5: Tali was pretty sure they were all crazy to agree with her plan. Then again, she did come up with it. Yep, they were all crazy, she decided.
She was stationed outside the cave, while the others hugged the shadows of the cave. They crept to the back of the cave where a small group of Hayden's soldiers sat around a fire. There were three groups: the one Tali's friends were headed toward, Hayden's group of the higher officers near the opening of the cave, and then a large group on Hayden's side of the cave, but behind her group.
Peter, Evanna, Eric, and the three swords masters were supposed to silently take out the solitary group in the back. Thus, the reason they were currently creeping through the cave.
Tali watched her friends take out the group of enemies in complete silence. She was impressed especially by how quiet Altair, Rae, and Yue could be. She knew her Ranger friends would never make a sound.
Then, they all put on the uniforms, dragged the bodies to the side, and took up their places around the fire.
Tali had to wonder how stupid Hayden and her other soldiers must be to miss this whole exchange, but no, the other two groups were wrapped in discussion.
She raised her bow, with an arrow already nocked, drew, and fired. A man sitting in the group behind Hayden's collapsed, an arrow fixed in his side. She had another three other arrows fired before most of the soldiers realized one of their comrades was dead. Then three more keeled over. The soldiers leaped up, and then a few of them collapsed almost instantly as Tali fired three more arrows.
Altair stood and drew his sword. Rae and Yue stood behind him and drew theirs. Then the three Rangers stood, arrows on their bowstrings.
And Altair charged.
In the same second, all four Rangers fired and hit four more soldiers. Altair, Rae and Yue then became a bigger problem, wielding gleaming swords, they drove through the confused and weakened force easily, then swung around to face Hayden's command group, which had also faced heavy casualties from the Ranger's arrows.
Hayden had seen this attack, and how few soldiers remained, and must have realized she was doomed. So, being the kind of person she was, she ran for the exit.
And made her first (and last) mistake. Tali dropped her bow and launched herself on top of the Discordant Harmony leader. They fell, struggling and shrieking.
Evanna heard the sounds of the struggle and ran outside to help Tali. She took out her saxe knife and blindly tried to knock out Hayden. So, she accidently hit Tali.
"Oops." Evanna said, and launched herself at Hayden. This time she was successful in knocking out her enemy. She stood up, sheathed her knife and said, "Well, I've done some good work today."
Tali gave a groan and Evanna amended her statement, "Well not all good work, but work all the same."
Eric came out. He saw Tali and turned to Evanna resignedly.
"Okay, what happened?"
So Evanna told Eric what she had done. Then, they pulled both unconscious forms into Hayden's cave. The only other soldier from Hayden's regime who was alive was her second in command.
Peter was currently leaning over his tied form.
"What is your name?" Peter asked.
The man looked mutinous. Peter pulled out his saxe knife.
"I have no qualms about killing you. So, what is your name?" Peter's voice hardened and he glared at the man.
"Jeffrey Lewis," said the man.
Peter nodded. He sheathed his knife and stood up.
"What do we do with him?" Peter asked his friends.
Tali shrugged and answered, "Bring him with us?"
Evanna grinned. "I've got rope, you know."
The others grimaced, "We know." They all said in unison.
Still smiling, Evanna leaned over and tightened all the ropes, adding some more where needed. When she was finished, she pulled him over to the cave where the group had been in earlier, planning their little raid.
"We can sleep here and leave in the morning," Eric said.
Back in the Cave…
"One evil member of Discordant Harmony down," Evanna said cheerfully.
Altair rolled his eyes, and Rae said, "Technically, it's two, counting Lia and not counting me."
"Ah, whatever," Evanna replied.
"So," Peter broke in, with Hayden draped over his shoulder, "Where do you want her?"
"Well…" Carter said slowly, "I suppose just on the floor beside the table will do."
"Great." Peter walked over and deposited Hayden to the floor.
Tali walked in with Eric and Yue behind her. "Where's the next one?"
Carter opened his mouth to speak, but Altair broke in. "Hold it! I want my weapons back for capturing Hayden!"
There was a pause, and then Carter spoke. "Good point. You all wait here while I go and get it."
Carter vanished into the back of the cave and gave Altair his throwing knife belt and those familiar yet mysterious bombs.
Altair smiled as he received his knife belt and explosives. He attached the belt and tucked the bombs away safely.
"Now, who do we have next?" Altair asked Rae.
Looking slightly anxious, Rae said, "Fa. Otherwise known as Katie."
"Where's her base?" questioned Evanna.
"The very border of Ang and Kagari. She is the closest of all my sisters to the desert. Apparently, she spent a brief amount of time in Ang."
Yue's eyes narrowed. "A brief amount of time in Ang, you say?"
Rae looked puzzled, and she said, "Yes."
Yue frowned but didn't say anything else.
"When should we leave? Right now?" Peter was asking Altair and Rae. "It's quite a ways to the border."
Altair replied, "Let's wait for the morning. Get some rest."
"Sounds good." Eric added.
They all left to eat in the cottage, and then retire early, for a very early morning.
The four Rangers crouched behind the only possible spot of cover, a small hill. They were wearing the lighter desert version of their cloaks, so they were confident they wouldn't be seen.
Yue, who had almost as short a temper as Evanna, and who had been on edge ever since hearing that Fa/Katie was by the desert, hissed, "What's up there?"
Evanna turned around slowly, gave Yue a death glare, then whispered, "Plenty. I'll explain in a moment."
A minute or two later, Evanna, Tali, Peter, and Eric shimmied down to the spot where Yue, Altair, and Rae were waiting.
"Well," Evanna began, "It blends well."
Rae rolled her eyes, and said, "Besides that. Do you have an idea of our plan to attack it? How well defended is it?"
Peter broke in before Evanna this time, "It's pretty solid looking. It looks like it was made of local clay, because it blends in so well with the surrounding sand."
"However," Tali interrupted, "we have no idea how many guards defend the place. And, we should mention, it's disguised as an inn. We saw a few people go inside."
Eric continued, "We're guessing they were thieves."
"How far away is it? How could we attack it?" Altair asked.
"About thirty paces from the top of the hill to the inn, I'm guessing." Tali answered.
"As to how we could attack it, we've come up blank. Charging wouldn't work, because even though we're very close to it, they had to realize this hill would be a problem when they built the inn. I imagine they have sentries posted all the time." Eric added.
Yue chuckled. "Is it not obvious? You have bows, don't you? Use an arrow storm! Then we charge and Rae, Altair, and I teach some thieves about sword fighting."
The Rangers considered this, then Evanna said slowly, "Let's say that works. We don't know what it looks like from the inside though, so what do you do if, say, Katie's not there? Or she's hidden?"
"Somehow," Rae said, "I doubt that. Katie will be there. She likes the desert and enjoys fighting."
"What does she look like? From this distance would we be able to identify Katie?" Eric asked Rae.
"I imagine you would. She has that same very dark hair as the rest. She also braids her hair, and it's very long. If you are unsure, I wouldn't fire the arrow."
"Yes, since we have to take them back alive. If you accidently kill the target, well, that could be a problem." Altair told the Rangers.
"I can imagine." Eric agreed. "But, I don't know how well this arrow storm idea will work."
"Why?" Rae asked.
"Well, it's not set up in a way that we could easily fire. The thieves would need to be drawn out into the open. We can't fire arrows through walls, you know." Eric explained.
They all stood silent for a moment thinking.
Then Altair's head snapped up and he grinned at them before saying, "A disguise!"
There was a pause, and then Tali asked, "Altair, what are you talking about?"
Still smiling, Altair explained further, "Yue and I go inside dressed as thieves to get an idea of what it's like inside and see if Katie is there. Then, we come back here to report what we saw and make a more detailed plan of attack."
Everyone else started smiling and Evanna said happily, "Oh yes, that will be wonderful, Altair. For once, you came up with an excellent plan."
Altair was too busy smiling to notice he had just been insulted.
Yue nodded and agreed with Altair's plan, and so did everyone else.
"How do we make you two look like thieves though?" Rae asked.
"Oh. I didn't think of that." Altair said.
Rae rolled her eyes. "Evanna, what were the thieves you all saw dressed like?"
"Nothing incredibly special." Evanna said. "Let's try this though. Come here, Tali, and help me. Don't fidget Altair. I'll tie you up if you do."
Altair hardly blinked throughout the whole process.
By the time the three women had finished, Altair and Yue looked basically the same. Their clothes were ripped in some places, like they traveled frequently, didn't change clothes, and didn't care about their appearance. Yue's long black hair was drawn back in the way women of the desert generally wear it, in a long braid down their back. When Evanna tried to put a turban on Altair, he glared at her but did not speak. She saw his glare, ignored it, and put on the turban anyway. Their last touch was to display their knives in scabbards around their waists. Evanna felt that this was "extremely important for thieves' survival" in the desert.
So, once they were finished, Altair and Yue set off across the stretch between the hill and the inn.
The inn itself was literally nothing in the middle of nowhere. Which in itself seemed odd, but no one seemed to challenge it. Though it looked in better condition than one might expect. It had a porch with some chairs. A man was sitting leaned back in one of these chairs. He looked unkempt and wore a turban, similar to Altair.
"So." The man began, "Where were you? And why are you back?"
Thinking quickly, Yue replied, "We have been spying."
"On who?" The man seemed genuinely curious.
Smiling, Yue replied, "Kagari's Rangers."
Although Altair tried to hide it, he was surprised Yue used that, of all things, as a cover story.
"And who are you? I don't recall anyone being sent to spy on them little devils, the Rangers." The man added the last part angrily, his eyebrows coming down irritably.
"We are special forces. We must see Katie. May we go in?"
The man smiled at Yue. "Well, alright then. Do some damage in there will ya'? I'm bored out of my turban and I love a good fight."
"All in good time." Yue said grinning.
She and Altair walked inside.
As you might be able to imagine, it was dark. The front room appeared to be a combination of a bar on the right and a receptionist area on the left. Altair supposed they had to keep up their image as an inn.
In the far back, he thought he could make out two hallways, branching left and right.
A smiling man behind the receptionist counter said, "Are you here for a room?"
Altair and Yue both figured there was probably some password to this.
So Altair blurted something out in Ang's language, his native language. In our language, he would have said, "We are here for many things. May we see your manager?"
The man raised his eyebrows and replied in the same tongue. Translation: "Why, of course. Wait, please, Friend of the Desert."
They waited while the man went off down the left hallway.
"Why did he call you, 'friend of the desert'?" Yue asked.
Altair shrugged, and then two men entered.
"Ah hello." Said a tall man behind the receptionist. "I hear you are friends with good news."
"We are." Yue assured him.
"What are your names? Mine is Hashim." The tall man said.
Yue sighed. "What is your rank?"
"Second in command." Hashim told her.
"We really would like to see your ultimate leader." Yue stated. "Now, if that's possible?"
"I am afraid not. You will have to wait for tonight. Dinner at the bar and everyone will be there, including our leader." Hashim explained.
"We will wait." Altair said. He and Yue went to sit in chairs at the bar. Hashim retreated down the hallway. The receptionist went back behind the counter.
"Nice cover story." Altair suddenly muttered to Yue.
Yue shook her head. "I don't know. It could get us into trouble. What if Hashim tells Katie, and she realizes we aren't allies, even if we speak their language. And, I might add, that was an excellent way to win your way over."
Now Altair shrugged. "Sheer luck. A more pressing matter is leaving this place. If that man on the porch sees us leave and go behind the hill, he might get suspicious."
"Maybe we will get lucky again." Yue suggested hopefully.
Altair glanced at her. "Be prepared for the worst."
As it turned out, Hashim hadn't been kidding. Everyone, including the man on the porch was there.
"Luck?" Yue asked Altair.
He shook his head. "If we survive, it will be a miracle."
And, it was less a dinner, more a celebration of some kind. Though what they were celebrating even they didn't seem to know.
It was noisy, the bar was buzzing with people, and it was dark outside. Lanterns were lit all around for light.
Then, they saw her. It was obvious who she was, she was the only other woman in the room besides Yue. Her hair was incredibly long too, just as Rae had said, and went in a braid down to her waist. It was black as the night sky outside, too, but shone in the light. She wore simple desert gear, and it was ripped in some places like Yue's.
She had dark brown eyes, but she seemed happy. It was odd, Altair thought. He was an assassin, not a spy. Being so close to an enemy without trying to kill them seemed strange.
"Yue, I think now we have our answer." Altair said. "Let's head back."
But Yue simply stood, staring at Katie with her mouth open slightly.
"Uh… Yue?" Altair asked. "We need to leave."
"She… is Katie?" Yue asked, in a strange, high voice.
"I assume so." Altair said slowly.
"We need to go."
"No kidding."
"No one is watching the door."
"Just don't run. Running makes it obvious."
"Don't talk to me like I'm three! Now let's go already."
Yue and Altair walked casually to the door. They made it out onto the porch and into the darkness.
They couldn't believe their luck as they climbed over the hill into their friends' campsite. Then they went and woke everyone up. Their reactions were amusing:
"No, five more minutes mom." Eric muttered.
Altair gave him a horrified look. "In what strange, disturbed world am I your mother?"
Eric asked, "Are you my father?"
"NO!" Altair exclaimed, and slapped Eric.
Yue went to wake up Evanna. That almost cost Yue her life; literally.
"Evanna, we're back, get up."
"WHERE ARE THOSE IGNORANT SWORD PEOPLE?" Evanna shouted, leaping up with her knife in hand. Yue slapped her hand over Evanna's mouth. "Shut up!"
Evanna gave her the evil eye, but quieted.
Then Yue went over to Tali.
"Hey Tali, we're back."
"Oh, tell them I said hi…" She rolled over.
Yue sighed. "Tali, Eric is on fire!"
"WHAT?" Tali leapt up.
"He's fine, calm down."
"Oh. Okay then."
By this point, Peter and Rae were already awake. "What happened?" Peter asked Yue and Altair.
They explained, and when they were finished Peter asked, "So how do you think we should attack it?"
"First, you all need to know something." Yue said quietly. "I know Katie. She lived in the desert a while, and… we were friends."