The Last Ring-bearer - Kirill Yeskov [69]
He was absolutely correct but for a couple of small details. The infiltrator chose the front rather than the back wall. Soundlessly he tossed a tiny grapple on a length of weightless elvenrope over the shoddy stockade (less than a dozen yards from the group at the gates, where the dark pushed away by their torches seemed thickest by contrast), flew up like a spider on a strand, and then slid into the courtyard like a breath of night breeze right under the noses of sentries, who kept their attention and bows trained on Grager's well-lit men and expected no such chutzpah. Another small detail that Cheetah got wrong was that the man who was now trying to free the prince (an impromptu attempt conceived less than an hour ago of hopelessness and desperation) was not of the Ithilien regiment, but of the Cirith Ungol Rangers.
It rates a mention that Sergeant Tzerlag's unit identification had caused a greatly animated discussion at Blackbird Hamlet, both as to essence and as to appearances. "My friend, are you totally nuts?" was Grager's first reaction to Tangorn's sudden suggestion to use the 'visiting Mordorian professional' rather than an Ithilien Ranger to infiltrate Emyn Arnen. "An Orc is an Orc! To trust the Prince's life to one… Sure, it's nice that he knows the fort layout – from when they were stationed here, right? – and can pick locks. But dammit, Baron – to let an armed Mordorian into the Prince's bedchamber with your own hands?" "I'm willing to trust my own life to these two guys," Tangorn explained patiently. "I can't tell you about their mission, but please believe me: it so happens that we're fighting the same enemy on the same team, at least for now, and they're as interested as we are in getting Faramir out from under the White Company."
Be that as it may, working in intelligence had long ago taught Grager that a temporary alignment of interest can sometimes produce a totally unbelievable alliance and that oftentimes one can trust a former enemy more than certain friends. In the end he assumed all responsibility, formally enlisted Tzerlag into the Ithilien regiment 'for the duration of the raid on Emyn Arnen' and handed the Orocuen the appropriate paperwork in case he got caught by the Whites. The sergeant only snorted – a captured Orc will get short shrift in any case; better to hang as a Mordorian insurgent than a Gondorian conspirator – but Haladdin told him to mind his own business.
"…And remember, Sergeant: no killing when taking down sentries and such! Treat this as a war game."
"Very nice! Do those guys understand it's a war game?"
"I hope so."
"All right. I guess they'll hang me with a pretend rope…"
They say that there are werewolvesnin'yokve in the countries of the Far East – a fearsome clan of super-spies and super-assassins capable of mutating into animals internally, while keeping their human appearance. Turning into a gecko, a nin'yokve can climb a smooth wall against all laws of physics, slither into any crack after turning into a snake, and should the guards catch up with him, he turns into a bat and flies away. Tzerlag had never had any nin'yokve skills (despite Tangorn's possible suspicions), but the leader of a scouting platoon of the Cirith Ungol Rangers knew quite a few tricks involving no magic.
In any event, by the time the White Company soldiers have been roused and took their positions in the courtyard, he had already scaled one of the outside galleries and was now working on its lock, trading the grapple for other tools. The Sergeant did not have the skills of a real burglar, but he did know a few things about metalworking, and as he remembered from last year, any lock in Emyn Arnen could be opened with a pocketknife and a couple of pieces of wire. A few minutes later he was gliding noiselessly through the dark and empty corridors (all the Whites are outside – very convenient!); the Orocuen had admirable visual