Chapter Fifty Two

And Into the Fire

ELSA

Everything was burning. Her arms screamed for rest, and her legs were quivering with exhaustion. Her fingers and toes were numb. Holding on for dear life, Elsa tried her best not to look down. She knew that a couple of guards were directly underneath her on the ice, oblivious to the Empire's public enemy number one dangling right above them. Instead, she lowered her chin to see how far she'd progressed.

It felt like she'd been at it for hours, and she was only three quarters way through. An involuntary exhale of dismay escaped her lungs, her fingers and toes desperately struggling to hold her in place between the wooden planks. This is a horrible plan, Elsa grated as she willed herself to continue pushing herself towards the end of the bridge. Why couldn't Janus have come up with a better way to infiltrate the castle? Surely there had to be an easier way than clinging for dear life to the underside of a bridge.

Grunting as softly as she could, Elsa stretched out one hand and grabbed the gap between the next two wooden planks. As she firmly took hold, she let her other hand quickly find its mark on the next wooden plank. She felt like a lizard.

Then came the most difficult part again. With all her willpower, she allowed her feet to let go of the gap they'd been wedged in, and tightened her core to push her legs up. Her toes scrambled for purchase between the planks, and she managed to jam them in the new gap. To her chagrin her toes slammed against the wooden plank at an awkward angle and the nail of her big toe chipped off. Wincing in pain, she tried not to make a sound as the sharp pain shot through her toe and up her foot.

She did her best to ignore the pain and scrabbled with her fingers to find the next handhold, her arms begging for her to just let go and let them rest. Elsa's feet found the new foothold, and she pulled herself forward again. One at a time, one at a time.

The sound of footfalls approached and Elsa froze, clinging tightly to the planks for all she was worth. Every inch of her body felt like it was quivering with exhaustion, her fingers and toes aching and pale from constantly gripping the wooden planks for God knew how long. She was sure her face was red, and small beads of sweat were rolling down her cheeks in spite of the night's chill.

The clomping of boots grew closer still, and began clattering over the wooden drawbridge. Holding her breath, she could hear the Blitzguard soldiers talking and laughing as they crossed the bridge. The footfalls were louder now.

Suddenly, the heel of a boot crunched into Elsa's toes and she let out an involuntary squeak of agony, her left foot losing its grip and slipping through the gap. On pure instinct alone, her fingers tightened and the muscles in her arms tensed. She dangled precariously, legs flailing and her fingers literally holding on for dear life.

"You hear something?" One of the soldiers above her said in Exonite.

"Must be the planks," Someone jammed their boot hard against the wood maliciously. "Damn drawbridge. The cabinet has been promising a new bridge since Emrau knows when."

The clomping of boots began to fade, and just in time too, for Elsa's strength was beginning to fail her. Her body shook, and her arms felt like they were about to be hauled out of their sockets. Her shoulders burned with the effort to keep herself suspended between the bridge and the seventy foot drop. Against her better instincts, she looked down at her feet. Her left toenail was bloodied.

"Shit," She muttered under her breath and tried to wriggle her toes to get the blood flowing again. The effort hurt. Looking up, she saw that she just had a couple more planks to go before she reached the end of the bridge and would be able to put her feet back on solid ground - a small pipe wrapping round a foundation pillar. The pipe ran along the pillar and extended to the wall of an unguarded balcony, rusted and abandoned. A door stood there, her rendezvous point. All she had to do was endure these last few excruciating movements to get there.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa tried to pull her legs up to wedge her toes between the next two planks, but her core failed her. She realised she didn't have the strength left. So all she could do now was dangle. Swearing under her breath, she looked over her shoulder. Now that the lower half of her body had given out on her, she was facing the wrong way. The back of her head faced the end of the bridge, so she was going to need to swing herself the other way to reorientate herself.

But would her arms allow her? She decided that the longer she held herself in suspension, the less likely her arms would be able to take the brunt of what she was going to do next. With all her might and resolve, Elsa let one hand fall away from the gap and rotated her body to face the right way. Grabbing hold of the plank again with both hands, she faced the end of the bridge. It was so close. Just a little further.

Exhaling, she let one hand go and swung herself forward. Her fingers found purchase between the next two planks. Before she could give herself more time to think, she swung her other hand forward again, gripping solid wood. Just then, a rather strong draught of chilly wind blew against her side, trying to sweep her off the bridge like a whirlwind would do to a farm animal. Her legs swayed in the direction of the wind, but she held on. Her fingers threatened to give out, but she ignored them and pushed on again. She let her legs swing back and forth to give herself momentum, propelling herself forward and not giving herself time to stop.

The end of the bridge was approaching fast. Almost there, she clenched her jaw as sweat poured down her cheeks and her arms of lead screamed for mercy. Her fingers were completely white by now, but she willed herself forward again. Let go of one arm, catch hold of the gap, hold tight, let go of the other arm, swing forward. She repeated it over and over in her mind as her body did the work, and stopped at the end of the bridge. The pipe wrapped around the pillar was slightly out of her reach, but not if she jumped. She could not afford to miss this one.

Letting her legs sway back and forward, she built up enough momentum to make the leap and at the right second, she let go of the wooden planks. Free-falling, she extended her arms and hit the pillar. Instantly, she wrapped her arms and legs around it and allowed herself to slide down so that her feet could touch the pipe's narrow ledge. Holding the pillar tightly, she inched round it as nimbly as she could master, her feet using the narrow ledge as sure footing. Reaching the other side of the pillar, the unguarded balcony was an arm's length away.

Unwrapping herself from the pillar, she inhaled deeply and jumped. She cleared the railing and fell safely on the metal floor of the balcony. The noise was lost in a howling gust of wind, masking her presence from whatever Blitzguard patrolled above her. Air rushed out of her lungs and she felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders - both metaphorically and physically. Sitting up, she groaned softly under her breath. Her arms and legs burned unbearably, but it felt good to be back on solid ground again.

The balcony was in a blind spot, so she was safe here. All she had to do was wait and recover, giving herself time to let her arms and legs recuperate from the enormous strain. Sitting up against the wall, Elsa drew her feet in to strap on her sandals. She nursed her broken toenail and saw that it was still bleeding. Grimacing, Elsa pressed her grey sleeve against her big toe to dab away the blood. She would just have to power on through and ignore the pain for now, hoping her sorcery would help her heal fast.

A clicking sound came from behind her and she scrambled up, pressing herself against the wall in anticipation and raising both fists though her arms protested against her. Was it an enemy? Had someone found her? The door clicked again and opened. A masked and hooded Janus peeked out, decked out in full mercenary gear.

"Oh," Elsa deflated considerably, dropping her fists. She doubled over and supported her hands on her knees. "It's you."

"Who else?" Janus noticed her bleeding toe. "What happened?"

"Horrible planning," She half joked, her tone dry. "Next time, I'll take my chances wandering through the castle. You can climb the bridge."

"Sorry." Janus stared at her foot sympathetically. "Does it hurt?"

"I'll survive," Elsa stepped through the door into the darkness. "We should move."

Janus closed the door behind them and off they went into the lion's den.

JANUS

When Elsa wasn't noticing, he sneaked another sidelong glance at her, though it wasn't exactly easy to do in his mask. He'd gotten so used to not wearing it as of late that it felt strange putting the mask and hood back on. Which was a little surprising, considering that he'd spent the better part of the last few years behind the mask and hood as Bruvesqk's best mercenary.

He felt horrible that she'd had to put herself through hell getting across the bridge and to the rendezvous point. And of course there was the fact that she'd sustained an injury on her foot. He wished he could have been the one to take the harder route so she wouldn't have to, but he had the advantage of experience. He knew these grounds better than she did.

Still, in spite of whatever hell she'd faced out there just to get to the rendezvous point, she was downplaying it really well. She'd brushed off his concerns about her injury and whether she was ready to continue, and she seemed to possess a fresh iron willed determinism to finish the mission and retrieve the evidence the Equalitar required to carry out their plans for revolution.

Side by side, the duo crept up from the basement tunnels the servants used to the ground level of the castle. The entire place was dark, as everyone had turned in for the night. There were no signs of life, apart from the occasional footfalls of the soldiers patrolling the interior of the castle. From what he could tell, the emperor had this entire place locked down tight. Soldiers watching every corner, leaving very few blind spots for a potential intruder to hide. It was even more secure than the last time he'd been here.

The various wings and blocks of the castle were connected by long corridors that spanned at least fifty yards or more, fully carpeted with large panelled glass windows that allowed the moonlight to filter in. These corridors overlooked a frozen moat which joined up to the river Elsa had crossed earlier. Lamps were spaced out in holders on the walls, but they were unlit since no one was going to use these corridors at this hour - except for the two intruders of course. Endless portraits of nobles and monarchs from generations past hung on the walls of these corridors, stretching out for what felt like an eternity.

Before he even heard the footsteps, Janus felt his instincts prick up like an animal's. A second later, he heard foreign movement. "Down," He hissed, grabbing Elsa and dragging her behind a large table which had panels of solid wood for legs that completely obscured them from sight. They crouched just in time, for a pair of Blitzguard soldiers turned the corner and began patrolling down the corridor Elsa and Janus hadn't managed to cross.

Pressed together intimately together for lack of space, Elsa's eyes were less than a hand's span from his face and he could feel her rapid breathing against his mask. Elsa looked at him and he nodded back grimly. She knew as well as he did that it was just a matter of seconds. The moment the two soldiers passed by the table, they would see the two intruders from the periphery of their vision.

Gesturing to her to not use her sorcery, he drew a small dagger from a holster and hefted it. He would have to move faster than usual before either or both hostiles could make a sound or fire their rifles. These men were too well trained to be given any time to react. He couldn't give them any chance, apart from a quick death. Straining his ears, he could hear his own quiet breathing as well as Elsa's, but more importantly he could hear the footfalls growing louder. The two soldiers were approaching, five paces out. Four. Three. Two.

Janus rolled sideways from where he was hiding with Elsa, and hurled the dagger end over end at the soldier furthest from him. The blade sunk into the man's heart at the same time Janus collided with the soldier closer to him, pulling the rifle up and slamming the long end of the barrel against the man's nose. Before the stabbed soldier could keel backwards, Janus yanked the blade out of his heart in one swift motion and rammed it straight through the stunned man's heart as well. Both fell backwards, dead before they could hit the carpet silently. Janus retrieved his dagger and wiped it on the sleeve of one of the soldier's white uniform.

Emerging from her hiding spot, Elsa looked disapprovingly at him as he sheathed his dagger again and began dragging one of the bodies to the hiding spot behind the table. Thankfully, she didn't say anything, but helped to drag the other dead soldier as well. Depositing both soldiers in the blind spot, Janus and Elsa met each other's eyes. Janus knew she still didn't approve of his more violent methods, but well, this was war and they were stuck in the enemy's goddamn stronghold. Silently, he beckoned to her to follow as they continued walking down the corridor briskly.

"Someone's going to find their bodies sooner or later," Elsa whispered as they half-jogged side by side.

"Then we better hurry before we bring the entire goddamn Blitzguard on top of us." He whispered back. It was bad enough to have to deal with the emperor's elite guard. He just hoped that the Mage Slayers wouldn't sense their presence here, for if the Crimson Order showed up, the two of them were well and truly screwed.

They finally arrived at the administration block, only to find it more heavily guarded. It made sense, since this was a place that a potential enemy of the Empire might strike at. Whoever had doubled security here was paranoid, but justified in his precautions.

The entire first level was patrolled by pairs of Blitzguard soldiers, covering all the potential hiding spots and checking the desks and booths to ensure that no intruder or thief was hiding anywhere. The second level looked a little less tight, with only one soldier stationed at each of the three sides overlooking the floor. The third level was even more lax, with only two soldiers at the balconies.

"How the hell are we going to get through all these guys?" Elsa muttered as they crouched behind the safety of the entrance's large pillar.

Janus unslung his bow from his back and nocked an arrow. "Get ready to move."

She nodded.

He aimed at the farthest soldier on the third level, sighted for a brief moment, then loosed. Before the arrow struck the first soldier, he was already nocking the second and shot it at the other soldier. Both went down quietly, and Janus set to work on the three soldiers stationed on the second level. He quickly made short work of them, and then drew one more arrow, a specific one this time.

Janus aimed at the ceiling of the third level and fired. The arrow soared and its grapnel anchored into stone. From where he was, Janus heard his arrow make an almost imperceptible noise, but he doubted the soldiers would be able to pick it up. Breath held, he froze. The soldiers went on with their constant circling, oblivious to the sound.

Good. He gave the cable attached to the arrow a tug. It was securely anchored into the ceiling, and would hold their combined weight. "Hold on." he was about to say, but Elsa had already wrapped her arms around him. Apparently she didn't need to wait for an invitation. An involuntary grin formed on his face, though Elsa couldn't see it behind his mask.

Jerking on the cable, the pulley system was activated. The cable began to retract, and the two of them were pulled into the air over the soldiers' heads. With the sentries on the second and third levels taken out, no one spotted the two intruders ascending to the third level silently. Once at the third level and with their feet safely on solid ground, Janus carefully wrenched the grappling arrow free from where it'd been embedded in the ceiling, and stuffed it back into his quiver, slinging the bow across his back as well.

"Are we close?" Elsa asked as they continued deeper into the administration block.

"We should be," Janus said as they turned the corner, and bumped straight into someone.

Elsa's blood froze in her veins and her chest tightened, heart skipping a beat. But Janus reacted far quicker than she did.

He clasped a gloved hand tightly over the mouth of the shocked figure, and wrestled him into the shadows. Anxiously, Elsa followed him. When she got a good look at who it was that Janus had caught, she deflated with a relieved sigh.

ANNA

Crossing the snow-covered field in the middle of night was harder than it sounded. The nine of them crept, crawled and slowly inched their way across the cold plain towards Fort Steinfall which loomed tall and ominous above them. The ditches, glacis, ravelins and tenailles slowed them down immensely, and halfway through Anna was beginning to wonder if her plan really was all that feasible. It really didn't help that snow began to fall when they were about halfway across the plains, making their attempt all the harder. On the bright side, in such heavy snowfall, the soldiers on guard duty would likely be lounging in the warmth of the snipers' towers and not looking out for nine enemies crawling across the field. She didn't know how long they took to make it to the other side, but eventually they arrived at the foot of the towering bastion walls.

"Walls are clear." Hansel reported, nodding towards the sky.

"Lazy bastards. They'll never know what hit 'em," Horatio checked the pistol on his hip.

"Everyone ready to breach?" Honeymaren asked.

The rest nodded. Anna felt her heart beginning to race. She just hoped that whatever physical symptoms that had been plaguing her recently wouldn't manifest themselves. They needed to finish the mission quickly if there was to be any chance at capturing Steinfall.

"Piece of cake," Vonco smiled confidently. "Who wants to go up first?"

Gretel gestured at herself and her brother. "Take us up."

"Alright. Hang on tight and don't let go," Vonco proffered both hands to the Witch Hunters who took them. Then, the teenage sorcerer melted away into the darkness with both the siblings. It was as though they were never there. But Anna knew how Vonco operated. Her eyes followed a trail of darkness sliding up the side of the bastion wall, all the way up to the top where the trail disappeared past the parapet. And then she waited with the rest at the bottom of the wall, anxiously shifting from foot to foot.

Kristoff was right. This is madness, she grimaced. The nine of them were attempting what the entire Coalition had failed to do. Could they really lay siege to Fort Steinfall tonight? Maybe the miserable snow was dampening her mood, or she was now seeing firsthand how risky this entire mission was. No, can't afford to get cold feet now.