-----"My friends," Beleya responds, "Many thanks goes to you on behalf of this village and myself. May Great Solarius find you well in the morning at first light. If you need healing, you will always find the door to this temple open."
-----With that, everyone takes to their saddles with Harland saying to Sarah, "MiLady, I shall ride close and guard you." The charmed guard casts a wary eye toward the Gorian warrior.
-----Sarah nods soberly to Rinda as the paint is applied to her face. She nods also to Harland as he declares himself her protector.
-----Sol also accepts Rinda's marking with a humble ascent of his head. Under Harland's watchful gaze, Sol briefly holds the man's stare, then turns away in faint disgust.
-----Raven leads the riders quietly into the darkened fields beyond the village. The going is slow as the party dares not to ride faster than at a walking pace. All the time, the tiny structure in the distance looms ahead.
-----As they continue to pull close it is apparent that the state of the small castle is active. Movement is seen along the top of the walls and lights shine out from arrow slits and torches atop the towers. The adventurers meet no resistance and the ones manning the castle appear to not be alerted by their approach. Finally, when the silent riders have made it to within a mile of the moathouse, they stop, awaiting directions from Sol and Raven.
-----Sarah rides in silence until the group reaches the keep. "Remember Raven," She says, "When you are finished with the cape, pass it down to me so I can climb up." She stares at the ramparts. "Do we have any idea how many are in there?"
-----Once the group stops, Sol motions everyone to dismount. As he begins to picket the horses, the Gorian quietly answers Sarah, "If yer 'friend' there is correct, two score troops await us. Raven, ye are th' best t'lead us in now. We'll follow as quietly as we can. I guess ye should stop us just outside o' th' castle torchlight. Make yer move, an' as soon as th' first rope lowers I'll send Garrison up next, as ye may need more bowman up there. If ye can't get th' cloak down, Sarah should head up next, followed by Lovan, Romney an' myself. I head up last in case they raise alarm early an' decide t'sally out." Funnily enough, Sol looks unhappy at his own decision.
-----"Don't worry Sol." Sarah says merrily. "Two score of them, I'm sure they'll be one or two left by the time you get up." She grins at him jauntily. "Well, everyone ready?" She glances around.
-----Sol grins back and whispers, "Indeed. This has been too long in coming, but we're here now. Finally." Though still looking slightly burnt from the battle of Merkulus' tower, the Gorian looks more determined than ever. At the moment, Sol is directing his gaze at Rinda and Raven, completely confident in their abilities and awaiting their move.
-----Raven nods, "Aye this has been too long in coming. Time to finish this." Raven looks towards the keep, "When I scouted this area I did find a good place to leave the horses. It's about a quarter mile from the keep. Do we want to do that or move in closer?"
-----"Let's do that. It'll also give us a place to fall back to if something happens that we can't deal with." Sarah reasons. "Lead the way."
-----Sol snorts good-naturedly in disbelief at the idea of anything the group can't deal with. He adds quietly, "Okay, slightly redundant I know, but let's keep this quiet." He then remounts Thunder and once more waits for Raven to lead.
-----Raven mounts his horse and then looks back towards the group. Raven has put on Sarah's cloak. The dark cloak gives the hunter an odd, almost unnatural appearance. He pulls back the hood from his head and begins to lead the party again.
-----Raven soon leads the party to a small clump of trees. There the horses are tied while the adventurers quietly make their way across the tall grass.
-----Lovan looks at the starry sky and grumbles disappointedly at its clear appearance.
-----Raven, Rinda and Garrison stride quietly carefully leading the others toward the dim light of torches lighting the tops of the towers. As they approach, the castle seems small with the wall facing the shadowed marauders being no more than 120 feet across. The wall stands about twenty feet high. Shadowed figures stroll along the top of the battlements paying little heed to the surrounding countryside.
-----As everyone waits kneeling on the grassy plain, Raven suddenly makes a mad dash for the nearest tower. Quickly and silently crossing the moat, he stands at the tower's foot and after making sure he has not been sighted, he turns his attention to the stone wall facing him. As the dark cloak billows behind him, Raven reaches forth his arms and clings to the wall. He hoists himself up and very quickly the ranger begins to climb. Within moments, the hunter gains the top clinging onto one of the merlons while peering at what lies ahead on the tower.