* * * * *
Outside the castle’s walls, the four guards at the palace entrance hear frantic cry. They each turn and see the castle’s chef waving his arms while running across the bridge.
“The baron’s guests are attacking him! I heard screams from the guards coming from the throne room!”
“Are you sure?” the guard closest to the metallic rod gate demands, abruptly turning to face the servant running toward him.
“Yes, do something!” the chef hurriedly yells as he reaches the gate, out of breath.
“Go inform the captain of the guard in the city. We will go to the towers and light the signals,” the guard commands, opening the gate.
The two guards nearest the gate rush along the bridge, and the chef runs past them. All the while, the two remaining guards stand watch, anticipating their reinforcements and tracing the movements of the chef with their eyes.
As the chef is midway between the gate and the curve in the road, he is abruptly lifted into the air by unseen means. He frantically screams, looking to either side but is quickly thrust to the dirt road, becoming unconscious.
Seeing this, both guards rush to inspect the chef, but they too are knocked to the ground as they near the servant.
As they fall, the sound of swords sing through the air, and each are stabbed by unseen blades. They begin to scream but are silenced by repeated blows.
“Well, that was close,” Kalder’s deep voice sighs from thin air. “I’m glad Tilthan’s gang let us use their cloaks.”
“Most definitely! And I haven’t had this much excitement since before I joined the Guardians of Soroth,” Menal states, shrouded from sight by one of the thieves’ shimmering cloaks. “Let’s hide these bodies, and we should probably tie that one up,” he suggests, referring to the chef.
One-by-one, the invisible warriors lift the lifeless bodies and carry them to the bridge, dumping them in the moat. As the bodies hit the water they sink the bottom of the moat and disappear from sight.
A moment later, they drag the chef along the bridge back toward the castle.
“We need to disable the warning beacons,” Menal says as they cross the bridge. “There are three of them, one in each of the towers. It doesn’t seem like anyone has alerted the men watching them. Despite the fact that Master Iltar and the others must be causing quite a commotion in there.” Menal says the last with a tone of awe.
“Menal, find something to tie this chef up with, then look for the others further inside. I’ll ascend to the tower above us.”
With that said, they drag the chef into the castle.
Once inside, Menal continues to drag the chef to the left side of the diamond shape foyer, while Kalder quickly runs to the rear of the castle.
Dying screams echo through the wide corridor as Kalder hastily runs through it and to the large circular chamber. The last screams reach his ears as he ascends the steps to his right and sees the source of the deathly wails: the two guards that had run inside just a moment before lifelessly lie upon the second story’s southern landing. Iltar stands over them, lowering his hand while sinisterly cackling and watching their bodies erode from his black magic.
The others are not far behind Iltar, most filing onto the third story landing or descending the stairs.
Seeing his companions, Kalder lets out the signaling whistle to alert Iltar and the others to his presence before speaking. “The area outside is clear. Menal is tying up the chef. They haven’t lit any of the signal towers yet. I’m moving to secure the western one above the entrance.”
“Perfect,” Cornar calls out as he leans over the rail of the circular landing on the third floor. “I’ll go to the left and secure that one. There wasn’t a way to the forward-most tower from the throne room; it must be the stairs in the second floor corridor.”
“Understood, Cor,” Kalder calls out, his footfalls echoing from the same corridor Cornar mentioned.
At this same time, Tilthan reaches Cornar and taps him on the back of his shoulder with his knuckles, holding the warrior’s borrowed cloak in his hand. Cornar looks back and swipes the cloak, then shrouds himself.
“Secure the tower on the right, Tilthan,” Cornar says as he invisibly walks down the stairs to their left.
“Fine, but I want to find that treasury, too!” the thief calls out as he dons his cloak and rushes down the other stairwell behind Iltar, Nordal and Midar.
The Dragons' Legacy Page 42