Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Siege of Syrn: Part XXVII

Dirk and his men strung their bows. They stole around the cliffs, jutting out several hundred feet above them.

After about twenty minutes, they came to the first sentry. He put his hand to his belt and grabbed a horn, but an arrow from Dirk brought him down. They went on, and before long came to another sentry, who met the same fate.

Then they came to the outskirts of the camp. They slew three more sentries, and were clear for the moment. Dirk looked at the city, but couldn't see the inner gate because of the curtain wall. Shouts and cries of battle, however, told him that the Thargonites had breached the gate.

Not even bothering to take the time to look for armor, they stole through the camp, slaying any Thargonite they met.

At last they came to a tent larger than the rest. Dirk halted and looked inside. It was empty aside from some bedding, some weapons, and a lamp.

They continued on. They came up on another sentry. He was looking the other way, towards the battle. Dirk crept up behind him and put his dagger to the man's throat.

"One noise, and you are dead. Do you understand?" The man nodded. "Good. Then lead me to the Aidarian prisoners.

Dirk kept his dagger to the man's throat as he walked through the camp to another tent. Dirk's men followed them in.

The prisoners were bound and gagged, and thrown together in a heap. The tent was large, but there were only maybe thirty or forty men. Dirk kept the Thargonite at knife point while his men freed the prisoners.

Then Dirk instructed the men to stay there and be quiet. They were given the rest of the food that Dirk and his company had brought. Then Dirk said to the Thargonite, "Where are the others?" They were led to another tent, with another batch of prisoners. There were a few more in this tent, maybe fifty or so.

Dirk's heart sank. "Is this all there is?" he demanded. The Thargonite nodded. As soon as the Aidarians were free, Dirk bound the man and gagged him and threw him on the ground.

Then Dirk and the prisoners stole back to the other tent. Dirk told the men his plan. "Does anyone know where the horses are?"

One man said, "I believe that they're picketed on the other side of the camp. I heard noises of horses that way, at any rate, but it was dark when we were brought in here."

"Good. Where are your weapons?" No one responded. "Then we'll have to find Thargonite weapons. Fortunately they fight with relatively the same equipment. You'll each need a sword, a shield and a spear. If any of you can use a bow on horseback, find one of those too. Dismissed. Try to move normally around the camp. We don't want anyone back in the city to know that anything is wrong yet."

Ten minutes later, they were saddling the horses, and riding back to the camp. Dirk and his twelve men lit their torches again. Starting at the back, they systematically burned the tents, working their way up to the front.

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