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 farther 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.