After a few moments of silence, I speak up.
"I think that since you're our leader, Lady Hastings, you would be
best
left out here to take the Marquis and his sons to Percy's. For one
thing,
you'd make the best spokesperson and for another, you're the last person
we
need getting caught. Lady Elsa has told me that the guard changes every
hour,
and it's due in 5 minutes. That gives us just enough time to get to the
gate.
We'll send them out the back way, and hopefully, and meet you here back
by the
port. The rest will have to be improvisation."
Lady Hastings nods, and takes cover in the greenery. Lady Elsa and I
slink to the gate just in time to see the two current sentries leave
their
post. We slip in behind them and navigate the winding corridors.
Somewhere
in the complex, Elsa looks back at me urgently and waves to stand back.
We duck
behind a few barrels and crates, as two men come into view.
"Citizen Chauvelin, you said yourself the Pimpernel will be here in
almost half an hour! Why do you suspect he is thirty minutes early?"
"Why not lead the enemy to believe one thing, while having an entirely
different trick up your sleeve? Come now, Captain. All you must do is
wake a
few of those lazy guards and assign them posts! How hard can it be?"
"As you wish."
The captain saunters off, and Chauvelin follows suit. After a few
moments, Elsa and I crawl from behind the barrels. We quickly continue
our
route down the passage. Finally, we come to the cell holding the
Marquis and
his sons. Taking a key ring that Lady Hastings had acquired, we lead
the
captive from their cage and motion for them to quietly follow us. As we
are
about to round the corner, we notice a guard standing there with his
back to
us! I sign to Elsa that we have 20 minutes remaining, and she leans
against
the wall in despair.
The Marquis shoots a hopeless glance to his sons and shakes his head.
Suddenly, we begin to hear a loud snoring. Perring around the corner,
Elsa
relates to us that the sentry is asleep (and very drunk). We tiptoe
around
and past him. As the youngest boy creeps by, he stirs slightly and
groans.
The older heaves a sigh of relief, and we turn the next corner.
"And just WHAT do you think you're doing?!"
A chillingly familiar
voice
calls from the end of the hall. Rigidly, I turn in stark horror to see
out of
the corner of my eye, the drunk guard come-to and fumble with his rifle,
trying desperately to stand straight. The man in black yanks an empty
mug
from the floor.
"Do you think this gets you money? Do you think it gives you
success??
I most certainly does not keep prisoners! Man, all it gives you is
dreams of
bliss, and a splitting headache when you wake up!"
"I-I am sorry, Monsieur- "
"Sorry?! SORRY?!..."
We took that as our cue, and promptly headed for the back entrance.
We
found the old wooden door at the end of a musky corridor, rotting with
decay
and reeking with fungus. Elsa peered through the knots and splits in
the
board to check for a guard, the waved us the "all clear." We pryed it
open
and filed through, quickly and silently. I pointed the three trembling
men th
Lady Hastings, whispered a few words in the Marqui's ear, and sent them
off,
while Elsa and I chose a path in the brush and shrubbery to keep and eye
on
the noblemen. They arrived safely to Lady Hastings, and she led them
off to
Percy's. Elsa gave me a congratulative pat on the back, and we both
sighed in
exasperation as we made our way to house where the other Guilders
waited,
along with many congratulations.