“They are moving the catapults through the gate,” Lexi whispered. “We have to go now, while everyone is distracted.”
Elric nodded at her. She climbed up on a crate and banged her hand against a pair of boards there. They came up, and she quickly shimmied up the hole. Elric gave Wynn a boost and Lexi helped pull her up.
They were in the hall, only a few feet from the sleeping guard. He had fallen off his stool and landed on the ground. His mouth was hanging open, but he had one hand curled under his cheek, like a sleepy baby.
Lexi pressed a finger to her lips, then tucked her hood over her head. Wynn did the same. Elric pulled himself up and replaced the boards. He put his hood over his head too.
“Whatever you do, don’t look up. Your faces are pale and someone might notice. Stare at your feet so the hood keeps your face covered and keep your hands in your sleeves. I’ll guide you,” Lexi whispered.
Wynn did as she was told. She only looked up enough to see the hem of Lexi’s long robe. She followed it through the building and out a side door.
The clattering noise outside seemed to shake the ground. The air filled with the creaking rumble of enormous machines rolling through the village on huge wheels. They had massive arms cocked back and held by heavy ropes. Great wagons filled with huge blocks of stone rumbled behind them. Wynn slapped her hands over her ears, but Elric pulled them down and tugged her behind the building.
They came out near the pigpens. The pigs were agitated by the noise, stomping around and squealing. Wynn didn’t like that sound either, and the smell was even worse. She followed Lexi until they came to a shadowy alcove behind a small building.
“Now what?” Elric asked in a hoarse whisper.
“I don’t know,” Lexi said. “I didn’t really think we would make it this far.” She looked up.
“We can’t go through the gate, that’s where the catapults are.” Elric looked up, but Lexi tugged on the front of his hood, forcing it back over his face. “We have to go over the wall,” he said.
“We can’t go over the wall,” Lexi argued. “That’s the point of a wall.”
Wynn glanced up at the wall. Cut from tall young trees, the tops of each trunk had been shaped into a spike. Wynn wasn’t good at climbing trees with branches. These trees had no branches. This would be even worse than climbing a tree. Elric looked determined as he stared at the wall. He walked forward and touched it, feeling the seam where two logs came together and looking for any place where they could get a hold.
Wynn glanced around. She thought she heard something. She wasn’t supposed to look up, but she thought she heard the noise again coming from a tall tree on the other side of the wall. Something tapped her on the head. A small nut landed at her feet. She crept closer and peeked up from under the hem of her hood.
Two luminous eyes stared at her from beneath a mop of black hair and two large fox ears. Hob grinned.
“Hob!” Wynn clapped her hands over her mouth. They were being sneaky and she forgot to be quiet. Elric rushed to her side, followed by Lexi. She pointed up. Hob waved.
“Hob saw you, yes,” he said. “I have been up here in this tree for days watching for my friends. I have been listening. I have been waiting. I have been tying vines into knots.” The tiny creature held up a tangle of vines. “Just in case.”
“Good work, Hob. Toss them down so we can climb up.” Elric motioned to him, and he threw the vines over the wall. They cascaded like a heavy tumble of hair down to their feet.
Hob clapped. “Hob is always prepared, yes!”
“Shhhh.” Elric pressed his finger to his lips. “Hurry, before someone sees.” Elric grabbed the thick tangle of vines and pulled it to Wynn. “Climb as fast as you can.”
“I can’t,” Wynn said. It was very high up.
Elric placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yes, you can.”
She took a deep breath and looked up. She had to try. She gripped the mass of tangled vines and pressed her feet against the wall as she climbed up. Her arms hurt. If she let go of the vines, she would fall. She couldn’t do that. She had to make it to the top. Wynn climbed and climbed. Her arms were shaking. Her teeth hurt from pressing them too tight together. Her foot slipped on the rounded wood poles. She tried to put her toes in the vines and climb up like a ladder, but the vines gave beneath her feet. She tried again to plant her feet on the wall, but her boot stuck in the crack. Slowly she inched her way up.
“Up here.” Hob hung on to the sharpened spike of one of the cut logs and held a hand down toward her. He grabbed her wrist and guided her hand to the branch above her, then helped her foot into the gap between the two spikes. With one last push up, she pulled herself into the bendy branches of the tree.
Now how was she going to get down? She didn’t like falling out of trees.
“This way,” Hob said. He didn’t have trouble in the tree. But he was very small. Wynn made the branch bend. She had to hold on to branches above as she shifted her feet toward the trunk, then walk her hands along the willowy branches above her head. Hob tried to help by placing her feet on stronger branches, and pointing where she should put her hands. Elric and Lexi climbed over the wall easily and into the tree. The whole tree shook, and Wynn held on tight. Once she got near
