Chapter 21

“So how are we going to do this?”

Caleb looked over at his companion as she rode alongside him on her mare. They had left the Black Raven Inn five days earlier and were only a few miles away from the place that had been marked on the map as the base of the Black Crows.

“What do you mean?”

Katie raised an eyebrow at the question. “It’s a pretty straight forward question. What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to kill them,” Caleb said simply as he swung his leg over the saddle and hopped to the ground from his stir-up. “That’s the plan.”

“You aren’t one for subtlety, are you?” Katie asked sarcastically. “Seriously, what kind of plan is that? We just walk in and attack them? We are outnumbered by at least twelve to one.”

“If they want a fair fight, then they’re going to need to get some more men,” Caleb said with a shrug as he tied his horse up and pulled the rolled up map out from one of the pouches of his saddle. Giving it a careful look over, he nodded. He quickly rolled up the map, returned it to its place, and freed his bow from where he had tied it to the back of his saddle.

“Please tell me you have a somewhat decent plan. This can’t be it.”

“I need to see the camp first,” Caleb said as he began to walk through the forest, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness that accompanied the night.

Sighing, Katie pulled her horse to a stop, slid off of it, and tied it up before she followed after him.

When she caught up with him, he immediately began to speak.

“Okay, so I’m going to need you to stay out of sight when we get there. I don’t have much of a plan, but I do know that they need to think I’m insane.”

“You aren’t?” Katie countered.

“Very funny,” Caleb said dryly. “How many knives do you have on you?”

“All of them,” she quipped. Seeing the glare he shot her, she amended her answer. “I have ten.”

“That should be enough,” Caleb said with a satisfactory nod. Glancing over his shoulder, he reached into his quiver and felt for the hidden pouch. Swiftly opening it, he retrieved the rolled up bowstring from inside of it and looked at it with a smile.

“What is that?” Katie asked curiously, her eyes not as adjusted to the darkness as his. Unlike him, she was not used to spending too much time in the dark.

Being apprenticed to a hunter has advantages after all.

“It’s a bowstring,” he answered as took a sharp turn to the right, and began to fumble with his bow and the string.

“What are you doing?” she asked, almost hissing at him as she did. His sudden change in direction and the frequent movements he made with his hands seemed to confuse her.

“Your eyes should be adjusting now,” he remarked as he continued to walk through the forest, going up a hill. Everything became less dark as they walked up the hill.

When they finally reached its top, they could both see clearly. The hill that they were standing on gave them an elevated position and a clear view of the Black Crows’ base.

The base was nothing spectacular, though it was still fairly impressive for a band of brigands. About twenty-five small canvas tents were situated around a single large tent. A wooden fence about ten feet high surrounded the camp with a sentry tower at each corner. The sentry towers were about five feet taller than the actual fence and had torches lit at them.

Caleb’s eyes were on the only gates of the fence. They were open, and a path to the center tent could be seen, though a campfire with men around it stood in the middle of that path.

“Those sentries are going to cause us problems,” Katie commented.

“No, they won’t,” Caleb remarked as he finished stringing his bow and pulled it to its full draw, satisfied when the string remained intact and attached properly. He eased it forward carefully, not wanting to dry fire it. “I can handle the sentries.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Katie asked.

Instead of saying a word, Caleb removed an arrow from his quiver, nocked it, and drew the bow back, the turkey feather brushing against his cheek.

“You can’t make that shot. It’s too far away,” Katie whispered harshly.

“Watch me,” he muttered as he released the bowstring.

Katie’s eyes snapped to the closest sentry tower just as the sentry in it was struck in the forehead by an arrow.  She turned to Caleb again, just in time to see that he had drawn another arrow back.

* * * * *

Cain jolted up from his chair as he heard a thumping sound. Rushing to the opening of his tent and pulling it aside, he saw that the northeast sentry was nowhere to be seen. His eyes immediately went to the northwest sentry tower just in time to see the sentry stationed there collapse with an arrow stuck into his chest.

Taking a deep breath, he drummed his fingers against the canvas of the tent. His mind rushed as he added in all the factors that he had to consider. At least half of his men were drunk, and the rest of them were no doubt asleep.

I should’ve known better than to keep so many idiots around. If they knew how to work, I wouldn’t be the only one still sober.

He broke from those thoughts as he stepped back into his tent. His men were replaceable, but he was not.

Okay, I need to figure out how many people are attacking and what they want.

Steadying his breath, Cain walked over to his bed and pulled his brown leather boots on and fastening his brown leather belt around his dark green tunic. He spared a glance at his longsword as heard another thump.

Three are down already. I guess it won’t be long until I see what happens.

With that, Cain hung his sword from his belt and rose to his feet, prepared to observe the situation and to act accordingly.

* * * * *

 “How did you do that?” Katie asked as she saw the final arrow hit its mark. “That last shot was a good hundred yards away.”

“Hitting a stationary target is easy. The moving ones are the hard part,” Caleb said with a shrug.

Let’s ignore the fact that I hit the last guy in the chest instead of the head, which is where I aimed for.

“I said the same thing to you once,” Katie said quietly. “It was back when I first showed you my skill with knives.”

“I remember,” he said with a small smile. As if I could forget.

Caleb carefully hung his bow on a low hanging branch and removed his quiver, which he proceeded to set aside.

“What are you doing now?” she asked.

“If you watch, you’ll find out,” Caleb answered as he took off running down the hill towards the open gates of the camp.

He could only barely hear Katie say, “He’s insane.”

It only brought a smile to Caleb’s lips. He knew all along that his plan was a little insane. That was why he tried so hard to convince her that he did not have a plan.

Sorry about lying to you, but it was for the best.

With that, he cleared his mind and slowed to a walk as he cleared the forest and entered the open.

It was time for him to put his plan into motion.