Edited by Brett Heller

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 license.

Like statues the King's Lions stare back at the group, each man now gripping the black gold hilt of his sword. Not one dares pull his blade.

"You will no- aaaaeuuu!" The King's protests turn into a squalling shriek as Azor gives his head the gentlest squeeze. The mages move back. Baron Grell eventually moves back as well but doubt covers his visage.

Azor is halfway down the muraled hall following Kinewyn and Baron Grell when he feels Bryong's absence. He stops and turns to see the redhead throw an open hand strike to a King's mage's chest. She snatched the fee satchel from him as the mage heaves to breath. Bryong curses at Azor to keep moving as she boltes toward him.

The distance to the Cliff Gate is covered with Azor shaking the King at servants and guards and knights, Kinewyn threatens Baron Grell's life if he misleads them and Bryong sprinkles gold coins and curses as she runs. The group bursts out of the castle into the sunlight. Azor growls. The castles' parapets are crammed with archers drawing down on Kinewyn and Bryong. Azor shakes King Trajon like a rag doll toward the sky and the lines of tensed arrows lower.

This rear courtyard is a quarter the size of the castle's front courtyard. Although the yard is well groomed it is apparent that it has seen few visitors. The front courtyard is frequently used as a training ground, a staging area, a temporary market and even a carnival site at times. The rear yard seems empty, purposeless. "Open the Cliff Gate," Kinewyn bellows. At the same time he points to the corner of the yard and Bryong runs to get a coil of rope from a ready war wagon parked there.

"You will not leave this castle with our king," the Gate Keeper stands on the edge of the crenellations without a thought that 120 feet of open air loom below him.

Kinewyn speaks as Bryong lashes the end of the rope to Azor's free hand, "I have no intention of leaving with your King. The freecaster and I will descend three tree heights down the cliffs and none of your men will pursue. When we are both at that safe distance Azor will release your King and follow us. I warn you now that if we are pursued men will lose their lives."

"You will pay for his, thief," Prince Jayce rushes up behind the Gate Keeper breathing hard. "Today or tomorrow, thief, I will personally make you pay."

Azor cannot help but snicker as Kinewyn ties the rope around his elven waist without bothering to look up at Jayce. The old elf hears revenge speeches as often as righteous men hear temple sermons. The gate is clinking the last few yards to closing as Kinewyn jogs over the edge of the cliff. Twenty feet of slack plays out before Azor gently tightens his stone fingers around the rope and slows Kinewyn' descent.

Citizens found guilty of the worst crimes, those who preyed upon children or who attempted to harm the King's family, are flung from the Cliff Gate. Their screams become inaudible hundreds of feet before they strike the mist covered bottom.

Azor feels tension on the line as Kinewyn swings like a pendulum. The Golon knows the elf will work quickly, the only way the old elf knows how to work after a life devoted to the thieving arts. Azor remembers from his previous visit to the castle that the land he stands on, the land bearing the Cliff Gate is only a thin ten foot ledge of rock. The gate is extended out thirty feet past the body of the cliffs. This is by design. Four centuries passed, King Fasilge had men chip away hundreds of tons of rock around Buelgwarn Edge Castle to make entry attempt from the cliffs a foolish, deadly task. Azor plays out another fifty feet of line and feels the rope go slack. Kinewyn has reached the point where he can climb on the cliff rocks independently. Relief passes through the granite titan. Anyone of the archers could have cut the line with a single arrow.

Bryong flings the satchel, heavy with gold, over Azor's shoulder lashing it to his massive torso, "Come as soon as the rope goes slack." Her voice is quiet but Azor hears her concern. Bryong is running as soon as the words are spoken. She disappears over the cliff using the same thick rope Kinewyn was lowered on. Azor turns and glares at the crenellations holding Trajon up like a banner. He feels the stillness and the tension. It pulses out of the humans surrounding him in waves. Azor knows that what they feel now is intense fear, palpable anxiety. These feelings are almost alien to Azor. Even in the adventure filled years Azor has spent with Kinewyn he can think of only one time when he has felt fear. He is impregnable, an immovable obstacle and an irresistible force. While one well placed arrow could kill Bryong or Kinewyn every archer here could fire on Azor and it would leave nothing more than thin white scratches on his black granite hide.