| Chapter 16 |
| "All right." Seyona held a clipboard, pen poised over it. "Twenty foot high brick wall?" Leli asked, grinning. "Check." "One artfully crafted, incredibly powerful and dangerous catapult?" "Check." "One terrified little Winger who won't stop calling me 'tart'?" "Double Check." Seyona checked this one off with more gusto than the others before it. "Rope so we can climb over the wall safely?" Leli grinned evilly at Chaco, tied up in the barrel of the catapult. "Check." "All righty then." Leli rubbed her hands together and pulled out a pocket knife. "All systems are go." "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" Chaco squeaked. The two thieves ignored him and moved the catapult into position. Seyona made sure the trajectory was just right, then stepped aside. "Launch in 10...9...8...7..." "I knew it..." Chaco muttered. "This is gonna hurt a lot..." "6...5...4..." Leli positioned the knife over the releasing rope. "You know what?" Chaco glared at Leli. "3...2..." "What's that?" Leli asked, concentrating on the task at hand. "1!" Seyona finished her countdown. "Release the Winger!" "I hate yooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!" Chaco screamed as he went flying over the wall to land with a deafening crash on the other side. "Hurry." Seyona ran forward and tugged on the rope to make sure it was secure. "We gotta make it across before he comes to!" The two of them scrambled over the wall and down the other side, stepping on a groaning Chaco on their way to the safety of the ground. "You..." Chaco muttered, flattened on the ground in a pile of dust and pain. "I hate you...hate..." "Come on..." Seyona muttered as her and Leli picked up the mangled Winger. "We have to get out of here before those guards start investigating" As if in answer to Seyona's fears, there was a crashing in the trees followed by men's voices. "It was probably a squirrel..." One knight said, searching unenthusiastically through the bushes. "OR it might have been an enemy force breaching the security of our wall!" The other yelled dramatically, ripping the bushes apart in his search. "If you say so..." The first knight stopped when a squirrel head popped out of the bushes and blinked at him. "Mu?" The squirrel took off, hitting a tree and filling the forest with another deafening crash. "See?!" The first knight pointed triumphantly. "It was a squirrel! I knew it!" "Shut up, and get back to your post." The other knight muttered, defeated. The voices died down and the three travelers huddled in the bushes breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god for that squirrel..." Seyona muttered, standing up and brushing the dust from her green pants. "Yeah, but..." Chaco rubbed his sore head and leaned against a tree. "How'd he make that loud of a noise just by hittin' a tree?" "Never look a gift horse in the mouth." Leli advised, picking twigs from her hair. "Meaning...?" Chaco raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "I don't know, really..." Leli shrugged. "Just something my mom always used to say." "Can we get going now...please?" Seyona started off down the forest trail, not waiting for an answer. "Hey, wait for us!" Leli abandoned the stick picking exercise and ran after her friend, Chaco right behind her. Another figure stood up from the bushes, using his staff for balance. He looked at the squirrel who'd just approached him and smiled. "Good job, Mukumuku." He praised and handed the squirrel a carrot. |