We raced across the more open areas. Sid ghosted through the trees, so light on his feet you couldn’t hear them hit the ground. How could something so big move like that?
According to Cody, the three guards loose in the forest did not follow a prescribed route. Adilyn flitted away often to track their progress, and a few times, took us in another direction.
We were more concerned with the guard on the roof because he overlooked everything. So she led us to the last bit of decent overhead cover, before we all hunkered down.
“You’ll have to glamor Leah’s path to the moat before going after the roof guard,” Cody whispered to her.
“Glamoring direct perception is touch-and-go,” the Faerie replied. “I can only do it in flashes, and every time I repeat it, it gets weaker.” She looked at Leah. “You’ll have to be fast.” Her glance moved to me. “And you, too.”
I nodded. “How will we know you’ve got him disabled?”
“You won’t,” she stated. “But by the time Leah does her thing, he will be.”
Well, that wasn’t perfect, but I guessed it would have to do. She was far too small to carry a comm unit, and my part in this was hard enough without worrying about hers, too. I peered through the leaves to the building, examining the stone that formed the walls. Vines grew up the first three stories, the fourth was basically bare. But the exterior had a decorative feature that would help me—offset stones that formed narrow ledges that were, hopefully, not too tiny.
“If I can’t scale that, we’re kind of sunk,” I said.
“You will.” Cody gave me a reassuring smile.
Was he counting on abilities that Razir had? Because they could be as gone as those memories?—
Or not. I’d certainly remembered how to fight.
My gaze dropped to the two guards standing on each side of the building entrance at the far end of the bridge. There wasn’t more than a few feet between the building walls and the water.
Cody handed me the rope. I tied it around my waist and draped the remainder of the loop over my shoulder and head.
Adilyn dropped to flit above Leah. “You ready?” she asked.
Leah was clad only in her fur-clothes. She nodded to the Faerie. “Let’s do this.”
Adilyn sprayed a mist of sparkly dust, and Leah bolted out into the open. Every pace she took was accompanied by more dust. I watched the roof and saw the guard standing there, looking out across the forest. He glanced right at Leah, and then away again.
Leah reached the moat and vanished into the water with hardly a ripple. Adilyn, visible as only a darting dot, rose toward the roof guard.
I couldn’t see Leah anywhere, but then her head popped up beneath the bridge.
“She’s singing,” Nar whispered.
We couldn’t hear her from where we waited, but the two bridge guards rubbed at their eyes. Then they both sat down and rested their heads on their knees.
“We’re good to go,” Nar stated.
We jogged across the open area. If Adilyn’s glamor on the roof guard failed, this initiative would be over before it began, but no warning shout sounded.
We crossed the bridge and gathered just outside the door. Leah and I headed along the wall, examining a possible route up. I crouched, and Leah climbed onto my back, locking her arms beneath mine, and then over my neck.
“Ordinarily, I would enjoy hugging you, big guy,” she lamented. “But promises are promises.”
“Distractions fifty feet in the air could get us killed.” I said.
“Yeah. I’ll be good.” She sighed. “But I am going to close my eyes because I have a thing for heights.”
“Okey-dokey. Just stay as still as you can.” I inserted my earplugs, fastened my fingers onto a tiny ledge, and began to climb.
I’d only gone about twenty feet when I realized that I did know how to do this. The only thing was, I kept curling my fingers, trying to get my useless human nails to sink into the stone. Which, of course, they couldn’t.
Leah didn’t weigh much, and she tried to stay very still, but carting her threw off my balance. The vines were ancient and mostly well-anchored, so I used them whenever possible.
