The Hibernian Runaway

Chapter 21

Halt sat silently in the underbrush, his bow resting on his lap and an arrow on the string. For the past two hours, he had been watching the guards, assessing their competency. And so far he had not been impressed.

Stonewall was Clonmel's most secure prison, and where Queen Josephine was keeping her husband locked up until the scheduled public execution. Halt knew that it would be all too easy to seize the prison and free the deposed king, but the plan was to avoid as many unnecessary casualties as possible. So they had to watch and wait.

"Jerry! Save some of that for me!" one of the guards hollered.

Jerry was sitting down at a wooden table that the guards on shift had pulled out. His feet were perched on the table top, and he was sipping from a flask that most certainly contained some sort of ale. "If you want some Percival, you better get your ass over here before Arthur and the others get here." he shouted back, his voice warbling.

"I told ye to call me Percy," a guard said, walking up and sitting at one of the chairs. He snatched the flask from Jerry and took a long draft before it was taken away from him. He sighed contently, and pulled out a deck of playing cards, slapping them down on table.

"You know that you're not supposed to have them  out." another voice said. Halt turned his head to see a couple walking towards the two seated guards, obviously Arthur and another guard.

"Aye." Percy replied. "But ain't nobody's here to see us." He winked and shuffled the cards, dealing them out with sly movements of his hands. "Plus ye be the only one with authority, so only ye can tell me to put 'em away."

Arthur sat down at the table with an exasperated sigh. "You're right." He snatched his hand up from the table.

They began to play cards, Halt barely able to contain his contempt for the men. They had no idea how bad the situation they were in really was. Their King was to be executed along with his only surviving heir; an entire family line wiped out in one public event.

"That would make me the last O'Carrick." Halt thought, feeling a slight twinge of shock. Then he shook his head; there was no way in hell that they were going to let Queen Josephine achieve her goals.

Halt was about to turn Abelard around and make his way back to camp, when the guards started talking again.

"So I was able to pull a few strings." Arthur said, the back of his head tipping to the side. "And get us on the convoy that will be escorting the prisoner to Dun Kilty in three days."

"That's great." Jerry said, passing his flask around. "We can finally get out of this dump."

"Yeah, though I couldn't get us off the night before we leave." Arthur muttered. "We'll be pulling the late shift, then heading out with the rest of the convoy."

"How many others be going?" Percy asked. "And who else."

"Patrick and three others." Arthur said. "We'll all be on horses, escorting a jail cart to Dun Kilty. And we won't be expecting any resistance, cause Josephine's all got it under control."

"I don't know, Arty." Percy said, shaking his head. "You know it took months to finally find that princess. And she almost screwed her relations with the Araluens."

"That doesn't matter. They wouldn't dare interfere with our affairs. They've already done enough with Ferris and that cult." Arthur spat.

"Well, Sean did have a treaty with the Araluens. They could technically-"

"Shut it, Travis!" Jerry said. "We all know that you're Patrick's number one recruit. Set to do diplomacy once you get enough experience."

"It's Trevor." he muttered under his breath looking down at his hand of cards. He shook his head then laid them flat on the table. "I'm gonna go take a walk." he said. He pushed up from the table and started to walk away, obviously annoyed with the others.

"Ah, let 'em go." Percy said. "He's young and don't have a good head on his shoulders."

Halt shook his head, amazed with their idiocy. He decided that he had seen enough and turned Abelard around. They moved through the underbrush, Halt breathing in the scent of the trees.

Halt mulled over the information that he had just gleamed from the unsuspecting guards. In three days time, King Sean would be moved by cart to Dun Kilty and publicly executed along with his daughter upon his arrival that day. There would only be eight guards accompanying the prisoner king, who would be in a locked cart.

Abelard nickered as he came through the underbrush and into their camp. Tents spanned the small clearing, accommodating their small party of Araluens and more than forty willing Hibernians that had heard about their cause. Halt nudged his horse towards the main tent, where Crowley, Will, and Horace were outlining the plan to stabilize Hibernia.

Halt dismounted Abelard and left him standing next to Tug and Cropper. He then walked into the tent, the flaps swishing behind him.

"Halt." Will said, looking up as he entered. "You're back."

"Very observant of you." he muttered. "How is the plan coming along?" He asked.

"Slowly." Crowley said, still staring at the map of the surrounding area. "It's going to be difficult to coordinate this many people, especially since they have no experience with this whatsoever."

"Well if it helps, they're planning on moving Sean in three days." Halt said. He walked over to the map and traced his finger over the main road running from Stonewall to Dun Kilty. "They'll most likely use this route because they're all incompetent and lazy."

Crowley nodded, turning the new information over in his head. "Continue, please." he gestured. "I can see that you've been thinking."

"There will be eight guards in the convoy." Halt began. "It will be easily taken if we ambush it here." Touching a bend in the road on the map.

Crowley and Will nodded. "And how will we get into Dun Kilty, to rescue Lilly?" Crowley asked. "We'll never be able to break in with only ten experienced fighters and forty assorted farmers."

"Easy." Will said. "We have ten able bodied Araluen fighters. We just replace their guards with our soldiers, and walk right into the castle. And the execution is public, so our farmers can just walk right in too, wanting to see Sean and Lilly's death."

Halt smirked a little, impressed that Will was able to come up with a plan that quickly. "That will work, and you know it, Crowley ."