"Excuse me," Aleks said, tugging slightly on the Glaevor guard's tunic.
He could picture himself from the man's perspective—fourteen but small enough to be eleven, a nameless Elkarin boy who had no business being out this late. He stepped back, drawing his cloak closer around his neck in an effort to look more forlorn and also to hide the sword hanging at his waist. "Could you help me with something?"
The guard startled. Then his eyes narrowed on Aleks, and he crossed his arms. "You shouldn't be out this late," he said.
"The duke ordered—he ordered me—see that cart?" Stepping backwards, Aleks threw an arm wide to gesture to the horse and cart behind him.
The guard blinked. "What—how did you get that here? The stables are locked. Did you steal a horse?"
Aleks cleared his throat, repeated himself with emphasis. "The duke is having a party and he asked me to bring supplies."
In the ensuing silence, Aleks could hear crickets from beyond the walls of the garrison. He smiled just slightly. There was no crowd, no surrounding bleachers like the other Glaevor knights had at festivals, but the forest had always been there to cheer him on.
"The Duke," the guard muttered, face tight as if he were trying to sort through the variables of the situation, "He's having a party?"
"A secret party," Aleks supplied.
"And he wanted food and he sent—you?"
Aleks nodded seriously.
"Are you for real?" someone yelled. Another guard stood on the battlements, peering down at the two of them. "You're actually listening to this kid? He's obviously got his friends in the cart—he's trying to smuggle them out!"
"I'm not!" Aleks retorted, far too quickly.
Grabbing a torch from the wall, the first guard strode past him. "For your sake, I hope that's the case."
Aleks held his breath as the man ripped off the cloth covering the cart to reveal a large stash of food, blankets, and several barrels. The horse whinnied, the crickets continued to cheer, and the guard stood speechless.
"Check inside the barrels!" the observer from the wall called down.
In a fluid motion, the guard drew his sword and drove it into the side of the barrel. Aleks' breath caught in his throat—the strike had been impressive. It was not so easy to plunge steel through wood. The guard tugged on the handle, but the sword did not budge.
"You must be pretty strong," Aleks supplied, "You got it stuck in there good."
"Don't patronize me," the guard huffed. Using his foot as leverage, he finally got the right angle to pull his blade free. Water poured out from the hole it made.
Aleks hummed condescendingly. "Oh, the Duke won't like that."
Turning on his heel, the guard walked back to his post, stuck the torch back in its hold on the wall, and grabbed Aleks by the collar. "Do you think that just because you have an important job for once that you can snark off to me?"
"No," Aleks said, "I would snark off to you regardless."
The guard punched him. It was a bad punch actually—the angle was all off. It didn't do much more than knock Aleks out from the man's grip. He almost stayed standing, but it had rained earlier, and his heel skidded on the slick rock of the courtyard.
From the ground, he saw the shadow swoop, saw the face of the wall-top guard as it overtook him. There was not even time for him to scream.
"Listen boy," the guard standing over him explained, "We don't need you to deliver a cart."
Aleks wiped with one hand at the blood on his mouth. 'We? I don't see anyone else around."
The guard's face scrunched in confusion—just as a creature pounced on him from behind and pinned him to the ground. It was as large as the horse, but covered in black feathers. Holding eye contact with his prey, it opened his beak in a snarl, spread out its wings to their full length and eclipsed the stars. The guard stared in silence from the ground.
"Be quick," Ceph murmured in the Elkarin language, "I do not like this place."
Aleks stuck his hand through the creature's limbs and deftly removed the keys from the guard's belt. Then he jumped up and full tilt across the courtyard, fast enough that he overbalanced and face planted into the cobblestones.
"Not that quick!" Ceph chortled from behind him.
Aleks picked himself up, ran up to the building where the Elkarin slaves were kept and unlocked the door. There were twenty or so people there, standing and waiting for him.
"The cart is already loaded with supplies," he explained, and the words sounded strange on his tongue, as if they had been spoken by someone older. "Come this way."
He turned and sprinted ahead of them, making it to the gate first. It was closed. The guard had never actually opened it for him.
Looking around, Aleks saw the opening mechanism, a peg holding the chain with a counterbalance. Throwing his weight against the lever, he tried to jog the hold loose. Nothing happened. He was too small.
Pulling his sword from his belt, he examined the end of it, flipped the lever like he had read in the wizard's book. Instantly, he felt the magic coursing through it. It was the strange power on the edge of things that pricked his fingers in the winter time. Now it was here in force standing his hair on end. Aleks swung the sword towards the gate mechanism, and light sparked from it. The power threw him back, broke the lever, and sent the gate flying upwards.
"Are you crazy?" someone exclaimed.
Aleks scrambled to his feet, turned to see an old woman gaping at him.
"What if the gate didn't have a counterbalance? You could have locked us all in here?"
"It did though." Aleks explained, grabbing her arm to pull her forward. "You should get in the cart—the real Duke will find out about this quickly."
Someone was already seated at the front, gathering the reigns of the horse Aleks had stolen earlier. That was good. Aleks wasn't sure what he would have done if nobody knew how to drive the cart.
"They will find us eventually," the woman muttered as a younger man helped her up into the back of the cart.
"No, you can make it," Aleks said, "You're going to make it. You don't have to be afraid anymore."
The woman paused in her climbing, turned to face him again. She did not say anything, but her face was still marked with a question, with indecision.
Aleks smiled. "Don't worry—I'm much better at getting beat up than they are."
Yeah, he probably should have quit talking while he was ahead.
The woman had just finished climbing into place, face settled on a frown, when the cart jolted and set off into the darkness. Aleks chased after it for a moment, watched it travel out the gate and down the road, mentally counting the number of occupants. Once he was sure they were all there, he walked back into the fortress. Ceph still stood tense over the prone form of a guard. Aleks tapped him on the shoulder.
"I think you should go."
Ceph swiveled his head around, all the better to look condescendingly over his shoulder. "And why is that, little brother?"
"Well if the guards say that a giant bird monster thing attacked them and released the Elkarin slaves, and I say that the guards drank all the wine which I just put in that cart and the slaves escaped on their watch, my story is going to be a lot more believable if you aren't here."
"I do not like this plan."
"They couldn’t kill me even if they wanted to."
Ceph trilled in his throat, which meant displeasure, but he stepped off the prone guard anyway. "If you are not out by dawn, I will come and reverse-kidnap you."
Aleks laughed. "Good luck with that. I'll expect you."
Spreading his wings, Ceph sprang into the sky.