The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)(50)

I watched her leave and gently latched the door before I opened the sack and began to work. I had arrows, paints, clothes and a large jar of a special blend of Ruzaa’s perfume. I broke the ends of the arrows off and padded them with balls filled with paint.

Putting a wooden clothespin on my nose, I transferred Ruzaa’s perfume into smaller clay vessels with a rubber stopper and put them in a thick leather pouch on my hip, being careful not to jostle them too much.

Garit agreed to furnish me with a small grappling hook and just grinned at my initiative. I wound the rope around my slim waist and used the hook to loop around the rope, holding it there. It wouldn’t hold much more than my own body weight, but that’s all I needed. I couldn’t afford to get a bigger one because I needed to carry my arrows and bow over my back.

Running to my mirror, I pulled my hair into a ponytail and rubbed the black grease paint all over my face, making it itch. I stared at myself and noted the changes in my face since I first arrived at the Citadel. I had gained weight in my face and body, my skin had tanned taking on a healthy glow instead of the pasty white it had been. My eyes were still huge and had softened with happiness and health, but tonight they looked dark with determination.

Shutting my window, I strung a piece of very fine thread around the window latch. The string would break if someone tried to enter my room through the window. Donning my cloak I let myself out of my room, and kneeling down I poured a fine powder of dust around my door that would only be discernible if you got down to the floor level with cheek pressed to the marble and looked. I took the quickest exit to outside knowing that midnight would be fast upon me.

Running toward the stables, I opened Faraway’s stall and attached the new set of reins I had specially made for him. They no longer had a bit, but went around his muzzle and ears.

Faraway as my guardian didn’t need a bit, and he had expressed his displeasure at them. I had gotten an amazed stare from Horse Master Grese when I had it commissioned. That’s where the rest of my gold had gone. Leading Faraway at a slow walk I took him out to the pasture and let him loose.

If he were not penned up in the stall, then he would be an extra set of eyes watching out for me. From this pasture he had a very good view of the training grounds and would be my eyes and ears.

Quickly I slipped into the shadows and watched the guards patrol around the keep’s grounds. If I were the SwordBrother, I thought to myself, I would probably already be on the grounds in hiding. Just because the game didn’t start until midnight didn’t mean that he couldn’t already be here. And I was about to do the same thing. Hide.

Waiting, I leaned my head against the outer wall of the stable and tried to calm my nerves as I silently went over everything that I had on me.

It’s clear, go now.

The signal from Faraway was what I was waiting for. I slid along the building, staying in shadows until I slipped into the stable. Climbing up the ladder into the loft I moved through the hay until I came to a small window. I had gotten the idea from Jury and Pim. I was impressed by their resourcefulness of living in attics and lofts. I pushed it opened and crouched in the window sill. It wasn’t very far to the roof so I swung the hook and rope and pulled myself to the very top and carefully, using my bow, I closed the door.

Since the stable was a fairly large building in the shape of an L and two stories high, it gave me enough of a vantage point to see the layout of the yard. Carefully moving to the far-facing roof, I laid down in the shadows facing the keep. Pulling my cloak over my body I rested my head on my hands and waited. It was an hour until the bell would toll and I could hear the guards talking excitedly amongst themselves.

“This is going to be so easy. Who would be stupid enough to take on a whole training facility of Denai and the Citadel’s guards? This game will be over in an hour,” a gruff voice commented.

“And that purse of gold will be mine,” another challenged.

“Ha, not if I have any say in it.”

“What does it matter about a purse of gold when there are promotions at stake? We have the chance to prove ourselves and make Captains.” A few grumbled agreements followed. I heard someone spit into the bushes, and then the men moved away.

Trying to wiggle my toes to keep them from falling asleep, I decided to count how many lighted windows I could see in the dorm rooms. There were a lot of people still awake when the bell rang out twelve times. A cheer of excitement rang out among the guards and a frenzied pace of patrolling began.

I scouted this spot out days ago. I knew for a fact that you couldn’t see onto the roof I was lying on unless you were in a far field outside of the grounds.

The stable backed right up to the edge of the grounds, so in order for anyone to see me they would have to be out of bounds or get a ladder. After about an hour and no commotion, many of the students that were celebrating or out hunting decided to go to bed.

It was almost two in the morning when I heard the first scream followed by a second. The sound sent chills down my back because they sounded so real, until I heard some cursing, name calling and laughter.

“He’s over here. Get him!” a male voice called.

“Hey, you are dead; you can’t call out for help. That’s not fair,” a loud chiding female voice retorted.

A unit of guards hurried over to where three students wearing cloaks covered in blue dye were emerging from the greenhouse. They were too far away to distinguish faces.