Having nothing better to do with themselves the five friends spent a lot of time in planning. Having already raided the building once, they knew that the guards would be prepared the next time. This meant that they needed to be even more prepared and to use their intelligence as well as their fighting skills.

One advantage they had was in now knowing the internal layout of the building. As far as they were aware there were four ways in, not counting alternative means of entrance. Of these, the servant’s entrance and the sewer exit were ones they had used previously and so would be better guarded. Probably the others would as well, although the main entrance, being used so rarely, was a possibility for attack.

The rangers fancied a different approach. Living in a forest, they were used to climbing and thought that going through a window on one of the higher floors offered a much better chance of getting in to the building undetected, especially if a couple of diversions could be arranged to distract the guards.

The first question was whether to try for a day or night attack. At first glance it made sense to break in at night, the building was empty of all but the guards and maybe a torturer or two and therefore it was easier to move around the building. With their black outfits they could hide in the shadows and pick off a guard much more easily. Of course the guards would also be much more alert at night following their last attack.

A daytime raid had the advantage that the guards would be that much less alert and that it might be possible to sneak someone into the building disguised as a slave. Alternatively somebody might be bribed into bringing something into the place. Nedric had an idea for a distraction that would bring the guards and another that might clear the building.

“How about some impressed grey oak shields and spears?” asked Rialto.

“They might work fairly well during the dark but grey oak isn’t invisible just transparent, anyone would be able to see them in the daytime. Also it’s a very heavy wood so it isn’t used for normal shields, which means that we would have to make them ourselves. Is anyone up to bringing a carpenters shop down here?”

“Grey oak is usually used for construction in Esteril but the houses here are mainly stone so what do they use it for?” Scabad asked.

“There was quite a lot of it in the firewood.” Daiga stated.

Nedric had a sudden inspiration. “That helps me with one of my ideas. I can get the guards running to a distraction somewhere within the building now. We will need to get some impressed wood into their wood supply which shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“They have a delivery every day,” added Daiga.

“We need a major disturbance. What ideas has anyone got?” Nedric was hoping that somebody would have a better idea than his. If there wasn’t, then the preparation might well prove to be rather unpleasant.

“We could always set fire to the place.” Suggested Bethan.

“That might be the best solution but I’d rather not have to escape through a raging inferno. Can we control where the fire goes?”

“If we start it on one of the higher floors then it is unlikely to spread downwards too quickly, although smoke might be a bit of a problem. The floors and outer walls are all stone so it should contain the fire to that level.” Bethan seemed to have thought out his idea.

“We can certainly try it. Any other ideas? I thought of something and it might work well in conjunction with a fire to cause even more commotion.”

There weren’t any more ideas forthcoming that would cause a major distraction and so Nedric told them his plan. As he spoke there was general laughter.

“Well it might work and it won’t hurt to try. It gives us something to do down here during the nights anyway. How many do you reckon would be enough?” enquired Rialto.

“As many as possible.” Nedric replied. “Of course I’m going to be too busy trying to get water and finding out what new arrangements they have in place to help you out.”

“Not a chance,” said Rialto emphatically. “If we are doing this then so are you.”

“All right, all right, I get the message.” Nedric laughed.

Later on they discussed what they would do if they managed to get Elsebeth away. The problem was that they had to travel through Nothering despite all the internal border controls. They still had the pass that permitted them passage but that stated they were entertainers and all their gear was either at the house or the inn. They had to assume that by now someone had realised that they were the people who had broken into the guild building and that the house would be watched and the inn was even less desirable.

“We could head north and buy the stuff we need from the first town or village we meet.” Bethan suggested.

“How likely is it that a village would have a mandolin or juggling equipment?” Rialto asked.

“The instrument might be a problem but most of the props I need can be made by a village carpenter or smithy.” Nedric chipped in.

“Well all right I might be able to pick something up in a town but what about Elsebeth, how are we going to smuggle her out of the country? The pass is for five men and there is no disguising that she isn’t a man and that there will be six of us.” Rialto was much more negative in his outlook than he had been before his interrogation.

“It would help if we had our wagon. What are the chances that it’s been linked with the raid?”

“I can’t see how and it’s probably safer where it is than anywhere we can move it.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“When are we going to get it? Straight after our raid? Won’t the guards be looking for us?” Nedric wanted this thought through.

We are planning on a daytime escape so if it all goes well we can get the wagon out of the city with the evening rush.” Scabad replied.

“Won’t the guards just wait at the city gates and stop us?” asked Rialto.

“They have no reason to expect us to use the wagon and anyway what makes you think that the city guards have been alerted about us?”

“Be serious, Scabad, we attack the shadow guild and they don’t tell the regular guards about us, why ever not?” Rialto sounded incredulous.

“If you were the all powerful organisation that everyone fears would you let people outside your organisation know that your headquarters could be raided with impunity?”

“When you put it that way, then probably not.” Rialto whistled through his teeth as the full impact of this hit him. “We could let everyone know what happened and maybe others would try to fight the shadow guild!”

“That would probably be a bad idea.” Nedric hated to reject his friends’ idea but the risks were fairly grave. “If someone raided the place before we did, then they would be even more alert for us and how are we going to spread the rumours? I don’t want any of us caught by the shadow guild; just rescuing one person is going to be hard enough. I think it better that the three of you rest yourselves so that you are fit for next week and the guards have had a chance to relax a little. I imagine that a rumour of our raid will eventually get out anyway, too many people know what happened for it to stay secret.”

They worked at making their plans as reliable as possible. They tried to consider the various possibilities where things could go wrong and then the thought of contingency plans for when something totally unexpected happened. It was impossible to consider every possibility but as Bethan kept saying in a phrase he had learnt in the army ‘preparation and planning prevent poor performance’. They polished their ideas and made sure that they were aware what everybody had to do and what the time considerations were. They tried to arrange things so that they had plenty of time to get into position before they created the distractions that would allow their raid to succeed.

Of the preparations, probably the hardest was acquiring a ladder made of grey oak. Buying it was not the problem; the wood was a good material for all sorts of common tools including handles of various types and various length ladders. The problem was getting the ladder into the sewers without being observed and then manoeuvring it in the tight spaces beneath the ground. They needed it out of the way for the twelve hours that Nedric required to impress it and couldn’t be sure if they left it above ground that someone wouldn’t acquire it.

In his forays above ground Nedric also acquired the water they needed from a hostelry near the north gate of the city. He had Bethan with him and they were purchasing horses. They needed two to pull their wagon but they also required the possibility of riding off without the wagons if it was too risky. Which meant they really ought to buy six. Bethan knew a lot about what to look for in the animals, whilst Nedric didn’t have a clue.

They’d invested in a pair of guard outfits from a theatrical outfitter. They were good enough to fool the real guards. They’d chosen them as people rarely looked at the faces of the guards but rather at their uniforms. It was as good camouflage as the slave outfits but without as many restrictions.

“What do you think about the raid down south?” the man from whom they had just acquired some very strong, yet fairly cheap horses asked.

Nedric knew nothing about a raid, yet as a guard he would be expected to know as much as anyone about such a rumour. “I think it’s a bad time of year for raids, the bad weather cuts you off from your supply lines.” He hoped his answer was suitable.

“So you don’t think those Setherland scum will do much damage then?”

Nedric’s heart warmed at the thought of his homeland making such a bold move. He knew that the Nothering forces were nowhere near as strong as they would be in the spring and hoped that the raid would demoralise the Nothering troops even if it had little chance of being effective.

“There’s no way that Setherland can win a war against us on our soil, we outnumber them at least ten to one. They might have a few successes to start but eventually we will crush them.”

“Are you sure? I heard that they had wiped out hundreds of our best troops. Those death guards of theirs don’t care about anything other than slaughter and rape. I hear that they only get to go home if they kill twenty of our guards.”

“You know what rumours are like. They might have killed a few people and then the story spreads and before you know it one death becomes a hundred. Their death guards are just as mortal as anyone else and there aren’t that many of them. I reckon by now there are hardly any left.” Nedric knew it was a good idea to play down the rumours. Any official guard would do the same, as a nervous populace would only make their job harder.

He concluded his business with the man and he and Bethan made their way through the city, now more alert for more rumours and wondering what the attack meant. Nedric had hopes that the Setherland forces were making a brave and well-considered attempt to save his country and not some sort of foolhardy gesture. He was thinking through the possibilities of the raid when another guard hailed them.

“Hey guys are you from an odd or even numbered troop?”

“Odd, why?” Nedric decided at that moment that they were from the fifth troop although he knew nothing about where they patrolled.

“You lucky sods. All the even number troops are being sent down south tomorrow to help fight against the Setherlanders. The general call has just gone out to return everyone to barracks. You’d better hurry if you want to make role call.”

Nedric thanked the guard and they hurried off. As soon as they were out of sight they shed their guard outfits and went back to being slaves. They had no intention of arousing attention by being guards in the wrong place. Nedric thought that the raiding must be pretty severe if guards from as far north as Fusdown were being sent to the border.

“At least this should make it easier for us.” Bethan commented.

“I doubt they were thinking of us when they ordered the raids. I wonder what they are planning. I can’t see how our troops can defeat theirs in a pitched battle in Nothering.”

“I doubt there are any battles. If I were running this I’d order raids on their stores and maybe destroy a few barracks if they were ill prepared. I imagine that our troops have orders to harass their army and cause as much damage as possible but if it looks like a proper battle they will retreat back across the border.”

“What good will that do, they will still over run us when they get all their fresh troops in the spring.”

“Not if half their troops are starving to death and the rest are disheartened by how easily our boys have beaten them so far. You can have leaders saying that you are going to win until they’re blue in the face, if the troops think they will lose then that’s what will happen.” Bethan was emphatic.

Nedric wondered if the shadow guild guards would also be sent south. Somehow he doubted that they would, as the guild would now want to exert even more control over the people of the city. Hopefully they would be inclined to patrol the city and therefore be less ready for their raid but he wasn’t planning for that.

Bringing the news of the raids to the three in the sewers was the cause for a fairly quiet celebration. All three were chafing at their self-imposed incarceration even though they were not fully recovered from the travails of a few days before. Nedric knew that the best way for them to get fit was to suggest to them that they would be unable to raid until the three recovered. All of them immediately assured him that they were fit enough now but Nedric could see the twinges of pain when they moved and would not let them fool him.

When they did show signs of being able to move around without too much discomfort he had them moving around the sewers at night. He wanted them to form some sort of map of the place, as it was probably their best place to retreat. If they managed to find anything useful at the same time then it was a bonus. Their nighttime explorations allowed them to use up some of their excess energy and meant they weren’t tempted to move around in the daytime.

Finally, when everyone appeared to be moving without pain and every preparation had been made Nedric stated that the raid would start the next night. To celebrate, they opened the remaining bottle of wine and the finest of their provisions. Nedric felt that a hearty meal was somewhat appropriate.