Chapter 16

"Wake up, you old sleepy head," carolled Lyssa. "It's time to be up and doing things."

"Oof! Wah!" Mak yawned, rubbing his eyes. "I feel like I could sleep for a week. Bring me some breakfast, wench, and be quick about it."

"Yes, beloved master," Lyssa chortled as she plumped herself down on his stomach. Giving him a smacking kiss on the ear, she asked, "How was that for the first course?"

"Not warm enough." He spilled her onto the ground, then picked her up bodily and slung her over his shoulder.

"Stop that!" she shrieked. "What are you doing? Ooh, don't! Don't you dare!"

Her laughing screams were cut off abruptly as Mak plunged, burden and all, into the autumnchilled waters of the river. They came up spluttering, and Mak laughed, "Now you can scrub my back for me."

"All right, but you'll have to help me put on dry clothes," she pouted. "And I had on my nicest tunic for you."

Behind them the camp was the same hive of activity it had been for the last several weeks. After a few minutes of playful splashing, they climbed out of the water and dried each other off. As he ate a hasty morning meal, Mak questioned Lyssa about the results of the previous day's meeting.

"I wanted to be back in time for it, but there was just no way that I could make it. I was teaching a squad of True Folk women how to use their crossbows. Nurm had been there the day before, telling them different ways to fight an army in the woods. He sure knows a lot of things about fighting a war."

"Yes, he does," Lyssa agreed. "Anyway, the meeting was mostly to plan 'strategy'. That's another one of Nurm's words. It means doing all the damage you can to the enemy without letting him hit you back, and fooling him into doing all of the wrong things."

"I'm all for that."

"Anyway, he's decided that we're as ready as we'll ever be, so today's when things start. The women are all trained and organized, and it's getting awfully late in the year. There's already snow on the higher hills, and if we wait any longer, it could storm and heavy snows would cut off the trail across the mountains. Then we'd really be in trouble, trapped here with no way to leave until next spring."

"Yeah, it was already getting cold enough on the way over here. Having a lot of old women and children along will make it just that much harder to move at a good speed. When we do get them away from here, it'll take some more time for them to get settled in for the winter. Did he say what our first move is to be?"

"Yes, he says that we have to hit them everywhere at once, then try to escape across the mountains before they know what's going on. Amy left first thing this morning with a group of the older women and all of the small children. As soon as it's fully dark, Riggan will leave with the group that's going to steal all of the Chakcha ponies that they can find. While he's doing that, our job is to release the True Folk men and get them out through the secret passages. Riggan said we should grab the King and bring him out at the same time, if we can. We'll leave some of the King's torn clothes and a bunch of bloody wolf footprints behind. They'll think he was eaten up by the wolfdemoness he offended." They both laughed. According to the reports from the women who served in the castle, the tale of King Norgan's misadventures had quickly made the rounds of the city's gossipmongers, losing nothing in the telling. "Then, after we've gotten the women away to safety, Riggan will be free to go back and take over as King Riggan the First."

"It sounds like it could work, but I still think that Riggan is crazy to want the job," Mak commented. "Let's go talk to Nurm and see what he's got for us to do."

Hand in hand they walked over to where Nurm was talking earnestly to Holmar and Riggan.

"Well, Mak, are you ready? It looks like this is it," he greeted them. "Amy is well on her way with the oldest women and the small children. The rest of the women will follow them as soon as they come in from the fields and city, with the best trained fighters bringing up the rear. Do you think that you can get into the True Folk men's courtyard and get them to follow you out?"

"Getting in depends on how much junk they have piled in front of that arch. If I do get in, I have an idea on how to get them to follow me." His normally cheerful face took on a grim look. "I just hope that nothing goes wrong this time."

"Something will always go wrong in an operation this size. The only solution is to keep your plans flexible, and hope that too many things don't go wrong at the same time. At least nothing has gone too badly wrong this far."

"Yeah, even my being captured found Riggan and the secret passages for us. When do you think will be the best time to try it?"

"Riggan, you're the best informed about the castle routine. When would you say?"

"Right after they're fed in the morning, would be my guess. Nobody is going to bother about them again until evening. Maybe not even then, with all the turmoil that we're going to cause." He grinned wolfishly at the thought.

It was only midafternoon. In the shadows under the trees the mouth of the cave was a rough oval of darkness. Holding aloft a flaming torch, Mak led the procession down under the ground. Jewel once again wore her tunic trimmed with wolffur, but the others had on dark brown tunics that blended into the shadows. Holmar and Kolmar followed him, leading a squad of True Folk women, while Jewel and Kim brought up the rear.

Bundles of torches had been piled at strategic points along the way, so there was no danger of being left in the dark this trip. They moved swiftly and surely through the caverns. Soon they were climbing the steeply twisting staircase up through the rock beneath the castle, not pausing at the dungeon landing this time. Their goal was the master of the castle.

King Norgan tossed restlessly in his soft bed. No premonition of impending doom disturbed his slumber. Rather it was the effects of a tooheavy meal, eaten too soon before retiring. He heard a soft rustling, but surely that was an autumn breeze at his curtained windows. Guards outside his chambers secured his privacy, and

"Poor little King."

The soft words slowly penetrated his drowsy mind. He sat up in sudden alarm.

"Who? What? Who's there?" he whispered fearfully, clutching the embroidered coverlet to his chest.

"It is I, your Highness. Your 'little princess'. No, do not cry out if you would live to see the morning. My brother is here with me, and he does not like sudden noises."

His eyes focussed on the dim shapes before him. With growing horror he saw the dark, elfin face of Jewel, and alongside it the head of a giant wolf. With a gasp of fear Norgan shrank back as though to hide beneath his embroidered coverlet. "What are you, I mean, what do you want with me?"

"You are going on a little trip, your Highness," her voice murmured softly, but there was an edge of steel behind the words. "So, up with you. Put on your heavy sandals, warm clothing and a heavy cloak."