by Blink, Bob
Another new fulltime resident in the capital was Inge and her father. With Cordale replaced, there was no need for them to remain in hiding, and Rigo had brought them both back to the city at their urging. They were living at her father’s estate that had been returned by order of King Rhory. Rigo had found himself in Inge’s company on more than one occasion of late, and was aware that her father was not displeased with the fact his daughter had demonstrated an obvious interest in the young wizard. Maybe he should invite her to the dinner with Jeen’s family?
All of this floated at the back of Rigo’s mind. Daim was present as well, quietly frustrated by the lack of progress on the major problem. Rigo had managed to repair the three towers that required work with the help of several of the more advanced gifted from the Outpost, but that wasn’t enough. The Hoplani kept coming, sometimes singly or in pairs, but often in larger numbers.
After the rapid progress that had been made for a while, the slowdown had left Rigo with a certain anxiety. It didn’t help that he felt the same anxiety from Daim.
Chapter 90
“It’s time,” Daria whispered to Kaler as they noted the sun rising above the hill behind them.
They had watched the estate for several days to understand the routine that was followed, and given the time of morning, the large night shift would have been replaced by the day shift almost a glass earlier. The night shift was the largest watch. Cordale must fear that anyone who was after him would make their move in the hours of darkness that would hide someone crossing the open flatlands at the front of the beachfront estate. The men who walked the top of the walls that surrounded the enclosed mansion were numerous and kept a sharp watch for any attempt to breach the security. Once daylight returned, the ability to approach the outer wall was virtually impossible, and a smaller force was deployed to keep watch. For some reason, no one appeared to have considered that the infiltrators might sneak close to the walls under the cover of darkness, then remain hidden in the deep shadow at the base of the wall where it merged with the steep rocky hillside until daylight. There one could wait and make the breach of the outer wall when the watch had become more relaxed. That’s what she and Kaler intended, and were about to attempt.
Kaler looked uncertainly at the steep vertical wall that Daria was about to climb. The grounds were situated on the very edge of a steep cliff overlooking the Great Sea. Just over a half glass ride out of the village of Barber, it was nestled in a small flat overlooking the water with a view of the village in the distance as the shoreline gently curved inward revealing the long beach where the town had been founded. Below the estate itself, the sea crashed violently into the sheer rock walls that were slick with spray from the crashing surf and which dropped vertically into the treacherous waters.
The rock walls that formed the cliff had opened to a flattened area some two hundred paces wide where the walls that protected the mansion had been built many years before. While the rock cliffs on either side had continued upward, they had also bent away from the flat where the house had been built. The outer wall that had been erected extended between the two cliff extensions along the cliff edge that fronted the ocean, then had turned ninety degrees away from the sea on either end after mating tight up against the rock face. Where the wall joined the natural rock a narrow inverted “v” shape resulted for a few paces until the rock wall moved outward and away from the wall that had been built. Both the wall and the cliff face were bare smooth stone without a purchase, and extended more than fifteen times the height of a man.
Daria was able to wedge herself in the tip of the “v”, using the pressure against each to provide friction allowing her to inch her way upward between the two walls. Still shaded this early in the morning, a guard would have to come to a spot directly over where she was making her climb, then look straight down to have any chance of spotting her. Someone who had been at the estate longer would probably have become aware of the weakness, but Cordale and his men had only recently arrived, and had been lax in their investigation of the facility. During the long hours they had watched the guards, Daria had never seen one of them examine the approach she was using. They seemed driven to watch the sea wall, which in Daria’s mind was exposed, virtually impossible to climb, and almost certainly fatal in the event of a slip.
Kaler watched nervously as Daria moved higher. He wouldn’t be making the same attempt. He knew he couldn’t make the climb, and she was carrying a long rope they had acquired in the village that she would anchor once she reached the top which would allow him to clamber up after her. They had a good idea what to expect once they managed to get inside. Cordale had hired staff from the village and one of the women at the inn where they were staying had been a maid several years earlier for a former owner. Getting inside was the critical step.
Daria was now far above Kaler, who clenched his hands nervously. One slip and it would be over. He promised he would try and catch Daria if she fell, but he wasn’t certain it would help. As high as she was, a drop would almost certainly mean broken bones for both of them, and perhaps death. She had explained that she’d done this kind of thing frequently in the past and didn’t see it as particularly difficult. Kaler swiped his hand across the stone, grimacing at the smoothness his hand encountered. He wasn’t nearly as confident as she was.
Not wanting to look, but unable not to, he peered up at her far above. Like himself, she was wearing what might easily have been mistaken as workman’s clothes. They both could have been mistaken for poor peasants, both men. Daria hadn’t had access to the custom made outfits she normally wore for such activities, but she’d been able to get a local tailor to make acceptable modifications to her clothes. The slits that gave her access to the knives were more apparent, but she wouldn’t be moving among people where concealment was as necessary. The clothes they wore were nondescript and functional for the task at hand.
She had stopped moving, and Kaler could see that she had to extended herself greatly to bridge the gap between the wall and the mountain, feet on the darker rock of the hillside and hands stretched to press against the wall. The two were not as close together up there. His heart beat faster than normal as she continued to inch upward. Maybe there was a different way they could try? He looked away and glanced along the wall, just to be certain no one was sneaking up on him while his attention was upward. When he looked back she was gone.
For a moment he wasn’t certain what happened, but then he saw her head, small at this distance, appear over the edge of the wall. Moments later the rope she had carried dropped down where he could reach it. Aided by the rope he placed his own feet against the wall and started pulling himself upward. By the time he reached the top his arms were shaking, but he was able to slip up and over, and crouch down beside Daria, who grinned at him.
“Not so hard,” she whispered.
Kaler knew she relished the challenge of going after Cordale in his fortified estate. Kaler would have preferred Rigo just make them a direct path in. He knew that Daria had sent a message to their friend via the Wanderer network that would be delivered in a couple of days in case they were unsuccessful.
“We could fail,” Daria had said the day before, although Kaler could tell she didn’t believe it possible. “We can be certain that Rigo will be here as soon as he gets the message. If nothing else, we will have a quick way home.”
Kaler shook his head. He would have been happy to take on all twelve of Cordale’s swordsmen, but this scaling of walls was not his kind of thing. He looked around to get his bearings. The walkway here was nearly as wide as a man was tall, with just a small lip that ran around the inside and outside edges. It would be simple enough to walk around, unless a man was uncomfortable with heights. Fortunately whoever had built this place, and Kaler couldn’t help but wonder at the effort that must have been required, had seen fit to put small structures that a man could stand inside of spaced around the top. Kaler guessed that they were intended to give whoever was on duty a place out of the s
un or weather, but they also gave Kaler and Daria a place to hide. They were crouched behind one of these structures, and watched as the two guards moved slowly around the wall on the front side of the estate.
Kaler hated leaving anyone behind him and had pushed to eliminate the two men during their planning session, but Daria had insisted that the chances of being spotted during such an attempt were too great, and someone might miss them if they were killed. They needed to get inside before an alarm was raised or the mission was lost. Grudgingly he watched the two men chatting as Daria set the rope hook carefully, then lowered the rope inside the wall. When the two men were facing the opposite way, she climbed over the small retaining barrier and smoothly slid down into the courtyard below. Kaler waited his turn and followed after her. Once they were down and the guards distracted, Daria released the hook with a practiced snap of her wrist and caught the hook before it could make any noise as it plummeted to the ground. She hid the rope under a bush. They wouldn’t be going out the same way.
Following after Daria, his own skills at moving quietly much improved after the lessons she had been giving him during their weeks of travel, they moved swiftly across the grounds toward the small kitchen entrance that the maid had told them about. They waited outside, listening for the sound of voices, then moved inside when the coast was clear. The passageway led past the cooking area, where someone was busy preparing the morning meal, past a large storage room which served as the larder for the estate, a passage that led to servants quarters, and then into the first level of the mansion which provided the help access to those they served.
Someone was moving around the first level. Six men had been on duty the previous night, and were mostly settling in for some sleep. That left five men awake somewhere, plus Cordale and his man Roit based on the count they had been able to piece together from their following the men and the various inns where they had stayed. Daria peered out, and nodding to herself withdrew one of her throwing blades. She waited until the time was right, stepped out from where she was hiding, and deftly flipped the blade across the room where it struck the man in the neck. She was only a heartbeat behind the knife, a second in her hand as she caught the man as he stumbled from the hit. She held her hand over the man’s mouth, her blade ready until Kaler was there to help drag the man behind the stairs where a quick slash ended any possible interference he might have provided. He would bleed out there out of view. Daria calmly wiped the blade on the man’s tunic, then stood and walked down the hall.
Two rooms served as barracks, and they were both located on this level. It was likely that the guards who had gone off duty were there. Some might be waiting for a morning meal before retiring, but they needed to be dealt with before they learned that Kaler and Daria were present. The men in one room were silent, already asleep. Two men were talking in the other room, so Daria and Kaler crept in to deal with the sleeping men first. Kaler wasn’t happy about what they intended, but these men had sided with the murderous ex-king and had a long history of foul deeds. Since there were only the two of them, they needed to reduce the odds, and that meant removing as many of the men as possible before they were discovered. Working silently they slit the throats of the five men they found sleeping in the room.
“Six down,” Daria said, her eyes fierce.
Two men were on the walls, which meant three men unaccounted for, although from the voices across the hall, at least two of them should be there. Quickly they moved across the hall, and prepared to deal with those inside. Fortunately this room was well back in the castle, and being of solid stone would muffle most sounds. Nodding to Daria, Kaler burst into the room. Only one man was present. The other must have slipped away while they were busy across the hall. The one remaining wasted no time in shock, reaching for his sword with a practiced motion and moving over to engage Kaler. It wasn’t a fair fight. Kaler swatted aside the thrusts and with a rapid flurry of strokes broke through the defense the guard tried to raise, burying his sword in the man’s chest with a stroke that reached the heart.
“Upstairs,” Daria whispered, after Kaler checked the dead man.
Silently they climbed the stairs, alert for any more of the guards. It was likely the two that weren’t on the walls were outside checking the grounds, but it was possible at least one was on the upper level. At the top of the stone staircase was a large open room, ornately furnished with a view to the courtyard at the front of the estate. Two hallways led in opposite directions from the open area toward rooms.
“Which way?” Kaler asked, looking at the two possible paths.
Daria was about to respond, when someone came out of the hall on their left and shouted loudly, “Guards!”
Kaler was closer and moved toward the man with his sword ready. This had to be Roit.
“I’ll handle this,” Kaler said. “Go see to Cordale.”
Daria took a moment to assess the situation, then nodded and hurried toward the other hallway. Odds were that was where she would find the former King.
She heard the clash of swords as Kaler moved in to deal with Roit. It was unlikely that Cordale had missed the commotion unless he was a very sound and late sleeper. She reached the door, and carefully tested the latch. It wasn’t locked! The fool was over confident. Without hesitation, she pushed it open.
Inside, Cordale had indeed heard the shout and had acquired his own sword in the meantime, although he didn’t look as though he was used to fighting any longer. He looked at Daria, saw she was a woman and armed with a small knife, and smiled. His weapon was longer. Then he obviously realized who she must be and seemed to shrink. “You,” he mumbled.
Daria smiled and stepped toward the man she owed a debt.
Out in the hall, Kaler had his hands full. The shout had brought the two missing guards charging up the stairs. It was three against one. Roit was by far the most accomplished of the three defenders, and was in fact somewhat hindered by the arrival of the two guards. While Kaler could slice any target that offered itself, Roit had to attempt to reach Kaler without taking out one of his own. Moving nimbly on his feet, Kaler slipped his blade inside the defense of one of the new arrivals and cut a long slice along one forearm. The man yelled and stepped back, bringing his friend forward. Kaler was about to repeat the maneuver when Roit came at him from the side and forced Kaler to retreat, his sword flashing to block the furious attack of the other.
They danced around, Kaler giving ground, then going on the attack. He needed to do something. Three against one would tire him out sooner or later, and a single lucky cut and it might be all over. Critically he watched the way the three men tried to coordinate their moves, until he saw an opportunity.
Daria reached back and dropped the bar across the door preventing anyone from entering and disturbing them. Now she had time to do this as she wished. She walked confidently toward the older man who was brandishing his long sword, as though the size made no difference.
“You know who I am?” she asked with a harsh smile.
Cordale nodded. “You’re the assassin I hired. I was told you had been killed.”
“You tried to have me killed after I performed the task you hired me for,” Daria said.
Cordale shook his head as if his denial would change matters. “That was Roit. He acted on his own.”
“I know better,” Daria said. “I also know how you tried to have Prince Rhory killed and how you poisoned the King. Now it’s your turn.”
Cordale raised his sword as Daria moved nearly within range. With a sudden lunge he moved toward her with the intent of impaling her on the sharp Kellmore blade. Except she wasn’t there. Instead he found a burning slice on his wrist that was leaking blood. The woman, the Kalabhoot he reminded himself, was standing on the far side of him. Cordale turned and charged without hesitation, only to find himself with another bleeding cut.
“This is fun,” the Kalbhoot said. “But you need to move faster if it is to be interesting.”
Once again Cordale tried to
connect, this time with a wide sweeping horizontal swing, but like the others, it failed to connect. When he recovered, he found that the woman was behind him, her blade pressed deeply into his neck. With no other choice, he let the sword drop. “I can pay you handsomely,” he offered.
Kaler waited for the proper time, then feinted a thrust and quickly sidestepped. The blade swung by the closest guard that had been intended for him, missed but cut deeply into the abdomen of the second guard. While the man stood aghast at what he had done, Kaler ended his participation with a rapid slice of his blade. Now it was just Roit and himself.
The two practiced swordsmen faced one another, then Roit tried a quick thrust hoping to catch Kaler unprepared. Kaler swatted it away, and pushed back with a rapid series of moves that showed how much better he was than the other. Roit hollered for more guards, but the only ones left were atop the outer wall and unlikely to hear. Even if they did, Kaler intended this to be over long before they arrived.
Realizing he was in trouble, Roit threw caution to the wind and drove at Kaler with a powerful sequence of blows driven by desperation. Waiting out the storm, Kaler knocked them aside, then with an almost careless swing, caught Roit’s wrist and severed it from his arm. The sword clattered to the ground. As Roit stared at the blood spurting from his severed wrist, Kaler thrust his sword through the man’s neck, pulling it back swiftly and allowing him to fall unsupported to the floor. Certain the man was finished, Kaler listened to see if the remaining guards were approaching, and failing to hear anything, went in search of Daria.
Daria held the man close as she flipped away the blade she’d held against his throat and reached inside her blouse for another of the hidden knives. This one looked different, and she slid it carefully out of the wrapping that surrounded the blade. With barely a thought, she made a small slice in Cordale’s neck, then pushed him away. As she slipped the knife away, she heard Kaler shouting at the door. Backing up toward the door, she removed the stout bar and allowed him inside.