It was early morning by the time they'd made it onto the ramparts. The guards were like the sun, trudging off the ramparts slowly, tired from their long night watch. Vella the Shoon had told Griselle that It would be another 5 minutes till the next shift replaced them. This would be their best chance to infiltrate the city undetected.
Griselle dug her claws into the spaces between the stone tiles, sending bits of cement flying as she hid in the fleeing shadows whilst vaulting up the sheer wall. She could hear the scraping of two other sets of claws as Ragnar and their werewolf companion, Kaelen, followed suit.
Other sounds were also ringing in Griselle's ears. The song of early birds, the clatter of hoofbeats and wooden wheel of the caravans at the nearby gates.
Griselle leapt and vaulted from edge to edge, swift and silent as a phantom until she landed upon the stone ramparts, her cloak falling around her, the colour of woven branches fluttering as she darted into the cover of the shade..
Ragnar and Kaelen soon joined her, their technique no less impressive than hers. The trio huddled against a stone wall at the entrance of a stairwell leading down to the guard barracks. With Ragnar on the lookout for approaching guards, Griselle decided to go over the plan one last time.
A yellowed paper emerged from the folds of her cloak, with lines of black ink running down its surface, weaving together a maze that formed the outline of the city. Griselle pointed to a number of particular lanes that were specifically marked with red crosses.
" These are where the winter markets will be held. We split up from here." She said as she pointed to a particular fork in the road some distance away from their current location.
"Our Princess is likely to be one of the many slaves to be auctioned off today. Our job is to find her before that happens and leave this city alive, with her.."
She took a second to judge her companion's reactions. Ragnar couldn't look more nervous gazing down the stairwell and Kaelen was looking at the map so intensely she was afraid he would rip it apart.
He had been her ward. He had been entrusted with her safety and upbringing by the old commissioner of the kitsune clan. And although he had not been there when she was taken, Griselle knew that the old mutt still blamed himself terribly for what happened. As for those who were responsible for losing her...Griselle didn't exactly want to know what he would do to them if they weren't already dead.
The slowly sound of approaching, crunching metal boots finally reached Griselle and Ragnar's ears from the stairway below. It was time to go.
" Follow me." She commanded.
Griselle crouched down onto all fours and flew from the ramparts, hitting the nearest roof running without a sound. She didn't look back since she knew that her allies were hard on her tail. And also for the fact that she didn't trust that they wouldn't smell her unrest.
It didn't bode well for the prospects of the mission if its leader was doubtful. It would impact morale, influence choices, lead to consequences that Griselle knew all too well. They were unwelcome emissaries in a foreign land. Failure of the mission meant annihilation she reminded herself. As the thought sunk in, Griselle unconsciously ran even faster.
' The faster this hunt is over, the better..' she thought.
Griselle vaulted down from the roof of one last building and stood back up on twos, surveying her surroundings as she waited for the other two to catch up.
She had chosen a small alley a distance away from the fork they'd intended to begin their search. But since the winter market was the largest south of the empire, this meant two things. Firstly, security would undoubtedly be tight. Any suspicious figures in fully hooded cloaks jumping from buildings into the middle of bustling streets in broad daylight are unlikely to be unnoticed.
Secondly, the vendors would need time to set up and the market would be unlikely to enter full swing until mid or late morning. And as for stalls selling slaves, they would likely come up faster than the others. But if one were in the market for those on the finer end of the spectrum, any savvy slave trader would know to sell them when there are the most people around.
Two thuds heralded the arrival of Ragnar and Kaelen. Griselle quickly her instructions.
" We'll split up here. Try to find the princess as quickly as possible and once you do, extract and disengage."
She looked Kaelen in the eye, wanting to confirm his understanding. The werewolf grunted and looked away. But he nodded.
" Alright, let's go."