whisper in his ear. Dropping the rope, he looks where Miko is indicating and sees a guard turning the corner and begins walking down the street toward them. They move further back into the shadows and hold still.
Then his eyes go to the middle of the street where the end of the rope lies with the shattered arrow still attached to it. The way the guard is moving down the center of the street, he’s going to walk right over it.
“Jiron!” Miko whispers as he points to the arrow.
“I know,” he says. Never taking his eye off the approaching guard, he draws one of his knives.
Thirty feet from the arrow, the guard still fails to notice it. At twenty feet, one of the men atop the walls hails him and they wave to each other. At fifteen feet, he turns his attention back to street level as the guard atop the wall resumes walking his patrol. At ten feet the guard starts humming a tune as he continues along. At five feet, he’s still oblivious to the fact that an arrow tied to a rope lies across the street. Then his foot steps on it.
The guard stops and lifts his foot. Bending over, he looks to see what it was that he stepped on. Picking up the arrow, he looks at it for a second and then rope attached to it. He sees how the rope is tied to the end of the arrow and that it extends into the shadows on the other side of the street. Pulling on the rope, he looks more closely into the shadows. Then all of a sudden, one of the shadows breaks off and rushes him.
Before the man knows what hit him, Jiron attacks and silences him before he can sound the alarm. Then with Miko’s help, he drags the guard’s lifeless body back into the shadows before the guards on top of the wall notice what happened.
Once he’s sure the guards on the wall failed to see them, he pulls in the rope. By this time Aleya has another arrow already selected. He again secures the rope to it and hands it back to her. “We don’t have much time,” he tells her. “We must be ready when whatever distraction they are planning goes into effect.” When she takes the arrow, he puts his hands on her shoulders and gives her a quick kiss. “I know you can do this.”
Nodding, she puts the arrow to string and sights on the space between the statues head and the upraised sword. She takes a deep calming breath to center herself as her father always taught her. He could do this, she thinks to herself. He could do anything with a bow.
And so can you.
It’s almost as if she can feel him there behind her as he always did when teaching her the bow. A hand on her waist, another to help steady the bow. The words he use to say when passing on his wisdom. Steady on girl, take your time. Patience, always patience, never rush it.
“Now!” she hears Jiron say. But she doesn’t release the arrow. Only when it’s time, Aly. Then it almost feels as if a hand raises her bow ever so slightly higher. “Now!” urges Jiron.
“Do you sense that?” Brother Willim asks Miko.
“Yes, I do,” he replies. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” Brother Willim says.
Now, Aly.
Releasing the bowstring, the arrow shoots forward. They hold their breath as they watch it arc through the air toward the statue. Then it sails perfectly between the head and sword.
“I did it father,” she says quietly to herself. And she can almost feel a pat on her back, the same as her father use to give her when she successfully learned what he was trying to teach.
“Yes!” says Jiron. When all the slack in the rope is gone, it yanks against the end he’s holding in his hand. Looking to the two guards, he sees they still have their backs turned. Rushing over to the wall, he begins pulling the slack back in until he feels the arrow catch in the crook of the statue between the neck and the upraised arm. Giving it a couple tugs, he ensures it’s not going to slip out.
Then he holds still as the guards turn and begin approaching the area where the statue is located. Praying for them not to notice the arrow and rope, he waits. The watch they are walking takes them to within several feet of the statue. But then they both reach the end of their watch, turn and begin to walk away from the statue again.
Leaving the rope where it is, he runs back over to where the others are hidden in the shadows. “Now,” he says once he’s rejoined them, “we wait for the diversion.” Another ten minutes go by before a commotion begins to develop. The guards on the wall turn their attention to the far side of town, and one of them points to something. Coming together, they begin talking excitedly to one another.
“Aleya, you need to take them out fast,” he tells her.
Nodding, she removes two arrows from her quiver and sets one point first into the ground before her. The other, she puts to her bowstring and aims. This is something she is confident she can do with little problems.
Releasing the first arrow, it flies true and strikes one of the guards in the back. Before the other guard realizes something is happening, another takes the second guard through the spine just below the neck. The first man topples onto the top of the wall while the second one falls off and lands in the street not far from where Jiron and the others wait.
Indicating the guard, Jiron says to Miko, “Get him out of sight. When I get to the top, the rest of you climb up. Before he runs over to where the rope is hanging against the wall, Brother Willim stops him.
“I’ve never climbed a rope before,” he admits.
“Don’t worry,” he assures him. “James never could either. Let the others go first then tie a loop in the end of the rope. Then we’ll pull you up.”
“Alright,” Brother Willim says.
Moving to the wall, Jiron takes the rope and very carefully begins climbing up. He understands that he can only apply steady tension to the rope. That to suddenly jerk on it may snap the arrow in two. So hand over hand, he slowly and steadily works his way to the top. As he climbs the rope, he can hear raised voices coming from within the Keep area on the other side of the wall.
When he finally reaches the base of the statue, he grips the top of the wall with one hand and then pulls himself up. Once on top, he looks over to the far side of town and sees what the diversion is.
“Not much huh?” he mumbles to himself. The damn fools set fire to the town. And so it appears, for fires are burning in several different sections of the city. Men are running through the streets on their way to put them out.
He casts a quick glance to the guards on the other walls, and the gaze of each is directed to the far off fires. The grounds within the Keep area are fairly deserted, a few guards walk to and fro as they keep watch. One man, a civilian, hollers to one of the guards down there. Together they quickly make their way through the gates and toward the fires.
Sure that everyone’s attention is averted, Jiron removes the arrow from the statue and unties the rope. He’s just taking a firm hold of it when he feels the rope grow taut as someone down below pulls on it. Jiron gives the rope two quick tugs to let them know he’s ready, then braces himself.
He receives two quick answering tugs before someone begins climbing up. In a moment Aleya appears and he offers her a hand which she takes. He then pulls her the rest of the way up onto the wall.
The first thing she notices are the fires burning throughout the city. “What do they think they’re doing?” she asks.
“I don’t care as long as the rest of the guards are looking away from us,” he says. Gesturing to the guard she killed with her bow, he adds, “Grab his crossbow and make like you are him walking the wall.”
Nodding, she says, “Right.” Then moves over toward the dead guard.
Another two pulls announces Miko’s turn up the rope. He has a much more difficult time at it than Aleya had, but after a few tense moments, he makes it. Jiron has him pretend to be the other guard that should be up here instead of dead down below.
He sets himself for hauling up Brother Willim while Miko moves further down the wall. When the rope jerks twice, he begins hauling him up. Pulling up a person is much more strenuous than holding while they climb. When he figures he has pulled Brother Willim up about half the distance, the rope suddenly vibrates. Sensing there may be trouble, he calls for Miko and together they rapidly pull it up.
As the end of the rope reaches the top, they find Brother Willim holding on with one hand to the loop where his foot should be. In the other hand he’s gripping his staff. “What happened?” Miko asks as they haul him the rest of the way up.
“My staff slipped,” he admits somewhat embarrassed. “When I moved to catch it, my foot slipped out of the loop. I almost didn’t catch hold of it in time.”
Miko grins and says, “That would have hurt when you hit the ground.”
