Siege of Pailtar

by Robyn Wideman

  Kiana wasn’t sure she could live up to that kind of billing, but she would give it her best. She lifted her chin, her stubborn streak was about to kick into high gear. They would pass this test.

  …

  Kiana looked up at the castle outer walls. They were huge, and as smooth as ice. It was after dark now and the group stood at the edge of the small orchard at the edge of the estate. They were only fifty feet from the imposing walls of the castle. They had decided earlier to wait until it was dark before making their attempt at breaking into the castle.

  “How did you get over the castle walls the first time, Aldwin?” asked Aspen.

  “Actually, we broke into a side gate. The one you can see from here. Unfortunately, that was where they had one of the guard dogs, and once we made it inside we were toast.”

  “I don’t suppose you have an idea on how to get past the dogs this time?” replied a glum Aspen.

  Aldwin smiled, “Yes, I can get us in and past the dogs. I spent years having nightmares about those damned dogs. I learned a trick or two over the years to deal with them. It’s the roving guards, wizard, and troll that I have no idea how to deal with.” Aldwin looked at Kiana as he spoke.

  “Aspen, how good is your illusion magic?” asked Kiana.

  “Pretty good, I got a four on my report card. It is my strongest skill,” replied Aspen.

  “Okay, well let’s get past the walls and the dogs first. I think I can get us by the rest of the guards and the wizard.”

  “And the troll?” asked Osmond.

  “Let’s worry about the troll later. First we have a castle to break into,” replied Kiana.

  Slipping through the dark empty area between the orchard and the castle wall was simple for the four thieves. It only took a few minutes for them to reach the closed and locked gate. The lock was an impressive and heavy looking steel contraption.

  “Twelve tumblers, and a magical enchantment on it,” explained Aldwin when they got to the gate.

  “How the heck are we going to break into that?” asked Kiana.

  Aldwin smiled, “It is the same lock as when we tried years ago. One of the thieves in my group was able to modify the enchantment on it. He added a second password.” Aldwin turned and spoke at the massive lock, “Abracadabra.” The lock opened.

  Kiana looked at Aldwin in dismay, what self-respecting thief would use such a password.

  Aldwin noticed her look, “What? We were in a hurry, and wanted something easy and unforgettable.”

  Kiana gave him that one, the password was so stupidly shameful, no one would ever forget it.

  “Now, what about the dogs?” asked Aspen, voicing the concern that all three of Aldwin’s companions shared.

  “First we get their attention,” said Aldwin as he pulled a small whistle out of his pocket. He blew into the whistle, but Kiana could hear nothing.

  “Dog whistle, it’s too high pitched for human ears,” explained Aldwin.

  Soon Kiana saw a pair of fast moving shadows coming towards them. “Well, you have their attention. I sure hope whatever you do works,” said Kiana.

  The pair of dogs ran right towards them. Unlike normal guard dogs trained to bark at intruders, these were attack dogs. They wouldn’t bark, and from the size of them, they could probably eat a small horse in one sitting.

  Suddenly the dogs stopped, only feet from the group. The dogs sat, then proceeded to lie down, and within seconds were sleeping soundly. Astonished, Kiana looked at Aldwin who was blowing into his dog whistle.

  When he finished with the whistle, he grinned. “Magic dog whistle. I just sang them a lullaby. They will be asleep until morning. It took me a year to perfect that enchantment.”

  Kiana shook her head, magic dog whistle indeed. Score one more point for magic.

  They quickly pulled the sleeping dogs closer to the wall. There in the shadows none of the guards would notice the dogs, unless the stupid beasts started snoring. She really hoped that wouldn’t happen. Once they had the dogs taken care of, it was Kiana’s turn to lead. But she didn’t know where to go. Turning to Aldwin she asked, “Do you have a magical way to tell me where to go?”

  Aldwin shook his head, then grinned “No, but I have a map. I bribed one of the house servants.”

  Kiana slapped her head. “Why on earth had she not thought to try that? All day she had fretted about the mysterious castle. Of course there would be plenty of people around that knew their way through it. “Good work, Aldwin. If we make it through this, it’s certainly your doing.”

  Aldwin shrugged, “We haven’t done anything yet. Have you figured out how to get past the rotating guards yet?”

  “Now that the dogs are asleep, we can move a little more safely. Let’s do some recon. Osmond, do you think you can get up that tree over there without being seen?”

  “Oh ya,” smiled the young boy.

  “Okay, you get up that tree. Aspen, you work your way north along the wall, take note of the guards, time them, see how many are strictly outside sentries and how many go inside and out. Aldwin, you take the western wall. I will keep an eye on the courtyard and that doorway. I think that is where we are going to enter, but I don’t want to be hasty about it. Everyone back here in one hour. Okay?”

  The rest of the team agreed with the plan. Anytime you wanted to break into a secure home it was vital to gather as much information as possible. Sometimes thieves would spend weeks doing recon before entering a building. They had one night. So gathering as much info in as little time as possible was vital.

  With the others sneaking off to watch for guards, Kiana made her way closer to the courtyard. She didn’t want to worry the others, but she intended to do more than just sit back and observe the guards. She intended to get close enough to look through a couple of the castle windows. While the outer walls were tall, solid, magically enhanced stones, the castle itself was a brick affair with a decent number of windows. It would be much easier to break into than some of the older castles around the land that were rock, and plaster with narrow hard to access windows. The castle might be a hard target, but it was not impenetrable. Kiana had lots of options to inspect.

  She snuck up against the castle wall. The building itself had lots of shadow-filled nooks and crannies, where different sized rooms met. Like many castles of the time, it was not built all at once and had a strange floor plan. From Aldwin’s map, she knew the courtyard she was beside led into a part of the castle reserved for guests. The main residential chambers resided on the second floor. The guest rooms were in one of the least used areas in a castle and perfect for breaking in unnoticed.

  Kiana inched her way closer to one of the windows. It was dark inside, but the ambient light from outside showed that it indeed was one of the bedrooms. So far the map was accurate. Kiana froze, the courtyard door had opened. A guard was making his way outside. She had been keeping a mental count since the group split up. It had been just under five minutes since they dealt with the dogs and moved to the spot outside the courtyard. Kiana restarted her counting. She wanted to know the timing between this guard coming to the door and his return, or another guard coming to the same spot.

  Gambling that another guard would not be coming out moments after the first, Kiana crept up to another window. This one was bright with interior light and she could see shadows of people moving inside. Carefully she spied into the room. A couple was chatting. Of the four bedrooms along this wall, this was the only one with a light in it. This was a good sign, light traffic but not completely empty was doable.

  Kiana made her way closer to the courtyard entrance. She stuck to the shadows like glue, keeping her presence unknown. Time seemed to slow as she waited and observed. By her internal clock, just over ten minutes passed before another guard came to the door. It was a different guard. She could tell by the way he walked. Like clockwork another ten minutes passed before a guard came out the door, it was the first one again. This sequence played itself out for the entire hour, every ten
minutes one of the two guards exited the courtyard door and headed along the southern path.

  After the hour was over the others returned to their meeting spot. Kiana slid back to meet them. They compared notes. Aspen had seen the same guards as her walk past her and enter another side entrance on the southern side of the house. She saw no other guards. On the northern side Aldwin had observed two different guards doing a similar pattern along the north and east entrances. Osmond, from his tree perch had seen all four of those guards for brief moments along with two more that patrolled just around the main gates.

  Kiana took out Aldwin’s map. “So we have two guards patrolling in and out of this wall, two on the far wall and two more on the main gates, plus whatever other ones are strictly patrolling inside. It isn’t terrible. The ten-minute window is alot to work with, as long as we can safely get to the basement. That’s where the troll and vault are located. I am going to get close to the courtyard door. When the next guard comes out, I am going to gently jam the door. As soon as he’s out of sight I will slip inside. Aldwin, are you good at detecting magic traps?”

  Aldwin nodded, “I can’t always get through them, but I can always find them.”

  “Good, check that first window. If there are no traps, I want you three to break into the bedroom. I will knock on that room’s door when it is safe to move on.”

  Plan in place, Kiana returned to the corner of the courtyard. By her count, she had three minutes before the next guard made his way outside. The walls around the door were fairly well lit, with no real place to hide, but luckily the lanterns were not on the same wall as the door. Kiana jumped up and grabbed the top of the door frame, like a cat she moved her way up until she was standing on top of the door frame. With the lanterns on the side walls she created no shadows, and blended into the building. Silently she stood on top of the door waiting for it to open. When ten minutes passed and the door didn’t open she started to worry. Had the pattern changed? Or was the guard behind schedule? Perhaps stopping to eat or use the washroom. Her window of time before the next guard would come was getting smaller by the second.

  Finally the door opened and the guard walked out a little quicker than before, slamming the door behind him before Kiana could get a jam into the frame. As the guard walked away from the building, Kiana dug her picks out of a pocket. She would have to do it the old fashioned way. Once the guard turned the corner she quickly dropped back to the ground and started to pick the lock. Seconds later she had it open. But her window of time was still shrinking. She slowly opened the door, peeking inside. No one there, she stepped in and closed the door. Inside the door was a small entrance before a main corridor that ran left and right. The doors along the corridor were the bedroom entrances. The second one on the left was the one the others were breaking into.

  Peeking at her map, she could see that in order to get to the basement, she would have to go down the right corridor until it connected with the main hallway that split the castle into two sections. From that hallway, it was only a couple turns until the basement.

  By her count, she now had less than four minutes to explore before the second guard made his way through the halls. She slid down the right corridor listening for any noises. At the end of the corridor, she stood silently. Hearing nothing, she carefully pulled out a small mirror. Using the mirror she peeked around the corner. The main hall was empty as far as she could see. She turned the corner and walked up the hallway until she found the next corridor, where a set of stairs led down to the basement.

  Okay, she thought to herself, this is doable. Quickly she returned to the room where the others were waiting for her. She gave a gentle knock. The door opened and Kiana slid inside. “Aspen, stand by the window. The second the courtyard door opens we are heading out into the hallway.”

  Aspen nodded, and took a position a couple feet back from the window, where she could see out it but not be seen by anyone who accidently walked by. Kiana noted and appreciated the silent and smart way Aspen moved. The girl has skills, she thought to herself.

  This guard was on time, and the door to the courtyard opened almost to the second of Kiana’s internal clock. Aspen gave the nod, and Kiana quietly opened the door leading the group down the hallway, she turned up the main hallway and led them to stairs down to the basement. The group made their way down the stairs with no incidents. The timing of the guards’ routes had been perfect.

  At the bottom of the stairs was a narrow hallway. They followed the hallways until they got to a thick steel gate. At the bottom of the gate was a small opening for food. They had found the home of the troll. Already the smell of the air was changing. Upstairs the odor had been pleasantly floral. Vases of fresh cut flowers, throughout the castle, gave off the pleasant scents. Down here, the smell was unpleasant, strong, musky, and almost foul.

  As Kiana inspected the lock on the steel door, Aldwin whispered to her, “Have you any ideas on how to deal with the troll? I have never encountered one.”

  “No, but Mom did make me read three books on the Western Isles. She insisted that myths were only myths to the people who didn’t encounter strange things. She said that I needed to know as much about the different beasts and creatures of the world as possible. I thought the books were bogus, I certainly hope the information in them was correct,” replied Kiana as she started picking the lock. The lock itself was a simple one, just particularly thick and strong steel. Obviously they were not worried about the troll picking the lock.

  “Aspen, can you make a butterfly illusion?” asked Kiana.

  The girl nodded, “Yes, I can do three maybe four butterflies and control them, but only for about ten minutes, then they start to fade.”

  Kiana nodded, “That’s fine. If my plan works I will only need a minute or two. When I open this door we are going in. Osmond, you are our sentry. If someone comes down the stairs, you close this gate behind us and hide in the corner. It is dark enough you won’t be seen. Just make sure the troll doesn’t come through this door, okay?”

  Osmond nodded, he was perfectly fine with not going into the troll's den.

  “Aspen, when we find the troll and the vault you are going to distract the troll with butterflies. Trolls are terribly dumb creatures, but they love butterflies according to ‘The Traveler's Guide To Western Mythology.’ If that book is correct, the troll will be so enthralled with the butterflies that we will be able to walk right by and open the vault.” Kiana paused, took a breath, looked at Aldwin and continued, “You and I will sneak past the troll, no point taking an unnecessary risk, and then we will see how tricky this vault is. I need you to check it for magic before I start trying to break in.”

  Aldwin, in his cheery way, replied, “This sounds like it might actually work, let’s do it.”

  Kiana opened the gate, and the three of them entered while Osmond stood back, guarding the gate. Inside the gate the room was a disaster. Broken furniture, hay, and an assortment of animal bones littered the floor. At least Kiana hoped they were animal bones. They came to a corner; the air was dank and rather gross now. They could hear movement around the corner. Kiana took out her mirror, and used it to peek around the corner. She saw the biggest, ugliest creature she could have ever imagined sitting on the floor, gnawing on a meaty bone. The beast looked like someone had drawn a man and then added the facial features of a boar and the body of a bear. The troll chewed on the huge bone the way she would a tooth pick.

  Kiana looked past the troll. There was a smaller room with no door. Inside that room, she could see the huge vault doors. It was an intimidating sight. The narrow room would be a killing ground, if the troll caught them there. Kiana nodded to Aspen. It was show time.

  Aspen stood at the corner beside her; Aspen closed her eyes for a moment then opened them and raised her hand. Kiana watched as a small butterfly appeared in front of the troll. At first the troll watched the butterfly but then went back to chewing on its bone. Great, thought Kiana, food outweighs its interest in pretty thi
ngs. Undeterred, Aspen added a second butterfly; she had the pair dance and flutter in front of the savage beast. Finally, the troll dropped its bone and focused on the pair of fluttery butterflies.

  Kiana and Aldwin slipped along the opposite wall making their way into the small vault room. Aldwin went directly to it, checking for magic traps while Kiana stood at the door keeping an eye on the troll. So far it was completely focused on the butterflies. Aldwin gave a thumbs up, signifying that the vault was not magically booby-trapped. Kiana gave a small sigh of relief. She had been terrified that after all this effort they would encounter a magical trap and she would be helpless to complete the mission.

  Kiana switched spots with Aldwin, leaving him to keep an eye on the troll while she tackled the vault. Kiana eyed the vault up, hard steel with a large dial and a simple handle. Kiana sat beside the vault and pressed her head against the door. She started to turn the dial. Like a regular lock, the vault had a series of tumblers that had to be clicked in order. But one couldn’t pick a vault door, she had to feel and hear the right combination of numbers to get the order correct to unlock the door. A series of steel shafts was attached to the handle, making the door almost impossible to open if you didn’t know the combination, or blow the whole thing up. Blowing up the vault, only to anger the distracted troll, sounded like a bad idea to Kiana.

  As she spun the dial she could hear the faint clicking and slight change in pressure on her fingers. She changed direction and started to turn the dial in the opposite direction. She found another spot, and then another. Within thirty seconds of starting, she had the combo and was opening the vault. Aldwin turned and watched. His eyes were big with anticipation and curiosity, as he waited for her to open the large vault door.

  Kiana opened the door and looked inside. The large vault was almost completely empty! The only thing in it was a small intricately carved wooden box the size of a shoe. Kiana opened the box. Inside she found four small diamonds and a note. She grabbed the diamonds before reading the note.