Onlookers screamed in alarm down in the square while up on the platform, where smoke stung eyes and assaulted the lungs, guards shouted at one another, simultaneously being ordered to keep the king safe and to secure the prisoners. Amidst this chaos, Rol was crouched over in an attempt to avoid any stray sword swings while trying to shove Colnus, who was still bent over the executioner’s block, off the platform.
“Are you off, yet?” the executioner asked, having to shout to be heard over the din.
“No, he’s as stubborn and as strong as an ox,” Rol replied through gritted teeth.
“What do you curs think you’re doing?” Colnus demanded. “You will not harm His Majesty!”
“Oh, we’re not interested in him,” the executioner said once he found the struggling pair. “We are trying to save you, so please cooperate.”
“I will do no such thing!” the old man grunted as he struggled to free himself. “I welcome my punishment.”
“Oh for pity’s sake!” the executioner spat as he grabbed hold of the man’s shoulders. Together with Rol, they managed to heave the struggling prisoner off the platform and leapt after him into the waiting wagon below.
“We’re on, get moving!” the executioner screamed.
“Took you lot long enough!” the driver exclaimed before whipping his horses forward. People screamed and shoved one another out of the way as the driver guided his wagon through the crowd.
“You’re one to talk!” Rol exclaimed as he and the executioner sat on Colnus’ prone form to keep him under control.
“Release me at once!” he demanded.
Though he was old and bound, he was monstrously strong and fought like a demon. Rol had to grab onto the bench to stop himself from being kicked out of the wagon. As he struggled with the executioner to keep the old knight under control, a young lady standing in the crowd grabbed onto the wagon as it sped past and hauled herself into the back.
“You were slow, Rikard!” she snarled once she was on board. She had a slender figure and was dressed in a black cloak with a hood pulled over her head.
“Oh, lay off me!” the driver cried as the wagon burst onto a street and picked up speed. “Nobody told me the king was going to swan past with half the Royal Guard in tow.”
“Hey, let’s save the bickering for later,” the executioner cried. Steven Ashcroft pulled his hood off to reveal a gaunt face and a devil may care smile. “I have this one under control. Rol, help Kara with the preparations.”
“You got it, boss,” the boy replied as he climbed over Colnus’ prone form to get to the front of the wagon.
The girl was already pulling a large, folded tarp that had been hidden under the driver’s seat and cursed as the wagon rounded a corner a little too quickly. She was about to fall off the side when Rol grabbed her by the cloak and hauled her back in.
“Watch it,” she choked.
“Why have you taken me?” Colnus demanded while Rol and Kara hurriedly unfolded the tarp. “I was to die with honour!”
“There’s no honour in being publicly executed in front of weeping women and children,” Steven said softly as he sat on Colnus’ back. Abruptly, the lanky man brightened and slapped his prisoner on the shoulder. “We’ll talk later. First, we have a daring escape to accomplish. It will be the talk of the city for years to come.”
“If we survive it,” Kara muttered under her breath as she threaded ropes through the reinforced eyeholes that had been cut into the edge of the tarp.
“We’re in luck!” The driver cried. “The streets are empty. It seems everyone was at the execution grounds.”
“What did I tell you about counting your chickens, Farlin?” Steven snapped.
His sentence was punctuated by the ringing of bells from nearby. Soon, the bells lower in the city replied and Steven sighed. “What did I tell you?”
“This doesn’t change the plan, does it?” Farlin cackled over his shoulder. “Is everything ready back there?”
“Yes!” Dol cried as he tightened the last knot. “Go for it!”
Farlin’s laughter died in his throat as a pair of horsemen came thundering towards them on an intercept course.
“Never count your chickens, Farlin!” Steven cried. “How far are we?”
“We won’t make it,” the mousy man’s voice was strained. “They’re too fast and if they manage to get on…”
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“Kara?” Steven looked at the girl, who shrugged.
“Don’t look at me, I’ve already cast one,” she said.
“Don’t you have another?” he asked.
The girl looked pointedly at the tarp on the floor before turning back and arching an eyebrow. “Do you really want to do this without a failsafe?”
Steven grimaced. “I suppose not. Boy, it’s up to you.”
“No problem,” Rol said confidently as Steven handed him a short sword. The boy looked down at Colnus, who had to twist his neck to see what was going on. “Watch this, my Lord.”
“Don’t get cocky,” Steven warned as Rol dropped the back of the wagon and leaned his body out. “It won’t be funny if you fall.”
“It will be a little funny,” Kara quipped.
Rol took a deep breath and checked his grip on both the wagon and his sword. Their lives were in his hands and more importantly, his hero was watching. The boy hid the sword behind his back as the horsemen caught up.
“Halt!” one of them snarled as he brandished a spear. “City watch, halt at once!”
“Please, you have to help us,” Rol shouted back, wide eyed with terror. “These maniacs have taken us hostage. They’re going to sell us into slavery.”
Caught off guard, the man’s eyes went wide. Then, his partner shouted. “He’s chatting shite, you dolt!”
The terrified look left Rol’s face almost at once and was replaced by a cheeky grin. “No slipping anything by you, sir.”
“Halt!” the man ordered. “Or we will use lethal force!”
“You make a convincing argument gentlemen,” Rol said. “But alas, I’m already sentenced to death, so I must decline.”
The closest man roared and thrust his spear at Rol’s chest. The boy swept it aside with a powerful swing that sent the spear flying out of the man’s hand.
“Out of the way!” his partner screamed.
The wagon bounced over a curb as the man swung his spear, causing Rol to lose his balance and the strike to go awry. As Rol tumbled, his sword fell to the ground. The guard stabbed at Rol’s prone form, and the boy managed to roll out of the way. The man grunted as he tried to dislodge his spear that had embedded itself in the wagon’s wooden floor.
“Get ready!” Rol heard Farlin cry.
The boy cursed and braced himself as the man yanked his spear free. However, its head remained embedded in the wagon. Rol grunted as the man thrust the tipless spear into his ribs.
“Watch out!” the first pursuer cried.
His partner’s eyes widened when he saw where they were heading. Both horsemen broke off pursuit abruptly. Moments later, the wagon slowed down briefly when Farlin cut the horses free. The beasts bolted to either side and the wagon began to pick up speed as it rolled down a gentle slope.
Ignoring the pain in his ribs, Rol struggled to his feet and tasted bile when he saw how close they were to the cliff’s edge. Biting back a curse, he lifted one end of the tarp.
“Secure yourself first!” Kara screamed as she lifted the other.
“No time!” Rol shouted back, as he noticed for the first time that the others had tied themselves to the wagon with rope.
Together, they hurled the tarp into the air as the wagon rolled off the edge of the cliff and began to fall. Hundreds of feet below, the grey waters of the Erengian Sea turned white and frothy as they broke against the rocky shore.
There was a sickening feeling of weightlessness that seemed to last an eternity before the tarp caught the wind. Ropes cracked as the tarp and expanded like a parasol above them. Ropes The sudden lurch knocked Rol off his feet and the wagon rocked in the air as the boy tumbled and slid towards the open gate at the rear. He reached his hands out desperately for something to grab onto.
“Rol!” Kara cried helplessly as she watched his lower half tumble out of the wagon.
Then, at the last moment, Colnus moved his legs so that Rol could grab the chains that connected the manacles around his ankles. The boy grunted in pain when he felt the ligaments in his arm strain.
“Up you come,” Steven grunted as he reached over and helped Rol haul himself back into the wagon where they both collapsed in a panting heap.
Steven glanced over at Kara and grinned. “See? I told you this would work.”
“And here comes the Maiden!” Farlin exclaimed from the driver’s seat up front.
Gingerly, Rol picked himself up and glanced over the side. The wind was carrying them away from the cliffs and out to sea, just as planned. The Fleeting Maiden was a two masted ketch and was waiting at anchor roughly a thousand yards off shore. Then, the boy noticed something alarming.
“Aren’t we falling a little too quickly?” he asked.
“I told you we should have taken the wheels off, boss!” Farlin cried a moment later.
“If you want to do that now, be my guest,” Steven replied calmly as he sat himself on a bench and studied the ketch with a critical eye. “They’re sitting abeam of the wind. What’s Jerry doing?”
“A smart decision if we land downwind of them,” Kara remarked.
“I don’t know if you lot are crazy or stupid,” Colnus remarked. He looked over the side and shook his head while Rol carefully positioned himself between the old man and the back of the wagon.
“You’re not going to do anything rash, are you?” Steven asked cautiously.
The old man shrugged. “Suicide is a last resort, and it looks like we’re all going to die anyway at the rate we’re falling.”
He watched checked their descent and sighed before adding. “I hear drowning is an awful way to die, but perhaps it is what I deserve.”
“Oh don’t count us out just yet,” Steven said as he gave Rol a discrete nod. “I still have a trick or two up my sleeve.”
Oars extended from the ketch as the wagon fell closer to the sea. The anchor was raised, and the vessel began to move.
“Kara?” Farlin said nervously as he eyed the fast approaching sea.
“Not yet,” she replied as she leaned over the side. “I can only do this once.”
With roughly a hundred feet left to go, Kara focused her attention on the tarp above and began to chant. Rol reached over and cut the rope securing her to the wagon before sitting down and bracing himself.
When they were ten feet from the water, Kara’s eyes turned white, and her voice sounded disembodied when she cried. “Ventus!”
A strong gust of wind burst from her outstretched hand and struck the tarp. The ropes groaned in protest, but the wagon stopped its descent abruptly and hovered in mid-air. Moments later, the ropes snaped and the wagon fell into the sea, landing bone jarring crash.
Thoroughly spent, Kara teetered for a moment and would have fallen over had Rol not caught her and propped her up. The force of the impact had shattered the floor of the wagon which was now beginning to sink.
Colnus looked up at the cliffs and saw that a crowd had gathered where they had driven off. The old man shook his head in admiration. “Remarkable.”
“Aren’t I?” Steven beamed. His smile vanished when the old man, still bound hand and foot, dove out of the back of the wagon and into the frigid waters of the Erengian Sea.
Farlin shook his head and sighed. “It’s like he’s determined to die, that one. Never seen anything like it.”