Rodney dismissed the four of them from his tent, Strider pausing only long enough to grab her knives from the Battlemaster's desk with her still bound hands. She followed the Rangers and Fell from the tent and to their campsite at the edge of the encampment. Her leader fell back to walk alongside her, letting the Rangers lead the way.
"Did you have to bully the sentry?" Fell asked.
"Yes," Strider said without a second of hesitation. "I probably didn't have to enjoy it." Fell gave her a pained look before gesturing for her to stop walking. He pulled a knife from his belt and cut the bonds from Strider's wrists, careful not to cut her.
"Rodney doesn't seem to trust us at all," Fell said, lowering his voice so Halt and Gilan didn't overhear. "I was hoping when you arrived you might be able to change that."
"A gross miscalculation on your part," Strider said dryly, turning to follow the Rangers.
"Clearly," Fell muttered to himself.
Strider buckled her knives back on as they walked, struggling a bit with the buckles. Her hand was still heavily wrapped in bandages, making her fingers slow and clumsy.
"Gilan will ride for Redmont." Halt said as they joined the Rangers at the circle of tents.
"You'll have to be careful," Strider said. "The Cult are scattered among the woods, and are watching a lot of the main trails."
"It's better you take your time and avoid being noticed at all," Halt added. "If they notice a Ranger heading to the castle they may get spooked and change their mind about the attack."
"Wouldn't it be best if they called off the attack?" Gilan wondered aloud, but Halt was already shaking his grizzled head.
"We have a chance to turn this fight in our favor," the older Ranger pointed out. "If they call it off and regroup, we'll still have to face them eventually, only next time we may not have the advantages we have right now."
"Fair enough. I'll set out now, and I'll be back within a few hours," Gilan said.
"Godspeed," Fell said, and Halt clapped him on the shoulder.
"Good luck, Gilan, and stick to the north if you can, there were fewer of them up that way," Strider said.
The young Ranger nodded before setting off to reclaim Blaze and set out for the castle. Strider noticed how Halt's eyes followed him as he left, and she felt a pang of sympathy. It was hard to watch those you cared about ride off into danger.
"We should leave soon," Fell said as he peered up at the angle of the sun. "The sooner we get started, the better."
Although Halt had fought with the Shadows on a number of occasions it had always been on the Ranger's terms. He devised a plan, and they would follow his lead as it was carried out. Today would be different, and Halt would follow Fell's lead for once. The Shadows had more experience fighting the Cult than anyone else, and the Ranger would be a fool not to rely on their expertise.
"Well," the Ranger asked. "What're we waiting for?"
They rode the first leg of the journey, setting out along the bank of the Tarbus and moving downriver before turning into the trees and looping around the encampment. They headed towards Redmont castle, Halt leading the way along seldom traveled hunting paths. The Ranger knew the woods better than anyone and led them to a secluded stand of trees where they dismounted and left their horses before moving forward on foot.
Before setting out Halt had shown Strider a map of the woods and had her point out where she believed she had spotted members of the Cult on her way to the encampment. Working from memory, the Ranger guided them through the trees, pausing often to listen to any sounds which might be out of place. It didn't take long before they spotted the first party, a group of three men who were resting in the shade by a narrow stream.
They watched the men for several minutes, but they only continued to talk quietly, their conversation broken by the occasional burst of laughter. Halt didn't spot any scouts or guards but could see where they had tethered two horses to a tree several yards back where they could graze and drink from the stream. The Ranger waited a few more minutes, then signaled Fell and Strider to fall back where they could go over the plan one more time. As he had done before, Halt nodded to Fell to take the lead.
"We take the horses," he said immediately.
"The horses?" Halt asked, raising a brow at Fell.
"It's going to be a lot easier to convince them to follow us than the men," Fell said. Beside him, his Deputy began to laugh, then quickly cleared her throat to cover the sound. Fell gave her a withering look before he sighed and continued. "We'll start with the horses. Right now, we just want to slow them down. We need to make it look like an accident, like the horses weren't tethered tightly and just wandered off."
Halt had to admit he had been expecting a more aggressive plan of attack, but he couldn't fault the effectiveness of Fell's suggestion. Taking a few horses might seem inconsequential, but the Cult soldiers would eventually notice they were gone and would have to go looking for them eventually. The time they spent looking would hamper their ability to prepare for the attack and cause them to take longer than expected. If the three of them continued to move through the woods causing delays here and there, Halt knew they could potentially delay the attack significantly.
"I'll get the horses," Strider offered.
Fell opened his mouth to protest but Strider held up a hand to stop him. It was her bandaged hand, and she waggled her fingers at him for effect. "I'll lead the horses off. You can watch my back since you have two good hands."
"Fine," Fell said. He didn't like the idea of putting Strider in a dangerous position, but she had a valid point. They were accustomed to working in pairs, with one person focusing on wreaking havoc while the other was on stand by, prepared to intervene if things didn't go as planned. "Make sure you wait for the signal. If they spot you, I'll cause a distraction to draw their attention. If that happens forget the horses and get out, we don't how far away reinforcements might be for this group."
Strider nodded and gestured to Halt. "What about Halt?"
Fell looked to the Ranger, who had unslung his bow and was waiting expectantly. "Find a place where you can see the men and myself. This should be a quick hit and run, but things could still go south."
"And if that happens?"
Fell smiled at the Ranger. "Pretend they're me and put arrows through them."
Halt moved into the trees with his bow at the ready, a black shafted arrow nocked securely to the string. He had followed Fell's instructions and found a place in the shadow of the forest where he could observe the men lounging by the stream without being spotted. Several yards ahead of him, Fell was crouched in the undergrowth, his cowl pulled up over his head to make him less visible. Strider had slowly worked her way through the trees until she was behind the horses. From Halt's position he could see there was a good amount of distance between the men and their horses, and he was certain Strider would be able to lead the horses away without alerting the men.
Fell was close enough to hear the conversation of the men as he spoke, and he listened carefully to the cadence of their voices. Once he was sure they were occupied with each other, he signaled to Strider, who nodded and went to work. At first, nothing happened, then Strider moved out of Halt's line of sight, and a few moments later Halt saw the hindquarters of one of the mounts begin to retreat from view. Halt gauged the distance between himself and the men seated by the river. He could see each of them clearly, and knew if he needed to, he could sight draw and release within the space of a few seconds to take down all three of them. He watched them closely, tensed to react if he had to, but the men only continued talking.
A few moments later and the horses were gone, the men were none the wiser. Fell waited another minute for good measure before signaling to Halt. The Ranger ghosted from his position in the trees and circled back to where Strider was waiting with the stolen horses. She smiled as Halt and Fell joined her and gave the bay beside her an affectionate pat on the neck.
"Now what?" Strider asked, looking to Fell and Halt. "We're too far away to lead the horses all the way back to the encampment."
"We can strip them and cut them loose," Halt suggested. "That way if the Cult do happen to find them, they won't be able to use them for the attack."
"Good idea," Fell said. The three of them quickly unsaddled the horses and removed their bridles. They stowed the gear under a thicket where they were unlikely to be found. Halt then clapped each horse lightly on the flank to send them trotting off into the trees.
"Nicely done," Fell said. "Now let's go do it a dozen more times and hope we don't get caught."
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