…and then closes as one rider leaves going down the road. “Well, Las, there goes your message boy.” She gives me a glare as I smirk at her. “Either of you two recognize that one?” Las shrugs before offering to ride after and kill him with a growl from her belly. “Ooo…a little bloodthirsty when you haven’t eaten,” I tease while offering Las a part of the sweet bread she had specifically set aside from the hag’s basket for herself.

“You!” she accuses under a harsh whisper. “Stole my sweet bread!”

“Like you really thought no one would,” I giggle. “You want it or not?” She grabs it from my little outstretched hand. I turn my attention back to the walls frowning. Oran clears his throat.

“I think that might have been the smith.”

“He does us no good then,” I grumble. “I don’t think he’ll be coming back at this hour, especially the way he’s relaxed on his mount. He’s the only one to have left the walls?” Las nods while munching thoughtfully on the sweets. We continue to discuss possible options to get into the walls or rather over them. Las had had the best idea so far, but that would leave me or Oran to go in as the shadows. But it wasn’t like any of us three were great choices either as we all had rather distinguishing looks to us. Las her height and decorative scars, Oran’s paleness and mine…well a full sidhe would stick out anywhere, golden or not if discovered. Time seems to draw on forever.

“Fine,” I hiss, “we’ll have to use an old ploy, but who’s to wander into the owl’s nest?” Oran says he’s been in there plenty of times and knows his way around, but might be recognized. It comes to me and Las. She hesitates before declining on grounds she hasn’t eaten enough and might kill someone because of it, which wasn't the objective of this little venture.

We take stock of what we have and what we’re going to do. The other two were going to backtrack with her pony and act as nothing more than noisy travelers to come up the road and to the gate, maybe start a fight. While I going to sneak up the back wall and see what I could see. That was before my ears picked up the sound of hooves. Hooves traveling quickly, it was pure pack mentality once I took off.

I am only a few strides of my packmates as we follow down the road in the shadows of trees. Lasair’s long stride is quickly catching up behind me. Oran is but a hair’s breath away from her. That’s when my companions see what I heard. We only had to spook this horse enough for it to toss its’ rider. The wall wasn’t quite out of view, but far enough for us to take this chance.

We burst through the brush in front of our prey. I hiss turning up my speed to cross in front of the beast first. Lasair and Oran stay on the other side. The horse screams a challenge, spooked, but instead of turning of fright it rears to issue a second scream. Its’ rider curses as the horse strikes out with its’ front legs. I use my cloak as threatening wings to spook the horse further. I barely move out of the way of a striking hoof. Lasair and Oran attack from the other side. The rider lashes out awkwardly as his horse dances. After a few more quick moments he’s drug off his high spirited horse. He fights well, but not well enough as he reeks of ale. Besides, who was good enough to fight off three wolves at once?

Oran howls with no warning. His mimicry of a wolf is very good and good thinking as the horse’s scream could have been heard from the wall. Lasair sits upon the rider with her nastiest looking weapon at his throat, his spear off to the side out of his reach. All three of our hoods hide our faces. I lead over his horse, trying to soothe it. He soothes after a few moments. No one is yet heard heading our way, just heavy breathing from our hunt and from the prey, who has yet to say a word. He looks murderous testing Lasair’s control. The Ghost stands weapons drawn to help or hasten death along.

I kneel at his head and whap it with the reins from his horse. I have his attention now. “We have a message for you and yours…”