Isolde

Chapter 16 - The Plan Takes Action

Quite a crowd had gathered by the gates. Men, women, young teenagers and old men alike. There were nobles and barons with their swords and men all the way down to peasants armed with nothing but sickles and farming tools. There were enough people to constitute an army but not many of them were actually trained in combat, still it would have to do. They had no other choice until they heard back from Inovine.

Frelian had sent his letter to Inovine the day before, just after they'd arrived at the village. Biren had informed him of a baron who was travelling there on business who might be willing to take their letter for him. He assured Frelian he was a trustworthy man. Frelian had found this baron and given him the letter, explaining the urgency and need to get it to King Callan as quickly as possible. The baron had agreed to take the letter and Frelian assured him that if it was delivered safely he would be rewarded, and with that promise the baron had set off.

They left the village the second the first ray of light appeared over the sea. They knew that by waiting they might amass a few more joiners but they might also be caught by the Turige when they began to wake up. They therefore decided to start their march and agreed that anyone else who wished to join could simply catch up as they went on their journey.

It was a fairly mild temperature. The ground was hard from the beating heat of the summer and the trees, although green, offered very little in the way of shade. The party marched as quietly as they could manage up the hill, nearing the palace with every step, being led by Frelian and Isolde. Everyone seemed very proud to be a part of the march and there was a sense of pride amongst the people that they were doing something for their country that they loved so much.

By the time the sun had completely emerged from the horizon of the sea, they were at the church ruins that Frelian and Isolde had taken refuge in the day before. More guards were now arriving to take their posts for the day so they gathered inside the church to discuss the next part of the plan out of the view of those who would stop them. The palace was less than ten minutes away but the final part of their journey was to be the most dangerous and would require the most planning. What door would they aim to storm, how many would go each way, would they go in formation or just charge, were they splitting up?

People began to offer their ideas, some with a military background and others opting for the element of surprise. Frelian, as the self appointed leader mediated these suggestions before formulating the final plan. "Right." he stepped up onto a broken peal "We shall march in two groups with a small one, led by Lady Isolde, heading to the front and a much larger one, led by myself, sneaking round the back. The front group will act as a distraction so the back group can get in undetected. We will head to the throne room and will confront the turige and claim back the palace, taking them prisoner. We will equally split those of military background and those of farming between both groups so each has equal fighting abilities, although everyone may have to fight at some point."

Everyone seemed happy with that plan and Frelian then began to organise the people into two groups. One group stood at the front and the other at the back. About a third with Isolde and the rest with him. Biren would go with Isolde although most of the military men would be with Frelian. The smaller group at the front of the church would leave first, as soon as they were past the start of the walls, the larger group would leave. Frelian's group would approach the palace through the trees that ran along the back of it's gardens and would enter through the doors by the garden terrace, using the maze to cover themselves until the right moment.

Biren began to arrange the small group into a formation. Several lines of three with the most experienced fighters at the front and back. He wanted to make it look really obvious that they were trying to attack in the hopes that the guards would turn their attention on them leaving the back entrance free. Isolde was to lead the group with Biren at the rear, however he would wear Frelian's cloak to try and trick the guards. They would try to storm the castle from the main gate but were mostly there to buy Frelian's group some time and distract the guards.