Chapter XIII

The night of the Raid... and Rose stays alone in the tower to light the fire.

Chapter XIII

Breaking in Barrack Nine

 

“In your eyes, let’s sleep till the sun burns out.

I’m melting in your eyes.”

-      I’m Melting (In Your Eyes) by The Used  

 

Peaceful sleep didn’t like that week.

I couldn’t really complain, though. I had gotten some sleep and that was enough to get me through the day. Rafe disappeared somewhere in the early morning to go do something. I’d only found an obscure note upon waking that informed me he would be back before lunch and that I wasn’t to wait on him to make something to eat.

Laziness and exhaustion made me stay in bed a bit late, not bothering to get up until I heard the front door close and someone call my name. Sleepily, I pulled Rafe’s cloak around me to cover my shift before walking out of the room. Glancing about, I saw Rafe standing in the front room with a grin on his face as he looked at me. Confused and tired, I asked, “What’s going on?”

Wordlessly, he stepped aside to reveal what the big deal was about.

A forest green tunic was laid out on the coffee table. It was trimmed in a lighter leafy green and hemmed in a lovely dark shade of brown. It was modest in the way that it would cover well, though the shoulders had holes to leave that skin bare. I saw that there were also brown leather boots, a quiver, and a finely crafted yew bow. There were bracers and… a skirt.

Seeing my face, Rafe said, “It’s a miracle that I could convince the forge master to make a woman armor of any kind. You’ll have to forgive the skirt. It’s modest, but you’ll want to find something to wear underneath it.”

The sight was so shocking in itself that I could hardly find anything to say. Hearing him admit that this was his doing, I beamed stupidly at him. “You did this?”

“I figured,” he began, nudging me gently from behind toward the gear, “that if you’re going to be fighting with us �" you might as well look like a fighter.”

Before I thought about going near the armor and archer’s clothes, I turned around and threw my arms around his neck. “You’re incredible, Rafe. Thank you.”I could tell that this show of affection only served to embarrass him because he then gruffly turned me toward the gear. I just smiled and went toward it. While probably silly, I couldn’t help but thinking it was so pretty. I’d never had my own armor before �" not even back home on the island. Turning to him with excitement, I asked, “Can I try it on?” He nodded, shaking his head at my bright-eyed child-like glee. Without another word, I grabbed up all the clothes and ran back to the room.

It took me about fifteen minutes to figure everything out and get it on, but when I went to leave the room, I became nervous and called out to him as I crept slowly into the front room, “Don’t you dare laugh.”

I stepped out into front room to see his back was turned. He was looking out the window as he started to tell me, “I won’t laugh. Though, if you want to wear trousers, I’ve asked the forge master’s wife to… ah, convince him to make you some armor for your lower body that should be ready… by… tonight.” His voice had trailed off as he looked at me. I’d tied my hair up in a ponytail, the curls and waves making it bouncy and girlish. My stubborn bangs covered my left eye, though. I’d brushed them over from the right so they fell more to the left purely because my right eye tended to be the one I aimed with.

Blushing, I lightly flicked the hair out of my face (though it would only fall back). I swallowed and asked softly, “How does it look?”

Rafe’s entire expression was hidden from me, but his eyes were locked on mine in a way that made my skin redden more. Just as suddenly as his face had changed, it morphed again. He was smiling his smile again. That smile with one corner lifted, lips closed, and his eyes were soft. “You look great,” he assured me.

The green did bring out my eyes, and the boots shot clear up to my knee. I could feel the extra padding around my calves built into the boots. I loved them. Biting my lip, I did a little spin and asked again, “Do you mean it?”

His smile grew ever so slightly as he chuckled, “I promise, Rose. Have you ever owned gear or armor before?” I just shook my head, flicking the hair again though it stubbornly stayed in my face. I saw him take notice of this but he didn’t do anything. He stepped toward me and wordlessly tightened the belts a bit, saying, “You want them good and tight. They’ll loosen a bit as you move and exert the body, but that’s okay. This way, they don’t run much risk of coming undone; they just make it easier to breathe.” Pausing, he added, “I meant to help you with the chainmail. Was it terribly difficult?”

“I managed,” I told him. “The men on my island used to ask me to help them with it all the time. I can see why. It took a moment or two, but I got it. I’ve been dressing myself for a long time; women are better at tying stays without looking.”

He grinned, agreeing with a slight nod, “That is true, I suppose.”

“Thank you,” I said softly.

“You earned it, comrade.”

 

It was very dark when we left that night. I wore the skirt instead of the trousers, because it was horrendously hot out as we all moved through the forest and toward the Barrack. There were twenty. The men split into two teams of ten (as was suggested) and then insisted on naming each team. Rafe cleverly nabbed the name, “Raven Eye”. The other team was Red Robin. I had merely looked around at the nineteen men around me… and shook my head.

Rafe, Spike, seven others, and I were a part of Raven Eye. Red Robin was led by John. Erin was along, but had no place of power since his fencing skills would only come into hand if things went south.

As I ran along the closest edge of the Barrack wall, I stopped, hissing, “Wait a minute!” All nine of them stopped immediately to look at me, which surprised me considering I was sure I’d have no authority. Shaking it off, I pulled a small swatch of white cloth from my pocket and handed it to the man who liked to be called Boomer. Confusedly, he stared at me. I explained quickly, “I have to be able to focus on something familiar to set off an explosion. That’s a piece of my favorite dress. I can set that on fire and as long as you attach it to the explosives…”

“You can light this place up,” he finished, grinning broadly. He obviously loved his job… which would have concerned me were it not currently necessary.

I patted his shoulder and took off running again, catching up with Rafe as we all continued. Rafe held up his hand, signaling we stop again as we slowly came up on the south gate. We were just about to round the corner, but he stopped us to peek about the corner. Pressing against the wall, he was quiet a moment before looking at me and whispering, “Can you take out the man standing up on the wall? You’ll have to shoot from the wood line to avoid being spotted. John and his team are expecting us to have this gate open before they come in with the cart of powder. The guards will search it �" they aren’t expecting an order.”

Hefting my bow, I nodded and took off into the wood. It took me five minutes to climb up a tree and take aim. The man kept pacing and I decided to wait a moment before shooting. If I shot him too early, he might fall off the wall and raise the alarm. There was no way to tell that someone else wouldn’t see his body drop though… Helplessly, I took the shot and he collapsed up on the wall.

As I approached the others again, panting softly, I said, “It’s done. What now?”

He placed himself in front of the wall with his back to it, facing me. He cupped his hands low and settled his stance. “I’m going to launch you up onto the wall. I need you to get rid of anyone in sight up top. There’ll be stairs to get off the top wall when you hear me whistle.”

Obviously, they’d planned something without telling me but I could only take it on faith that they knew what they were doing. I nodded, ran at him, jumped, put my foot in his hands, and he launched me up. I landed awkwardly in a roll, scraping my knee a bit. I ignored it though, drawing my bow and searching for anyone who may have spotted me.

There was no one. This both bothered me and relieved my nerves at the same time. This was an entire guard base… Why was no one around? There was only one man on the upper wall. That, however, made no sense. I expected at least ten men, but there was no one. Moving slowly, and trying to keep myself low, I quickly but cautiously moved forward. Glancing around before I did anything, I went about lifting the arrows off of the archer I’d taken down not five minutes ago. Searching him took a few minutes, but he had a set of keys, a bit of gold, a canteen (filled with rum), and a scroll that listed names and set amounts of gold.

I went on carefully scanning the courtyard for anyone who might see me as I slowly went down the stairs. I didn’t wait for Rafe to whistle, hoping to clear out guards that might see the men climbing the gate. We couldn’t open it �" not yet. That would be better done when escaping. Opening the gate meant there was a breach; we wanted to wait until the last possible second to alert anyone to our being here.

Bow and arrow at the ready, I descended the stairs. I was scanning the view in front of me when an arm slammed down over the bend in my elbows, causing me to break grip on my bow and drop the arrow I had. A hand went around my mouth and heavy breathing rasped in my ears.  

Struggling, I tried to flip him like Rafe had showed me, but he was too heavy. He chuckled in my ear as he said huskily, “Let’s see what’s under that skirt, eh?” The phrase pissed me off so much that I somehow summoned the strength to flip him despite the weight. After I’d done that, I brutally kicked him in the head �" and I heard the sickening crack of his neck.

Breathing heavily, I heard Rafe say behind me, “I did say to wait, didn’t I?” I turned, expecting a lecture. He had blood splattered on his shirt and his blade was dripping with the liquid but he looked calm. “Are you alright?” I nodded and he did in return, gesturing I come with him. “Just stick close to me from here on out. Have an arrow ready.” I picked up my bow and knocked an arrow, aimed down as I moved alongside him.

Everything was made of stone. The courtyard was barren save the stable and a couple of carts loaded with various supplies. The walls around it had a gap down each side of the building and we were moving toward the right. Dull and colorless, the yard was actually kind of depressing. I guessed that was the point, though. The teams had apparently been split down even smaller, though I didn’t know why. As we were smuggled into the kitchen by a woman, I whispered to Rafe, “What happened to the other men?”

“We all have our jobs. Ours is to plant the explosive and plant you close enough to set it off without running the risk of getting caught in it ourselves. We only need five men to sneak around,” he told me, doing a quick scan for exits and entry points while the others looked for anyone around. After it was clear, he turned to us and said, “We have an hour before shift changes again. That’s an hour before our escape opening. We have to bluff our way in, get things planted, and blow the center of this place to bits.”

“What about the others?” Another man asked; at least I wasn’t the only one out of the loop.

Rafe calmly told him, “They have their jobs. They’re going to cause a jail break during the shift change �" that’s the only way we’ll get out of here with the lowest chance of losing anyone. We have to have the explosion rigged and ready before that time. We want the explosion to happen at about the same time as the break.”

“That way, the guards won’t know what to do and with the confusion, they’ll have a hard time rounding up intruders or escaped prisoners… They’ll be too busy trying to save the Barrack,” I pieced together out loud.

He nodded. A boy ran up and he crouched so the boy could whisper something. After, the little boy and every servant around started quickly filing into the room. Rafe addressed the five of us, “It’s time to go.”

We followed him and I asked softly as we moved, “What did the boy want?”

While he didn’t grin, I could hear the amusement in his voice as he said, “He asked me to make sure to really f**k over the guards. One of them has been beating his mother recently and he’s a bit angry.”

“Understandably,” I said with a bit of malice.

At one point, we barely stopped in time before being spotted by two men at a four-way cross. Rafe put his arm out to stop us and we all pressed to the wall. After a moment, Rafe poked his head out and whispered to me, “Archer; I could use your skill.”

I merely nodded and took a peek around the corner. They weren’t facing me, but rather walking down the hallway away from us. I knocked a second arrow, pulled back the string, and aimed. Rafe clicked his tongue and I turned my eyes to him so as to not disrupt my aim. He had a hand up, but he was watching the men walk. They rounded the corner and he gestured with his other hand that the men move on. “Hang a right,” he told them. He told me softly, “Follow after we’ve all gone; shoot immediately if they come back around before then.”

Before I could argue, he grinned at me and said, “You’re doing great.” The sudden compliment almost made me blush but I turned my eyes back to the corner at the other end of the corridor. I watched the other three men and Rafe quickly take the first right, and I moved forward to follow, arrows still up to shoot. Only after had I slipped around the corner (walking sideways) completely did I drop my aim, put one arrow back, and take off after the others.

Rafe was waiting for me at the end of the hall, and he urged me ahead of him with a hand on my lower back. “Good job,” he told me.

“Are you always this encouraging?” I asked because I didn’t want the praise if it was just to make me feel better about not being experienced at this.

Seeming to know that, he replied, “Yes, actually, I am. The men respond better to it than gruff indifference.” It was after I stared him hard in the eye for a second that I smiled. He smiled back and we kept going.

The other three men were waiting at the end of that hall, and they looked to Rafe for direction. He immediately took the lead and headed right again. I kept the rear, feeling it better that the one with the ranged weapon be at the back. At one point, Rafe hissed, “Hide; there are ten coming this way. Damn you, hide!”

As Rafe grabbed me (seeing as the other three took up every hiding spot in the immediate vicinity of the hallway), I whispered, “Why not take them out?”

“I’m trying to avoid body counts larger than two. I can hide two bodies with little difficulty. I can’t hide ten.” There was a small alcove where a statue of some soldier stood, and he pulled me in with him. It was a tight fit behind the stone figure, but we managed it. To keep the white of my skin from being visible, we had to squeeze. “Here,” he murmured, pulling me tight against him. I let him, guiltily breathing in the scent of him and absorbing the comfort it gave me. A cold chill caused my entire body to shake. He seemed to think it was from fear, as the men passed us, because he whispered, “You’re alright with me, Rose.”

Instead of making him feel stupid by telling him I was just cold and not scared, I nodded meekly and thanked him in a soft voice. He leaned back, keeping one arm around me (I imagined his way of keeping a feel of comfort), to check to see if it was clear. Seeing it was, he gave a very quick brief whistle and then started helping me wiggle free. He had to go first, being larger, and it’s a good thing he did. I tripped on my own feet and nearly went crashing forward, but he caught me. Steadying me, he grinned, “Careful there.”

Trying not to blush, I said, “I’m okay.” He nodded at me and then we kept moving again. I focused entirely on covering the rear to ignore the heavy ball of dread from not having to hide longer.

My wish for distraction came, because after fifteen or twenty minutes, we came to a load of stairs. Rafe looked to the four of us and said calmly but firmly, “There are doors all the way up. We’re at the base of the tower now. Anyone could pop out at any moment. There is no way to hide or avoid being spotted.” He looked to me. “Rose, I hate to do this �" but I’m counting largely on you to take them out before they get so much as a syllable out of their mouth. Do not hesitate. We can’t afford it now.”

Actually scared now, I nodded but managed not to show the fear or lack of faith in myself. I’d been fighting pirates since I was fourteen. I could do this.

We started up the stairs. The men kept a single file line up the right half, leaving me room to change aim from in front of or behind me. We had hit the eighth landing when a door ahead of us started to open. I immediately opened fire on the man who came out. Three more followed him, and I shot two more, while Rafe (moving so fast I hardly saw him) raced forward and slit the throat of the final man before any of them made a noise. Rafe ignored the fallen men and kept going, even as one of the men asked him a question. “What do we do with the bodies?”

“There’s no time. Our deadline is in twenty minutes and we haven’t even laid the explosives. That set back in the hall cut out five minutes we didn’t have. No more games. Kill anyone in sight. Move: now,” he said, taking on a tone that somehow reminded me of the cold man I remembered as Durza.

As we moved up the stairs, we killed a grand total of fifteen. At the top, Rafe and the others went in the door while I waited for anymore surprise visitors. Ten minutes of noise and struggling went on before Rafe came out and said, “Come in and shut the door.” I did.

There were seven bodies strewn across the floor and I asked, lightly kicking one to make it roll out of my way, “Why are we at the top of the tower?”

“Burning the Barrack from the ground up makes it easier to get a bucket-line going to save it. This way, it’ll burn to the ground,” Rafe explained softly as he sat against the door. “Sit with me while they work, eh? Our part is done for the moment,” he said with obvious exhaustion.

I did sit with him, leaning my head on his shoulder as I relaxed my grip on my bow for the first time in nearly an hour. My fingers felt stiff and sore. He took the hand I was flexing and gently massaged it, saying, “I can’t have you locking up on me now.” His large callused hands were rough and strong, but his fingers were surprisingly tender as they started to knead the sore hand.

 “Thank you,” I answered just above a whisper.

Neither of us really spoke as we sat together and he massaged my hands to relax the pain of prolonged shooting. “Are you ever scared?”

“Not really,” he replied, seeming to know immediately what I meant without asking me.

“How do you do it?”

“Fear is a distraction, I guess. Durza used to ask me if I was scared all the time. If I was, he’d be cruel when we would spar. If I tried to lie, he’d be downright brutal. I guess he beat the fear out of me until I stopped letting it get to me,” he said, still holding my right hand even though he’d long since stopped working out the kinks.

“That’s terrible,” I said, a tad angry.

“Maybe,” he agreed casually. “I don’t have time to be scared, Rose. Every second I spend shaking in my boots is a second I could spend getting things done �" saving the ones I’m scared for.”

“You’re never scared for yourself?”

“I guess not,” he told me, sounding surprised. “I never really worry about whether I die or not. It’s mostly everyone else I worry about.”

We didn’t speak again for a few moments before I whispered, “I worry about you.” He didn’t get a chance to answer.

The other three announced the finished product and I saw the swatch I’d ripped from my dress sitting right on top of the small black pile of powder that was in the center of the room. They’d poured a line of powder to every corner of the room, and then a circle around the middle. I imagined it took three men to carry the powder; I also guessed that having more men to work on it made it go faster.

Rafe and I jumped to our feet. They started for the door but Rafe hung back, looking at me. “Are you sure you can do this?” I stared at the pile in the center of the room without replying. He touched my wrist but I recoiled.

“Get a head start, Rafe.” He tried to argue but I told him, with a tone that left little to no room for argument, “I can do this, but I want you all far ahead of me.” His eyes held mine for a long moment. Then, he barked a couple of orders to the other men and stepped inside with me. “Rafe, I said to go.”

“I will, but let me just say something, okay?” I didn’t reply. “I will come back after you if I don’t see you outside at the check point in fifteen minutes. Do you hear me? You have fifteen minutes before I come to hunt you down. I will scale this entire base, Rose.” Something about the look in his eyes, for once, actually looked scared and that’s when he said it: “I worry about you, too, alright?”Smiling at him serenely, I took a step toward him just as the alarm went up. “The jail break,” he muttered.

I smiled at him anyway, touching his cheek and planting a very soft kiss on his cheek. “Go,” I urged him gently. “I’ll be at the check point. I promise.” He seemed to debate whether or not to believe me but he went. I turned to the pile in the middle of the room and took a deep breath.

“Here we go.” 

Author's Note

- Get replaced with " cause Cafe is lame. -- There. Chapter thirteen. Finally.