"We can release her easily enough. We get a little sleep, then a couple of hours before dawn I put the guard to sleep and try to work the lock while someone else handles the rope securing the cage. Once she's out, we see if she wants to come with us - if she doesn't, we send her on her way and start leaving for Lincoln. If she does come with us, we start finding a back roads way to Lincoln. I will change my appearance on the way, so as to make it harder to Wulfric to associate me with what happened.
If the whole thing is an elaborate trap by Wulfric, I will put a knife through the heart of anyone who betrays me." Nauvi sounds determined to defy Wulfric.
"Can you do something about how I look?" says Hamish.
"I kind of stick out in a crowd."
"No, I can't change your looks. I can make you appear more innocent or more imposing, but it won't actually make you less recognisable - people would still pick you out of a crowd. This is why we'd need to find a back roads way to Lincoln, so if Wulfric's men come looking for us we make it as hard as possible." Nauvi sounds disappointed as he describes the limits of his magic.
I suppose make supper and eat it while the sun sets. Do you manage to come up with your plan?
There is light from one or two houses in the hamlet, but they quickly dim after sun sets, and the villagers seem to go to rest.
"I propose this", Nauvi announces to the team,"We get a few hours' sleep, and then under deepest darkness I head to the cage with you two. We try to be as stealthy as possible, and when I get to maybe fifteen paces from the guard I put him to sleep. One of you unties the rope from the cage while the other checks the guard for a key to the lock. If there is no key to hand, I will use magic to open the lock, but this will involve shouting in Latin so I will avoid this unless needed. Before we open the lock, we tell the girl we are freeing her and offer to take her with us. We then leave the village and choose a less obvious route to Lincoln to make our escape."
Hamish looks at Nauvi.
"Am I one of your two? I never been too good at sneaking," chuckles the giant of a man.
"If the girl escapes and we are gone in the morning, we will come under heavy suspicion," repeats Leofric with a frown. "I introduced myself to the priest at the church, and he knows that we come from the north near Carlisle. So Wulfric may very well come looking for us. Is that something you are comfortable with?"
"If we are here in the morning, we will still come under suspicion. Are you so confident of our ability to lie and talk our way out of things that we are safer staying?
Wulfric will probably come looking sooner or later, which is why we need to keep Janus the Incinerator happy until a more secluded site is built."
1 Like
“I will search the guard once he is asleep” replies Finn
Hamish nods. "Fair enough. Let's be about it."
"That may well be," Leofric replies to Nauvi. "OIn the other hand, if we leave tomorrow morning, then the girl escapes the next night, people won't establish such a strong link between the two events. Particularly if most of us are seem in another village when she escapes. Can't you make your way back here on the cover of night?"
“She could be burnt tomorrow, we must act quickly to ensure she is safe” pleads Finn
"Wulfric is unlikely to be back tomorrow, from what the priest said," replies Leofric, "and acting precipitously risks all our lives. Mine and Hamish' particularly, since they know my name and his appearance is quite distinctive."
1 Like
Hamish nods.
"He has a point."
"Well then, if you are willing to gamble the girl's life, then we shall make a big show of leaving tomorrow, then finding somewhere a mile or two down the road to camp where we can hide until dark and then come back. If Wulric comes back in the meantime, we shall have to leave her."
1 Like
Hamish nods. "I think it best. We've got trouble with this Wulfic I think without a stronger fighting force at our back."
1 Like
The party makes their goodbyes around the church. Two men-at-arms are eating on the bench of the carriage. They greet you politely and whisper between themselves whn you turn your back. The vicar wish you a pleasant journey, and asks no questions. You can wave to the few peasants shepherding their animals too.
Moving a few miles along the road to Lincoln, you find lone farmsteads unevenly spaced, and also some less travelled paths into the forest. You can find a campsite with about 200 paces to the nearest cottage, or you could hide in the woods. Or you could travel further. One would expect another village withing 4½ miles of the church. Do you travel that far?
Leofric offers his opinion, "Something a little farther might be best."
Nauvi disagrees. "I think we should hide in the woods, as we'll need to travel back to rescue the girl and then bring her back out again somewhere safe. Every step we go further is two steps more tomorrow night."
"Yes, it is more steps," argues Leofric, "but if we are seem travelling further away, we are less likely to be considered suspect." The he shrugs, "But have it your way."