Forest Kingdom Trilogy 3 - Down Among the Dead Men

trapped and nervous, and he kept thinking the walls were closing in on him. He shivered once, like a dog, and then put the thought out of his mind. He had a job to do.
    He followed the guards’ tracks through the narrow corridors, and came eventually to the main dining hall. He opened the door a crack and peered cautiously into the brightly lit hall. He froze where he was when he saw a woman sitting guard over her three sleeping companions, and he then relaxed a little as he saw she was also fast asleep. Jack frowned disappointedly. From the look of the party they had to be Rangers, but he’d always thought them to be more professional than this. Jack’s frown deepened as he saw that all four of them were twitching and mumbling in their sleep. More bad dreams, by the look of it. He could understand that. This place gave him the creeps. And then one of the Rangers suddenly sat up and screamed, and all of them woke up.
    Jack didn’t dare move for fear of drawing attention to himself. He stood very still in the shadows of the door, and listened carefully as they discussed their dreams. And then one of them spotted him.
    The dark figure was off and running before MacNeil could get to the door. He plunged down the corridor after the fleeing shape, sword in hand. For a moment the dim figure had looked disturbingly like one of the demons from his dream, but as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, MacNeil could see he was chasing a man dressed in rags. A stray memory tugged at him—Scarecrow Jack?
    MacNeil smiled slightly. He’d heard about that outlaw, and the price on his head. He tried to force a little more speed out of his tired legs, but the outlaw could run like a startled deer and MacNeil was hard put even to keep him in sight. He ran on, vaguely aware the rest of his team were following some way behind. The chase continued, through rooms and corridors that blurred together in the darkness, until finally the outlaw charged between the sleeping horses in the reception hall and out into the courtyard. MacNeil had to spend a few moments calming the dismayed horses before he could follow, and when he finally got out into the courtyard, Scarecrow Jack was nowhere to be seen. The rest of the team arrived soon after, and they stood together by the hall door, looking around them at the courtyard’s impenetrable shadows.
    “This may seem a stupid question,” said Constance finally, “but just who the hell are we looking for?”
    “An outlaw,” said MacNeil. “He was spying on us from the doorway.”
    “How long for?” said Flint.
    “Too long,” said the Dancer. “He’s very good, whoever he is.”
    “Scarecrow Jack, I think,” said MacNeil.
    The Dancer raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t realized we were in his territory. I wonder what he wants with us.”
    “More importantly, how did he get in here, and where is he now?” MacNeil hefted his sword impatiently. “He couldn’t have got in through the main doors; they’re still locked and bolted. I saw to that before we turned in.”
    “He must have come over the wall,” said Flint. “He’s probably up on the catwalks somewhere.”
    They all looked up at the battlements, but there wasn’t enough light to see them as anything more than darker shadows against the night.
    “If he was up there, he’s long gone by now,” said MacNeil disgustedly. He hesitated and then slammed his sword back into its scabbard. Flint and the Dancer looked at each other and put away their swords. MacNeil turned to Constance.
    “Can you use your Sight to find the outlaw?”
    The witch shook her head. “My Sight is still clouded by whatever’s here in the fort with us. If we were to go out into the Forest, I might be able to help you track him down.”
    MacNeil shook his head. “We’d never find Scarecrow Jack in the dark, and by morning he could be miles away.” He looked thoughtfully up at the battlements. “If he could get over that wall, so could anyone else. We’d better keep our eyes and ears open.”
    “Perhaps I’m missing something,” said Constance, “but why should a footpad like Scarecrow Jack want to break in here? What could he be looking for, in a border fort?”
    “I was wondering that,” said Flint. “This isn’t the kind of thing he usually does, according to all the stories. It’s not his style at all. Is there something here we don’t know about, Duncan? Something we haven’t been told?”
    MacNeil smiled slightly. “Nothing much escapes