"Hold a moment," Mennick said, and put a hand on Reht's arm. The wizard incanted a second spell and vanished from Reht's sight.
"That's for both of us," Mennick said, though Reht needed no explanation. He had experienced the invisibility spell often enough. They could see themselves, but not each other.
"Let us have a look," Mennick said, his voice coming from above.
Reht willed himself into the air, rose to a height of a spear cast, and looked down on the Corrinthal estate.
Within the walls, Reht noted a large stable and four large barns, a horse run and training area, several livestock pens, a score or so small buildings clustered along the western walls-probably the village where farmhands and other laborers lived-and a large wooden building that he assumed to be a barracks for the house guard. In the center of the compound stood the two-story, sprawling rustic Corrinthal manse.
Mud-packed timber made up the bulk of the manse, and a wooden porch wrapped around three sides of it. A low stone wall with a wrought iron gate separated the manse from the rest of the grounds.
Glowballs beamed at the entrance to the stables, and on the porch of the manse. A few torches burned in the cluster of buildings at the western end of the compound. Light trickled out of three shuttered windows of the manse.
"That barracks can house thirty men," Reht said.
"Easily," said Mennick. "I would put it at forty."
Reht pointed at the cluster of buildings along the southern wall, though Mennick could not see him.
"There will be some men in the village who will fight."
"Aye."
"I see eight guards at the gate."
"No others, though," Mennick said. "They'll have dogs. If we use stealth, we will have to move quickly."
Reht considered the compound and made his decision. Stealth was not his best approach. He had a sleeping compound. Except for the guards, the fighting men within would not be armed or armored. He needed to hit hard and fast.
"We go at it hard. I will lead the men through the gates. Stay here and burn the barracks as we approach, then support as you can. If the boy is in the manse, I will find him. When I've got him out, burn the manse, too."
Mennick sounded unhappy. "The smoke will be seen."
Reht knew. "Forrin is a day and a half behind us. By the time anyone investigates and learns what has occurred, it will be too late to anticipate an attack."
Meanwhile, he would send Abelar Corrinthal a message.
Mennick nodded at the explanation. "As you say."
"Dispel this invisibility when I land."
Reht descended, called out to Mennick to indicate that he was earthbound, and Mennick uttered a single word of power. A tingle in Reht's flesh signaled the end of the invisibility spell. He heard Mennick hurriedly recast the spell on himself as Reht crept back to his men.
When he reached them, he said, "Gear up. We go as soon as all are ready. Most of them are asleep. We hit hard."
The men snapped to it, checked straps, buckles, and weapons. They had been eager for a fight since leaving Ordulin. Reht said to Vors, "We need to get through the gate quickly. What can you do?"
"Blast it from its hinges," Vors answered with a grin. "Leave it to me."
Battle always excited the war priest. He thumped axe to shield, whirled, and paced through the men, growling at them to move quickly.
To the rest of the men, Reht said, "Vors will get the gate down. Dist and his men-take the eight gate guards. Zerton, Ethril, and Dant-take squads to the barracks."
"Where on the grounds is the barracks, Reht?" Zerton asked. The heavyset warrior was one of Reht's most reliable sergeants.
"Mennick will light it up," Reht answered. "There will be no missing it. Thirty men inside, maybe more."
Zerton and Dant nodded.
Ethril said, "Thirty men who will be leaping from windows while their beds burn."
"And getting not much farther," Zerton said, tightening a buckle on his breastplate.
"Aye, that," many said, and others chuckled.
"House guards," a few said with contempt.
Reht said, "Vors, me, and Norsim's men have the house." He fixed a hard look on Vors and Norsim, a tall, thin sergeant whose luck with dice was legendary among the men. "The Corrinthal boy is four winters in age and was born an idiot. He looks it. He comes out alive. But no one else does. Understood?"
Vors growled acquiescence. Norsim nodded.
"Mount up, men."
Leather creaked and mail chinked as men climbed into the saddle. The horses snorted, sensing the tension of their riders. Reht donned his helm, drew his blade. His men did likewise.
"Under cover of silence," Reht said to Vors. "Until we get close."
"I must be able to speak aloud for the Destroyer's power to break the gate."
"Silence until we get close," Reht reiterated. "Then cast your spell."
Vors glared but did as he was ordered. The war priest held aloft his shield, adorned with the lightning bolt of Talos, and asked for the Destroyer's blessing in the coming battle. The image of the lightning bolt flared for a moment and even Reht felt a warm surge in his gut. Vors intoned another spell and put a calloused hand roughly on Reht's shoulder. Reht's curse at the priest died in the magical silence, so he instead shoved Vors's arm away. The priest grinned.
Sound could not be made within the sphere of magic that radiated from Reht for eight or nine paces. Vors fell in toward the rear of the men, outside the area of the silence, and intoned a second such spell, though Reht could not hear it. The war priest put his hand on Dist, and returned to Reht's side.
All eyes were on Reht. He turned his mount, the silence ponderous. He put his heels into her and led his force toward the Corrinthal estate.
Signaling with his hands, he ordered the men into a five-wide column, organized by squads. He increased speed to a hard gallop. The wind stirred his cloak. The ground shook under the horses' hooves but the spells of silence killed the noise. The lighted gate of the Corrinthal estate lay just ahead. He and his men charged across the grass, bearing down on it.
A tiny ball of flame traced a thin orange line from a point over their heads toward the barracks, invisible behind the Corrinthal walls. It exploded into a towering plume of flame and smoke, and lit up the night.
Reht could only imagine the shouts of alarm. The light from the fire framed the gates. He saw the silhouettes of the guards leaping to their feet and looking back on the flames, pointing. They did not yet see Reht's men approaching.
Vors made a cutting motion with his hand and the silence spells ended. The thunder of hooves and the rush of the wind overwhelmed all sounds coming from the estate, save the bleat of an alarm horn. Vors ducked low in the saddle as they neared the gate, which was still closed.
The guards saw them, shouted, pointed. One leveled a crossbow.
"Do whatever you intend to do, priest! Now!"
Vors shouted out the words to a spell and held his shield before him. A visible wave of destructive force went forth from it. It hit the crossbowman, shattered his weapon, and rolled toward the gate, splintering wood, twisting metal, and opening the way. The men charged onward.
Vors split the head of the crossbow-armed guardsman with his axe, and Reht rode down another as he lunged from the gatehouse and slashed with his blade. The men of the company shouted battle cries and rode over the downed gates. The clang of metal and shout of combat sounded in their wake as Dist and his men, rearmost in the formation, engaged the surviving gate guards.
Reht, Vors, Norsim, and the rest of Norsim's squad rode hard for the Corrinthal house. Shutters flew open and sleepy faces showed in the windows, shouting with surprise and alarm.