Black Hart

To Kill A King

Chapter 19 - Before the Dawn

Akhan found castle deserted - to the best of his senses anyway.
For the meantime he left Kagnstir within its scabbard, for fear of its bluish glow alerting those within the keep, and he motioned Eloi to also climb the rope, checking it was suitably secure. He was glancing around constantly, awaiting discovery, as Eloi sped up the rope with little effort.
Looking about, they could see the whole of the keep, which seemed split into an inner and outer courtyard. The inner keep had an outer wall an battlements which was square in shape, 20' up from the earth rampart and with a circular tower, three stories high, at each corner.
In the centre of the inner courtyard was the main tower, circular, about 60' in diameter, and towering five full stories high. It had a conical roof, and last storey was not completely enclosed by walls. There were two other buildings just visible, on either side of the inner courtyard, on-storey buildings and there was quite a bit of noise coming from one of them - much like typical tavern noises.
The outer courtyard was roughly triangular in shape, tapering down to a truncated end where the outer gate was. A tower on either side guarded the outer gate, and there were lights beyond the closed shutters there indicating they may be guarded within. The inner gate did not appear to have such watchtowers. Again in the outer courtyard below there were buildings - the larger two built onto this, the eastern wall, with a smaller shed attached to the farther west wall.
Eloi glanced down at the party. Jean-Paul stood below waiting for the signal to climb, the others behind him waiting for some indication of what to do.
"Good grief," thought Akhan, looking at the layout of the keep below. "We're going to have to be quick to get over another wall before sunup."
He turned to Eloi and in a controlled whisper said, "We better get this lot moving. If any of them look like struggling we'll just have to pull them up. Or maybe we'll let Jean-Paul and Bermen come up here and do that part."
He nudged Eloi in the ribs and grinned.

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Bermen scanned the battlements intently while Eloi and Akhan made their way up the rope.
"At least there will be some light from Luna to illuminate any soldier foolish enough to come out," he thought.
As he waited, he saw Eloi beckoning the rest of the party to begin their ascent of the rope. "Now's the time for things to go to shit if the gods are not on our side," he muttered wordlessly and offered a silent prayer to Kelanen.
Bermen then weighed the odds as to where he was best positioned from a defensive point of view and decided that his best course of action would be to remain where he was until the last of
the party was about to ascend the rope.
"That way I can still shoot off a few arrows if we are discovered whereas this bow's completely
useless at the bottom of the walls."

************************

Akhan returned to his scrutiny of Torrisz Keep.
"Eeny, meeny, miney, mo, Catch a Traitor by the toe, If he squeals cut his throat, Eeny, meeny, miney, mo. Now where would you be holed up Lominstrall?"
He stared over at the central keep.
"First guess would be the big 'ole tower in the centre like the awkward bastard you are," he thought. "This'll just have to be a seat-of-the-pants job. Get this circus onto these battlements, down into the outer courtyard and over for a repeat performance at the Inner Keep assuming we're not seen; which we definitely don't want."
Akhan checked briefly on the progress up the rope and decided to have a quick look for the nearest stairway down off the battlements.
As Akhan walked along the battlement he suddenly stood stock still and his face grimaced. Cuffing himself on the head he rushed back to Eloi.
"Stop anyone else coming up - we want to be on the other side of that tower there."
Akhan leant over the edge and signalled to the others to move along the base of the walls to just beneath the next tower.
Keenly aware of the passing time and the soldiers in the towers over the gate he made his way over to the door.
"Now if this is something with a crossbar inside then I may have to resort to the this sparkly Eye," he thought.
Motioning Eloi over to join him he said to the Baron, "We want through to the other side so I'm going to try to pick the lock one way or another. If that fails completely I'll try and use the rope to swing round the other side."
The party appeared puzzled as Eloi began to haul the rope up. By the time he had it coiled in his arms, Akhan was crouching over the door. He turned and shook his head.
"No lock," he whispered as Eloi came closer. "A crossbar on the other side."
Akhan grinned as he flipped up his eye-patch, revealing the glimmering jewel beneath. He was somewhat disturbed by the glint in Eloi's eyes every time he saw it.
Turning to the door, Akhan looked briefly at the midsection. After a second, there was a loud thump and a wooden clatter. Akhan's grin grew even wider as he reached over and slowly pushed the door open.
Inside, both could see a 20' diameter room, with a wooden crossbar lying on the floor near to a trap door. There was a door to the right, with a wooden crossbar across it, undoubtedly leading to the battlements to the west. To the left was a slit window, and the roof was conical, reaching a point about 18' above the floor. The room was unoccupied.
Akhan then Eloi edged into the room, checking behind the door. From the trap door in the floor there was a faint light, the sounds of motion and some voices. Both men stood still.
"What in fuck was that?" one voice said in the common tongue.
"Dunno," said another.
"Rao's pelmit, if its them fucking beasts they're gettin' it," yet another voice said.
"Quiet!" another voice said, more forcefully. The other voices ceased and there was silence.
Eloi motioned to Akhan in thieves cant that he should stand to one side of the trapdoor. Eloi moved quietly to the other side of the door, awaiting the first guard to enter, and drew his dagger poised to attack.
Akhan froze at the sound of the voices from below.
"Titties," he thought. "I should have thought to try and hold onto the crossbar."
Putting his finger to his lips he motioned to Eloi to keep absolutely quiet. Next he mimed to the Baron to pass the rope to him and moved silently back out the door to the battlements. Eloi hesitated at Akhan's actions, and motioned again indicating that if the others were to climb up there would be greater chance of noise, and the guards investigating. He held his hand up, gesturing for Akhan to halt the others ascent, until they were sure of the guards action.
Akhan looked bewildered at the strange combination of hand signals Eloi threw together in an attempt to explain something. Again he repeated his request for Eloi to pass him back his rope. As Eloi paused, he became more insistent, adding the gesture, 'now'. Reluctantly, Eloi passed Akhan's rope back to him, signalling his disapproval.
As quiet as a ghost, Akhan left the room, out of Eloi's sight.
"Listen," a quiet voice muttered downstairs.
"Don't hear nuthin'," another said, slightly louder.
Several men moved about, and Eloi could hear their sighs of relief.
"Hey, wait a minute," one cried. "Who moved my pieces!!!"
A general hullabaloo started, allowing Eloi to move back over to the door, where he saw Akhan had wrapped the grappling hook in his cloak, and laid it back over the side.

************************

There was an eerie silence down on the embankment. It was quite chilly on this autumn morn, and the party noted a faint light behind the arrow slit on the first floor of the tower to their left.
"Dawn cannot be far away, a couple of hours at most," Tumbry chattered. "We will need to hurry if we are to get inside without discovery."
At that, Sholin pushed his spear through his backpack straps at the rear and turned to the others.
"I will see what is happening," he said, before turning back to the wall.
Smoothly, foot by foot, he began to scale the wall. Then, after a couple of minutes, he was almost knocked from the wall as a rope came sailing over the battlements, down towards them.
Akhan peered over, motioning them to climb up, with a hint of urgency in his actions.
At this, Tumbry also started to climb the wall, leaving the rope for those without his skill. Jean-Paul started up next, while Bermen stood with an arrow notched, ready for any unseen danger.
Without incident Sholin reached the top, soon followed by Jean-Paul. Aranon came next, and seemed to be having a difficult time. Hamman, then a worried-looking Mordekei followed, after which Tumbry reached the top.
They all waited as Bermen lithely pulled himself up the rope.
They saw the castle before them, and there was a strong smell of apples here, possibly coming from one of the nearby buildings of the inner courtyard. To the left the door of the tower was open, and Eloi stood inside, gesturing for them to be very, very quiet as they approached.
Akhan grinned maniacally at everyone in turn, looking very pleased with himself. Motioning to himself he mimed a tiptoeing action with his fingers and, as he did so, pointed into the tower and carried on until he was pointing at the next battlements.
Then, taking up the rope again, he mimed letting it down over the side and himself dropping down the rope. Looking at the others again he gave them his best `end-of-act pose' as if expecting a round of applause.
With a last wave of his hand to indicate that the party should remain where they were he moved silently back to the tower with the rope.
Pausing at the doorway he turned round to the others and pointed beneath his feet and then held up four fingers.
"Hope they understand what all that cobblers was about," he thought.
Akhan flexed his shoulders in preparation before moving back inside the tower, to creep as quietly as possible over to the door on the right.
Gently and softly he began to lift the crossbar after giving it a quick inspection for any booby-traps.
"If this wakes those sleeping beauties downstairs then we're just going to have to jump down that trapdoor and kill the lot of them, and hope there isn't any alarm raised. Still, let's concentrate on the job in hand and if Lady Istus smiles on us we won't have to worry about that."
Akhan's thoughts dissipated as he concentrated on dealing with the crossbar.

************************

Akhan disappeared into the tower, making no discernible sound. Those who were listening carefully heard the creak of a door opening, and then, a moment later, a muffled thud. Akhan soon appeared on the dividing wall between the inner and outer courtyard, beckoning them over.
One by one, they went through the tower, taking the door to the right, where Akhan waited with his rope hanging over the other side. They heard voices as they passed through - general banter and minor revelry from below, through the closed trap door.
Bermen was one of the first, and stood dutifully at the top, arrow notched, to cover the others as they descended. Without incident, one by one, they all slid down the rope, Bermen descending last.
They waited at the bottom for a moment, all holding their breath and listening for any sign that they were discovered. To the right, on the other side of the circular keep, there was some noise and a few lights on. Light also came from the other side of some of the shuttered windows on the keep. There was nothing from the building ahead and to their left.
At ground level on the keep there were large double doors on this side, facing the double gates of the dividing wall.
Akhan reflected ruefully on the need to have so many of them tramping around and climbing about.
"I could have been in and out of here as quickly as Eloi finishes a leg of chicken. Still, I might have found it a little difficult to fight my way out of here on my own."
As Bermen reached the ground Akhan motioned everyone to gather close and whispered quietly to them.
"Our best bet is probably the big tower," pointing to the central structure with the conical roof. "But we don't want to be seen so let's make our way around the base of the battlements here so we don't stick out so much."
Akhan pointed back along the battlements and along to the seemingly uninhabited building. "Then I'll try and break in via a window at the rear of the tower and you can use Eloi's rope to climb in too. So, unless anyone's got any objections, let's move while we've still got some night to skulk around in. Single file with five paces between each man. And remember - tiptoes not heels."
Akhan took a last brief glimpse at the surroundings and set off around the edge of the Keep trying to stay in whatever moon shadow there was and remain silent.
"Let's hope they all manage to keep quiet - I wouldn't want jinglin' Jean-Paul to wake everybody up..."

************************

Led by Akhan, they started to make their way slowly around the edge of the courtyard, trying as hard as they could not to make any noise. By the time they stopped, close to the apparently unoccupied building, the noise of Jean-Paul's armour clanking as they moved, to which he seemed totally oblivious, was irritating Akhan more than a mad bee in his underpants.
Stopping, Akhan crouched and as they reached him they all did likewise.
Looking over to the large tower, they could see now it was big, maybe 80' across. There were no windows on the first and second floor, and those above were mere shuttered slits, probably even too thin for the wiry Akhan to squeeze through. There did not appear to be any lights on within the keep, none that could be seen anyway.
However, right at the top, between the last floor and the conical roof, something caught Akhan's attention. There, facing this direction, was a fifteen foot gap in the wall, about 8' high, as though the top floor was open to the elements like some sort of observation platform or sun roof.
Eloi moved forward and stood adjacent to Akhan.
"Its along way up there my friend," he whispered. "Do you really think that we can throw a rope up there?"
Eloi looked around the base of the keep.
"Why don't I do a sortie around the perimeter and see if I can establish if there is an easier point of entry at ground level? We have got this far, I do not think that we can go much further without getting into a fight. Remember, there are more of us than just you and I, whilst we can get away with using stealth to reach our objective they cannot. I saw your discomfort at the noise that Jean-Paul's armour is making. Also remember we are now visible from the guard posts, the size of our party does not favour hiding in the shadows, we have to accept that we are as far as we can get silently, we have the element of surprise let us use that to our advantage."
Mord motioned up to the gap.
"A solar? A balcony? I propose we investigate further. Perhaps it is a little too obvious, but nevertheless worthwhile. Either one of you climb, or I use one of my spells to have a quicker look up there. But we must act fast....at present we are woefully exposed here."
Akhan listened to Eloi and Mordekei's comments then shrugged.
"I don't reckon on there being any other entrances Eloi but feel free to have a look. If there aren't then we've got two options: break in through the bid double doors at the front and trust that we're successful and that any noise we make doesn't alert too many guards. Or, somebody climbs up to that solar thing and lets a rope down for the others. My preference is for the latter."
"We're seriously outnumbered here and as we know that there's an agent of the Brotherhood in here somewhere, there's always the probability of some more nasty surprises. Our big advantage right now is that nobody knows we're here yet and they're all feart to come outside. Let's use that to the full while we still can."
Akhan looked at Bermen.
"Major, you ought to be familiar with the ways of Mother Nature being a Ranger. How long do you suppose we have left before it starts to get uncomfortably light around here?"
Bermen looked around at the sky. He could hear the birds in the forest start their singing with the false dawn.
"Another couple of hours at most, Akhan," he said.
Akhan continued.
"I know the others aren't too happy about being so exposed so we could try this building here - if it's unoccupied then we can use it to hide while one of us tries to scale the side of the tower. Just hold on two seconds and I'll check it out. If we can hide the party temporarily then Eloi and I can check out the base of the tower for any other entrances."
"Failing that we'll try the solar. Then we could let a rope down and you could join us at the top."
Akhan gave the party a jaunty salute and slipped off into the shadows to creep around the building in his attempt to discover if it was uninhabited and if so whether it would be simple enough to break in and conceal the party therein.

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Jean-Paul turned to Aranon and whispered, "I don't know about you but I am getting uncomfortable about this situation, we have gotten to far into the keep without discovery."
"We are now standing in the central courtyard with guard towers all around us. We are surely sitting ducks to anyone with a crossbow who may happen to pop their head out one of those window slits. We must make entry into the keep as quickly as possible, but I for one do not wish to climb another rope wearing this armour. It was hard enough the last time. There must be a doorway leading to the kitchens or something where we can make a quick entry."
Aranon looked around nervously, and appeared anxious. While Akhan spoke he moved away from the others, toward the keep, then tried to hide himself in the shadows at its base.
"Buggered if I'm going to end up like some sort of porcupine," he thought. "Bunch of children here!."
Moving silently, keeping to the shadows as best her could, Akhan worked his way around the building. It was a single storey affair, attached to the outer wall and having a sloping roof. There was one door, and two tightly shuttered windows, all on the west side (toward the keep). Peering through the keyhole, Akhan could only see darkness, and heard nothing from within.
As he turned back, form the building on the other side of the keep, now out of sight of the others, Akhan noticed that most of the lights had gone out, and only a dim glow remained there. There was no noise coming from that building now either.
Akhan felt the hairs on his scalp begin to rise as he realised the lights were no longer burning in the building over on the other side of the courtyard.
"No sound either!" he thought as his alarm began to escalate.
"Shite, this is all about to fall apart if I'm not mistaken."
Despite the cool of the early morning he felt a line of sweat break out on his forehead.
Moving with the urgency of one who feels about to be jumped on from a great height, the thief sprang off back round the corner of the building to rejoin the rest of the party. As he saw the faces of his companions he smiled lopsidedly.
"I've got a bad feeling we're in the shit. There's no lights from across the way now and no noise
either. Looks like you'll get to make some more noise before sunup Jean-Paul."
Akhan suddenly realised that Aranon had left the party. His irritation at the lack of agreed co-ordination of their efforts bubbled over.
"Piss of Istus! Where's that bloody priest bogged off to now? Didn't anyone go with him? Well he'll have to look after himself."
Shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot his mind raced feverishly.
"Look, we're not under attack yet but if we swan out in front of those doors and try and open them we'll be under attack straight away. That solar up there is the weak point and we need to
exploit it now before they start using it to attack us! Those of us that can climb that tower wall should get up there and we'll let a rope down to the rest. But we've got to move fast now!"
Immediately, Akhan shadowed the battlements to the base of the tower.

************************

The others followed as fast they could. As they caught up, Hamman leaned over to Akhan.
"Don't they sleep where you come from?" he asked sarcastically.
Pushing his hat back from over his face he regarded Hamman sourly.
"Har-de-har-har. Spare us your incomparable wit milord, and let's get on with it."
Still, Akhan felt better, and realised he was becoming somewhat paranoid at the silence about this place. It had been some time since he had worked with others, and he much preferred the certainty of planning that came with solo jaunts.
Eloi whispered to the others, "I am off to see if there is an easier way into the keep."
Akhan reached out and stopped Eloi before he could slip away.
"Loan us your rope your Majesty? The rest will need it to climb the wall if you don't find your door."
Muttering a few expletives under his foul breath, Eloi reluctantly delayed his departure and handed over his rope and grappling hook. He slipped away from the group and started to work his way carefully around the perimeter of the keep to see if there were any easier ways in.
Jean-Paul whispered, "Let us hurry. The longer we wait, the more likely we will be discovered. If we must climb then I suggest that Akhan goes first and judges the situation when he is at the top. If it is safe for the rest of us to climb up then I suggest that an able fighter follows. If Eloi cannot find an easier way then I think he should follow us last, as he is both an able fighter and climber."
Akhan turned back to the remainder of the party.
"OK, Jean-Paul. I think we'll go with your plan with one modification. Both myself and Sholin, if you agree of course," Akhan said nodding to the shadowy figure., "will climb up to the solar. If we separate the places where we reach the top we'll have a better chance of dealing with any possible guards."
"All being well the rest of you follow when we let this rope down to you. I'd suggest Jean-Paul - you first. Then Tumbry, Mordekei, Hamman, Bermen and finally Eloi once he returns. Oh and let's not forget Aranon although he seems to be off sleepwalking."
Akhan moved close to Sholin and consulted briefly with him on their tactics for going over the top.
"If you wait briefly while I go over the edge first, that way I'll draw the full attention of any guards up there and you'll have the benefit of surprise when you attack them. Hopefully we won't need to fight our way in there. Agreed? I'll secure the rope and you stand watch over the entrance to the solar from below."
Akhan waited briefly for anything Sholin might have to say before the two of them made their way over to the base of the Keep before beginning to climb.
The ranger listened to the jittery Akhan, occasionally giving the battlements a scan to check for any guards or gargoyles. Looking up at the top of the Keep he gave his bow and arrow a half-conscious test, squinting at the possible angles for a shot into the gap.
"Sooner we're in the better," he thought, mentally preparing for the manoeuvres necessary for the party to climb the rope.

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Eloi quickly passed his rope to Akhan before heading off, out of sight, round the tower.
With a nod, Akhan started climbing the tower's rough walls. The foot and handholds were plentiful, as the tower had obviously been neglected and allowed to decay over the decades. Quickly and surely he made his way upwards, glancing down at Sholin, who climbed to his left, further below him.
Akhan's heart was pounding in his ears as he reached the last couple of feet - with a momentary pause and a gulp of air, he pulled up and over in one fast movement, his hand moving to Kagnstir's hilt as he became free of the climb, in anticipation of lurking guards. But there was no-one there.
Akhan surveyed the 'solar' carefully, and was partly relieved, partly disappointed that he was alone. With his superior vision from the Eye, Akhan could see perfectly in this room, and there appeared to be a trap door leading down in the centre of the room.
Sholin quickly pulled himself up, adopting a strange fighting stance momentarily. He drew closer to Akhan and whispered, "Smell."
Taking a deep breath, Akhan suddenly noticed the foul smell lingering here, carried on the gentle breeze at this height. It reminded him of, of...
"Gargoyles!" he rasped, looking anxiously around as he recognised that clawing foetid odour he had smelled when close to the beasts during the earlier combat. He had an overpowering sense of foreboding, and slowly his head tilted back to let his eyes look up.
Another sigh of relief as he looked into the roof-space, which reminded him of a belfry with the rafters there. Looking back down he noticed the guano-type substance on the floor.
"Their roost," he said to Sholin, nodding up the way. Then he pulled the rope from his backpack - it was over 50' up to here, so he quickly tied a strong knot between Eloi's rope and his own and, after some manoeuvring, managed to sling the rope around one of the external wall 'pillars'. Meantime Sholin stood guard at the trap door.

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The others stood down below, and before long were glad to see Eloi return.
He shook his head, saying quietly, "Nothing - just the doors we saw."
Before long the rope came bundling down from above without warning.
One by one they climbed the rope, leaving Bermen then Eloi to last. Within ten minutes they had all arrived at the top. The 'solar' afforded a magnificent view of the surrounding area, and the party could soon see how the gargoyles had managed to see them at that one spot of the village. Sound carried for miles on this still night, when the breeze dipped slightly. To the south they saw the orchard, to the west the graveyard, and to the east the forest where Grymalkin, Ash and their horses waited.

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Eloi turned to the others.
"Well, what goes up must come down. We are all going to have to get through that trapdoor and judging by the previous occupants of this roost, that ain't going to be easy. I would guess that the guards are going to have barred that door pretty well to stop the gargoyles from getting into the keep."
Eloi stepped other to the trapdoor and surveyed it, he then gestured to Akhan for his opinion.
Jean-Paul Stood around muttering to himself on how bloody cold he was and what a sorry state of affairs that they had got themselves into.
"Let's just hurry up and get into this keep. I need to get out of this cold night air and into some heat!".
"Hold on a minute," Aranon said. "What about the gargoyles - perhaps they had treasure! We're certainly safe enough for now to investigate!"
At the mention of loot, Eloi's mouth began slavering and Akhan's mouth curled up in his usual grin. Tumbry stepped back against the stone 'pillar' of the outer wall, replacing his sword in its scabbard, and clasped his hands together below his waist.
"I think you'd be the lightest, Master Akhan."
The smell now filling Akhan's delicate nostrils, he gagged at the thought of going up into the rafters, but could see no way out. Also replacing his sword, he stepped onto Tumbry's hands, then, reaching up to the crap-covered beam above, stood on his shoulders and head, before lithely flipping himself up onto the rafter. He swayed for a moment before recovering his balance and strutting delicately into the shadowed roof area.
Several grunting and spitting noises followed, with numerous expletives as Akhan moved around. Lumps of clotted gargoyle-crap fell down with disgusting regularity.

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The roof-space was disgusting, encrusted with gargoyle shit which was covering Akhan's beautiful clothes.
"Nerull's underpants!" he thought, "There'd better be some loot up here or the priest's getting his saintly cohones booted!"
Tenderly he balanced on the slippery beams and worked his way around the roof. Then he found it - a large sack, packed full to the brim with what he reckoned were coins - and there beside it, covered in more crap, were three lovely gemstones - a small lump of quartz, a fair sized piece of jade and a beautiful uncut Opal.
Akhan's grin exceeded the cheesiness of a Ketish wrestler's loincloth as he pocketed them in his money pouch.
"Should buy me new togs," he thought, "With a special danger commission for doing all their dirty work."
He reckoned there were about ten to twelve thousand coins in the sack, which was tightly tied shut. Suddenly his foot slipped, and he was spinning down towards the ground - he just managed to grab hold of the nearest beam, and the sack clobbered him on the head, knocking him dazed for a moment. Akhan hung there for a couple of seconds before he felt someone grab each leg and help him down to the ground.

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Suddenly there was a sliding noise, and next thing an object came flying past Hamman, narrowly missing him, landing with a thud on the wooden floor.
As the sack hit the floor it spilled its contents, thousands of copper Fennigs, all over the floor. Every one scattered quickly, trying to catch the coins before they rolled over the edge, but in slow motion, several of them flew into the air and started their way towards the courtyard floor.
The party stared at each other for a split second before they hit the cobbled ground, sounding for all the Oerth to them like church bells on a Godsday morn.
The silence, as they held their breath in anticipation, was broken by a gentle grunting and rubbing noise from above. Akhan, covered in filth, was dangling from the rafter by his arms. As quietly as possible, Hamman and Aranon reached up and helped the thief down to the ground.
The others watched the courtyard. The pulled back into the shadows as, from the north-east tower, a shuttered slit opened slightly, revealing a light and a human form behind it, looking out into the courtyard for the source of the noise.
As Akhan went to blurt out his woes, Aranon put his fingers to his mouth to silence him.
Suddenly, with great horror, Eloi realised the rope had not been pulled up!
They waited as the shutter opened further, pensively. The head poked out a bit more, wary of some disaster about to remove it from its shoulders, then quickly darted back inside, pulling the shutters firmly shut behind it.
Everyone was still, listening, and they could hear nothing.
A few minutes passed, and still nothing. The birds in the forest were singing and the far-off glow of dawn began to peek out from the curtain of night. They started to relax, glancing at each other, all standing holding their weapons tightly in anticipation of attack. But nothing came.
"Istus be praised," Sholin muttered. "But I feel we are sorely testing Her patience!"
The monk moved silently over to the edge and pulled the rope slowly up, coiling it as he did so.
There appeared to be several thousand coins there, probably more than ten thousand, and a quick inspection revealing they were all copper Fennigs.
Eloi was filling his pockets, but Mordekei gestured him to stop.
"They will weigh you down, Baron," he whispered. "Best come back for them once we are safe!"
Reluctantly Eloi stopped, heading over to join Akhan, who was stooping by the trap door. Unusually, this door had a heavyset metal lock, undoubtedly due to the previous occupants of this solar. Akhan removed his picks and set to work on the lock. There was a resounding click and a ping, and Akhan held up the broken stub of his pick.
Eloi shuffled over and tried likewise. Within a minute he turned round to the party, shaking his head.
He looked over to Mordekei, and whispered.
"Magic!"
Eloi looked up to Mordekei.
"Well, Mordy, its up to you. All I'll say is that I hope that whatever spell you use is a quiet one or were going to have plenty of company. Luckily if we send Akhan down first the stupid guards might think it looks and smells like one of the gargoyles and run for a mile. I would guess that the room below is not occupied due to its close proximity to the gargoyles nest."
Akhan paused in his rigorous guano-scraping of his clothing as Eloi made reference to sending him down through the trapdoor first. Gathering a modest gobbet of the cack he flicked it at the Baron. Eloi attempted to fade into the shadows hoping that the others might be too occupied with Mordekei to notice him slipping some more coinage into his pockets.
He looked at Mordekei with a questioning look.
"Have you got anything which would open this Mord? What about chopping our way through as a last resort? I mean what sort of spell is this?"
Bermen looked around rather sheepishly as if afraid the others would see what he was doing. "Damn this penury!" he thought. "I need a good soldier's wages - not scrabbling around in the shit for copper pieces."
His face reddening noticeably, the ranger began to fill his money bag with a reasonably comfortable amount of coins.
"Can't afford to be too choosy at present though."
Jean-Paul clasped his hands tightly around himself in an effort to keep warm, and hoped that Mordekei was as able a wizard as he was social commentator. He looked uneasily out from the battlements.
"I hope that we killed all those blasted Gargoyles or we might get a nasty shock."
He squinted as he scanned the night sky before shrugging his shoulders and turning round to see Mordekei's progress. The mage appeared pensive as he leaned over the trapdoor, and did not appear to know what to do at all.
"Hmmm....a wizard lock, perchance? I know I certainly wouldn't have wanted the denizens of this lair taking to great an interest in my bedrooms at night, and this seems as good as any. You're sure it isn't just dodgy tools of yours?"
"There is another possibility for getting into this damned Keep," said Akhan, who was still attempting to scrape gobbets of muck from his clothes.
"I've got a Polymorph potion, and if I were to lower myself down to one of those shuttered slits and then open it. Well, it'd simply be a matter of changing into a small bird and hopping through. It might be more realistic to try and open the entrance doors rather than attempt to open this trapdoor though. That'd mean you'd all have to be ready to come down the rope and pile in through the doors once I opened them."
The others, intent on the trap door, did not seem to be paying his plans the slightest bit of attention. Aranon strode over and looked at Mord and the hatch.
"Magic users...I dunno, trade description laws should apply or something. Well, we certainly can't break it down without waking up the entire place and its safe to assume that they've thought about covering any other routes"
Mordekei grinned, stroked his beard and stood up
"This leaves me one problem - I don't have the necessary spell to open this!"
Akhan shook his head in disgust.
"At any rate, I'm bored with standing around so I'm going to lower myself down to one of the slits which looks as if it might be unoccupied and have a go at opening it up. If I reckon it's possible I'll drink the potion - you pull the rope back up and watch the doors for when I reappear. Remember, try not to make too much noise as we're still undetected."
Having disposed of most of the encrusted gargoyle cack from his clothes, Akhan wiped his hands and prepared to lower the rope down past a likely-looking shuttered slit. Before letting himself down over the side he looked out the potion and stowed it carefully in an accessible pocket.

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He lowered himself slowly down the rope, passing the first floor down, where the shuttered slit was showing a faint light. The next slit he came to was, strangely, not shuttered like the others, but had two bars in the shape of a cross blocking it.
Glancing in, the moonlight filling the room allowed Akhan's magical vision to see clearly. About ten feet by fifteen, there was a door on the far side - a thickset wooden one with a grating at eye level. Apart from that, the room seemed empty.
Holding the bars, Akhan deftly popped the contents of the potion bottle down his throat. Hanging there reminded him of the time he tried to seduce Jahlia Vittrose, daughter of the master crossbowyer of Hardby. Hanging from her second floor windowsill he had tried to open the shutter catch, forgetting in his enthusiasm that he would 'barn-door' as he did so. Something in the thirty foot drop, broken only by the family pet, an Almorian pink-bellied hog, awoke her father, who apparently not only made crossbows but could shoot them pretty well too. He had not seen his left cheek in some time, but was sure there was still a scar there.
As he felt the magic course through his veins, Akhan thought of a songbird he had watched in Rel Mord one day, while he was supposed to be at Professor Haddoyung's math tutorial, and in an instant he was fluttering gracefully between the bars. He landed on the floor, and instantly became aware of the sound of someone's laboured breathing in the room. To his right, hidden by the curve of the wall, a human man hung in manacles from the wall.
The man was tall, and although dishevelled and bloodied, drawn and beaten, his frame betrayed that he was once a massive, immense being, the sort Akhan dreaded meeting on solo burglary trips. He was sound asleep, and from the growth on his face had been there quite a few days. Akhan could not help but feel the man, despite his mighty stature, was close to death.
Suddenly, another noise came to him, from behind the door. A dim light grew stronger through the door-frame and through what Akhan could now see was a grated Judas gate, and the hurried sound of soft-shoed feet padding down stone stairs came louder from behind the door. Someone was coming!

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Before the others had even heard what Akhan was muttering about, he had tied up the rope, lowered it over the edge and, blowing them a soggy kiss, started lowering himself down.
"Wai...ah, shit," Aranon muttered. "OK, lets get through this door, see if we can find him before he ends up getting us into more trouble!"
Aranon swiftly searched the area for secret passages, and the others, following his lead, did likewise. They found nothing remotely suspicious there. Cracking his knuckles Aranon began a prayer, and without much fuss turned to Eloi.
"Try the lock now," he whispered.
Eloi bent over the lock and, after several minutes work, he had it unlocked.
"A good lock," he said. "Someone doesn't want anyone getting in here."
Over by the edge of the tower, Sholin was pulling up Akhan's rope.
"He is in," he said quietly. "Two floors down I think."
He coiled the rope at the top, leaving it attached to the pillars for ease of escape.
"OK," Tumbry said, looking over at Eloi. "Who's going first?"
Eloi looked over at Tumbry and gave him a smile and winked. He drew his
dagger and clenched it in his teeth pirate style. Doing his best 'hearty buccaneer' snarl, he launched himself into the trap door space - his expected flight to the next floor was unexpectedly ended after a foot or so as he landed on the topmost step of the spiral stairs which led down in a clockwise manner away from the door.
Bermen winced at the sound of Eloi's rather solid arrival downstairs.
Turning to Jean-Paul as the paladin made to descend, he said, "I hope that fall doesn't scramble the Baron's wits."
Eloi looked at the others, and was glad that the more sarcastically-endowed Akhan was not there to pass comment. With a shrug, he took the dagger from his teeth, and continued down the staircase.
The ranger stepped over to Aranon.
"Aranon, I still believe we ought to keep that front door covered. If anyone tries to leave and raise the alarm or if the rest of the garrison is roused and attempts to break in we're going to need someone on the roof. I shall remain here with my bow."
"If the garrison is roused there won't be a lot I can do to hold them off but I can definitely discourage them for a little while. However if you do run into a heavy fight downstairs then simply shout for me."
Bermen clapped his hand firmly to the hilt of his sword at this and grinned.
Clapping Jean-Paul on the shoulder for good luck, he added, "Kelanen go with you," and moved out onto the ledge overlooking the main doors. Crouching down, bow pointed low, he tried as best he could to find some shadows and started watching out and listening for any sign of trouble...

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