<HTML> ********    The group that waited for Misha did so in the silence of worn and tired veterans. All of the remaining Long scouts were assembled together. Misha looked the group over. There was Meredith, Arla, and Laura sharing a bottle of ale. Nearby Jotham was examining a mace that he had captured. Danielle and Finbar were off in a corner by themselves, talking. Georgette and Caroline were eating a loaf of bread together, with some wine they had acquired somewhere. He also noticed far too many faces missing. Faces of people dead or wounded.    "Explain to me again what we're going to do?" Georgette asked, chewing a piece of bread.    "We are going to kill General Selig before the main assault ," Misha explained.    "I got that part," the woman said. "My question is how? He's surrounded by eight hundred lutins, one hundred humans, and at least four ogres and a troll."    "Let's not forget the five mages too," Meredith added.    "The big question is how do we do it?" Misha asked.    "You don't know?" the bear asked.    "We have no option in this," the fox answered. "These people are well prepared and fortified. The battle is going to be hard and bloody, with Selig in command it will impossible. If we can kill the leader when the attack starts it will throw them into confusion and give us a fighting chance to win."    "That still doesn't answer my question," Georgette said. "How do we get past one thousand soldiers to kill him?"    "That's easy," Danielle said, speaking for the first time.    "Easy?" Laura asked as the whole room looked at the pine marten morph.    "They're in a room, right? Rooms have ceilings and floors," Danielle explained. We can knock a hole in the ceiling and dropped down on top of them."    Laura smiled, "Death from above!" ***************** In Long House The next time the door opened the figure that entered wasn't who they expected. "I see, Nasoj wasted his money on you two."    "You told us that George was some drunken, old bandit, an easy kill," Ferwig countered. "I think Nasoj wasted his money on you, traitor."    The long scout's eyes narrowed and the person stared at the fighter long and hard. "If you want to live I suggest you shut up and follow my orders. You can still earn your money."    "How?" Teria asked.    "By helping me take Long House. In twenty minutes a large lutin force will attack Long House through the front. While that's going on I'll let a group in through the backdoor. All you have to do is help us. Once the group is in we'll kill anything that gets in our way."    "Including George?" Ferwig asked.    The traitor laughed. "Yes, even George."    The fighter and the mage exchanged looks.    "One question," Teria asked. "Why are you doing this? Why betray your own people?"    "I want power and riches," the scout answered. "I saw the power Nasoj gave to Loriod. If that fat fool can get such power, so can I, and I can do a lot better then he did."    "There are other things besides power and riches," Teria said. "But you're too young to realize that."    "Are you going to follow my commands or just lay there and preach."    "As long as we get paid," Ferwig said.    "Good," the traitor replied. "First we'll get your weapons, I have them stashed nearby." Then he turned and left the cell.    Ferwig followed the scout out the door and into the hallway. A few short steps brought them to a small door. Moving quickly Ferwig rushed through into the room beyond and almost tripped over a body that lay sprawled on the floor. Looking at the corpse he recognized it as Janet, the lynx woman who had helped bring him in. The fighter stepped over the body and retrieved his weapons and equipment from the shelves they were resting on. Teria stepped over the corpse without pausing and retrieved her own items.    As they put their gear on Ferwig heard a low moan. Looking down he could see the felines arm move ever so slightly. "She's still alive."    The scout shrugged. "Not for long. I slit her throat."    "Sloppy work," Teria said adjusting the last strap.    "I'm not good at assassination, that's Finbar's job. If watching her die bothers you; kill her."    Ferwig looked at Teria for a long moment. They had been together for a long time and no words were needed. He knew what she was thinking. "I'll do it," he said finally.    The fighter drew a dagger with his right hand and knelt down next to the feline placing himself between Janet and the traitor. He brought the dagger up over his head. With his left hand he grasped the lynx woman's hand with surprising tenderness and he looked into her eyes. Something seemed to pass between them for a moment. Then the blade came down; Janet jerked once and lay still. Standing up he sheathed the blade and turned to the scout. "All right traitor, lets go to this back door and let this group in. The sooner we let them in the sooner Long house falls and we get paid."    "We need to hurry," the traitor said. "The main attack will start in a few minutes." With those words he turned and left the room. The two mercenaries followed close behind. ****    George raced up the steps, and passed the bubbling cauldrons and out onto the balcony. The sounds of fighting echoed throughout the hall and then died down. A tall woman dressed in robe but with a sword belted at her hip stood at the battlements looking down into the room. "What happened Diane?" he asked.    "An attack," she answered. "By the sounds of it a major one."    "Did the barricades hold?"   "I haven't any seen lutins yet."    A figure rushed across the room and stopped underneath the balcony. The red squirrel morph was dressed in ragged and battered leather armor. The sword he held in his hands had blood on the blade.    "What happened sergeant Brea?" George asked the squirrel.    "Sir," the squirrel replied. "They hit the north and east barricades at the same time, at least sixty and forty lutins at each. We held them off but they're reforming for another try. Plus there's been noise from the south corridor."    "Casualties?"    "Two wounded, not serious."    Can you hold them against another assault?" George asked. It was a tall request; the squirrel had to hold three corridors with eight soldiers, two of them wounded.    "Their next attack will come at all three corridors at once," Brea responded. "Either I get more people or we have to fall back to Long House. I can't hold all three with eight people."    "Agreed," the jackal responded. "I'll send you more people."    "George," Diane interrupted. "We only have a few soldiers and almost half of them are down there already."    "Send more," George responded. "If they manage to corner us in Long house we're half dead."    Diane leaned over the rail. "We'll send you six more people," she told the sergeant.    "And the ballista," George added.    "The ballista?" Diane asked.    "We'll set it up in the center of the room where it can be aimed at all the corridors," the jackal elaborated.    The woman smiled at George, "I like how you think. I'm glad you're on our side." Then she looked back to the squirrel. "We'll be setting the ballista up to support you."    The squirrel nodded, "Good. We can use the help. Brea turned and headed back to his soldiers. The sergeant had been tasked to defend this large hall. It wasn't even really Long House but a small dining hall in front of it.    The room had three entrances into it, on the north, east and south walls. There were no easily bolted doors there, just openings that lead into corridors. To help defend the openings they had upended some of the wooden tables to make barricades. Being over two inches thick the flat tabletops made perfect walls. When vertical, they would stop any arrow from penetrating.    George had placed four people at each entrance. At the north entrance he placed the barricade just inside the passage. Standing right behind the wooden wall, was two swordsmen standing side by side. In the narrow confines of the hallway there simply wasn't room for more then two. Behind the sword fighters were a pair of pike wielding soldiers. It was an ingenious tactic. The nine-foot long pikes stuck out past the sword points and the barricade. Any attacker had to first get past the sharp points of the pikes before they could get to the barricade itself. Even if they did get that far a lutin had to fight their way past the swordsmen. All the while the two archers at the rear would be peppering them with arrows. The final touch was the caltrops scattered across the floor in front of the barricade. Really nothing more then sharp, three pointed spikes anyone stepping on them would have their feet pierced by a spike. It wouldn't kill a person but it would cripple them and slow down the attack.    For the south doorway George had the same thing, but he didn't have enough pikes or archers to do that for the east barricade, so he placed three crossbowmen there along with two spearmen. Not the best solution but all he could do.    The ballista had been set up by this time and the squirrel took the time to check its placement. Brea hadn't worked with the siege weapon in a long time but he still remembered how to use it. The ballista basically worked like a large crossbow, except that the missile it fired as five feet long. It was cocked by winding the string back with a small windless. The entire weapon was mounted on a large wooden base with a pivot. With a simple push the women who were crewing the weapon could swivel it in any direction.    Suddenly there came the blaring of trumpets echoed across the hall and soon it was joined by the sounds of combat. The last time they had only attacked two barricades. This time the Lutins attacked all three at once. **** Caroline waited calmly. For the tenth time she checked each of the arrows she had prepared. There arraigned on the railing in front of her were twenty arrows. Forty more arrows were resting in two quivers slung across her back. She examined each of them with care, checking the feathers and shafts for soundness. When done with the arrows she checked her long bow with the same thoroughness.    Beside her stood a tall rabbit morph who was also doing the same thing the otter was, checking his bow and arrows. Caroline barely knew Padraic, but George rated the brown, flop eared lapine very highly, and that was all she needed to know.    The two archers were standing in front of a waist high railing that made a complete circle of the floor. There was nothing unusual about the floor inside that circle. It was identical to the stones of the rest of the small room they were in.    A hand dropped onto her shoulder and she turned to find Misha standing there. "We're ready," he said calmly.    "I still wish you'd let me go," she commented.    "No," the fox answered firmly. He was dressed in the camouflaged chain mail that marked him as a Long Scout. Besides the ever present battle axe Whisper strapped to his back, he had a long sword in a sheath at his hip. Two hand axes were tucked into his belt and he carried a long bow and several arrows in his right hand.    "You can't keep protecting me Misha."    "I know that," Misha answered. "I'll say this once more, my love. You're the finest archer in the Keep and you're needed here." He gently touched the arrows laid out on the railing. "These little items are keyed to you alone and they'll be our edge in the fight. Plus you and Padraic are going to protect our backs."    "That we will," the rabbit said nervously.    The remaining Long Scouts came up and clustered around the railing. All were as well armed and armored as Misha.    "Everyone ready?" the fox asked to the group.    "My team is ready," Arla said quietly.    "My team is ready as well," Laura announced.    The scouts waited in silence. None had any illusions about this fight being easy. All of them understood just how dangerous things would be.    "This is has been our toughest battle yet," Misha said calmly. "From happy celebration to a brutal fight for survival. It's killed many of our dearest friends and family. This fight will end that struggle and pay them back for all the Keepers they've killed. Everyone spread out and take position." The scouts all took a spot at the railing. His final order of "take no prisoners," went unspoken. They all knew it already, even Padraic.    Misha took Whisper from off of his back and carefully leaned it against the railing. He strung an arrow onto his bow and aimed it at the floor inside the circle. All of the others quickly followed suit.    "Kyia," Misha announced loudly. "Now!"    Suddenly the floor inside the circle disappeared. Caroline could see a large hall some fifty feet below crowded with Lutins, and  humans and she scanned them looking for a target. The otter saw a group of Lutins and humans protected by a barricade of wood at least six feet high. That would be Selig's hiding place. A tough, little, wooden fortress in it own right that crouched in the center of the hall. It even had little towers at each of the four corners. She couldn't help but laugh, it was an impressive fort, but a fort without a roof. The hole she was looking down through was directly over the center of it.    None of the people below seemed to know the Keepers were above them. That was only short lived as Misha loosed a shaft down into the waiting crowd beneath him. Everyone else joined in loosing, dropping or throwing missiles as fast as possible. They seemed to fall haphazardly, without a clear target but not one fell without striking a warm body. The floor below was soon was littered with the bodies of the slain. Everyone shot as fast as possible, everyone but Caroline.    The otter took her time, picked up one of her special arrows, and drew her bow. In the archery tournament last summer she had been awarded twelve arrows for winning. The magic in those missiles was special, and she had saved them until the right moment. This was finally the right time. She aimed for the center of one the towers in Selig's hiding place. There were four Lutins with bows there looking around for the killer of the man who was sprawled at their feet. She released the bow string and reached for another arrow. She had just grasped the missile when her first arrow reached it's target. There was a bright flash and an explosion engulfed the whole tower and it's occupants.    Misha put his bow down and picked up his battle axe. Jumping up onto the railing he held the weapon over his head. The fox let out a long, eerie yowl and stepped into open space. *** End part 70</HTML>