Ricardo didn't respond and the awkward silence lengthened as he gazed into the darkness after Camilla. A few seconds later a rope sailed out of the darkness like an uncoiling serpent and landed at their feet. Ricardo belated picked up the rope and secured it with a complicated knot to one of the ceiling lintels.

[b]"Swing yourself across Imperial,"[/b] he instructed and joged a few steps before grabbing the waist high rope and hopping across the chasm. Cydric followed a moment later and they joined Camilla in gazing down into a walled mansion of dark red stone. The whole thing was surrounded by a stone wall topped with intricate, but doubtlessly very sharp wrought iron spikes. There were no adjacent roofs they might leap from and several men in disgusting pink and puce livery were moving about with obvious weapons. No lights burned in the houses many windows though a small guard house did show a light.

[b]"We could go over the wall,"[/b] Camilla suggested dubiously.

[b]"No good Ucellina,"[/b] Ricardo said professionally and pointed to a few small out buildings. As she watched a large hound padded out of one, lifted its leg on a post and returned to its doubtlessly light napping. Human guards were easy enough to slip past in the dark but animals were another thing.

[b]"Dobbiamo andare avanti,"[/b] he said grimly.

[b]"Non credo che possa,"[/b] she responded turning to look at Cydric.

[b]"We are going to need to climb over on a rope, do you think  your shoulder can handle that?"[/b] she asked quietly. Ricardo was already taking  a small but compact cross bow from his backpack and tying a lighter rope to one of the quarrels. He lifted the weapon, ran his fingers through the rope to make sure it played freely and fired. The whaang of the crossbow firing seemed loud in the night but Camilla knew that the city was much noiser at ground level. The quarrel flew across the intervening space and lodged into a support post next to one of the houses three chimneys.

[b]"Me first, I'm lightest,"[/b] Camilla said and unbuckled her weapons belt and handed it to Cydric. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and then waited for Ricardo to secure the rope.

[b]"Ill go over," [/b]she explained to Cydric, "and secure the heavier rope, then you follow then Ricardo."

[b]"Ucellina..." [/b]he began to protest. SHe held up a black gloved hand for silence.

[b]"That is the way it has to be, you need to secure the rope and you are lighter than Cydric,"[/b] she explained. WIthout another word she swung herself up beneath the rope, locking her ankles together around it and shimmying like a monkey across the line suspended nearly four stories in the air.

[b]"Ranald tenerla al sicuro, proteggere i tuoi figli nel loro lavoro," [/b]Ricardo prayed in a quiet intense voice as Camilla moved across the dark night air. He didn't keep the rope perfectly tight but loosened and tightened it with her rythym to reduce the strain on the crossbow quarrels barbs. If it gave, or if the wood crumbled Camilla would very likely fall to her death. He let out an audible sigh of relief when she reached the other side.

[b]"Have you ever seen anything like it,"[/b] Richardo murmured in mute admiration. On the far roof Camilla pulled the rope towards her and secured it properly around the chimney. The rope grew significantly tighter as she knotted it. Ricardo turned to Cydric.

[b]"Think you can manage it, you dont have to despite what she says, it will do no one any favors if you fall and break your neck, least of all her when the guards are alerted."
[/b]


[@POOHEAD189]