Chapter 36

The five figures make their way quietly to the small, solid white stucco building. It is only one story tall, and little more than 100 feet long. There is one door on one of the long sides, but located near the corner. Next to it on the two adjacent walls are windows.

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Morgan and 'Leaf move in for some up-close viewing, leaving Gwenh and Toshiro to keep an eye on the general area. Careful peeking in the windows revealed an office with at least three Order of the Flame-Tailed Hawk guards in it. A single door exits the office. Careful observation of the surroundings reveals that a squad of six such guards passes down a nearby street at very regular quarter-hour intervals. It is quiet, with most of the citizens abed, and any noise would surely alert them.

Regrouped in an alleyway, the team compares notes. "Bleah," Morgan comments, upon learning of the patrols. "Well then. What are we working with here? I'm not bad with a thrown weapon, but I'll go down fast in a hand-to-hand. No magic, either. You?"

Falling Leaf answers evenly, "At the moment, I can offer a strong right arm and silent feet. But I cannot strike the first blow. No magic."

Morgan couldn't quite hide the wince. Why did restrictive moral codes have to pop up at the most inconvenient times? "And you?" she asks Toshiro and Gwenh. "Strong, silent types. I see. How about you two stay out here then, and watch our backs, particularly if those guards decide to traipse down this way. Can you handle that?"

Toshiro smiled unpleasantly. "Yes, I think we can."

"Great. Now, getting in... A classic 'Prisoner Transfer' might work well. Father, do you think you could make us appear to be Ehosian guardsmen?"

"Precisely how," Gryppen remarked quietly to Morgan, all the while feeling as though he'd made the wrong move after all in accompanying her here, "did we go from acquiring wine in a foreign land to breaking people out of prisons? I merely ask for my own reference, seeing as how there appears to be a rapidly increasing set of circumstances beyond my control."

SCREEE. Morgan's thought processes come to a screeching halt. She looks at Gryppen blankly for a moment while trying to track down the set of assumptions that has indeed brought them this far. "I'm sorry," she finally says slowly. "I do have a tendency to sweep along, don't I? Back at the Wombat, Kvelti asked me to keep an eye out for these folks, and help them if I could. She didn't mention money in connection to it, either, so whatever they're up to, she thinks it's important."

"But that was 'I', singular, not 'we', plural. We can wait, say... a half hour? before we go in, if you want to head back to the caravan. That ought to put you far enough away from here to be clear of any suspiscion." Pause. "If," she remembers to add, "that's what you want."

Gryppen's eyes twinkle brightly at Morgan as he smiles. "Oh, my, Heavens no," he replies. "I was simply wondering. Shall we, then?"

"Let's," Morgan agrees. "Hmm... as long as we're buttoned up here and switching disguises anyway... let me get my arm back on." The thick, stumpy metal appendage was in the knapsack she insisted on carrying. "I'm a half-elf," she quickly explains to their new allies. "Under an illusion to keep the Ehosians from getting in a twist. Got a new arm as part of the disguise... but this one will be stronger if push comes to shove." In a few deft movements, she's strapped herself into the arm's harness and flipped her cloak over it. "So... can we get three Ehosian guards, Gryppen?"

"Guards, in my experience," Gryppen replies, "are highly underated. In stories, they remain bumbling fools and encumbered know-nothings with a penchant for torture. I've personally found them, however, to be rather on the well-trained side, as far as swordsmen go, and speaking in the non-masterly way." He scratched his nose. "That being said, I daresay they're probably no match for us."

Falling Leaf frowns, although it's hard to tell from outside the shroud-like wrap she's wearing. "So are you saying we should dispense with subterfuge and just go in?"

"I think they want you three to use magic to look like gaurds, while I stay here and keep a look out with Toshiro." She looked back towards the jail. "Can you change them, or shall I try, or help perhaps? We should use caution, and also haste. If we stay in this alley till dawn, we'll acomplish nothing, or maybe they'll escape by themselves."

"Oh, my, no," Gryppen says. "I was just making a useless observation. At the height of my abilities, i could shroud us all from sight for a few moments at best, and we would have to stay close together. It would drain me completely, as well. Perhaps one or two of us should slip inside?"

Toshiro considers all that has been said. "Well, then...." He whispers as he looks about. "Myself and Leaf should go- I am sure we can get in, get him and get out without too much trouble. Should there be, there are ways to escape pursuit...."

Just as well, he thinks. I have somewhere to run to; the others do not... "But we need to go soon- darkness does not last forever..."

"So you plan on either, what? Killing all the guards and taking their keys, or... magic?" Morgan asks. Getting in was all well and good, but there'd be locks to get past.

'Leaf will concede the point; when she did her job correctly, the people she was after opened the doors for her.

Gryppen, after a few moments of concentration, blinks and nods happily as Morgan and Toshiro fade from sight. Since he'd only cast the spell on the two of them, he could feel that he still had some energy in reserves. Gwenh and 'Leaf take up positions on either side of the alleyway, both cloaked in shadows and their dark, concealing robes. One watches their escape route; the other keeps an eye out for that patrol of guards. As soon as the latest guards pass, Gwenh gives a signal to the two unseen infiltrators. This way, they'd have the most time before another batch of guards came along.

The kensei and the thief hurry across the street at Gwenh's gesture. The windows are open and glassless here, shutters thrown wide to let in the precious night breezes. But there is the matter of the guards lounging about the room.

Toshiro is suddenly aware that Morgan has left his side; he can't see her, but he can feel that there's empty space where her form used to be. Then there's a sudden loud pounding noise from the door. The guards jump up and look at each other with some consternation. Two move to open the door; the third stays in the room, but is watching his companions carefully, in case whatever's on the other side of the door is trouble.

Light, fast footfalls hurry around the corner with no feet to accompany them. Toshiro, knowing a distraction when he sees one, easily vaults through the window, landing silently on the carpet on the other side, behind all three guards, two of whom are half into the street, looking for the scalawag who played this prank on them.