"Well there's only one thing to do but ask. Hildegard's room is up there," Amber pointed upwards to one of the castle towers with a French door opening to a balcony. "If only I could get up there without attracting attention,"
"On it," said Hugo, pulling out a rope with a grappling hook from his pocket. He threw it so high that the rope soared over the balcony railing then fell back down over the other side to form a pulley. He tied the rope around Amber's waist, and then yanked on the other end, hauling her upwards.
As Sofia watched, the beginnings of a plan started to form in her head.
After a few minutes, Amber finally reached the balcony. She hopped over the railing gracefully then knocked on the double doors. The doors opened and Sofia could just hear the faint voices of Amber and Hildegard in conversation.
Amber did a thumbs up, and Hugo lowered her back to the ground.
"Where did you learn those skills?" asked Sofia, impressed.
"A bit of rock climbing lessons at school and a bit of basic survival skills out in the wild," he said. Turning to Amber, he asked, "Is Hildegard joining us?"
Just then, Hildegard rushed out from a side entrance. "I'm coming!" she called out.
"Shhhh," the group said, ushering her into the forest.
Hugo said, "Why are you helping us? Not that we're ungrateful, but isn't that treason against your own country?"
"Treason? Friedrich himself is an embodiment of treason! He said one of my dress designs looked like Grandma's drapes!"
Amber winced.
Hildegard continued, "Not to mention, he's such a tyrant. I wouldn't mind if he disappeared off the surface of the earth!"
"That's a great idea," nodded Sofia.
After Hildegard arrived, they spent the rest of the day planning and preparing. Hugo enlisted help from the band of thieves, who practiced fighting techniques with the remaining Enchancian knight. Hildegard snuck in and out of the castle procuring materials and equipment.
Amber and Sofia discussed the plan and created drawings of the layout while Desmond was researching in his books. He mixed some hot peppers and various ingredients, then poured the concoction into a spray bottle, creating pepper spray.
Sofia instructed Hildegard to create a strange garment that had the appearance of a rucksack. Hildegard, who had studied at the School for Royal Fashions, had seen far stranger designs and didn't bat an eye.
"That looks like a potato sack," said Desmond when he saw the final product.
"Precisely," said Hildegard. "But there's a twist. It's like a corset. Look here, there's laces on the side which you can pull on and the entire thing snaps tight immediately,"
Desmond raised his eyebrows and went back to making pepper spray.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
After an uncomfortable night of sleeping on the dirt ground in the forest, the next day they were ready to take action.
Sofia, Amber and Hugo went directly to the front entrance and Hildegard, Desmond and the knight entered from the back to go to the dungeons to rescue James. The gang of thieves, armed with weapons, shields and their newfound combat techniques were hidden in the bushes and would only come out once Hugo whistled.
They all had safety goggles and cotton cloths wrapped around their mouth and nose, to protect themselves from the pepper spray. Hugo carried a shield and his grappling hooks.
"Ready?" Amber asked. Sofia and Desmond nodded. They entered the castle and marched toward the throne room.