Griff looked frightened, but he did what he was told. Stone mounted first and then helped the young man up behind him.
“Lorik, you sure you want to walk?” Stone asked.
“The wagon makes a lot of racket. I’d feel better if I didn’t have to worry about being discovered too soon.”
“Makes sense,” Stone said.
“We aren’t in a hurry. I’ll be fine,” Lorik added. Then he turned to Roran. “Let’s get your friend into the wagon.” They lifted the young man with the wounded leg up onto the wagon. Roran had bandaged the wound, and although there was blood showing through the strips of cloth, the bleeding seemed contained.
“I don’t think the blood will get through the wagon cover, but keep an eye on it,” Lorik said. “That’s rice in the bags, and blood could ruin it.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t,” Roran said. “That’s the least I can do for you boys.”
Night had fallen when Lorik, Stone, and Griff set out for Pallsen. In normal conditions it would have taken them an hour to arrive at the city, even with Lorik walking, but they took their time. They rode in the dark, Stone following Lorik so that they didn’t risk hurting the horse on some unseen obstacle in the dark. They could see the city, which was easily twice as big as Hassell Point, although most of the buildings were homes, shops, or part of the large, outdoor market that made Pallsen a center for trade in Ortis. There was only one inn, a modest two-story affair that was still the largest building in the town.
Stone and Griff dismounted and the three men sat down in the darkness, watching the city. There were lights in some of the homes, although most were already dark. The market was empty, but the inn was brightly lit. There were torches burning on either side of the inn’s ornate wooden door and light shining through the inn’s many windows.
“I take it Thuryk’s made the inn his headquarters?” Lorik said.
“That’s where he’s keeping all the families,” Griff said. “There’s only one way in or out. The women and children are in the rooms, while Thuryk feasts in the common room.”
“Where are they sleeping?” Stone asked.
“Thuryk takes a room, but most of his men just sleep on the floor of the common room.”
“How do you know so much?” Stone asked.
“I was there for a day before he sent us out to raid the local farms and travelers such as yourselves,” Griff said. “Things may have changed, I don’t know. I’m just telling you how it was before I left.”
“It’s probably the best information we’re likely to get,” Lorik said.
“Well, if he’s right, we could get closer,” Stone said. “I doubt Thuryk would post men anywhere except right outside the inn.”
“Griff,” Lorik said. “I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, but if you know how to sneak us into the town without being seen, it would be a big help.”
The younger man was hardly more than a boy. He had a few wispy hairs on his chin, but his face was round and youthful. He was very thin, his skin pale, and even though there was very little light it was obvious that he was afraid.
“I’ll show you around, but if there’s fighting I’m gone,” Griff said, his voice shaking slightly. “I don’t like fighting.”
“That’s fine,” Lorik said. “Just lead the way.”
They hurried across the open plain that surrounded the town. Lorik felt exposed, but no one saw them. Most of the townsfolk were either sequestered at the inn or out on raids with the outlaws. The only people left in their homes were the elderly. They approached a row of buildings that were dark and low.
“Where are we?” Lorik whispered.
“These are workshops,” Griff said. “The inn is on the far side of the market.”
“And where is that?” Stone asked.
“We just follow these buildings and then turn left on the main street.”
“We don’t want to go the obvious way,” Lorik said. “We need to get close enough to see the inn without being seen.”
“All right,” Griff said. “This way.”
He led them around a large barn and through an empty corral, which Lorik assumed was the town’s livery stable. They passed several stone cottages; a few were occupied but most were dark. Then they reached a building with an angled roof, and Griff pointed up.
“If we can get up onto the roof, we’ll have a perfect view of the inn,” he said.
“But how to we get up there?” Stone asked.
Lorik looked at the two younger men. Stone was in his mid-twenties and strong, but Lorik was much larger. He had brawny arms and a thick chest. It was obvious that they expected him to boost them up.
“Fine,” he said, lacing his fingers together and bending his knees. Griff stepped up first and Lorik heaved the young man onto the roof effortlessly.
“You make a good ladder,” Stone teased.
“Just make sure you see all there is to see,” he whispered.
Then Stone put his hand on Lorik’s shoulder and his right foot in the teamster’s hands. As he stepped up, Lorik heaved. The edge of the roof was only slightly out of reach from the ground, so when Lorik lifted Stone up, he easily got his free leg and upper body onto the roof. The angle of the wooden shingles made it difficult to keep his balance, but Griff grabbed onto the warrior’s arm and helped pull him up.
Once Stone got his feet under him, he was able to crawl up to the roof’s apex. They peeked over the edge and saw the roof sloping down and then the dark expanse of the town market. It was a square of grass, big enough for over fifty market stalls or tents. A street bordered the square with well maintained buildings on the far side of the street. Stone could smell fragrant herbs and assumed he was on top of an apothecary shop. Many herbalists used their attic space to hang and dry herbs.
The inn was easy to spot. It was by far the brightest building in the city. There was one man standing watch outside, and Stone could hear music and laughter from within. The windows weren’t clear enough to see through, but Stone could see movement within.
“Looks like it might be a long night,” he whispered to Griff.
“Yes,” the younger man agreed.
“What’s the layout like inside?”
“There’s a big common room. Randee, the innkeeper, has a big kitchen and several store rooms, some for food and others for wine and ale. He brews his own ale in a shed at the back of the inn. There’s a stable too, but it isn’t attached to the inn.”
“What about the rooms for guests?”
“They’re all upstairs, except for the rooms Randee and his wife share. I’ve never been in them but I know she has a wash room where she cleans the bedclothes and such.”
“Okay, so we know Thuryk will be upstairs most likely,” Stone said. “Is there a balcony or a place where someone can see the common room from up high?”
“There’s a wide landing at the top of the stairs,” said Griff.
“Damn, I was afraid of that. If Thuryk has someone on watch inside the inn, they’ll most likely be upstairs where they can see everything. Even if we kill the two guards outside, we won’t be able to sneak into the building without being seen.”
“I can probably help with that, but we’ll need a few things,” Griff said.
“What have you got in mind?”
“Trust me,” he said.
They climbed back down the roof and jumped down. Both men landed lightly on their feet and rolled forward to keep the impact from being too jarring. Lorik stood stock-still in the shadows and it took Stone a moment to spot him.
“The kid has a plan to get us inside,” he explained.
“How do things look?” Lorik asked.
“They’re still drinking. There’s lots of noise and even music coming from the common room. My bet is we’ve got a couple of hours before they finally settle down for the evening.”
“What’s your plan?” Lorik asked Griff.
“I know a way in from the back of the building,” he said.
“I thought you said there was only one door,” Lorik said.
“There is, but if we can get up onto the roof of the shed where Randee brews his ale, I can get us in the window of one of the back rooms.”
“Won’t the windows be locked?” Stone asked.
Griff spread his hands in a gesture that said, “So?”
“We can’t risk breaking the window,” Lorik said. “That would surely wake people up.”
“I won’t break the window,” Griff said. “Let’s just say I know how to unlock them from the outside.”
“That doesn’t make me feel safe at night,” Lorik said.
“If he can do it, it’s probably our best shot,” Stone explained. “I can help you take out the guards out front and then Griff will get me in the back way. I’ll take out the sentry inside and then let you in.”
“Couldn’t we just go in the door together?” Lorik asked.
“No, there’s a balcony that overlooks the common room. Thuryk will post a guard there.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that. I’ve stayed in the inn here countless times and it didn’t even occur to me,” Lorik said.
“Sometimes when you’re familiar with a place it’s easy to forget important details,” Stone said.
“All right, let’s go make sure this plan will work.”
They took their time sneaking around the square and approaching the inn from the rear. It was very dark behind the inn. None of the light from the common room reached the rear of the building, and none of the rooms in back had lights. The shed where the innkeeper brewed his ale was a sturdy-looking building, but the roof was high. There was no way Lorik could boost Stone onto the shed’s roof.
“We’ll need a wagon or something,” Griff said. “Maybe a ladder.”
“Moving a wagon would be noisy,” Lorik said.
“So where do we find a ladder?”
They spread out, searching for a ladder through the dark town, but with the shops and homes locked up and the risk of being discovered keeping them from having any sort of light, they were soon frustrated.
“What are we going to do now?” Stone said.
“What if we use the barrels?” Lorik said. “There are probably several in the alehouse that we could move.”
“Randee uses big kegs,” Griff said. “They’ll be heavy.”
“So we’ll work together,” Lorik said. “I think it’s our best option.”
“Let’s look and see what we can do,” Stone agreed.
They returned to the shed behind the inn and went inside. The room was warm and smelled strongly of grain. They moved slowly in the dark, searching mostly by feel. Eventually they found barrels and slowly moved them outside. The barrels were large and extremely heavy, but Lorik and Stone managed to roll them out. There were five barrels all together, and they positioned four in a square and sat the fifth barrel on top of the others. Stone and Lorik were sweating and out of breath when they finished.
“Can you get up onto the roof from there?” Lorik asked Griff.
“Only one way to find out,” the young man said.
He hopped onto one of the barrels and then carefully climbed onto the second. He used the side of the alehouse to keep his balance and easily reached the roof. He pulled himself up and gave the others a thumbs-up.
“Okay, so what now?” Lorik said.
“Let’s go and see if the raiders have settled down for the night.”
The front of the inn was much darker than before, and there were now two guards standing on either side of the door. Stone and Lorik had found a place along the buildings to one side of the town square from which they could see the front of the inn.
“I can kill one, as quiet as a whisper, but not two at once,” Stone said.
“If I distract one, can you take care of the other?” Lorik asked.
“Sure, just give me a few minutes to circle back around the building. I’ll need to come up on him from behind.”
As Stone slunk away and Lorik was left to wait, he felt afraid. They had been busy up until now and he hadn’t had the time to really think about what he was doing or how dangerous it was. Lorik didn’t like being afraid. When he was a small boy he’d hated being left alone in his room to go to sleep. His parents were just in the next room, but as an only child he often felt alone. He didn’t like the dark, either, and the house would sometimes make strange noises that made it difficult to go to sleep. He’d lived in terror of the night and of the dark until he was thirteen. Then, he decided he would face his fears. He spent one night on the small porch of their home. The next night he slept in the barn. He repeated the process moving further and further away from the safety of his parents until he no longer felt afraid of the dark or of being alone.
Now he was in the dark again and alone. It reminded him of those first few nights when he wrestled with fear through the long, dark hours. The same mind-numbing fog was creeping over him, the same gut-wrenching sense of panic that made him want to call out and make noise, as if the sound would send the fear slinking away. He steeled his nerves and got ready to make his move. He knew that if things didn’t go well he’d most likely be killed. Thinking of his mortality made him think of Vera. She was the closest thing to family he had left. He wondered how she would ever get out of Hassell Point if he and Stone were killed. He shook the thoughts off lumbered out of the shadows between the buildings were he had been hiding.
He wanted to seem wounded. He staggered and limped his way toward the inn. He was surprised at how far he had to go before the guards even noticed him.
“Hey,” said one of the men. “Who are you?”
Lorik didn’t answer, he just collapsed on the ground.
“Looks like he was hurt,” said one of the guards. “You better go check it out.”
“Why should I?”
“Cause it might be one of the crew. You want to face Thuryk in the morning and tell him you let one of his raiders die because you didn’t want to check it out?”
The other guard scowled but turned and pulled the torch from the sconce beside the door and made his way across the open market. The guard with the torch had gone perhaps a dozen steps when Stone made his move. He moved quickly, staying close to the side of the inn. The remaining guard was watching his partner and never saw Stone sneaking up behind him. Stone had the long, thin dagger from his boot in his hand. With the blade turned flat he struck as quickly as a viper. He used his free hand to cover the guard’s mouth while he slid the dagger between the man’s ribs. It sliced through the guard’s lung and into his heart. He died with a sigh.
The guard with the torch reached Lorik just as his partner died. He didn’t turn back because he never heard a sound as his fellow sentry died. He studied Lorik for moment. Then bent over with the torch held high and his free hand on the hilt of his sword. Lorik was lying on his side groaning. The guard was just about to ask if Lorik was hurt when the big teamster rolled over and slashed the man’s throat with a knife. The guard reeled back, dropped the torch and tried to scream, but only a gurgling sound came. Blood poured over the front of his shirt, and he desperately tried to hold the wound closed. He felt back onto the grass and struggled to live, but he never made more than a gurgling groan before he died. Lorik was up and standing over the guard when the man stopped moving.
He looked up and saw Stone dragging the corpse of the other guard away. Lorik followed his partner’s example and dragged his sentry’s body into the shadows beside the inn.
“I’m going to join Griff,” Stone whispered.
“Be careful,” Lorik said. “I’ll be waiting out front.”
Lorik went out to where the torch lay sputtering and singeing the grass. He picked it up and moved back to the front of the inn, replaced the torch in its sconce, and turned to act as if he were guarding the inn. It was only a couple of hours until dawn now, and the stars seemed distant and weak. The crescent moon was dropping lower in the sky, and once again Lorik found himself waitin
g as fear began to whisper once more in his ear.
Chapter 12
Stone hurried through the darkness. Now that they had started their attack, they would all be in danger until it was over. His personal experience taught him that speed trumped strength and skill in most cases, and this was especially true in a sneak attack. He moved through the deep shadows between the inn and the buildings around it. The barrels were still stacked neatly beside the alehouse. He climbed up them quickly, feeling a little shaky as he stood up on the top barrel. He gripped the shed’s rough exterior to steady himself.
He expected Griff to be waiting for him, but the young man was gone. He wanted to call out to Griff, but he couldn’t risk alerting someone to his presence. The roof of the ale house was now at Stone’s chest, and he boosted himself onto the rough shingles without much trouble or noise. Heights didn’t normally bother Stone, but there was so little light that he feared he might stumble or fall through a weak spot in the shed’s roof. He could see the dark shape of the inn, but he wasn’t sure where the shed roof ended. He inched slowly forward, staying low and holding onto whatever handholds he could find on the alehouse roof.
When he finally reached the edge of the shed’s roof, the side of the inn was just over an arm’s length away. He stared at the inn and realized there wasn’t a window in front of him; it was across from the alehouse on the far side of the peaked roof. He scrambled up the incline and onto the other side. He was surprised to find Griff waiting patently for him.
“What took you so long?” the young man said.
“I thought you were supposed to wait for me,” Stone said, trying to keep his anger from making his voice too loud.
“I have been waiting for you.”
“You could have waited by the barrels.”
“I was here, watching that room,” he said, pointing to the window. “That’s where you’re going in. I thought it best to make sure no one was moving around in there.”
“All right,” Stone said. He had to agree that Griff had done the right thing. He only wished he had known the young thief’s plan sooner.
“You ready?” Griff asked.
Lorik (The Lorik Trilogy) Page 14