
ve got maybe 300, 350 max.”
Croxley said to Jean. She was scoping the outline of the
base with squinted eyes, slowly scanning from left to right until
she stopped. She peered closer, leaning so far forward that Croxley
had to catch her before she left the cover of the
forest.

“
That must be
it,
”
she concluded. Croxley tried to
follow her gaze but couldn
’
t find what she was looking
at.

“
What,
”
he asked.

“
That
’
s
the entrance to the weapon room.
”
She
scooted closer to him until her eyes were at the same level as
his.
“
There. See where those two walls
meet? Right underneath there is a small trap door that leads to the
servant runs.
”

Croxley
wasn
’
t looking
at where she was pointing, however. He was too entranced by her
presence, all too aware of how close she was to him, of her smell,
of the heat coming off of her, of the way her hair was drifting
into her eyes as she focused on the wall ahead. She stopped talking
and looked at him, and it took a few seconds for him to shake out
of his trance.

“
Ah, yes, the
trap door. Got it.
”
She drew her eyebrows
closer together but didn
’
t say anything else. He cleared
his throat and continued,
“
so, how do we
get there?
”

“
I
’
ve been timing the guards and it
seems that the longest gap between the rotations is right when the
guard up ahead passes by. Either he is a bit faster than the guard
behind him or the latter is slower, but either way, their spacing
is uneven, which gives us the most time to pass through. Once we
get past the border, we can weave through the tents. I
don
’
t think
anyone is still awake, and as long as we are quiet, we
won
’
t wake
anyone up.
”

“
You know, I
never would have expected you to be so covert. How did you learn
about all this?
”

Jean smiled
mischievously with her eyes cast down as she explained,
“
Well, I told you I knew the ins and outs of the
city, didn
’
t I?
After my first job didn
’
t work out so well, I decided to
take a break and live on the streets for a bit. I had my rounds
with pickpocketing, never from any of the citizens, mind you, only
the nobles. Actually,
”
she said, looking
up at him with an apologetic expression,
“
you were one of my first.
”

Croxley turned
this over in his mind, trying to figure out what she was referring
to because he knew it couldn
’
t be what he immediately thought
of.
“
Your first what?
”

“
When I was first
learning how to pickpocket. You were walking through the street by
yourself, I think delivering a message or something. Even though
you weren
’
t
exactly dressed in a courtly fashion, the way you carried yourself
made it all too obvious that you were from the castle. So, I
decided to, ah, make a little mess of things and see if I could get
my hands on some of the castle
’
s wealth.
”

Croxley
’
s eyes lit up as the memory
flashed before him.
“
That was you? That
day that I was walking through the city and a fruit stand fell
over? The shop keeper accused me of bruising all his apples and
wanted me to buy the whole stock. I was so busy arguing with him
that I lost track of myself and thought that I misplaced my
compass. But no,
”
he leaned back from
her, looking at her with amazement.
“
You
took it!
”

Jean looked at him nervously, not
sure how to respond to him, when suddenly he burst out
laughing.

“
Hush!”
She leapt
towards him and covered his mouth before anyone could hear
him.

“
Sorry, sorry,”
he gained control of himself and settled down.
“
Sorry. I just can’
t
believe that you took it from me. I was looking for that thing for
weeks. When my father found out I had lost it, he gave me the worst
beating ever. It was the first gift I had been given after
officially becoming a castle messenger.
”
He sighed wistfully, then asked,
“You don
’
t happen to still have it, do
you?
”
He looked at her hopefully, but she
shook her head.

“
Sorry. I had to
find a way to eat somehow.
”

“
Oh, I see.
Alright.
”

“
But if it makes
you feel any better, I waited till the last minute before selling
it. I really didn
’
t want to. It was beautiful.
”

“
Yes, it
was.
”

They sat in a comfortable silence
for a few minutes, watching as the guards passed by, until the
guard Jean had pointed out earlier came into view again.

Now, she mouthed, and they burst out
of the bushes. Sprinting through the opening, Croxley felt a burst
of adrenaline rush through him, propelling him forward. He
belatedly realized that he and Jean were holding hands, and gripped
hers tighter as they ran at top speed towards the wall.

When they reached the tents, they
wound through them carefully and swiftly, avoiding all the armor
and weapons scattered outside. Croxley looked at Jean, pointing
them out, and she understood the message. They could easily take
these weapons back in addition to those found in the weapons room.
He made a mental note to tell Erik when he came with the men to
have him take some of the weapons outside along the way. Not only
will it increase their supplies, but it will cripple their army.
Okay, maybe not by much, but any bit can help. This internal
monologue continued in his head as they ran to the wall. By the
time they reached it, both Croxley and Jean were huffing and
puffing, attempting to do so as silently as possible.

Once they caught
some semblance of breath, Jean started pacing the wall, repeatedly
looking up and down from the top of the tower to the ground. When
she reached where the walls met, symbolized by a slight
discoloration in the stones, she used her foot to push aside the
leaves and dirt covering the ground. Croxley kept watch on the camp
as she did so, hoping that the sound of her digging
didn
’
t wake
anyone. Suddenly, he heard a loud creak and whipped
around.

She had the trap door open slightly
and was already climbing inside. She motioned for him, and he
quickly climbed down the ladder to join her, letting the door shut
quietly above them.

It was nearly pitch black. The only
light came from small cracks in the trap door above, and since it
was still nighttime, that light did little more than allow Croxley
to see the outline of their surroundings. As his vision adjusted,
however, he realized Jean was walking down the hallway. He sped up
to catch her, carefully putting his arms out in front of him in
case he ran into anything.

“
You need to work
on this whole
‘
waiting
’
thing,
”
he told Jean when he reached her.

“
Sorry. I
’
m not used to having someone
follow me who I
’
m not trying to lose.
”
She slowed
her pace down a bit and made sure Croxley was following before she
turned a corner.
“
The weapons room is
just on the right. There is normally a lantern lit in the room at
all times, in case of emergency armament. It
’
ll help us find what we are
looking for.
”

They made it to a
door at the end of the hallway, but Jean cursed when she saw it had
a lock on it.
“
When did they put that
there?
”

Croxley went
closer to inspect it. He picked it up and rotated it around,
measuring its weight in his hand. Dropping the lock, he put his
hands on the door, feeling the material. The wall around it was
stone, but the door itself was of wood.
“It
’
s pretty thick, but the lock is
slightly rusted. It
’
s worth a shot,
”
he
announced.

By the time Jean
realized what he was going to do, it was too late, and Croxley had
rammed his body into the door. The first time it barely budged, but
before she could stop him, he rammed it a second and then a third
time. She grabbed onto him before he could do it again, and felt
his heart beating through his chest, which was moving rapidly with
his breath. He was nearly panting, but didn
’
t move his gaze from the lock.
He studied it until he regained his breath, then looked at Jean.
She nodded and released him. Stepping back, he planted his feet and
released a roar as he slammed into the door, which swung open with
a resounding thud. Jean blinked a few times, blinded by the sudden
light of the lantern. As her vision adjusted, she gasped when she
found Croxley precariously stopped a few inches in front of a rack
of spears, their heads all pointing in his direction. She pulled
him back before he could fall into them, and he leaned against
her.

“
Don
’
t let me do that again,
”
he panted.
“
I feel
like I was just ran over by a horse-drawn
carriage.
”

Croxley shook himself, stretching
his limbs out and cracking his neck, before he took inventory of
the room. Inside, there was a multitude of spears and swords, most
of which were basic army standard. There were also a small
selection of bows and arrows, as well as a few exclusive weapons,
such as a mace and a flail. After he had made sure he had a good
count of all the weapons, he signaled to Jean that they should
leave the room. They ran back down the hallways and made it to the
trap door, Jean climbing up first and slowly opening the door,
peering out through the small slit to make sure the coast was
clear. When she made sure that there were no guards in sight, she
climbed out, holding it open for Croxley while he came
up.

Croxley looked at
the forest across the way, searching for some sign of Erik and his
men. His eyes scanned through the trees until they found what they
were looking for, a glint of moonlight off of
Erik
’
s mirror
piece. Croxley waited for Jean to flash her piece, but she held up
her hand, mouthing the word no. She pointed to the guard walking
the perimeter, and he understood that she was waiting for the gap
again. But after waiting for a full rotation, he realized that the
guards must have switched while they were in the weapons room,
because the gap no longer existed. He looked back at Jean in alarm
and saw that she was biting her lip, obviously trying to come up
with a plan. But time was short, and Croxley knew that the more
time they spent trying to come up with a plan, the higher the
chance that they would get caught.

“
Jean, we need to
risk it. If we time it just right, we might be able to get
through.
”

She frowned but
nodded in agreement. After the next guard passed by, Jean flashed
her glass. Bursting through the forest came Erik, followed by three
other strong men, moving surprisingly fast for their size. They
made it nearly all the way when Croxley heard a shout. He saw the
men
’
s eyes
widen as they realized they were spotted, but they kept running at
Erik
’s command.