Rowan and Senna were tucked into the tree line, about 500 feet away from the tower, awaiting some sort of signal or sign that it was safe for them to start moving. It shouldn't take the pair more than a minute to quickly, but quietly, make it to the tower, but getting there before the diversion started would be dangerous.
But the waiting was the hard part, Rowan was getting antsy.
He was trying to occupy himself, getting himself prepped for the attack. For the past few minutes he had been doing warm up stretches, bending over to touch his toes and stretching his arms across his chest. Basically anything to keep from standing still.
He takes a glance over at his companion. She seemed perfectly capable, everything would go just fine. Hopefully.
The fairy squats down in the grass sprouting in this tree line. His brown eyes scan the ground a moment. He takes a deep breath, and pulls a small knife out of a sheath on his belt. He cuts five blades of grass from the patch. Stashing the grass in his pocket, he then produces a handful of tiny seeds, sprinkling them where he trimmed the grass. Rowan continued to look down at the grass, a concentrated look on his face. He runs his hand over the seeds, slowly exhaling, as his hand pulls away it reveals tiny sprouts where the seeds once were.
Rowan stands, stretching his arms over his head. He looks at Senna.
"Alright, do you have any concerns?"He looks away with a huff.
"I've never worked with someone...sight impaired before. I don't want to hold your hand or like...have a leash around you. Cause I know you don't need that."He pauses a moment, stealing a glance at the Darkling.
"But I don't want to leave you stranded either so...what do you need? Descriptions? Whistle signals?Senna responded to Rowan's words by raising an eyebrow. From where she stood, she'd been patiently waiting for the fight between Adam, Lulian, Irae, and Amelia to begin. Instead of worrying about the plan, she thought it over as she listened to the breathing of her partner. She could hear the faint wheels of the trojan horse in the distance. The way Rowan spoke to her feigned nonchalance so obvious that Senna knew he was genuinely concerned for her. She smirked.
"Unless I spontaneously lose my hearing, you won't have to worry about me." Her voice only had a hint of snark to it.
She almost left it at that, but she remembered the leash comment and frowned.
"If anyone puts a leash on me, they're going to lose a hand." She muttered
Rowan blinks, snorts, and then laughs at this comment. He stifles the sound slightly, not wanting to give away their position. After a moment Rowan finally speaks.
”Gotcha, noted. I’d like to keep my hands.”.
The fairy quickly sorts through his bag, pulling out the two grappling hooks Emrys lent him. They were...heavier than he would have liked, but there was no point complaining now. Rowan had also given them a little customization, he holds one out in front of Senna.
”Here’s your grappling hook. I wrapped a thin cloth around each of the tines, so they won’t make a really loud scraping sound when they hook the tower wall. I trust the rest of the Pride to be distracting, but I want to give us as much of an advantage as possible.”Senna clicks her tongue once before her long fingers reach towards the rope and grasp it. She gives Rowan a nod before securing the makeshift grappling hook to her belt on the opposite side of her pistol.
”Good idea.” She then slowly pulls her gloves to reveal the wrappings around her wrists, palm, and fingers. She tucks the gloves into a pocket before stretching her fingers out.
”I’m not sure if you’ll have time, but I do have one request.” She could hear the ox and cart rolling to a stop down the way. It was almost time.
”When we’re climbing… if you see any arrows coming our way, let me know.”Rowan nods, but then quickly realizes the gesture would be lost on Senna.
”Yeah...yeah I can do that.”
Before any further words could be said, a sound caught Senna’s attention from the direction of the cart. The clash of metal against metal. The first fight had started.
Senna held up her hand as a gesture to wait, just in case Rowan heard it too.
”When you see the archers at the top of the tower fall, we move in. Only when the archers are taken out can we make the distance between the trees and the tower without getting hurt.”As soon as the fighting had begun Rowan poked his head out of the treeline, just slightly, wanting to keep tabs on the melee group. Just barely, with his keen fairy eyes, could Rowan see the figures clashing. Although it was difficult to identify who was who, given that it was dark, and the fighting was happening far across a field.
Rowan narrowed his eyes slightly, huffing. He didn’t like the suggestion for the pair to wait until the four bandit archers had been killed for them to start moving. The two were about 500 feet away from the tower. It wouldn’t take a human all that long to sprint that distance, but the two of them had little legs. Not only that but the field had pretty tall grass, it was dark, and the bandits probably weren’t looking for two Fae to be tearing ass across the field.
But the captain's order is the captain’s order. Rowan really didn’t want to piss the guy off. He liked his job, and he liked not having arrows in him. Rowan watched the movement of the ground team with wide eyes, trying to keep the locations of his allies and the bandits in mind. But once the archery team got into position, and began firing at the tower, Rowan really started getting excited. His wings fluttered slightly as the arrows rained against the bandits.
He saw enough of these arrows collide with their foes to feel like the time was now. Rowan turns back to Senna, and in a hushed whisper says:
"Alright! Our turn, let's keep close together."And with a deep breath Rowan dashed into the field. And while not in a dead sprint, as that would be a little too attention grabbing, he was moving pretty quickly. The two of them had to get to and up the tower before any bandits on the ground tried to flee inside, or the captain got smart and fled to the top. It would make it far harder for the two to climb up with a pair of bandits causing problems.
Rowan let one of his hands run through the grass they were hurrying through, the tips of his fingers glowing slightly.
Let us through, we will cause no harm.. The grass, seemingly responding to Rowan's magic, parted around the two small humanoids as they charged through the field. The fairy winced slightly, blinking. Casting magic quickly, and while on the move, was difficult and draining. But he would take a headache tomorrow over tripping and falling in a field of tall grass because he and Senna were three feet tall.
Senna hadn’t been able to hear the arrows flying through the air, but she could tell they’d been set loose. Rowan’s wings fluttered; it happened every time he was excited. She even heard a few low
thumps of bodies hitting rock. The arrows made their mark. It was time to move. Senna nodded her head when Rowan gave her the okay to go, and she was off.
She ran alongside Rowan with her head ducked low. Her ears heard the rim of her hat skim the tips of the grass until Rowan whispered to them and they parted. Now she only heard the sounds of their feet thumping across the field. She ran for what felt like a long time. Too long. Rowan’s feet slowed and Senna matched his pace until he stopped. Her tongue clicked twice, and she could hear her echos against the tower wall. They’d made it unscathed. Now they just needed to climb.
The pair eventually made it to the tower, approaching from the northern face farthest away from the ground group. As Senna and Rowan got into position to climb, the fairy took glances at the melee team. Shifting focus back to the tower, it was clear that the tower was too tall to simply throw the hook up and hope it stuck. With a sigh Rowan took several steps away from the tower, swinging the grappling hook next to him like a lasso. Once the hook picked up a significant amount of speed, and a good amount of slack, Rowan released it. The tines of the hook grabbing onto the upper lip of the tower, a strong pull confirming that, at least for now, it will hold strong.
While Rowan prepped his grappling hook, Senna knew she wouldn’t be able to hook it from this low. Instead of relying on the rope to aid her climb, she simply removed her gloves and stuffed them into her belt.
”See you at the top,” she said to Rowan before her hands gripped the wall of the tower and she started her ascent. She’d climbed walls like this before. Towers that were made this way, with rock and white clay, made it easy for her thin and long fingers to find a hold in the crevices. Her toes drug across the wall beneath her until they found footing. She continued to feel her way up the tower at a pace faster than Rowan could climb. With one click of her tongue, she knew she’d reached the top. She could hear a remaining bandit scrambling for the hatch and stopped to wait for Rowan. She’d need help to take him out.
Rowan took a glance over to his side, hoping Senna had been able to get her grappling hook ready. Instead he spotted her already climbing. Climbing with just her hands. Rowan blinked, trying to get rid of his wide eyed look of amazement. Rowan began climbing himself, using the rope to assist in his walking up the wall. He occasionally fluttered his wings, not wanting to leave Senna waiting. Pulling himself onto the lip of the tower a few moments after Senna, he was quickly able to discover why she had stopped. One of the bandits was still alive, and attempting to crawl to safety. Rowan frowned, for a moment the softness in his heart taking over.
The fairy grabbed the vine he kept coiled on his hip and with a quick movement of his fingers, and some magical persuading, the vine sprang to life, whipping out towards the injured bandit. It found it’s target not around his neck but instead the man’s leg, pulling the injured man away from the hatch. And Rowan, with the other end of the vine firmly gripped in his hand, barked out in a hopefully intimidating voice:
”Surrender now and you will be spared.” The bandit, eyes wide with terror, raised his hands in the air and mumbled “...o...okay.”
Rowan looks over the edge of the tower, at the melee team making short work of the bandits there.
”And feel blessed that you are dealing with us and not them.” The bandit nodded vigorously, his skin pale, though whether that was from blood loss or fear or both was unclear.
Senna pulled herself over the parapets, then put her gloves back onto her hands before proceeding. She could tell that the man was on the ground, but she had to click her tongue to know the vine was around his ankle. It wasn’t enough to keep the man subdued. Especially because he was being captured by two small fae. With a frown, Senna pulled her scimitar from its sheath and pointed it in the direction of the bandit.
”Move and you’ll regret it.” The bandit replied only by screaming and covering his face.
Now atop the tower, Senna and Rowan got a glimpse of the situation. The battle on the ground was going swimmingly, Adam having already taken down one of the bandits with a swift thrust of his sword, with Iulian and Amelia gaining on the others. Below, they heard the sound of a door slam shut, then muffled shouting. The fourth ground bandit, seeing the situation, had run inside and locked the front door. At the top of the tower, in the corner opposite where the corpses of the bandits slouched, was a wooden trapdoor with a heavy brass ring bolted on to open it. Rowan approached and tugged on the brass ring, but to no avail— the door was sturdily locked, with the bandit captain inside.
Rowan sighed, seeing that the still living bandit was no longer a threat, and the trap door was locked, the Fairy hurried along the lip of the tower, until he was on the face closest to the ground team. Taking a deep breath, Rowan sharply whistled, hoping to at least get Iulian’s attention, pointing and gesturing down at the fourth bandit dashing back into the tower. Rowan considered calling down to the ground team, but really didn’t want to call any more attention to himself and Senna. He turns to the quivering bandit, and attempted to sound friendly.
”Calm down, we aren’t gonna hurt you unless you give us a reason.”
