* * *
By sunup the next morning, Jahrra, her friends, and all their classmates were crowded around the schoolhouse in Aldehren, patiently waiting for their teacher to show up and get the game started.
Kihna, Rhudedth and Pahrdh, the other three members of Jahrra’s team, moved over to the edge of the crowd to join them.
“So, what did we decided to do for the war paint?” Pahrdh asked over his sister’s head.
Rhudedth rolled her eyes at her brother and mouthed the word boys which resulted in a giggle from Gieaun and a snort from Jahrra. They quickly moved a few more feet away when someone from the green team glared at them.
“Dragons,” Jahrra whispered quietly, pulling out a piece of worn parchment on which she’d sketched a design. “We decided to make it look like we were wearing masks.”
Kihna peered over everyone’s shoulder and arched a brow. Jahrra had drawn a crude face with two dragon wings covering the person’s eyes like a mask. The dragon’s neck curled onto the forehead and the tail trailed around one cheek and ended at the person’s chin. Face paint wasn’t necessary for the game of Conquer the Castle, but all six teammates had agreed it would be a nice touch.
“How are we going to paint that image on our faces?” Kihna asked when she was done studying the picture.
Jahrra grinned. “With this,” she said, pulling out a jar of the dyed mud.
Fifteen minutes later, all six of them were sporting their dragon masks and Professor Tarnik was getting ready to read the rules. Several parent volunteers stood around him, holding canvass bags and small crossbows. As Tarnik cleared his throat, they started moving through the crowd of children, handing each one a crossbow and a bag full of arrows. Another adult had a sack full of paint packs for the soft-tipped missiles. When the team leader held up their banner, they were handed several of the paint packs in that flag’s color.
“Hey Nesnan,” Ellysian hissed in Jahrra’s direction. “Nice outfit! Did the used clothing store give it to you for free because it was so out of date?”
This drew a few snickers and giggles from those nearest Ellysian, but Jahrra just ignored them. She knew they would make fun of her team ‘uniform’, but she didn’t care. She was here to win the game, not compete for first prize in a fashion contest. Ellysian, of course, was wearing a brand new pair of fashionable white riding pants and a shirt and coat to match.
Jahrra sighed and waited patiently for their turn. The parent volunteers who were handing out their crossbows and arrows would also be monitoring the game; making sure all the rules were followed. Jahrra was grateful, for she knew of a certain set of twins that was prone to cheating in order to get their way. She gripped the wooden pole of her team’s purple flag tightly. No one, especially not Eydeth and Ellysian, was going to capture her team’s banner.
“You may place your flag anywhere within the boundaries of your marked territory,” Tarnik called out in his sneering voice, “but it must be clearly visible from at least one location. The volunteers will be checking to make sure you follow the rules, so don’t try anything sneaky.”
Jahrra shot a glance at Eydeth and Ellysian and the smug looks on their faces waned just a little bit. Ellysian leaned in to whisper something in Eydeth’s ear and his look turned even sourer.
Had her instincts been right? Had they been planning something? Will be a bit hard now, Jahrra thought with some satisfaction, what with referees walking about to make sure all the rules are followed.
“The points will be added up as follows: for each flag captured, the conquering team will receive fifty points,” Tarnik continued. “For each spot of that team’s color deposited on others, they will receive one point. For each spot of color deposited on you from another team, you will be deducted three points. Nothing above the shoulders will count.”
Jahrra filed the information away. Fifty points for each flag captured, one point for each time you hit someone, three points taken away for each time you are hit. Got it.
Tarnik lowered the scroll he’d been reading from and scanned the crowd with his eyes. Jahrra could have sworn that he sneered when he spotted them, but soon he was done with his surveying.
“You will have five hours to defend your flag, capture those belonging to other teams, and to shoot any enemies. Flags, once stolen, can be hidden in plain sight on your territory, but they can also be recaptured and your own flag must always be visible. Your banner must be hidden within the area marked as your territory.”
Jahrra listened intently as he explained that each team had a territory already marked with smaller ribbons to match the color of their flags; territories that they must find themselves. This should be interesting, she mused with anticipation. She delighted at the thought of the free-for-all that would ensue once everyone scrambled to find their territories while avoiding being shot by the enemy.
“Students, are you ready?” Tarnik shouted. “Remember, the winning team not only is assured full marks, but will also receive a full day off from school.”
Everyone cheered, declaring that they were more than ready to begin. He reminded them once more to stay out of the way of the townspeople and to not wander any further than a hundred feet away from the edge of town.
With one last domineering look Tarnik shouted, “Let the games begin!”
Everyone bolted at once, shouting and scrambling to get to their respective territories, wherever they might be.
Jahrra and her team headed south, since it was the only direction no one else seemed to be heading.
“Might as well check in this direction first and avoid getting shot,” Jahrra breathed as she and her friends jogged down the cobblestone road.
The town was still relatively quiet at this hour, but as the six friends scanned the side streets and patches of trees and bare hillsides for purple markers, the people that were out and about paused to watch their progress. Some even wished them luck in their game. Jahrra grinned. She hoped that their classmates’ antics would prove entertaining for those who had to put up with their entire town being invaded.
Eventually, Pahrdh shouted, “There! A marker!”
Jahrra grinned as she spotted the violet ribbon dancing in the breeze. They had made the right decision in going south.
Soon, the six of them had established the edge of their territory. It included part of a city block and a sizeable amount of a small, forested hill rising up behind a row of buildings.
Jahrra held her hand to her eyes, squinting hard as she looked for a good location to place their flag.
“Let’s see if we can find a place where we can blend in with the surroundings,” she said.
“It’s going to be impossible to blend in wearing white Jahrra,” Gieaun pointed out.
Jahrra sighed in frustration. Gieaun was right and any minute the other teams were going to find an appropriate place to hide their flags and be on the hunt. Although their territory was large and there were plenty of suitable places to put their flag, Jahrra and her team were having trouble picking a good location.
“We need to hide it on high ground,” Pahrdh insisted as they spun in circles in the middle of the street. “It will be easier to guard.”
Jahrra shaded her eyes again and glanced between the buildings in the center of their marked territory. Her gaze trailed down the alley between two buildings, then up the leaf-littered hillside behind them. The buildings were the typical small business establishments found throughout Aldehren with the lower floor sporting a shop while the upper story acted as the living quarters. A railed deck wrapped around both buildings, and trailing from the edge of the deck into two redwood trees on the hill was . . .
Jahrra grinned. “Perfect!” she cried.
Pahrdh and Scede turned to give her scathing looks. “Are you going to help us find a place to make camp or not?”
“Already found it. Look.” She pointed up to the hillside and then to the lines running from the trees to the dec
ks, the ropes sagging with the weight of freshly hung sheets and random articles of clothing, many of which were white.
“We can stake our flag between those two trees and two of us can sit in the branches closest to where the ropes are tethered.”
Jahrra turned a mischievous grin onto her friends. “Everyone will just assume we are laundry.”
“Excellent!” Pahrdh cried out with glee, already sprinting towards the alleyway, the violet banner flapping behind him.
The six of them quickly clambered up the hill and drove the flag pole into the ground. Jahrra ran back down onto the street to make sure the flag was visible enough to be seen by her classmates, then rejoined her friends on the hillside. From the center of the hilltop, they could just see over the rooftops of the buildings in front of them.
“Gieaun, you and Kihna stay here and guard our flag. Scede, you, Pahrdh, Rhudedth and I will split up and try and capture the others.”
“Here,” Pahrdh offered, pulling some of his own arrows out of his bag. “We were given a hundred arrows each, right? I don’t think we’ll need all of ours since we’ll be trying to get in and out as fast as possible.”
He pulled out a sizeable chunk, nearly two thirds of his supply. Scede, Rhudedth and Jahrra followed suit. Jahrra didn’t sacrifice as many as the boys had; she had a special purpose for some of her own arrows.
Gieaun nodded grimly and accepted the arrows and extra dye pouches from the boys, dividing them between her bag and Rhudedth’s. Once they were well armed, Gieaun secured the bag of arrows and extra dye to her back, then turned and started climbing the tree, muttering protests as her hair got tangled in the redwood’s needles. Kihna was already jogging to the other tree with her bag of ammunition.
“How’s the view from up there ladies?” Scede called up to Kihna and his sister.
“I can see everything!” Kihna cried out.
“I just hope these crossbows have good range,” Gieaun added. “If we can hit someone enough times, it should discourage them from making a run for our flag.”
Jahrra nodded her head in agreement. Three points wasn’t much, but multiply that by fifteen or even ten, capturing another team’s flag might not garner enough points to win the game. Oh, and Jahrra was determined to win this one. Even more so, she was burning to capture the golden flag belonging to a certain set of twins and their team.
“Alright,” Jahrra said, gathering her other three teammates around. “Scede, you’re going for the red team, right?”
Scede nodded.
“Rhudedth, you’re going for green and Pahrdh you wanted the blue team, correct?”
“Yes,” Pahrdh said.
“And I’m going for the gold,” Jahrra said with an air of vengeance.
“We wouldn’t dream of taking that honor from you,” Scede claimed, standing up straight and placing his closed fist over his heart in a gesture of obeisance.
Jahrra shoved him good-naturedly and in the next minute they were creeping down the hill to start the hunt.
“Be careful and good luck!” Jahrra called quietly to her teammates as they all took a different direction away from their base.
Although they had decided leaving two people behind to guard their ‘castle’ while the others used stealth and skill to sneak into the enemy camps was their best option, Jahrra felt nervous. She didn’t think it would be the easiest way, but she was hopeful nonetheless.
Casting aside her wayward thoughts and sending up a plea to Ethoes that her friends fulfilled their own goals, she crept back through the city, staying close to the backs of the buildings and using the occasional wooded hillside to hide her progress. She had caught a glimpse of Eydeth and his team heading northeast when they had first dispersed, but Jahrra couldn’t be sure that’s where they’d find their territory. She decided that a surreptitious check of the city’s perimeter would give her some answers.
She bristled in annoyance when the edge of her shirt snagged on a branch fifteen minutes later, drawing the attention of someone on the red team. She wasn’t fast enough to dodge the arrow they sent her way and as she dove behind a tree, the tip of the arrow caught her hip. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, she moved quickly and silently further up the hill to get out of sight. She would have to be more careful in the future.
An hour passed before Jahrra finally caught a glimpse of something promising. She had descended back into the city, keeping to the shadows of the buildings. At one point she used a passing cart to disguise her movement, ducking behind it as it rolled past a clump of her classmates, all three of them armed with green-tipped arrows.
She quickly ducked behind a building to wait for them to move on, but as she was waiting a splash of yellow caught her eye. Jahrra jerked her head to the left and spotted a yellow ribbon tacked to the corner of the building she was using for cover.
Feeling her heart leap into her throat, she swallowed hard and crept closer to the edge of the small shop. Another yellow strip of cloth was nailed to the corner of the city’s stable several feet away.
Got you Eydeth, she thought as her eyes narrowed. Now, all she had to do was locate the flag without being seen . . .
Jahrra peeked around the corner of the building once more, and then she saw it. There was the golden flag she sought, waving gently in the breeze as if beckoning her forward. She was tempted just to run for it. Taking time to check the area for guards could draw their attention, but if she just bolted, maybe she could use the element of surprise.
Sweat dripped down her forehead and stung her eyes. She gritted her teeth. It was so tempting just to run . . . But she had already been shot at twice, hit once, and she couldn’t risk acting before checking her surrounding area. Patience, she told herself, patience . . . Forcing herself to keep still, Jahrra carefully looked around the building again to assess her options.
Eydeth and his team had chosen well. Their flag, tied to a long, sturdy branch like all the other banners, was standing in the middle of an abandoned pasture behind the stables. Several rocks were piled up to keep the pole from falling over and most of the pasture was surrounded by a neglected yet sturdy fence.
Clever Eydeth, Jahrra mused wryly. Although the spare pasture was obviously not suitable to keep in horses, there was still plenty of good fencing to create an obstacle for anyone hoping to make a mad dash for the flag.
Jahrra narrowed her eyes and scanned the entire fence line. The most obvious entrance was several yards in front of her, where the gate had been left wide open. She spotted a few more gaps in the fence where a rail had fallen down, creating a hurdle. Those neglected areas wouldn’t be as hard to get past as a solid fence, but it would be just enough to slow someone up and make them vulnerable for an ambush.
So, Jahrra thought as she finished her assessment, you hope to lure us in and then trap us like sheep? Jahrra would be very shocked if Eydeth and half of his team weren’t currently hiding behind the thick shrubs just beside the open gate. Her suspicions were only confirmed when the tiniest rustle sounded from the bush closest to her. The leaves were thick enough to hide even the brilliant white Eydeth and his teammates wore, but Jahrra didn’t need to see them to know they were there.
Now all she needed was a plan. Could she distract them somehow? If she had Scede, Rhudedth or Pahrdh with her, they might be able to pull it off. But her other friends were off trying to secure the flags belonging to the other teams.
I hope they aren’t having the same trouble I am, she thought.
Minutes passed and no one from any of the other teams came by. Jahrra wondered if they were too intimidated to attack Eydeth’s camp or if they were simply doing what she was doing: waiting and biding their time. Jahrra sighed quietly, her mind going back to the idea of making a run for it. She knew where Eydeth and his teammates were hiding, at least where some of them were hiding. She glanced back around the building. The shrubs were far enough away from the gate to prove a bit of a challenge if they
were to try and shoot her from their hiding spots.
Should I trust my instincts? she wondered. That they won’t shoot until I’m clear through the gate? Could someone be waiting on the far side of the field on the other side of the fence? Or will they just assume Ill run right in, not expecting an ambush?
Jahrra chewed at her nails and felt herself growing restless. If I’m going to run for it, I had better have a plan of escape. She eyed the wooded hillside beyond the pasture. If she could somehow grab the flag, leap the fence and make it into the trees, then she stood a chance. Jahrra studied the far end of the fence line one more time. There. A weakness. The top rail had come loose from one of the posts and was resting on the ground. She could hurdle that, easy. And if she just simply applied some of the skills she’d learn from her elfin trainers, Yaraa and Viornen, this should be a walk in the park . . . if her enemies were exactly where she thought they were.
It’ll be risky, she told herself, taking a deep breath and getting ready to bolt, but the reward will be so worth it.
Jahrra stood up straight and took a deep, calming breath. She shoved the small crossbow into the quiver with the arrows and dye packs, tightened the straps, and shifted the bag so that it rested against her stomach and not her back. For what she planned to do, she needed her arms and back free. She took another deep breath, counted to three, and leapt into a full sprint. She quickly picked up speed, eating up the distance between the building she’d hidden behind and the wide open gate. Sixty yards, fifty, forty . . . She flashed through the gate, running at full speed and felt more than heard Eydeth and his comrades leap out of the bushes and run to close the gates.
Jahrra kept going, grinning to herself. She had been right.
The flag was waiting for her, only twenty yards ahead now, in the middle of the pasture. A golden tipped arrow struck the ground just to the right of her, its yellow dye splattering harmlessly on the grass as her boots sped past.
Ten more yards . . . Another arrow chased her, this one landing between her feet, the dye just speckling her pants. Not a true hit, she thought to herself as she pumped her arms, her breath coming faster.
The flag was only a few yards away, but Jahrra didn’t slow. She stopped moving her arms, but her legs kept up their speed. Just as she was about to pass the flag, she threw her arms forward, reaching out to grasp the wooden flag pole in one hand as she dived into a roll. Her fingers grasped the warm wood tightly as she tucked her shoulders and brought her head in to her chest. The back of her shoulders hit the ground with great force and the crossbow, in its bag with all the arrows, jostled about as she completed the roll, coming back up on her feet, her momentum barely changing. Without thinking, she tightened her grip on the flag, ripped free from its stone prison, and drove her legs even harder, aiming for the hole in the fence several yards ahead.
A few more arrows flew past her, one of them making a full strike in the low of her back. Cursing inwardly, she forced herself to speed up, this time zigzagging a little as she ran. You can do this Jahrra! This is nothing compared to what Yaraa and Viornen make you do!
She reached the fence, hurdled it with little effort, and continued sprinting up the rocky hillside, seeking the relative safety of the trees. Sweat poured down her face and her ribs ached from her hard landing, but she had Eydeth’s flag and nothing was going to make her stop now. Just as she disappeared behind the first row of trees, she thought she heard the livid scream of her nemesis at the far end of the pasture. Jahrra allowed herself a small grin, but she didn’t stop. She sprinted until she could hardly breathe anymore; moving deeper into the small copse but making sure she stayed within a hundred feet of the city’s outskirts.
After several minutes she slowed down and quickly stripped the yellow banner from its pole and tucked it into her bag before picking up her pace once again. This time she would make an extra effort at returning to her own camp unheard and unseen. The last thing she needed was to get ambushed by another team and earn enough dye stains to make her effort at capturing Eydeth’s flag all for nothing.