Rose was able to reach the first ledge with ease, but she realized quickly that her arms probably needed more training for this kind of activity.
Her fingers gripped at the rocks and pulled with all their might, but she felt like she was trying to lift herself over an impossible bar.
"Keep three points of contact at all times," Ethyn whispered as softly as he could.
Rose had been using one arm and one leg to climb the wall like a ladder. When she switched her technique, it became much easier. That was not to say it was smooth, but the princess no longer felt like she was going to fall to her death.
Below her, the knight stood with his eyes up to catch the princess if disaster struck. His ears were trained on the soldiers outside. Now that the men believed they were alone and secluded, they had become even louder than before. Their voices covered up any noises that Ethyn and Rose accidentally made.
"I just hope the king appreciates our efforts for his cause," one of the men said. Others growled their assent.
"Don't get your hopes up. King Willric does as he pleases when he pleases. But as long as we don't cross him, we can do as we like," Sir Kent chuckled. "Which is why he won't mind that we are taking our own share of the spoils...unless he finds out. He expects us to know to take our cut of whatever we happen to find." The knight winked.
The others laughed heartily and congratulated one another on their own depravity.
The vulgar meaning behind the words nearly pushed Ethyn over the edge. Knights were supposed to protect and honor, not steal and destroy. These men would be brought back to justice as soon as possible.
The princess was now about half way up the rockface. Sooner than later, he would need to follow her before they were discovered. Leaving his position for only a moment, Ethyn peeked around the corner to alert his horse of his exit, and hopefully cause a distraction.
Ethyn gave three short coos like a mourning dove, and his stallion snorted softly in response. He waved his head around and whinnied, stomping furiously at the ground.
"What's gotten into that one?" Someone asked with mild interest.
"Do you think it got bitten by a snake?" This question led to a flurry of overlapping answers.
"There are snakes around here?"
"I hate Birle! They have every kind of ugly creature!"
"We better find and kill it before it bites one of us!"
'Funny how one suggestion can spread like wildfire.' Ethyn smiled. Courage had done and excellent job of making the comfortable travelers uncomfortable.
"Spread out and clear the area of snakes. None of you fools will rest until you are sure that you are safe. Big babies...all of you." Sir Kent scolded them. Yet, there was a hint of fear in his own voice as well.
Spreading out was bad for Ethyn and Rose, but it had also given them a great boon. The men were staring fiercely at the ground, not in the air or at the rockface. As long as the two could get up the wall before the men found a snake or gave up, they would be in the clear.
Rose was far enough in her ascent that Ethyn felt comfortable she would make it. And if she fell now, not even his tender embrace would stop her from at least breaking an arm, and possibly his back. It was time for him to climb.
For her part, the princess was trying to reach the top with as little fuss as she could. She had heard the sudden disturbance below, but did not know that the source of the commotion was Courage.
Instead, Rose doubled her efforts. The increase in speed also gave way to an increase in mistakes. An incautious swing of her leg, caused the blonde to scrape her exposed knee against the jagged rocks. It stung terribly. The blood was minimal, but the sudden pain made the princess nearly miss her next handhold.
Fortunately, Ethyn's advice about three points of contact was being followed, and the woman was able to keep her position on the wall without a problem.
'Slow and steady,' Rose promised herself after the incident. To her dismay, the point she had reached was the exposed section of the wall where the soldiers could clearly see her. But which was worse: death by falling or being seen by the men in the cove?
It was a tough call.
Deciding to just go for it, Rose pushed herself upward to where she could see down into the cove. The men were all frantically searching the ground, not sparing her a glance.
'How odd,' Rose cocked her head to one side, but went back to her task. That is why she didn't notice one of the bandits make a strange expression as he neared one of the walls.
"Oh!" he squealed. "No, never mind. False alarm... but I do think you should see this, Sir Kent." From the ground, the man lifted an apple core. "How do you suppose this got here?"
"What is it?" the man with the bushy eyebrows squinted from across the brook.
"It's part of an apple. Still wet too." Sir Kent took the piece of fruit by the stem and held it in mid air. "There are no apple trees in the cove..."
"Could one of the horses have brought it in?"
"Horses don't carry around fruit for later, you idiot." Sir Kent gave the man who had spoken a withering gaze.
"Look at this!" Nearby, another soldier pulled a basket and blanket from a crevice.
The knight of Lakyle grunted. "It seems we have guests around here somewhere. We should give them a warm welcome. Find them."
The soldiers drew their swords. Each took a section of the cove and began to look in the bushes, taller grasses and in the rocks themselves.
Sir Kent dangled the core high in the air, nearly blocking the sun with it. "Don't worry, we will find your master," he promised. His vision went past the core and landed on the rockface. There at the very top of the wall, a figure was climbing feverishly to get to the top. "There!!!"
The last word caught Rose's attention. To her horror, the men had somehow gone from looking at the ground to peering right at her. All of them were making an all out run in her direction.
"Hurry!" she yelled down to Ethyn. The young man was already on the wall, but her warning caused him to speed up his journey.
It took one more large pull, a motion which ripped the hem of Rose's dress, to get the princess over the wall and to safety. Lying flat on her stomach, the princess spun around to reach down and help Ethyn get to safety as well.
Unfortunately, the knight was far behind her. He was nowhere near being able to reach her grasp.
Finding the break in the boulders, the soldiers burst into the hideaway.
"Get him!"
Five men swarmed the wall all at once, leaving no hand or footholds for the others as they all scrambled to catch the man above them.
For a moment, Rose was sure their uncoordinated efforts would result in the green-eyed man's escape. Their poor planning was yielding poor results.
But one of the men still watching from the ground removed a thin rope with a small weight on one end from his belt. He stepped to the middle of the hideaway, and brought the small weight around in a circle at his side.
Suddenly released upwards, the weight and cord sung through the air, coiling around Ethyn's left bicep. Before he could react, the rope came taut and ripped the knight's arm from the wall.
The rest of his body followed.
Crashing into the men below him, Ethyn landed in a heap of bodies at the bottom of the cove.
He was caught.