by Jamie Davis
“Don’t believe everything you hear, Harley. It’s not all that exciting.”
“I’m not sure that’s the case. You rescued Prince Timron, became a notorious pirate raider, and now you show back up here with another lost princess, just like your father. I call that pretty remarkable.”
Cari shrugged. She didn’t know what to say in response so she changed the subject. “Are these the rooms you have for us?”
“Yes,” Harley gestured to the first of the rooms.
Cari peeked inside the open door. There was a large bed set in the corner of the room with a washstand and small table. “This will be perfect, Harley. Thank you very much.”
“You mind me asking why you came here? Do you need my help with something?”
“I’m supposed to meet some friends here. You may know them. They are former Dragoons and a few others who might’ve been traveling with them. They were supposed to come here after they arrived in the city to wait for me. I’m hoping they got here ahead of us.”
Harley had an alarmed look on his face and he shot a glance at Mitzi. “You haven’t told them?”
Mitzi shook her head. “I thought it was best coming from you.”
“What?” Cari asked. “Have you seen them?”
“Cari, I don’t know about the others you spoke of, but your three Dragoon friends were here two days ago. Soon after they arrived, though, a large patrol of the Duke’s guards showed up in the middle of the night. After a brief fight, they arrested them. The three of them managed to kill half the Dukes guards before they were overwhelmed. There were just too many of them.”
“That’s not good,” Cari said. “I need to figure out where they are.”
“That’s not the worst of it,” Harley said. “They’ve already been tried and scheduled for execution. They are due to be hanged in the ceremonial square outside the imperial palace tomorrow.”
Cari bared her teeth and shook her head. “That’s not going to happen. Not on my watch. We have to figure out a way to rescue them, Rodrigo.”
“Agreed. But we’re going to need more people than just the four of us and Jaycee. Are you thinking of pulling off something like you did when you rescued me from the Sultanate’s soldiers?”
“I think something like that might be in order. We’re going to need some help, though. Harley, can you find some reliable men and women who might be able to assist us in putting together a plan to rescue our friends?”
“I’ll see what I can do. You know they’re going to be a lot of guards there and anyone who gets caught helping with their escape will seal their own death warrant.”
“I know,” Cari said. “But this is important. They have vital information we’re going to need if we’re going to get Jaycee on the throne where she belongs.”
“All right, I’ll see what I can do. I’m not making any promises, though. You’ll have my help but aside from that, I’m not sure how many people will step forward at this time. The Duke of Charon’s men’ve got everyone pretty scared.”
Harley turned to leave and Cari took Jaycee into their room. She had a lot to think about and some serious planning to do if she was going to rescue the three Dragoons.
* * *
Quest accepted — rescue the Dragoons
Chapter 33
Cari slapped her hand down on the table top stopping the heated discussion passing back and forth between Rodrigo and Harley. “Stop arguing. We’re not going to be able to figure out how to rescue them if the two of you keep bickering over which danger is worse. Now, let’s focus. There’s got to be a way to make this work.”
“I don’t see how,” Harley said. “We don’t have the people we need to make this work. I know what kind of guard presence is going to be around that scaffolding for the gallows. They need that many troops to hold back the crowd just as a matter of general protection. If they think there’s going to be some kind of rescue attempt, there’ll be double that number present. I was only able to get five people to join our cause.”
“Then we find more,” Rodrigo said “we can’t let them just die. Cari, what about Merrick? He said he was willing to help us when we got to the Crystal City.”
Cari shook her head. “Merrick said he’d help us when it came time to put Jaycee on the throne. I think he meant doing something much more behind the scenes than staging a daring rescue in broad daylight in the Palace Square.”
The group fell silent for a moment. There was a tap at the door.
“Come in,” Cari called out as she stared at the map of the square on the table Harley had drawn up.
Helen cleared her throat from the doorway. “I heard you needed a few good hands to help you rescue a few friends.”
Cari’s face broke into a grin on hearing her friend’s familiar voice. She spun around. “Helen, my God, you’re a sight for sore eyes. Come in. Where have you been?”
“We split up from Liam and the other two a day after we drew the patrol away from you. We joined a caravan as guards and only just got into the city.” Helen entered and was followed by Francesca and Percy.
“It’s good to see you all. I’m hoping you can help us figure out a way to rescue the Dragoons. They’ve gotten themselves captured and condemned to death tomorrow.”
Helen pointed to the table and the map on it. “Tell me what you’ve got figured so far.”
“Not much, I’m afraid,” Cari replied.
Helen leaned over the map and scanned the layout of the square. “We aren’t going to be able to pull off the same sort of rescue we did when we saved Rodrigo. We don’t have the resources, the gunpowder, or the type of layout that made that plan work.”
Cari agreed with Helen’s assessment. The layout of the square made it impossible for them to funnel the crowd away from the hangman’s scaffolding in such a way that they could make a quick escape through an opening in the mass of people that would be there.
Without a quick escape plan, any rescue was doomed to failure. They’d all just end up as more traitors strung up on the gallows the next day.
“We’ve got to try something, think, people.”
Harley was the first to raise a hand after about ten seconds of silence in the room.
“Go on, Harley,” Cari said. “What do you have?”
“I think our only shot at this is to try and get enough people close to the scaffolding to stop them right before they trip the trap doors beneath the condemned prisoners. If we are close enough, there’s an open space under the scaffolding. If we could break through the cordon of guards, we could run under and catch them as they fell. We’d have to have someone get up onto the platform above and cut the ropes before they were strangled to death, but I think it would work.”
“Whoever went up on that stage was going to be pretty exposed.” Cari looked around the table before continuing. “I think I should be the one to do that.”
“No way, boss,” Francesca said. “I know how fast you are when you want to be. But I think that speed is better saved for helping us to get away when the time comes to leave the square. If anyone should go up there, it should be Rodrigo or me. We are the youngest and fastest after you.”
Rodrigo nodded. “I agree with Francesca. All we have to do is get next to the stage or close enough that we can break through the line of guards and climb up there in time to separate the ropes right before they drop. Then all the others have to do is cut their bonds and bring them out into the crowd.”
“That doesn’t give us much room for failure,” Helen said. “It’s a pretty desperate plan.”
“It is,” Cari said. “It’s also the only plan I’ve heard so far that has any chance of succeeding and it still doesn’t give us a way to escape the Palace Square after we rescue them.”
Francesca pointed a finger at the map. “There are four main entrances to the square. I suggest we rescue them and split up. Everyone taking a different direction. It gives us a better chance of saving at least some of them. We lose ourselves in the crowd.�
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Cari smiled and shook her head. “We stick together. I like the idea of losing ourselves in the crowd, though. What if we brought double-sided cloaks with us? We rescue them wearing our cloaks in one direction. We bring three spares for the Dragoons. After we break free and mingle back into the crowd, we duck down and turn our cloaks around so that they’re a different color. The guards will be looking for people wearing one color and perhaps in the panic of the crowd, they’ll miss seeing the rest of us mingling with the other people as we make our way towards one of the exits.”
Harley looked at the map and then at Cari. “That might work. I know when I am chasing after someone when I’m on patrol, I generally look for them by the color of the clothes they’re wearing.”
“Good,” Cari said. “Can Mitzi get her hands on some material, so we can fashion cloaks for ourselves or maybe there’s somewhere we can buy them?”
Harley paused and thought before answering. “I think it’s best if we get the material and make them ourselves. It won’t take us too long to fashion something quickly and if we go out and buy something as specific as that, it’s likely to be something a merchant would remember. They might come forward when details of our rescue are released. It would be one more way they could find us after the fact.”
“Then we go with that plan.” Cari looked up and nodded at Francesca. “You’re a little quicker and more agile than Rodrigo is, even with that eyepatch. I think it has to be you who gets up to the scaffolding to cut them free. Rod will break you through the cordon of guards around the scaffold. You slip through the gap and get to that stage as fast as you can. Got it?”
Francesca smiled and nodded. Cari could tell she was happy to have gotten the opportunity to lead that part of the escape plan.
Cari continued. “Rodrigo once you get her through the guards onto the scaffolding you’re going to have to break away and move to another side of the scaffolding and be ready to help us break through there to get the Dragoons out once we rescue them. Helen, you will come from one side while I come from the other. Harley, you and your men stay back in the crowd and be prepared to help Rodrigo open a hole in the guards’ line. Once that opening is made, we’ll get the Dragoons out from under the scaffolding and slip into the crowd where we’ll make our quick color change and then make our way free.”
There were nods all around the table as everyone agreed to their assignments. Cari looked at the map one last time. There was a lot about this plan that could go wrong. She had a nagging suspicion she was missing something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
It didn’t matter anyway. She wasn’t going to let the Dragoons hang without making some attempt to get them free. She knew this was an all or nothing plan. If they failed, their whole mission failed, including the mission to get Jaycee on to the throne. That left her with one more task to accomplish before they set out on the rescue attempt.
Cari found Percy with Mitzi and Jaycee downstairs in the common room. She motioned to the former cabin boy to come over to the corner and meet her there. Time for the next part of her plan. “Percy, we have figured out what we’re going to do with regard to our three friends who are in trouble.”
“That’s good news. From the way I heard you all talking earlier, it was nearly impossible.”
“It nearly is. That’s why I came down to talk to you. Someone is going to have to stay here and watch Jaycee. If things go bad and we all get caught, it won’t take them long to figure out where we were hiding. I need to know she’s going to be safe. I need to know someone like you will be there to watch over her and get her out of the city.”
“I want to help, Cari, but I wouldn’t know where to take her. I don’t know anyone around here where we could hide out.”
Cari considered for a moment. Her initial thought was to get the girl all the way back to the Duke of Tandon. Then she realized that would be the obvious choice. It would be the first place the Duke of Charon would look for her and would probably start a huge Civil War. There was one other place though, where she knew Jaycee would be safe and where she could live out a happy life if there were no way for her to reach the throne.
“I have a friend who owns a farmstead to the south west of here. I will give you her name and draw a map of how to get there. Once you get to Granny Gerald, she will recognize Jaycee. Tell her what happened and ask her to take you both in. She’ll keep you both safe for as long as you want to stay there.
Percy stared at Cari. Cari could see the wheels turning inside his head as he calculated what it would mean to spirit Jaycee away and keep her safe.
“I can’t let anything happen to Jaycee, Captain. You know that. You have my word. I’ll make sure she gets away to safety if anything happens.”
“That’s all I wanted to know. Hopefully, we’ll meet up again tomorrow evening and laugh off this conversation as unnecessary. Still, it makes me feel a lot better to know she’ll be cared for.”
Cari headed back up to the room she shared with Jaycee. She needed a good night’s sleep. There was a lot that was going to happen in the next day at Noon and she would have to be up early to help with preparations. As she climbed the stairs, Cari fought down the worry that this plan was destined to fail.
Chapter 34
Cari muttered “excuse me” as she shouldered her way past the gentleman in front of her. The crowd was thicker in the Palace Square than she’d expected. She had no idea why so many people had come out to watch the execution of her three friends. That they would have come to enjoy such a spectacle sickened her.
She craned her neck to see if she could spot any of her other friends scattered around the rest of the crowd. Helen should be somewhere off to her left and Rodrigo and Francesca should be directly opposite her on the other side the hangman’s scaffolding.
Cari continued to press her way forward, trying to get as close to the front of the crowd as she could. She needed to be in a position from which she could move to assist the others once the rescue began. The people around her were boisterous and the closer she got to the front row, the more the men and women in front of her didn’t want to give up their place close to the gallows.
On more than one occasion, Cari stared someone down as she rested her hand on her sword’s hilt until they backed away. She wondered what the crowd would be like once the fighting began. Would they move against her and her friends or would some of them assist in getting the Dragoons away safely?
Cari reached a place where she was only four or five people deep in the crowd and realized it was going to be difficult to get any closer at this point. She didn’t want to draw undue attention to herself from the guards. Harley told her the guards had more of the hand drawn likenesses of her both in and outside the square. Cari had to be careful to avoid being recognized. The presence of the flyers here told her someone expected her to try something.
When she glanced to her left, Cari spotted Helen. She had managed to make it to the front of the crowd and stood in front of the line of imperial soldiers at the edge of the scaffolding. The guards used their muskets to press the crowd back, holding them horizontally to create a sort of barrier to hold off the surging crowd.
Helen caught her looking that way and nodded. Cari smiled and turned her attention to see if she could spot Rodrigo and Francesca. She picked out Rodrigo in position in the crowd on the opposite side of the gallows from where she stood. He, too, stood at the front of the crowd. She couldn’t see Francesca, but she was sure if Rodrigo was there, the woman was close by.
There was a bit of a commotion off to her right and she tried to pick out what was causing it. She realized what it must be as the crowd near her started shouting and pointing that way. It was the guards escorting the three prisoners towards the gallows. Her guess was confirmed as the ring of soldiers parted and her friends were pushed into the clear space created by the guard team around the gallows.
They’d been mistreated during their capture and imprisonment. All of them showed rece
nt bruises, cuts, and crusty blood on their faces and clothes. Their white linen shirts were wet with fresh blood in the back, indicating they’d been whipped as well.
Liam was followed by Thad the Orc. Chance, the Elf, was the last one brought into the center of the square. There were eight guards escorting them. Two took position at the bottom of the steps while the other six escorted the prisoners up the stairs to the top of the scaffolding, five feet above the crowd around them.
Once on the platform, each was marched to stand beneath the nooses dangling from the gallows above them. They were each pushed forward to stand on the trap doors in the floor of the scaffold. A bell rang, silencing the rowdy crowd and a loud voice rang out. Cari realized it had been magically amplified to make sure everyone could hear the announcement. She turned to the balcony jutting out from the palace wall where the Duke of Charon and several of his senior officers stood.
“People of the Empire of Fantasma, you see before you the final efforts of a conspiracy to overthrow the rightful leaders of this empire. The once vaunted Dragoons have become disgraced by the actions of these three men and their co-conspirators. Their treason is punishable by only one thing, death.”
The crowd had a mixed reaction, which Cari found interesting. There were some cheers, but there were also some boos. Most of the people, however, were silent as if they were unsure how to react. Cari wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She hoped it fell in her favor.
The Duke continued his speech, calling out to the guards on the scaffolding. “Place the nooses on the condemned and prepare to carry out your duty.”
The prisoners were held by two guards each while the hangman drew the nooses tight around their necks. They all three had their hands tied behind their backs and their ankles were now bound together as well. None of them struggled against what was coming.
Cari glanced at Helen and Rodrigo one more time. She prepared herself to push forward to the edge of the crowd. This was the moment of action.