The Mage looked up and calculated the height. He shook his head. “My arms and legs won’t be able to manage. I haven’t enough strength to climb this wall, nor the vitality … I’m not made for this type of mission, not even when I was young …”
“I’ll give you a hand.”
“I have a better idea,” Eicewald said, and gave his staff to Lasgol. “Look after this for me and give it back to me at the top.”
He began to cast a spell, and a blue-white flash enveloped his hands. He grasped the rope, and a white frost appeared around both them and the rope he was holding. A moment later his hands were firmly held to the rope by a block of ice and frost.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Lasgol said doubtfully.
“Don’t worry, ice and cold don’t affect me. I could live in the Frozen Continent, like him.” He glanced aside at Camu. “I’m an Ice Mage, which has certain advantages.” A faint smile appeared on his face, which was something very unusual in him.
“All right, then.” Lasgol gave the rope three tugs. His partners at the top understood the signal and began to heave the Mage upwards.
Camu, go up with him and make sure he doesn’t fall.
I go. Camu adhered to the wall and set off up the wall sticking and un-sticking his palms on the rocky surface. As he watched them disappear upwards, Lasgol could not help smiling. This incursion was utterly strange, which led him to think that it was soon going to turn even stranger, since he himself now had to climb with Ona.
At the wooden quay, Ingrid, Nilsa and Gerd had climbed into a boat moored in the darkest spot. Gerd loosened the ropes and pushed it out to sea.
“Now we lie down and row with our hands,” Ingrid said, and Nilsa dipped her hands into the warm water.
Ingrid turned to Gerd. “Gerd keep that great body of yours hidden. This boat has to look as though it’s adrift.”
“I’ll stay hidden under this net.”
“That’d be better. We’ll do the hand-rowing.”
Silently and carefully, Ingrid and Nilsa propelled it toward the ships which were anchored in the bay. It was dark, and probably at that distance they would not be visible from the ships, but there were sure to be watchmen or guards on duty.
“Nilsa, slower, we don’t want them to suspect anything.”
“Sorry. It’s my nerves …”
“A boat that’s adrift doesn’t go as fast as that.”
“Understood,” Nilsa said apologetically.
“And what’s the plan if they spot us?” Gerd whispered from underneath the net.
“If they spot us, we fight,” Ingrid said.
“Wouldn’t it be better to withdraw?”
“No, they need us. We’ve got to create a distraction, and we will, even if it’s a hard job.”
“Let’s hope it’s not …”
“Well, then, stop talking,” Ingrid snapped at them.
Lasgol had the rope tied around his waist and Ona in his arms as he climbed. He placed his feet against the wall and went up as Astrid and Viggo tugged at the rope.
I’ll have to put you on a diet, you weigh a ton, he said teasingly to Ona.
Ona fat, came Camu’s mocking comment from above, and Ona moaned.
Take it easy, I’m joking. It’s just to make you more comfortable.
I no joking.
You shut up, you’re not helping.
It was a difficult ascent, and Lasgol could feel how nervous Ona was. The higher they went, the more restless she became. One unwise movement and they could lose their balance. Lasgol’s thighs and back were aching terribly from holding Ona’s weight and from the effort of the climb, but he clenched his jaw and went on. He had called upon the skills that could help him in that situation before they started climbing, but even so, it was a complicated business. Luckily Ona behaved like a heroine, and they managed to reach the battlements. Astrid took Ona, while Viggo supported the rope.
“At last,” he whispered. “My, how slow you are. And heavy.”
“The next time you bring a mage and a panther up with you,” Lasgol replied. He gave Viggo a look which said ‘it’s not as if it’s that easy.’
Viggo winked at him. “I don’t bring up creatures like that.”
“This way,” Astrid said, and they went into the tower through a door they had forced open. Inside, Lasgol found the dead bodies of two other crab-men.
Viggo led, with Astrid behind him, and they set off down the stairs of the tower with extreme care. Lasgol, Eicewald, Camu and Ona followed, trying to make as little noise as possible. They passed a half-open door with four more guards inside and went on down. Viggo called a halt when they reached ground-level.
They let a patrol of a dozen conch-men pass in front of them, then ran down a long corridor, stopping at each door of each room to make sure they could go by without being seen. This particular fort was full of transformed men, who must have been getting ready for an assault, because some groups were sharpening their weapons and others carrying supplies to the front, probably to load them on to the ships. The fact that they were so busy made it easy for the team to reach the center of the fortress along the back wall.
Viggo halted to observe the huge courtyard in the center with its four towers. There was certainly a lot of movement, but it was concentrated in the center and front of the fortress.
“They’re getting ready to go to war,” he whispered.
Astrid put her head out and looked too. “Not looking good …”
“There’s a group coming,” Viggo warned them.
They hid in the last room, which looked out on to the courtyard. Here they crouched and
