Chapter 5. Working Tired 2, The Rough Road.
He had stolen a horse from outside an inn.
He could not risk using his own.
But he knew how expensive a decent horse was to your average peasant, so he fully intended to return the horseback to the inn with a small pouch of gold in its saddlebag.
He was exhausted from all his other tasks,
But there was no time for rest.
He needed to act NOW!
He pushed the poor animal as safely as he could.
His cloak was thick, warm, and grey, his clothes ragged and dirty.
However, his boots and gloves were both practical, in decent condition, and of very good quality.
His 'Eating knife", Sword and very small buckler were a few levels of quality higher still, with fake handles and scabbards over the top of the good ones to disguise this and make them look shoddy and cheap to the untrained eye.
Even the bucker had a fake front to make it look cheap, while behind that false surface the real buckler surface was one of the hardest and lightest you could get without resorting to magic.
For this part of our story, we will simply refer to this man as "Grey Cloak"
As he neared his target he dismounted.
He put the small pouch of gold in the saddlebag now, in case he got killed and the horse found its way home on its own.
The target was in a nearby village.
The village had no stockades.
very few guards.
And the mission was completed much easier than expected.
The prisoner he was rescuing was not even in a cage with a lock.
The door was only lashed shut with some leather binding.
'If' his "Eating Knife" had been the same quality as its appearance then he would have been stuck trying to cut through it all night, possibly getting caught in the process.
But under that cheap-looking handle cover was a good handle,
And that handle was attached to an equally high-quality blade.
Most blades this good were etched with fine art and a proud master makers mark.
But this blade was a plane and as dull as a blade could ever look.
And that cosmetic effect had cost a lot extra!
This blade cut through the boiled leather bindings of the cage as if it were barely holding itself together warm butter!
The Prisoner inside was the target!
The Prisoner inside was asleep and smelt awful!
One quick stealthy sharp tap on the neck and the Prisoner was made instantly unconscious.
The Grey Cloak lifted him up and over his shoulder and silently left the village within only ten minutes.
The Grey Cloak put the prisoner in some bushes a fair distance away.
The Grey Cloak left the prisoner some food, water, basic first aid supplies, and a decent knife.
Then the Grey Cloak took out a pair of good quality used hiking boots and placed them on the prisoner's feet.
The boots fit perfectly
But of course, they would fit perfectly, they were the Prisoners own boots taken from his own home!
The grey cloak then covered the Former Prisoner in some warm blankets and covered this with sharp thorned bushes to keep unlikely rogue animal predators at bay.
Then the Grey Cloak left.
He returned the horseback to the Inn from whence it came, with enough time to quickly groom, water and feed the animal before returning home.
"HOW!"
"How did you escape!" Jackie cried to her son Eric.
"I didn't" Exclaimed Eric, "I woke up with a bad head with a load of supplies, under some blankets and some thorn bushes and in my own favourite most comfortable hiking boots!
"But," He said quickly, "Karl is dead"
"I know" Half sobbed, half hissed Jackie.
"We need to move! NOW!" Said Eric, putting the guard helmet back on.
"Try to look sad again! Think of poor Karl if it helps!"
Two castle guards shouted in the courtyard,
"Hey, you!…. Where are you taking HER!" one spat.
"I was told to put her in the hanging cage to rot outside!"
"And then guard her against any rescue"
"Show the world what happens to traitors against the crown!"
"You will need a second man with you then."
"He is already waiting there, cleaning some new space in the cage!" Said, Eric
"I am sorry they are not letting you have a quicker easier death Jackie," said one guard.
"I will never know your reasons for turning on the crown the way you did, but you were always good to most of us lads. I'll pray for you!" Said the other Guard.
"Shit," Said the first guard, "Here comes the Captain!"
Eric's and Jackie's blood ran cold.
Captain Mitchel walk over.
"You lot, get moving! Stop loitering" he barked.
"And as for you," he said turning on Jackie, he spat in her face he backhanded her to the ground and spat the word "Traitor!" on her!
"Take this slut away" he thumbed over his shoulder at the disguised Eric.
Eric gave an internal prayer of thanks to the universe in general and pulled Jackie sharply off the ground and toward the gate.
Jackie's mouth was bleeding,
As she quickly looked away from Captain Mitchel, she could not be entirely sure, but it almost seemed as if he had given an almost non-perceptual nod of acknowledgement to her.
As they closed the gate behind them, Eric hissed
"Thank goodness that fuckin Captain had always been nothing but an overblown blowhard meathead!"
"Oh! SCORE!"
"Look, Mom!"
"The silly overconfident shit has left his best horse!"
Eric quickly looked though the Captains saddlebags.
"And the idiot has left his lunch and some of his money here!"
"That will teach the base rat bastard to hit an unarmed female prisoner!"
"And look at the size of that greedy sods lunch!"
"You could feed us both for two days with this feast!"
"The greedy shit-stained pig!"
"But he doesn't like spiting?" Said Jackie allowed to herself.
"What," Said Eric distractedly.
"He sees spitting as gross…? Jackie murmured to herself.
Eric was not really listening,
"Mum! We have to go!"
"Oh nothing,…" Said, Jackie, as Eric lifted her onto the very large unarmoured charger!
"A battle horse like this without its armour should carry us easily for a long time before ever getting tired"
"Yes…" Said Jackie thoughtfully, quietly, to herself.
Captain Mitchel rubbed his eyes!
Trying to squint a though sheer force of will his extreme exhaustion away.
He was supposed to have, under regulations, have had ten hours of sleep last night.
But he had not slept.
He had too many things to do.
He needed to go to Jackie's cell so he could find her missing.
After given them both a decent three of four hours head start.
He hoped the silly bugger was smart enough to steal his horse that he had 'accidentally' left outside.
If he had not spotted them talking to those guards earlier than those guards might have gotten suspicious and arrested them both.
He had to reluctantly intervene and get them all moving!
Dam he was tired!
He needed some immediate sleep while he could.
Even as he had that thought,
The Battle horns blew!
The Castle was due to be attacked by some enemy army.
Captain Mitchel's heart sank.
"Shit…" he thought!