Arik hid his smile well as Fredrik ledthe way into the tall house. Fredrik saw a few poor pieces offurniture and some crates in the entry hall. He swept past theminto the receiving room and stopped when he saw no furniture atall. “I am afraid that I forgot your name, Lady,” Fredrikstated.
“Mabel, My Lord,” she repliedas she bowed. “As you can see, I have already moved the furnitureout except for these small pieces. I can have them removed in themorning. How much was your offer, Sir?”
“Twice what you were asking,”Fredrik calmly replied. “I think this will do well, LadyMabel.”
“Perhaps, you could show yourgood faith, Sir,” Mabel hesitantly suggested. “A small depositwould guarantee that your offer is accepted, as generous as itis.”
The house was really in deplorablecondition. The floors were cracked, the doors hung poorly anddidn’t close, and the walls had holes in them. The truth of what hewas seeing began to dawn on Lord Wason. He walked back into theentrance hall and looked at the crates. Nodding his head, Fredrikretrieved some coins from his pouch and counted themout.
“I must have men in tonight totake measurements and I will not want them disturbed,” Fredrikordered. “Here is one hundred crowns deposit. The belongings in theentry hall will not be available until tomorrow after midday. Ifyou can carry them, you can take them now, otherwise, do not sendfor them until that time. I will have my agent draw up the paperstomorrow and by nightfall you will be a very wealthy woman. Goodnight, Lady Mabel.”
The woman bowed with a grin on her lipsand hefted a crate on her way out the door. Arik started to ask foran explanation as Fredrik dashed up the stairs to the top floor.Arik pounded after him and looked out the window at the Palacegrounds.
“What was all that about?”asked Arik. “Do you know that not going through with the purchaseof this house could be considered cheating a merchant?”
Fredrik was studying the lay of thegrounds as he spoke. “This house is not for sale, Arik,” hechuckled. “And that was no Lady. I can’t be sure, but I think thishouse held rooms that were rented out. Each of the crates in theentry hall had a different name written on them. That woman wasprobably one of the renters who received an eviction notice. Lookat this place. It has probably been condemned and is scheduled tobe torn down. The way the woman bowed proved she was noLady.”
“Then why did you give her themoney?” quizzed Arik.
“The money was well spent,”laughed Lord Wason. “She will be scurrying around to the otherevicted renters offering to have their belongings brought to themfor free just to stop them from coming here and alerting me. Thisplace will not be disturbed during the night. Now, we not only havea good view of the grounds, we have a new base for therescue.”
Arik shook his head in amusement as hestudied the layout of the island prison. Fredrik watched a piece ofwood fall from the window as he withdrew and headed for thestairs.
The two boys returned to the FlutteringJib and sat at the table occupied by Tanya and Tedi. He quicklydescribed the house and told them that Arik and he would bringtheir belongings to the house when they had finished eating. Thesecond team left for the abandoned house and Fredrik and Arikordered a healthy meal that had been put off too long.
After the meal, Fredrik spoke to theinnkeeper and explained that part of his party would be leaving andhe no longer required the smaller room. He paid for both rooms forthe night and the innkeeper was well pleased by the sudden changein plans. Fredrik left his belongings and, together with Arik,collected everyone else’s and carried them down to the stables. Thehorses had been cared for as the blacksmith promised and leavingFredrik’s horse they loaded the rest and rode to the abandonedhouse.
The house had no stables and Arik ledthe horses inside to the parlor. The boys ran up the stairs andfound Tanya and Tedi sitting on the floor, drawing diagrams in thedirt. Arik plopped down alongside them but Fredrik stood notwanting to subject his apparel to the dirt.
“We have a few things workedout,” Tanya offered. “The climbing claw I purchased today will getus over the wall and we can make a rope ladder to get us down intothe cell. That still leaves the problem of getting across the moat,the roving guards, and carrying Niki.”
“You forgot about the lock,”Fredrik mentioned.
“I can take care of the lock,”Tedi chuckled and Arik looked at him queerly. “Fredrik, can youmake a shield like Kalina did in the canyon?” Tediasked.
“No,” answered Fredrik. “Howwould that help you?”
“It was just a thought,” Tedisighed. “Tanya told me about our archer’s new bow and hisabilities. I figured if you could create a shield like Kalina did,only make it curve back around, Arik could shoot an arrow with astring tied to it. He could shoot the arrow to one side of theflagpole and the shield would make the arrow curve back on theother side of the flagpole. That way we would have a string wrappedaround the flagpole and we could attach a rope to it and pull itaround so that we had a rope stretching across themoat.”
“And what good would that doyou?” Fredrik inquired.
“I could walk across the ropeto the cell,” Tedi assured him.
“Can you really do that?”Tanya asked. “Because I know how to get a rope across the moat. Ican use the same climbing claw that we will use to get over thewall. I am sure that it will catch on the bars to thecells.”
“Can you walk across the ropewith Niki on your back?” Arik asked. “From what Fredrik said, shewill be in no condition to help herself escape.”
“If you can figure out a wayto keep the rope taut with our weight on it,” Tedi declared, “I canwalk across it with anything that I can carry.”
“I can make Tedi a harness tocarry Niki,” offered Fredrik. “That way his hands will befree.”
“Okay,” Arik commanded,“Fredrik, you get started on the harness. Tanya, try to time theroving patrols so that we have a sense of how long we will have toget Niki and get back. Tedi, you get to make the rope ladder. I’mgoing to search this house for something we can use to tie theother end of the rope to.”
The Rangers split up and went abouttheir individual tasks. In a couple of hours everyone hadreassembled and changed into the blacksuits. “I wasn’t able to findanything suitable,” Arik admitted, “but I did think of how we canaccomplish the task. After Tedi gets to the island, he can tie therope to one of the cells and throw the grappling hook back to us.We can affix it to the other end of the rope and dig it in to theground. As long as the rope doesn’t flex too much, it shouldwork.”
“If not,” Tedi commenteddryly, “you three can take off.”
“The four of you will have toleave the city right away,” Fredrik stated. “I will stay at theFluttering Jib because the King will check to see if I left withhis prisoner. I will also have to tell Garth where you havegone.”
“There is a cove about fourmiles north of here along the shore,” Tanya nodded. “I will leadthem there and wait for the rest of you.”
The three Rangers descended the stairsand exited the old house. Fredrik, still in his red velvet suit,remained at the window to lend magical assistance if everythingfell apart. The trio quickly crossed the street and hid in theextra darkness that the wall provided. Tanya watched the window ofthe old house and when she saw a small sparkle of light, she threwher climbing claw up at the wall. It took her two tries to seat itand she cursed over the first attempt. Arik was first up the walland he signaled Tedi to follow and then hung by his hands and letgo to fall to the ground.
Within moments the three Rangers wereover the wall and inside the estate grounds. Quickly, Arik grabbedthe grappling hook that Tanya had lowered and ran across the fieldto the moat. He hurled the hook towards the cages and missed. As hehauled it back in, the hook fell into the moat and got stuck onsomething. Arik pulled feverishly and something pulled back almostcausing him to lose his balance. He called softly to Tanya and Tediand they each grabbed onto the rope. The three of them pulled andthe beast on the other end pulled back. The tug-o-war lasted onlyseconds before the hook was free and the three Rangers weresprawled on the ground, but it felt as if it had lasted for tenminutes.