Ginata gasped and heard Nate do the same. The clearing came into focus as her mind spun. "Why didn't you end it?"
"I was too surprised, I think." He shook his head, adding a casual shrug. "I'm a little out of practice at deadly visions—the ones I did for the Council generally included when the next frost would hit, not when the next blade would impale me."
Ginata chuckled at his dark humor. "Now what?"
"We do it again." He held out his hands a second time and Ginata looked at them.
"Can we do it my way this time?"
"Of course, my love, I'll enjoy seeing what sort of tortures 'your way' leads us into."
Ginata gave him a dirty look before taking hold of his hand. After a moment of concentration, Nate rose and pulled himself into the saddle. "Poor horses." He tapped the beast's flank and the stallion shot into the forest at breakneck speed.
Ginata hurried to follow suit and ended up trailing him all the way to the point where his horse collapsed. This time she stopped him as he began trekking toward the walls. "This way."
"The caves?" He gave her a distasteful look. "Didn't you try that once?"
"Twice, and it worked the second time."
She didn't stop moving until they had marched into the cave. As soon as the guards appeared, she boldly loosed two arrows straight into her victims. The first survived long enough to gasp before Nate's throwing knives cut off his air supply.
"Nice shot." Nate retrieved the dagger and one of the arrows, but the other was too deeply embedded. Wiping the weapons on their bodies, he joined Ginata in hauling the pair into the shadows.
Together they moved into the darkness and Ginata couldn't help her amusement when Nate slammed headlong into the crossroads wall. With a small giggle, she pulled him after her into the dead ended section of the cave. They waited until the approaching torch passed them as two replacement soldiers entered the large room.
Ginata pulled her bow taut again and let loose two more arrows. The thump of bodies was the only sound this time. As quickly as they could, they stripped the outer layers from both soldiers, amused to find that one was a woman and the other a man. The outfits hung large on their young bodies, but close enough that the extra wouldn't be noticed from a distance.
Using the soldier's torch, they walked back as though they were the relieved guards. No one barred their passage and they moved beyond the main hut at the end of the tunnel in minutes. Now she hesitated.
"There's got to be a protocol for reporting to someone at the end of a shift." Nate glanced out the window and into the growing darkness.
"I imagine there is, but let's just head for Baron's hut."
"You want to get us all killed?"
"He's got more strength than you do." She gave him a teasing look.
"Oh fine," Nate grumbled. "You're lucky I won't remember that insult."
Ginata led the way boldly as if she belonged. Her steps were sure as they moved through the lower city and toward the upper. As the houses became finer, she moved toward one crude hut erected among a sea of furnaces and kilns. Two taps to signify their presence, and Ginata attempted pushing open the door only to his to crossbeam.
"Baron," she hissed. "Baron!" Her voice rose to a command.
The sound of shuffling followed by a large object being moved preceded a hairy face peeking through a crack in the door. Baron stared at them in guarded confusion. "Yes?"
"We have a job for you. Come with us." Ginata stepped back noticing for the first time that they had a small audience. She stiffened to look more like her uniform and together they strode with Baron between them.
After passing into the upper level, Baron put an easy hand on Nate's shoulder. "I'm a little surprised to see you here."
"You said that last time." Nate grinned but continued looking straight ahead.
Baron grunted. "How many times have we been through this?"
"This is our second pass."
Ginata led them through the inner gate, calling out a few names in greeting, but keeping to the shadows. Guards acknowledged her calls but turned to other tasks before taking a solid look. Nate was impressed. He didn't say a word until they'd reached the side yard where the kitchen doors opened toward the chicken roost and pig pens.
"What's the plan?"
"Strip." She gave him a winning smile. "And then we're going to scale the wall."
Both men froze. "You're kidding. The walls are in full view of the guards." He pointed to the outer wall no more than a hundred yards away.
Ginata just waved at them impatiently and followed her own advice until she wore only her basic clothes. Without waiting, she began creeping from shadow to shadow along the outer section of the castle toward a small garden area. Jumping the low fence, she encouraged them forward and into the darker shadows of the garden's low wall. From her location near the base of the castle, she pointed upward. "This section will be pitch black for about an hour."
"How high do we have to go?"
"The fifth floor."
Nate counted quickly, estimating the time it would take him to make the climb. "Are there handholds?"
"I'm not sure, I've only ever done it from another room on the same floor."
Nate began grumbling again. "This would be a lot easier if one of you had visions too."
"No thank you." Baron flexed his muscles. "I'd prefer to just smash in the door than to go any deeper in these visions. I'll never be so happy as when we're done with all of this."
Ginata ignored their chatter and studied the wall as well as she could in the time they had. An hour passed before the darkness blanketed their movements and again she led the way. Scaling the place wasn't quite as hard as she'd thought.
The designer didn't appear to understand that the windows were spaced perfectly to assist in the climb. Within a third of the time she'd anticipated, Ginata was pulling herself through the open window of the king's chambers.
She moved aside a few pieces of furniture to make it easier for the other two to follow and laughed lightly as they tumbled in, gasping for air.
Between pants, Nate grinned. "I didn't think I could make it."
Baron agreed. "Now what?"
"Now we wait for them to return." She was already looking around for sufficient hiding places and shoved each man into a space as soon as she'd found it.
Waiting turned out to be the hardest part. The king and queen didn't return to their rooms for several hours and Ginata was the only one with free space enough to move. She heard the other two shifting and squirming in their holes, but to their credit, neither came out.
As frustration rose within her, Ginata heard the sound of distant laughter as voices drew near, stopping just outside for a moment before the door opened.
