Sarah's face still stung where the prince-napper had hit her. She could feel the bruise beginning to form underneath her skin and felt sure it would be a purple mess in a day or two. Her wrists hurt from where she'd been bound to the tree. The corners of her mouth were almost healed now from the gag that had been tied too tight for hours.
The physical pain was easy to ignore compared to the confusion she felt about her last moments with Chuck. The words he'd spoken right before she'd felt the knife against her throat were playing over and over in Sarah's mind. He'd said he was going to answer her questions and then he'd mentioned something about the military training yard and the view from his tower. Sarah had wished now that she'd paid more attention, but he'd been so close and her mind had been somehow both blank and whirling at the same time. Sarah felt sure if they hadn't been interrupted that Chuck had been about to kiss her! Which was insane enough on its own, but then he had to go and give himself up to protect her.
She was just a soldier, sworn to protect him, sworn to protect his family. Who was he to give himself up to save her!? By all rights she should be dead and he should be back home with his family where he belonged.
Instead she was trekking through unfamiliar terrain, trying her best to find and rescue Chuck, which was turning out to be quite a difficult task. She had hoped at the beginning that they'd find him quickly, but as the hours passed and the sun moved in the sky, her hope diminished. Whoever had him knew how to cover their tracks. Just when she thought she had the trail she'd lose it again. Yesterday afternoon, she'd realised they'd been following a false trail for hours. She'd been so mad at herself, she'd welcomed the bandit attack that evening as a way to vent her frustration.
Morgan never knew how to act when they were attacked, and Casey seemed to always jump to his rescue, leaving Sarah to fend for herself. This she could do easily but even so, it bothered her. Why had the tiny bearded man come anyway?
Sarah could hear Casey and Morgan following behind her as she led the way. Despite his many failures, Sarah had to give Morgan credit that he was keeping up with them. Sure he sometimes complained about his feet, but he was just saying what they were all thinking. Everyone was tired, hungry and so ready to be back home, but they had a mission and they weren't going to stop until they'd achieved it.
"See there!" Sarah said suddenly pointing. The turrets of a castle were just visible in the distance, their silhouette in sharp relief in the low evening light.
"Alright we rest here tonight then," Casey said. "Come up with a plan and tomorrow we either get our prince back or die trying." He then turned to Morgan. "You will wait here. If Sarah and I don't come back it will be up to you to get help."
Morgan looked greatly concerned by the prospect, but nodded his agreement. "Make sure you come back," he said.
"That's the plan," Casey agreed. "But plans don't always work out."
"Speaking of plans," Sarah began. "We need intel if we are going to get Chuck out."
"Agreed," Casey said.
"I can go," Sarah said. "Scout the area and be back before sunrise."
"No," Casey said. "You're injured. I'll go while you two rest and make camp."
Sarah felt a little put down, but she had to admit a part of her was relieved. She was bone tired. Making camp did seem like the easier of the two tasks. Morgan said he'd go forage for dinner. Sarah set out to find and kill a rabbit or something similar. They were to meet back here in a few hours. Casey set out in the direction of the castle hoping to reach it by nightfall and use the cover of darkness to scout the area.
Setting off in the exact opposite direction as Morgan, so his bumbling footfalls wouldn't scare away the game, Sarah kept her eyes peeled for movement in the under bush.
Sarah was so glad she thought to attach her sword belt to her hip before they fled the castle. Her knife was good enough to hunt, but when they went to rescue the prince she would want her own weapon. Using a borrowed one had never suited her. She needed to know the blade in her hand in order to trust in it.
A part of her was surprised Chuck's kidnapper had let her keep her sword. She supposed her thin rapier blade didn't look all that impressive. Maybe he'd missed it? Either way she was glad to have it. The weight on her hip was reassuring.
She pulled her wandering mind back to the task at hand while her eyes scoured the ground for signs of movement. She spotted a rabbit, but it ran so fast she gave up on it. Next there was some type of ground bird. It moved slower and seemed distracted by whatever it was eating. Sarah threw her knife and hit it. She collected her kill and headed back to camp.
When she got back to their meeting place, Morgan was already there. He had managed to find some roots and greens. Sarah sent him for firewood before she started work on cleaning her kill. Morgan returned before she had all the feathers plucked.
By the time Casey returned, dinner was a bird stew cooking over a small fire. Casey sat down around the fire and helped himself before speaking.
"So there are two guards covering the main door," Casey began. He picked up a stick and started drawing lines in the dirt to show what he meant. "But no guards around the outer wall."
"Only one entrance?" Sarah asked.
"I doubt that," Casey replied. "Even if it's just a sewer, there is almost always another way in."
"Did you find sewer access into the castle?" Sarah asked.
"No," Casey replied. "But there were a couple guards covering what looked like a hole in the ground about a quarter mile or so north of the castle."
"When you say hole in the ground you mean…" Morgan began, his question heavily implied.
"I mean two guards were standing around guarding some kind of entrance to an underground area. It was too dark for me to see what it was exactly. My guess is a trapped door. I think it's our way in."
"Or an ambush," Morgan offered.
"Always a possibility. I wasn't able to actually go down there to look. I'd have had to take out the guards which would've raised an alarm."
"So why do you think that's our way in?" Sarah asked.
"I overheard the guards talking," Casey explained. "It sounds like there are quite a few people being held somewhere nearby and it was their job to prevent escapes. Which sounds like-"
"Where are they holding Chuck," Sarah finished his thought for him. "So what's your plan? We take out the guards and just go in and hope for the best?"
"Kinda, yeah," Casey replied.
"Oh great plan," Sarah said sarcastically.
"Do you have a better one?" the Colonel snapped back.
Sarah didn't say anything. She didn't have a better plan but that didn't mean she liked his plan either.
"Did you find out anything else about the guy who took Chuck?" Morgan asked.
"The guards I heard just called him the boss," Casey replied.
"That isn't reassuring," Morgan commented.
"This is the only plan we've got, so either we try it or we head back now and give up saving Chuck," Casey summed up their situation.
"We can't give up!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Well then-" Casey began but Morgan cut him off.
"Going back isn't giving up," Morgan interrupted. "We would just be going back home to tell the King where Chuck is so he can mount a proper rescue party. Or don't you remember that when we left the castle there were a dozen of us? And we had tracking dogs."
"And whose fault is it we kept going huh?" Casey snapped. "If you hadn't been so determined to stay we'd have both gone back with Shaw."
"And I'd still be tied to a tree," Sarah sided with Morgan. If it was indeed Morgan who had kept Casey moving then she owed the little bearded man more than she'd realised.
"Before, going back meant giving up," Morgan said. "But now we know where Chuck is, we just need more manpower to get him out."
"He has a point," Casey said with a sign. "This was originally a find and rescue lost in the woods type mission, not infiltrating a castle."
Sarah took a deep breath. Yes, she hated Casey's plan and yes they only had two fighters on their team, but they had come this far and she would be damned if she went back now!
"I think we just need to improve on your plan slightly," Sarah began. "We need to focus on stealth. Maybe come up with some camouflage and wait till the cover of darkness. We take out the guards silently and go in. At the first sign of trouble, we head back and return to the King."
Casey was nodding as she spoke. When she was done he added. "It is also possible that this guy uses secrecy to keep his castle safe. This place wasn't easy to find."
"That would explain the lack of guards around the walls," Sarah said.
"Exactly," Casey agreed. "And it might be the same inside, minimal guards."
She couldn't help remembering when she and Chuck had been last sneaking around a castle. There had been few guards then as well. Maybe that was just how this guy operated?
"I don't know," Morgan added. "Something about this feels off to me."
"I say we try it," Casey put in his vote.
"Same," Sarah agreed.
"So I guess my vote for going back to get reinforcements doesn't really count here, huh?" Morgan sighed.
"You are staying with the camp anyway," the colonel reminded him.
"Yes, but if you are both captured, I doubt I'll make it home," Morgan stated. "Which means Chuck's location will stay a secret, and if we fail, there is no second chance."
"If we are right about this minimal guards thing it might just take one of us to get Chuck," Sarah offered. "But if we are wrong two fighters instead of one will still mean defeat."
"Oh I see what you are getting at," Casey said. "One of us goes and one of us returns with Morgan."
"Exactly!" Sarah exclaimed.
"I'll go," Both she and Casey said together.
They both looked at Morgan. "I refuse to be the deciding vote here," Morgan said firmly.
"Oh come on," Sarah argued. "It should be easy, just pick."
Morgan gave her a look like she was mad then pointed at Casey to begin explaining his point. "If you die, Alex will be heartbroken," Morgan stated. Sarah was about to open her mouth to add that makes her the easy choice when Morgan turned to point at her next, "but if you die, Chuck will be devastated. Either way, I lose." He let out a deep sigh. "I still think we should head back. This could easily be a trap. We need help. If this boss guy has gone to this much trouble to capture Chuck alive, then he clearly values the prince as his prisoner. We have time to mount a proper rescue."
"But-" Sarah began.
"No, the bearded one is right," Casey admitted, though very begrudgingly. "We head back to Moria at first light."
"We can't just give up!" Sarah exclaimed. She was furious. "We are so close."
"It isn't giving up," the colonel replied firmly. "It's the best strategic move. I can't believe it took Morgan to make me realise it, but here we are. It's the only logical option given the circumstances."
"I will choose to take that as a compliment," Morgan pitched in. Sarah ignored him.
She was looking at her allies, but all she saw was red. More than anything she wanted to punch something. She couldn't remember ever being more furious in her life. How dare they turn back now! How dare they abandon Chuck, but she could see it in Casey's eyes. His decision was final and disobeying meant a court martial. He was her commanding officer and this was more than a little joke about disobeying him. If she didn't follow him now, there would be real consequences.
And yet at that moment Sarah couldn't bring herself to care.
She nodded her agreement and everyone settled in to sleep until dawn. Sarah waited until she knew both men were fast asleep, before getting up gathering her weapons and sneaking away from camp.
The ground entrance was the key. It just had to be. She could sneak in and out without that many guards around and Chuck would be safe again in no time.
Taking out the two guards on the door was easy. She managed it silently, before turning to the door. It wasn't locked. Sarah opened it equally quietly and slowly moved inside.
For a moment she saw nothing but darkness, then her eyes adapted. So far so good. She was looking down a long corridor. Moving slowly so as not to make any noise, Sarah crept forward.
The seconds ticked by as she moved in total silence.
Suddenly the door behind her slammed shut and a dozen guards appeared as if from nowhere. Sarah barely had a second to react.
As she was trying and failing to fight her way back to the door and out of this place, Sarah realised why this place had been so easy to break into. It was like a fly trap, built to enter, but never to escape from.
As my edited says 'Another cliffhanger!' Tehe sorry not sorry. I LOVE cliffhangers. ^_^
Yikes my last updates for this was like 2.5 months ago. Sorry guys. The baby got colic and we weren't getting more than an hour of sleep at a stretch there for a while. But things are looking up now. We have lactose free formula for mister sensitive tummy and sleep is just kinda bad rather than totally non-existent.
I've actually had this chapter almost done for about two and months. I just couldn't figure out how to get the ending to work until today. Hope you like it. :)