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“It’s tiny,” I said. “Would we all fit?”
“I’m not sure,” said Valerian. “Colbolt wouldn’t fit, that’s for sure.”
“That thing’s already got one creature pulling it,” said Melina. “Maybe we can make it look like Colbolt is pulling it too.”
“I think it’s a stretch,” I added, “But it’s better than charging those soldiers from up here and hoping for the best.”
“We’re going to have to deal with the soldiers one way or another,” said Gullie, “Those soldiers are going to want to see the caravan rider’s paperwork and identification. Those papers will probably single him out as the only rider, and they’ll also have an inventory of what he’s carrying. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Elk’s name was on that manifest as well.”
I shook my head. “Then we’re screwed either way.” I paused. “Unless… wait, what if you and I sneak in on that carriage?”
“Us?” Gullie asked.
“You’re small, and I can make myself small. I may be able to hide underneath the carriage, and then we’ll be able to sneak into the city.”
“The two of us. Against all of Windhelm, and Malys Wolfsbane. You’re bloody mad.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
“Maybe, but you are.”
“No, wait, that could work,” said Valerian.
“What?” Gullie asked. “How could that work?”
“We aren’t getting past those guards without paperwork, or without fighting them. We can’t get the right paperwork, and we won’t all fit on that carriage, so that leaves fighting them. Only if we do that, we need to take them all down quickly.” He turned his attention to me. “You said you can take two of them?”
I took a deep breath, watched the soldiers for a moment, then exhaled. “I think so,” I said. “Especially if I can get close without them seeing me.”
“So, you hide under the carriage, wait for the right moment, then come out to attack. While they’re distracted, the three of us will charge down the hill and deal with the other two.”
A cold chill passed between all of us, then. Nobody spoke for a long moment, not until the clip-clop of the approaching Elk became audible to all of us. “It’s risky,” said Melina, “But it’s the only plan we have. I think we should do it… with one modification.”
“Modification?” Valerian asked.
“There are some trees behind this hill. See where they end up, over there? That’s only a few yards from where the guards are standing.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“You take Colbolt through the trees, Gullie and Amara sneak onto the carriage, and you let me create another diversion.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Gullie said. “What kind of diversion?”
“The kind I know I can pull off. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“What if they send a signal to the rest of the castle as soon as they see you?”
“They won’t. Fae men are stupid when it comes to women, remember?”
Gullie blushed, then grinned. She suddenly remembered Valerian was there, too, and shot him a worried look. “Present company excluded, of course.”
Valerian paused, his eyebrow arched. “Naturally,” he grumbled.
When she looked over at me, my cheeks were also flushed and red. She smiled, awkwardly. “Okay, well, uh… maybe we should get moving with this? Or we’ll miss our chance to sneak aboard the carriage.”
I didn’t like the plan, but if we could take the guards out in one go, they wouldn’t be able to raise an alarm. At least, that was the hope. We didn’t know what other magical defenses we would be dealing with, and there was also the carriage and the rider to consider. That was a hurdle we would have to jump later, assuming we didn’t instantly botch this and get arrested.
Valerian drew his sword, hopped on Colbolt’s back and led him into the nearby trees. I took my wolf form, Gullie zipped over to me and held onto my back, and together we made our way down the other side of the hill, heading toward the road. The Elk and the rider didn’t spot us as we approached, and as they began to pull away from where we were hiding, I shot out toward it and slipped into the cart it was pulling.
