Yorick hissed just loud enough to catch everyone's attention, then held up two fingers to indicate the number of guards at the gate. Grielle motioned for them to lean in close to her as Yorick jogged back to join the group.

"The gate is shut and there isn't any way we can get those massive doors open without making a great deal of noise," Grielle said. She looked to Yorick.

"There are two armed guards at the gate, but there are likely more in the guardhouse. That'll have doors we can pass through to get out of the city," Yorick said.

"Any archers?" Grielle asked.

"Four on the parapet, but there's a ladder."

Benedikt watched Grielle as she pressed her lips together, eyes closed in thought. Then she opened them.

"Okay." She smiled with a twinkle of pleasure in her eyes. "Here's how we do this. Ludvig will take out the two on the ground from the adjacent roof. Then, Reyn will take out the archers, and Moose and Berne will take the guardhouse."

She turned on Benedikt and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "We're using igniting knockout powder." She held up a small sphere wrapped in flash paper. "It's Yorick's recipe. Throw them at the ground and they release a smoke that'll put someone to sleep for hours. Ludvig has some arrows tipped with it. When he knocks out the guards, they must not hit the ground. You and Reyn will run out and catch them. If those archers hear bodies fall, they are going to light a signal fire and then this entire quarter of the city will be flooded with guards in mere minutes. Got that?" She handed him a cloth to cover his mouth and nose with. Around him, the others were covering up their noses and mouths as well.

"Don't let the guards hit the ground. Got it," he replied, straightening as Grielle released him.

"All right then, let's move." Grielle nodded to Reyn.

Reyn slipped over to the wall of the building nearest the gate and peered around the corner. She laced her fingers together and gave Ludvig a little glance. Ludvig slung his bow over his shoulder and with a couple large strides stepped one foot into her waiting hands. With bended knees, Reyn used his momentum and her legs to spring Ludvig up to the low-hanging roof of the building. Ludvig grabbed the roof with ease and pulled himself up. It all happened quickly and fluidly. They had apparently completed the move many times before. Reyn made the motion look effortless, but Benedikt guessed she had more strength than her slender frame suggested.

Benedikt waited, frozen in his position as he listened for the twang of Ludvig's bow. It was a faint sound and he almost would have missed it if he hadn't heard the snap of the powder igniting as an arrow struck the ground. Thick white smoke billowed from the tip of the arrow and Benedikt watched the first soldier slump. He and Reyn burst from the shadowed alley. He pumped his legs as fast as he could, but Reyn's long stride outmatched his and she reached the pitching guard first. The second guard took a stumbling step when Yorick's spell took hold. Benedikt slid underneath the falling man, catching him and his weapon inches from the ground.

After seeing the guards down, the others rushed from the shadows and Ludvig swung down from the roof. They gathered under the eaves of the guardhouse and waited for any sounds of alarm. Light glowed from the shuttered window of the small outbuilding, but no one seemed to stir at their presence. Between the massive gate and the gatehouse stood a smaller door of sturdy wood, darkened with age, for travelers to pass in and out of the city.

Grielle turned to Reyn and nodded. As Reyn flew up the ladder to the parapet above, Benedikt whispered to Ludvig.

"Yorick said there were four archers up there. Shouldn't someone go help her?"

Ludvig shook his head back and forth, clearly amused at Benedikt's query. "Reyn's more than capable of handling four guards. Remind me to tell you about the time she took a galleon single-handedly," he whispered in reply.

Just then a faint snapping sound reached Benedikt's ears. Four thumps followed the sound of the powder igniting, and soon Reyn slid down the ladder and rejoined the party, with nary a sign of physical exertion. She dropped a spare quiver of arrows at Ludvig's feet.

"Your supply looked low; there's three more where that came from if you'd like," she said in hushed tones.

Benedikt's brows shot up in amazement, but before he could comment, Grielle tapped Moose and Berne and pointed to the guardhouse door. The two mountains positioned themselves on either side of the door and looked back at Grielle. She peered through a crack in the shutters over the window and held up four fingers. Benedikt watched with rapt attention, impressed with the Liberators' silent communication and execution.

Berne reached over and knocked twice on the oaken door. A voice called out a challenge from within, but no one replied. From his vantage point at the window next to Grielle, Benedikt peered between shutter slats. He watched as a soldier begrudgingly rose from the table and wandered to the door. As soon as he opened it to see who was disturbing their game of dice, Berne reached up and threw the knockout powder on the ground. Smoke billowed and the soldier toppled.

Before his limp body finished dropping to the ground, Berne and Moose were both inside. Benedikt watched, mouth agape, as Berne dove across the table, tackling the furthest guard to the ground. On his heels, Moose opted for a more aggressive method of picking up a stool and breaking it across the face of the guard to his left. With the splinters still flying, he turned and kicked the final guard square in the chest, sending him crashing back into the stone wall. His two men taken care of, Moose looked over at Berne, who was rising from the floor and twirling a set of keys around his finger, a large smile plastered on his face. The whole ordeal could not have taken more than a minute. Stepping over the unconscious bodies, the two exited the house and rejoined their compatriots.

After unlocking the gatehouse door, they headed onto the eastern road. As they jogged away from the city gates, Benedikt had two thoughts. How exhilarating it was to be a part of such a group, and how he should take care to never make them truly angry with him. Before them lay the farmland of Andor, but even just past the walls, they could see where the rolling hills turned into the dark shadow of Bleakwood.

~

Grielle kept the group on the road as long as she dared, but the breaking dawn and lightening sky soon forced her to move them to the cover of the fields running parallel. She called back Kai so Henrik's men couldn't use him to find their position. Less than an hour after they abandoned the road, a patrol of Henrik's men thundered past on horseback. Fortunately, the late summer night had been quite cool, and the morning brought about a dense fog that covered their movement.

Though they travelled in a loose pack, Grielle stayed close to Benedikt. She told herself it was because he was her charge to protect, but that didn't mean she had to stop herself from enjoying the little smiles her gave her when he looked back over his shoulder at her.

Grielle paused when she reached the gnarled oaks at the beginning of Bleakwood and waited for the others to catch up. Berne was the last to reach the thicket where she crouched. She knew they had to go into the woods, but something gave her pause. Kai felt it too. He shifted anxiously on her shoulder. From the outermost edge, the forest felt alive, like it watched them—an unknown danger waiting to devour them.

She called for a rest. While the others took off their packs for a moment of peace, Benedikt pulled out the map Prince Henrik had given him. He laid it on the ground and stepped aside to let Grielle and Reyn plot a route to the maiden's suspected location. With heads bent together, they pored over the map for a while before coming to the conclusion that the main road would be their best option, keeping them far from the borders of Rosenfjell.

After checking the road for signs of Henrik's men, they began to work their way into the wood. Creeping through brambles and dense underbrush, they followed alongside the wooded road until the fields disappeared from sight. Seemingly safe within the borders of the forest, Grielle finally stepped out onto the path and the others followed. They kept close to cover, but judging by the air of unwelcome the woods gave off, Grielle suspected the royal guardsmen wouldn't venture this far to follow them.

And indeed they did not. They passed the entire day traveling on the main path without encountering another living thing. As the sun dipped low behind the trees, Grielle let Kai take off to hunt again. They made camp one hundred paces off of the main path. It was only as they set up tents and scouted the woods for firewood that they noticed the eerie silence of the Bleakwood. No birds chirped at their presence. No little creatures scurried through the underbrush.

Kai wasn't going to be pleased. Grielle hoped he wouldn't have to venture too far for food.

"I don't like this place," Berne growled as he dropped an armful of logs into the center of the camp.

Yorick rubbed his arms as if trying to warm them against cold. "I can feel the magic. The air is thick with it. I think the animals sensed it too and moved away."

"I feel like I'm being watched," Benedikt said as he glanced over his shoulder.

Grielle felt it too, the tingle on the back of her neck. She half expected to see something peering around one of the many twisted oaks when she too looked over her shoulder. The others nodded in agreement.

Daylight was fading quickly, so Moose sent Ludvig and Reyn out into the darkening wood to try and hunt any small animals that might provide them with a heartier meal. He then broke out some of the rations from Andor to prepare a dinner for the crew, while Benedikt, Grielle, and Yorick assembled the wood for the fire.

"Watch this," Yorick said with a proud smirk on his gaunt cheeks. He held his hand out toward the wood, muttered a throaty word, and sparks flew from his fingers and caught the dry kindling on fire.

"Whoa!" Benedikt exclaimed as the campfire began to smoke.

"A better wizard would be able to create a full flame, but anytime I try the spell all I get are sparks," Yorick lamented.

"Playing with fire, I see," Grielle teased from over their shoulders. Benedikt gave Yorick a conspiratorial smile. Grielle continued in a more official tone, "I'm setting up a patrol. We'll all take turns to watch the perimeter of the camp, two at a time for safety. Benedikt, you take the first watch with me; Yorick will help Berne finish setting up camp." Without waiting for a reply, she turned and headed out into the woods.

She could have asked Yorick to keep watch with her, but Benedikt had proven himself in a skirmish. It was purely strategic, she told herself; it had nothing to do with her desire to see how he would act around her when they were alone.

Benedikt grabbed his sword from his tent and followed her into the twilight. They walked abreast of each other, both as silent as the forest around them, making a wide circle around the campsite. The sky grew darker, but the silver glow of the moon shone through the leaves of the tortured-looking trees, casting swaths of light on the forest floor.

Towards the end of their hour-long patrol, Grielle froze a few paces ahead of Benedikt and dropped into a crouch. As Benedikt ducked behind a massive tree root, she heard the soft crunch of boots on dry leaves. Grielle drew a throwing knife from a holster hidden in her boot as the sound of feet came nearer. The patches of light through the trees faded as a cloud passed over the moon.

Grielle squinted, peering into the heavy darkness for the slightest sign of danger. Then, to her surprise, Reyn and Ludvig walked into their view. She was not so much surprised to see them returning from their hunting trip as she was surprised to see their hands intertwined in such an effortless way. Not wanting to expose them, she pressed her foot onto a small twig. The snap echoed through the already still night and Reyn immediately released Ludvig's hand. Ludvig nocked an arrow against his bowstring with startling speed.

"It's just us!" Grielle called, rising slowly from her hiding place with hands raised. Ludvig lowered his arrow and Reyn let out an audible sigh. "We're on patrol," Grielle said with a weak smile, nodding towards Benedikt who was just standing up from behind the tree root. "We didn't know it was you."

Ludvig rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "How long, I mean...did you guys see anything? On the patrol, I mean? In the woods," he stuttered.

Grielle stifled a smile as she cut Benedikt a little glance. "No, we didn't see anything."

Ludvig held up a small rabbit. "I've got something to add to the stew. I think it's the last animal for miles though."

"Then we shall eat well tonight." Grielle gave him a pat on the shoulder and they headed back towards camp. Grielle and Benedikt fell back a couple paces and both couldn't help but chuck as Reyn and Ludvig kept an unnecessarily large distance between themselves.

"Should we tell them we know?" Benedikt asked.

"No," Grielle shook her head, her braid falling over her shoulder. "They'll tell us when they're ready."

"So you'll assign them to hunt with each other from now on?"

"Probably." Grielle smirked, letting her shoulder bump into Benedikt's.

~

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