It was a misty morning, and the path was terribly muddy. Every step Safiyyah was a labor; lifting her foot out of the crud felt like yanking her leg out of the grip of some slimy animal, and every time she put it back into the earth it sunk down with an unpleasant splat. Morning dew gathered on her face and her clothes, and it seemed as if the path grew steeper and steeper as she came nearer to the castle.
These distracting thoughts were cast aside. Safiyyah stared up at the castle above. It was occupied, certainly, which was good; that meant resting in a warn bed, as certainly an alchemist would be welcomed in a lord's keep. The Atlantean she was told ruled the place, Lord Phaedreus, was rumored to be knowledgeable of what secrets lied in the ruins of the surrounding lands. And if one of these ruins might hold
the stone...
"Safiyyah," came a voice from behind her, low and deep and gentle.
"A moment, Buzo," said the woman in yellow, rubbing her cold hands together to warm them. "See the tower on the far right? It is windowless." And it was. All the other towers the Castle on Lofty Peak had had windows, clearly visible windows even as far as this. But that one did not. "If this Lord Phaedreus is hiding anything precious, it will be stored there. He's rumored to have maps of -"
"Safiyyah," the man behind her repeated, more firmly this time. "On the right, on the hill."
The alchemist went quiet, then flicked a glance in that direction without turning her head. Chibuzo had keen eyes: there, lurking about in the trees above, were a pair of barely visible archers. They wore leaves over their furred armor, and Safiyyah would not have noticed them on her own.
"Not soldiers," she muttered to herself, resting her left hand on her hip. "Not watchmen, either." She fingered one of the pouches of her shirt, found what she was searching for: a pair of small metal balls. She tucked them into her hand, careful not to click them together too hard. "What do you think-?"
"Waiting," Buzo answered, now walking next to her. He was a tall man, his skin a dark brown and the top of his cleanly shaven. His goatee was as handsome as always - his scarred, exotic face made northern girls swoon - and his eyes were alert as ever, searching.
"For?"
"The right chance to strike. They're distant, and there's a wind about. They might miss." So there was: a light wind, but enough to throw arrows off the mark, Safiyyah would wager, especially the sort of shoddily fletched arrows the bandits of this region usually had...
"There," he said, pointing on forward with the spear he used as a walking stick. His voice carried through the mist. "That is a good campsite." And it was: not far down the road was a cave that went into the mountains. It would be a good place to rest on a normal day...
And it also would trap them, assuming it had an end, which it likely did. At least, that's what those archers hunting them would think.
"
Already?" groaned Safiyyah, gripping her head with one hand and waving the other theatrically. "I'm tired of these rocks and this mud and this - this - this
drudgery!" Partly true, but really not. She wasn't
this insufferable.
"It's a cave," Chibuzo answered flatly, stepping on forward a bit faster. "It's dry, it's shelter, and it's going to rain soon. Pick up your skirt and hurry it up."
Safiyyah let out a loud, frustrated noise, grabbing at her head and huffing. Secretly, though, she was grinning.
Good thinking, Buzo. Good thinking.
It didn't take long to set the trap. It wasn't complicated: Safiyyah used a set of spare clothes and some straw (useful stuff to have, straw) to make a dummy of herself rolled up on a sleeping mat near a small campfire they'd mad. Sweet little Ghada, her mule, was pretending to sleep next to it, and all the valuables she'd been carrying were spread out beside her.
Chibuzo himself went on and found a hiding place deeper inside the cave where he waited with his spear. Safiyyah hid beneath some stones and stalagmites not too far from the entrance, holding the two metal balls from earlier in her hand. She had a cloth wrapped around her face, as did Chibuzo, and had sniffed a formula that clogged up the olfactory sense. Breathing was a little harder, but that was a necessary evil.
The two archers crept on in through the cave entrance, cautiously approaching the fire. The man in front took a good, quick look about, probably looking for Chibuzo, then gestured on forward. His friend padded on in silent as a mouse and went straight for the dummy with a rag in one hand and a dagger in the other.
That was when Safiyyah clicked the little balls together. It was audible, and it echoed through the caves; both men stopped what they were doing and started looking around. Then, Safiyyah threw them over the top of the stalagmites she hid behind, and as they struck the ground near the two men a green cloud started to come out.
The man nearer the entrance succumbed quickly, being much closer to Safiyyah. He coughed and stumbled about, but then fell onto the ground in a heap. His friend, though, started to dash for the cave entrance; but he'd paid no heed to the white mule and was tripped by her outstretched leg. He, too, began coughing, but was doing a better job of staying conscious, scrambling to his feet and covering his face with his rag. But he, too, was subdued, this time with a loud
THWACK! followed by silence.
Chibuzo stepped on out from the smoke and strode on over to Safiyyah, offering a hand to help her up. She accepted, and he glanced on back behind them at the two unconscious bandits.
"What do you want done with them?" he asked.
"I'll tie them up and gag them," answered Safiyyah, glancing over to make certain that Ghada was okay. She was: the mule was smart enough to get up and stay awake from the sleeping cloud after years of traveling with her mistress. The two men were still unconscious, as well. "Once they wake up, we'll question them and take them with us to the castle. I'm sure Lord Phaedreus will be happy to hear how you dispatched two criminals in his land..."
"Hm." That was the only sound Chibuzo made for several seconds. "Hm. You do not think they were sent by him?"
"I doubt it," she answered with a smile, pulling the cloth down from her mouth to show it. "But I guess we'll find out once they're away, no?" And with that, the alchemist replaced the cloth and started over toward Ghada to get the rope.
Today is going to be a good day, she thought as the rain began to pitter-patter outside the cave.
