The Water Warrior(Book 1)(Completed)

Chapter 1: Stealing a Baby

Stota's men obeyed his orders and galloped off toward the Eastern Woods and hid in the shadows waiting for the signal to start the attack. Stota and the other two men headed for the castle, their plan was in motion. The three men approached the moat that surrounded the castle from the East side, there they dismounted their horses and tied them to a nearby tree, making sure they did not lose their rides to escape if things went terribly wrong. The Cadars approached the water's edge, knowing they could not go any farther; Stota pointed his finger at the towering wall above him. One of his men carrying a crossbow nodded, responding to his command, and shot a grappling hook that fastened around the wall's stone edge with a soft clink. Stota grabbed the rope and started the agonizing climb, followed closely by his two men.

Once the men neared the top of the wall, they vaulted over and landed as quietly as possible. Just when they thought they were in without being noticed, a guard doing his nightly shift came out of the left tower. He opened his mouth to warn the kingdom, but he was shot in the neck before he had even uttered a word and no alarm was sound.

Stota ran to the body and retrieved his bloody arrow; he had learned long ago that an arrow waisted was a life lost. After recovering his arrow, he raced through the tower that the guard had just come out of on his right, knowing it led to the gatehouse. Before his men followed, the archer that had shot the grappling hook went to reclaim it, leaving no evidence of their entrance. Since he did not have a satchel with him, the archer looped the rope and hook on his belt loop and caught up to the other two.

Stota had been in this kingdom many times before and remembered every inch of it because King Richard was Stota's brother. Even if Stota does not admit it, he did have some fun times with his brother before things changed causing him to carry out this very plan.

The three Cadars descended the long staircase that led into the gatehouse minding their steps, so they would not make any noise. Before entering the gatehouse room, Stota peaked around the corner to make sure no guards were on duty inside. Luckily not, but they were not far. The guards were stationed right outside guarding the front entrance since they thought they had another man guarding the top entrance, but thanks to Stota, they did not. If he was going to lower the drawbridge, he had to be super cautious; any noise would alert the guards outside. He could just shoot them from here, but he thought better of it because two dead guards stationed outside the gatehouse would alert the enemy. Stota turned around and put his finger to his lips; he then pointed to the guards stationed outside of the room, so his men would understand. His archers nodded their heads showing Stota that they comprehended what he was saying.

The three men gingerly walked over to the drawbridge reel and began to push with all their might. Stota and his men groaned quietly in pain as they pushed, for the drawbridge reel was not as light as it looked, it had to weigh a few hundred pounds at least. Slowly the outside wrought-iron chains began to lower the wooden drawbridge, but not without drawing a little attention. The three men finally managed to lower the drawbridge, a painstakingly long and exhausting process, but the guards who were outside had noticed the bridge opening and had snuck inside to stop Stota behind his back.

"Phew," said Stota wiping his brow. "At least we didn't have to deal with Richard's pathetic guards." "Uh, Sir?" Said one of Stota's bowmen tapping him on his shoulder. "What?" Said Stota turning around to see the guards that used to be outside with their weapons drawn and pointed at them. "Oh. Uh... we surrender," Stota said as he put his hands in the air. The guards looked at each other confused by Stota's behavior and that was just the distraction he needed. Stota then began to move to his right, causing the guards to also move. When he was sure the guards were in position he yelled. "Now!" Then the guards realized what had happened; Stota had moved them just enough to have his men positioned directly behind them, so when they tried to turn around, it was too late. Stota's archers' aim was impeccable, and the guards quickly dropped to the floor dead.