As she rounded the corner, Robin’s stomach tightened. The front courtyard was packed with soldiers.
The Iseldis guard lined the base of the walls, standing in loose formation. Several of them clustered near the main gate, which was still closed.
Gareth’s soldiers, dressed in purple livery, lined the keep itself. It was the same arrangement as it had been on the shore—Iseldis men were in front. Chendas was at the back, protected.
Robin looked toward the gate. Zimri stood on the wall directly above it, still looking out through the battlements at the crowd beyond. With the gate closed, Robin could not see the crowd herself, but she could still hear them calling for the gate to be opened. They were making enough noise that their general din could be heard over the castle wall itself.
The gate was flanked by two square towers that rose above the upper wall. The tower on the right housed the iron pulley system that opened the gate. They needed to get on top of the wall, go through the left tower, and then get past Zimri to make it to the right tower and open the gate.
She breathed deeply. This type of raid involved far too many people and crowded spaces.
But Ian did not hesitate. He cut through the back edge of the courtyard, walking between the two sets of soldiers whose separation created a natural pathway. Robin followed closebehind, her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger as she sauntered with confidence.
Ian led them to a narrow staircase on the far side of the gate. It was built into the outer wall, leading up to the walkway that circled the keep.
Two Iseldan guards stood at the base of it, but they were not actively guarding it. They had no reason to control who went up or down it because they were safely enclosed inside their own four walls and no battle was taking place.
Ian did not even glance at them as he stepped onto the staircase, taking the narrow stone steps two at a time.
Robin followed him, mirroring his confidence but touching each individual step as she climbed. She angled her body away from the courtyard. The large tunic nicely covered her more feminine frame, but she did not want to draw attention to herself.
At the top of the wall, she found herself on a stone walkway wide enough for two men to stand side by side. The outer side of the walkway was lined with crenelated battlements, while the inner side had a simple knee-high railing built into the masonry to prevent one from falling down into the courtyard below.
The walkway was overcrowded. Archers lined every open slot of the battlements, as they had seen earlier from outside the castle. But an additional two or three soldiers gathered behind every archer, keeping an eye on the activity below. Whether it was mere curiosity or they had been directed to remain there, Robin was not sure. What she did know was that walking across the top of the wall to reach the gatehouse was not going to be an easy task.
Ian stopped without warning in front of her, and she bumped into him before she caught herself.
Peering around his shoulder, she understood why he had stopped.
General Zimri stood less than twenty paces ahead of them. He had just walked through the left tower, leaving the door open behind him as he spoke with two soldiers.
Ian angled his body to look down over the hill outside the castle, as though that were the real reason they had climbed the staircase.
Robin did the same, positioning herself to the side of the nearest archer so that she could get a better view. From this vantage point, she could see the full expanse of the green hill that sloped down toward the city. Much of it was still covered with the crowd of people. The majority of them were gathered at the top of the hill near the castle, but several people were making their way up and down the main road into the city or standing in clusters further down the hill to watch the proceedings without getting too close. Their voices were louder here, reaching Robin’s ears in a steady hum occasionally punctuated by a sharp cry.
Robin scanned the villagers who moved up and down the road. It was too far away to see individual people, but it was easy to see that Sol and his group of Majis had not arrived yet.
Robin glanced down the walkway again. Zimri still stood by the tower door. “Can we go around?” Robin asked, leaning closer to Ian and keeping her voice low. “Down and back up the other side?”
Ian shook his head, the muscles in his jaw tense under the base of the helmet that hid his face. “There is no door on the other side. The only other way is the ladder inside the tower, but it is only used by those who are manning the gate.”
Robin looked down into the busy courtyard below.
“We might be able to get away with it since so much is going on,” Ian said. “But it would be more risky.”
“Movement from the city!” a soldier shouted to Robin’s right.
She turned back to look over the grassy hill.
Sol stood at the head of an organized column of Majis. They walked up the hill slowly and deliberately, carrying a variety of mismatched wooden shields and weapons that Jette and Ulli had sourced for them.
“Who is that?” the archer standing next to Robin asked.
Soldiers rushed forward, trying to get a look at the newcomers.
“Archers,” Zimri called, his voice surprisingly loud over the growing noise. “Hold your position! Do not engage until I give the order!”
Robin stepped away from the cutout in the wall, letting the pressing soldiers around her get a view. Instead, she watched Zimri. He moved back through the tower toward the wall above the center of the gate.
