Chapter 125

He took a quick glance outside the door and seeing no one but Bjarkë who waited outside, he led Stuart in the opposite direction from the stairs. Bjarkë had a long rope and he followed. Reaching a window on a wall close to the woods, Thorburn took the rope and tied one end to a decorative crenelation in the window and lowered the other end to the ground.

"Go down the rope and wait for me in the shadows at the bottom," Thorburn ordered.

Stuart did as instructed and shortly after he reached the ground, Thorburn crouched beside him. The rope disappeared back up the wall and the window closed. They swung by where Frang had left the food, then Thorburn led him into the woods, pausing next to a patch of bare ground.

"Rub some of this dirt on your face and any other skin," Thorburn said, doing the same as he spoke. "It makes us harder to spot."

Stuart rubbed himself dark and when they were finished he could barely see Thorburn standing right beside him.

"Lead the way, brother," Thorburn said. "You know your way better than I do."

Stuart picked up his bow and gliding through the Stygian darkness, headed for Achnadrish with Thorburn trailing behind.

It took five hours to reach the hill overlooking Achnadrish from the West, the last two to traverse the final three miles. The closer they got, the slower Thorburn wanted to move to be sure they didn't expose themselves to any possible watchers. When Stuart got them near, Thorburn started leading, creeping at a pace which allowed him to stop often and search the surrounding area. When they reached a hill with a good view of the razed town, Thorburn stopped.

"This is the spot," Thorburn said, his voice pitched low. "Good view of the surrounding area and any possible guard posts of Blackthorne's to protect his tunnel. We'll see if we can spot any guard posts tonight, look again tomorrow in the daylight when Teárlag comes; see if anybody sticks their head out. If they're doing their job, they should peek out when her carriage shows up. Once we know where they are, it gives us a path to the tunnel to avoid the watchers."

"We going to sneak around some more?"

"Nay. Best we don't move. We'll look around, see if we spot any lights. It's a dark night and we should detect any fires for warmth, and sounds will carry well. You look on the right side of the village; I'll look to the left. Then, we'll take turns sleeping until daylight. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see them change the guards."

Stuart stared into the darkness of his sector for the longest time not seeing anything, when he noticed the strangest flicker. If he'd blinked, he'd have missed it. He narrowed his focus on the area where he'd seen it. Nothing. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. He was about to look away, when he saw it again.

"I think I saw something," Stuart whispered. "A brief flash of light."

"Aye? Where's that, brother?"

"Look where I'm pointing. You may have to watch for awhile. It happens quickly and goes away fast."

Thorburn looked in the indicated direction and did not see anything, but he trusted Stuart and kept his eye on the spot. After several minutes of watching, he finally saw it too.

"There! Did you see it?" Stuart said.

"Aye. There's something there all right."

"What is it? It happens so fast."

Thorburn pondered for awhile, eventually seeing the flash again.

"I think I know what it is," he finally said. "They've hung blankets or something in the windows of one of the houses left standing and they've a fire inside. Every once in awhile, someone will take a peek out and we'll see light as they move the blanket to see out the window."

"What can they see in some a brief time? They're eyes won't have adjusted to the dark yet."

"No they stay at the window, watching. The blanket is big enough to cover the watcher. We only see a light when someone else moves to the window. They have to move it enough to get under it before it drops again. They switch to stay alert. Good eye, brother. Mark the location in your head. We'll have another look when it's light through the scouting glass. Why don't you nap for an hour, then we'll switch. I'll wake you if I see anything useful."

Stuart lowered himself to the ground, shifted around to find a comfortable spot, closed his eyes, and it seemed as soon as they were closed, Thorburn was shaking him awake. Stuart sat up and Thorburn lay down. When Stuart woke him, it was getting close to dawn, there was a glow in the Eastern sky not present in the West. Thorburn told him to sleep again. Thorburn shook him awake a half hour later after the sun was up.

"They're changing the watch," Thorburn said. "Keep an eye on the village to see where they go, but don't forget to look in the woods as well. All the guard may not be in the remains of the town. I'll look from the town toward the North, and you look from the town to the South."

"Will we be using the scouting glass?" Stuart asked, immediately checking his sector for movement.

"Too risky at the moment. The sun's in front of us and it may reflect off the glass and be seen by someone below. We'll wait until the sun is moving behind us."

"I didn't know it was so complicated to be a scout."

"Aye. I've learned from practical experience. I was about the spring the most brilliant ambush and took one last look through the glass and someone spotted the flash. They shouted out to their fellows and immediately, the whole party was alert. The ambush lost the element of surprise, much to my disgust. We still managed to beat them. We were too experienced and they were too green, but I lost more men than I needed to that day. Now, I pay attention to where the sun is before I use it."

Stuart saw two men go into a house in the same general location as the flash last night, and two others leave. Another two went towards a copse of trees south of the town. No others left, so either they were staying or the watch only went into the trees during the day. It might mean they had to avoid fewer watchmen during the night. They tried to be stealthy, not marching down the road or anything, but it was hard to avoid being seen if you had to move. A disadvantage to tearing most of the buildings down; it left a lot of open space to be navigated.

Thorburn said, "I saw two go behind the shell of a building on the north side of the town and two others come up on this same ridge we're on about a half mile to our north. What did you see?"

"Two go into the building we saw the light from last night, replacing two; and two others go into a small copse on the south. Nobody left the trees. I was thinking the one building is the only post they man at night."

"We'll check the next time they change guards," Thorburn said. "You can sleep again until something else happens. I'll wake you in an hour."

Stuart lay down to nap, putting his hands behind his head. Thorburn pulled out the map Teárlag provided.

"How does it look?" Stuart asked. "Is it accurate?"

"It doesn't show the whole town," Thorburn admitted, "but what it does have is pretty accurate. If I'm not mistaken, I believe I see the house where the tunnel's located. Fairly near to the guards we spotted last night, which makes sense if they're watching the entrance."

"Thorburn, I'm reasonably certain Teárlag regrets what she's done."

"I don't care if she regrets it or not. It's not my concern any longer. I want nothing more to do with her."

"I think she's trying to atone," Stuart said. "Make up for her mistakes."

"She should atone, but it makes no difference, brother. She made a fool of me and I'll not be bothered by a false whore any longer."

"A whore?"

"What would you call a woman who's slept with three different men, all for money and position?"

"I suppose."

"Go to sleep. I'll be rousing you in forty-five minutes. You've already wasted fifteen of your hour."

"Before I do, I thought about what you said about the sun reflecting off the glass. What if you put your tartan or one of the blankets over yourself and the glass, maybe two feet back from the edge of the cloth? You still couldn't look directly into the sun, but as long as the sun's rays couldn't reach the glass, you shouldn't get a reflection."

Thorburn thought of the concept for a moment. "Stuart, you're brilliant. That's a fantastic idea. Help me get set up. The sun should be high enough in the sky now."

Thorburn got his glass out and lay on the ground. Moving slowly, Stuart pulled his blanket over Thorburn, extending it two feet past where the glass would go once Thorburn put it to his eye.

"This isn't working. The blanket's front keeps drooping over the front so I can't see anything," Thorburn said. Stuart reached his bow under the front and lifted it a foot off the ground.

"Aye, that's better, but if you hold the blanket up, you can't get any sleep."

"Wait a moment."

Stuart found a couple branches of the bushes they were hiding behind meeting his needs, cut them off and pulling out his knife, sharpened the ends. The other end was shaped like the top of a "Y". He pushed the sharpened ends of the two sticks in the soft ground about two feet apart and pulled the blanket over the tops. It rested there with enough clearance for Thorburn to see.

"I've got to hand it to you, brother. It's a bonny idea. I'll have a look around. I'll let you sleep for sixty."

Stuart patted Thorburn's shoulder and lay down again, quickly drifting off to sleep.

He opened his eyes again with Thorburn nudging his leg. "Get up. Teárlag's carriage is here. I'll watch to see what the guards do, you keep an eye on Teárlag."

Stuart sat up and watched Teárlag descend from the carriage. The carriage immediately moved off, heading for Blackthorne Manor.