frontal assault would work.”
Now I’m more than dumbfounded. I’m simply fuming. “So you jeopardized the stability of the entire operation, just to prove that your tactic would work?!”
“More or less.”
“Calm down,” says Percival, resting his hand on my shoulder. “She’s not worth it.”
I take a few deep breaths. “I know,” I reply. “But from now on, I’m leading.”
THe Retake of Terrace
I don’t allow Genevieve to even touch the dove’s cage. Quietly I open the door and grasp the bird with both hands and it coos at me in submission. I turn in the general direction of Terrace and point the bird the same direction. Then I release it skyward.
It flaps off and quickly goes out of sight in the black night.
“I hope it works,” I mutter.
Then we’re in the tunnels. Genevieve, of course, has refused to let me lead by myself, and so sneaks next to me. Running would be louder than any of us want, and so we sneak quietly through the tunnels to the grate that leads into the dungeons of the Keep.
“Hold,” I whisper. Even at such a low volume, the breath echoes throughout the tunnels. Our force halts. Then we wait, but not for long.
A low bellow sounds clearly throughout the tunnels.
“There’s the horn,” breathes Jericho. “We’re right on time.”
The metal grates have been padlocked shut again, but we merely use the keys we had taken from one of the soldiers in Fort Greymane. The metal grates are loud as they open. A guard comes around the corner, but one of our archers gets him right as he comes into sight. It was for this reason we kept archers at the front.
“Just as I planned,” says Genevieve. “We split into groups of ten and kill anyone on sight. Everyone follow your route, and do not stray from it. Move out.”
I do have to give her the credit for this part of the plan. Every group of ten has an assigned route through the Keep to effectively remove all resistance in the shortest span of time possible, and also to help avoid detection. Several small armies are much harder to detect than one large army.
The warhorn bellows again as we separate into our groups.
Jericho, Percival, Nathaniel, Gunther, and five others join me. We run up the stairs and into the main hall with several other groups, our archers taking out the guards before they can raise the alarm. Then we split from them and make our way through a hallway and up the tower stairs. Other groups will be scouring the lower levels for any Tygnar forces. Our particular group is supposed to take over the right wing wall.
We open the door to the wall quietly. The nearest guard looks suspiciously and comes near to investigate. As soon as he enters the room, we pull him to the side and one of the soldiers kills him.
Another guard hears the struggle and says, “Who goes?!”
I make eye contact with the archer and motion towards his bow. He nods.
Not another second passes before he jumps out and shoots the guard. We pile out of the tower and onto the wall, destroying anyone to stand before us. Our archers are a tremendous help in that they can kill someone from a distance before they raise the alarm.
There are surprisingly few men on the wall. However, within the armory on the wall, there’s quite a different story.
We barge in and look for anyone who would oppose us. They stand everywhere. The armory is full of men, but I don’t stop to think about why.
While they’re frozen in shock I smash one into another. Then they charge us.
I hit one to the side, denting his armor and probably crushing his ribs. I hit the next one’s shoulder. He yells as he falls to the ground and there’s a sick crack. Jericho puts him out of his misery.
One of them charges me from the side. I crouch down and block his stroke, and then catch him with my hammer and throw him over a nearby rack of shields. I turn and watch one of my men die, slashed across the back from an opponent behind him.
I remember the pines. The broken tree. The waterfall. The grave of my father.
With a roar I pound in the helm of another enemy and knock the legs out from underneath another, most likely breaking one or more of his bones. Percival finishes him.
I block two strokes from two different enemies, and then whirl my hammer in the