Tycoon May: Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Running past the cells where the rest of the members of the convoy were being held made Grant feel bad for leaving them, but he knew Sam and Evander would handle things quickly enough.  Finding them an exit close to their wagons was the best help he could provide at the moment.

<Don’t forget, you are going to have to fight your way out of the gate once you get control of the wagons, not to mention taking care of the crossbows hiding in the windows overlooking the street.>  Grant tried not to sigh at the thought of everything he still had to do.  <Remember when you walked through the front gate, and said you weren’t going to get in any trouble?  Yeah, that was a good time.>

The cells ended at an intersection with another tunnel, and Grant could quickly tell that this section wasn’t under the wall any more.  To one side, it smelled like the sewer.  On the other, it quickly corkscrewed downward out of sight, most likely to some form of cistern or storage area.  Even though he really didn’t want to do it, Grant knew his best option was the smelly passage.

A stinking trail of sludge trickled down the center of the path, most likely as runoff from the latrines on the wall.  Considering the need for fertilizer, Grant knew the city sewer most likely led near the fields.  There was a metal grate blocking the tunnel section that led to the wall, but a few blows from his pickaxe took care of the problem.

<See if you can circle back around near where the wagons are being held.  Popping up under the feet of the people waiting to ambush you would be some seriously poetic justice.>

Grant certainly wasn’t going to argue with that idea.  It took a few detours through some particularly nasty tunnels, but he eventually managed to find an exit in the alley opposite the one he had watched the Wrecking sisters get captured.  Best of all, it was right next to the building where the crossbows were hiding in the windows.

“Okay, now that I’ve found our escape route, it’s time to go bring everyone else.”  The walk back to the others went quickly, and Grant was happy to see Sam and Evander had gotten everyone out.  They had even managed to track down their gear, and were almost done strapping on armor and weapons.

“Grant!  Thank the Regents you’re back.”  Adria rushed forward to greet him, but stopped short of giving him a hug.  “I take it you found our way out, and we aren’t going to like it.”

“There’s a sewer exit right next to the wagons.  From what I could see, they are still waiting for more people to show up, so everything is still staged and ready to go.”  While it might have felt like half a day had passed since Grant discovered his friends had been kidnapped, it probably hadn’t even been more than an hour since he jumped across the roof.  “While you guys go out and handle the guards, I’ll go into the building next door and take care of the House Saturday people waiting with crossbows.  We can charge through the gate and make it out of the city before they even know what hit them.”

“No.”  Adria slashed her hand diagonally through the air, as if to physically cut apart his plan.  “It’s not a bad plan, but it only takes one guard to drop the portcullis and cut our group in half.  We need to secure the guardhouse at the same time, or this will never work.”

Grant frowned, thinking over who could manage something like that.  “The problem will be catching up after the wagons pass through.  We’ll be moving fast, and they’ll have to run after them.”

Adria frowned, thinking for a moment.  “I’ll do it.  I can’t ask anyone else to take that risk, especially with Evander hurt.  He’ll need your help on the ground anyway.”

Thinking of all the stairs he was going to have to climb, Grant swore he felt a twinge in his calf muscles.  “No, I should take the gate, and you should take the building with the crossbows.  Evander and the others can handle the guards.”

“You’re the only one who knows the way out.  That won’t work.”  Adria looked back at the others.  “Besides, if you’re captured, who will go after Tycoon May?”

“I’m not going to get captured.”  Grant pulled free his sword and activated Thundering Step, allowing lightning to play along the length of his sword.  “Unless they have a couple of Wielders hiding up there, I should be fine.  I’ll draw you a map of the way out, and we can give each other twenty minutes to get in position.”

“He’s right, Adria.”  Sam stepped out of the crowd, already holding a scrap of parchment and a stick of charcoal so Grant could draw them the way out.  “You may not like it, but Grant’s proven himself to be the best option for something like this.”

Even though she said it through gritted teeth, Adria finally agreed.  “Fine.  Let’s stop arguing about it, and get it done.  There’s a Lord of the Month who needs to answer for his crimes.”

Drawing the map only took a few minutes with Sarge’s help, and Grant watched as the group disappeared off into the darkness.  Now, it was time for him to go back up to the top of the wall, get over to the gatehouse without causing an alarm, take control of it from an unknown number of guards, and hold it long enough for his friends to escape.  A pretty average day for him, all things considered.

As he made his way back to the tower, Grant paused at the House Saturday Vassal he had killed.  The uniform the man was wearing had been soaked in blood, but considering the black color it wouldn’t be noticeable unless someone was up close.  Shrugging, Grant stripped the outer robes from the Vassal and slipped them on over his armor.  Hopefully, they would be enough to get him close to the gatehouse without drawing attention.  The robes smelled awful, were too tight and restrictive, made him feel sick to his stomach, and worst of all, looked absolutely terrible.

<Seriously though, I have to agree with you on this one.  How do you manage to make black look bad?  House Saturday could really use a new tailor, and an updated fashion sense.  I mean, come on.  Pick a struggle.>

Climbing the rubble pile back to the floor he collapsed was easy, considering the table that had broken his fall also worked as a ramp.  It was a miracle that no one had noticed their jailbreak by this point, or noticed the commotion he had caused during all the fighting.  When he finally reached the top of the tower, the most difficult part he faced was opening the door he had broken the key inside of, but a few uses of his Apprentice Repair spell had it fixed.

“Here goes.”  Acting like he belonged on top of the wall, Grant walked toward the guard house, slightly hunched so the few people he passed couldn’t see his face.  Thankfully, they either ignored him or got out of his way as he approached.  Everything went smoothly, right up until the end.  There was a single man in front of the guard house wall entrance, but it wasn’t a regular guard.  It was another member of House Saturday.

“Eh?  What are you doing up here?  Aren’t you supposed to be watching the prisoners?”  The House Saturday assassin held up a hand to stop Grant, and leaned forward to look under his hood.  “Did something happen?  Were you—”

Grant’s sword hilt clipped him under the chin as he unsheathed it straight upward, nearly knocking the man off the edge of the wall as he completed the motion.  He grabbed the flailing Vassal by the wrist, pulled him back from the edge, and stabbed him through the armpit where there was no armor to protect him.  His Uchigatana sliced through both lungs and his heart, killing the man in seconds.  Grant allowed him to fall off his blade to the ground and flicked the blood free, listening to hear if anyone inside had heard the scuffle.

<I’m pretty sure you’re in the clear.  No one wants to pay too close attention to the scary assassins, especially if they’re fighting among themselves.>

“Huh.  Good point.”  Grant propped the House Saturday assassin up against the corner where the outer wall met the gatehouse.  He immediately slumped down, obviously dead.  From a distance, it might look like the Vassal was crouched to tie his boots or something.  Better than him lying face-down on the stone.  Not that it mattered much, but it could buy a few minutes if a guard farther down the wall looked this direction.  “It’ll have to do.”

Grant took a deep breath, preparing himself to go through the door.  Considering it was twice the size of the last tower, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be as easy as last time.  Especially since he had to hold it once he took control.  That was fine.  He was unstoppable.  Shaking his arms and legs, he got ready.  It was time to take the gate.