Begin Again

Chapter 3

(ERIC)

"Maybe this one?" Eric asked Torin as they looked at the formidable wall in front of them.

"Looks promising." Torin replied. They had been stopped at many different villages without much success. The chests on board the ships were full but they hadn't accomplished the main reason for their journey.  All of the villages had been too easy enter. Their riches -which were now on board their boats- were proof of that. 

Torin led the men around the wall looking for a weak spot that they could breach. The men came full circle. "Looks better than promising," Torin said as the men came back together. Eric glanced at Griff and Bron. Both of the boys looked extremely excited to be there. Both of them held tightly to their weapons. Eric tried not to focus too much on their excited faces. 

The journey had gone on for weeks and Eric was ready to return home. Their weeks of sailing and plundering seemed pointless and he wanted nothing more than to see Ryah. Eric smiled at the thought. She was everything that he wanted. 

"Eric?" Torin said breaking through his thoughts. Torin had a smile on his face that snapped Eric back to reality. "What do you think?"

"I thought there was a good place on the East side of the wall. It looked less protected and the trees are close enough that they would offer us cover from above."

"I agree, you take half of the men and go to the East wall." 

"Are you sure?" Eric asked with raised eyebrows. Torin was giving him control of half of the men. 

"You'll be fine," Torin said confidently. He turned around and gave silent hand signals to the men to head off with Eric. "Wait until the cover of night and we will go in."

Eric nodded in understanding as he turned on heel to lead the men to the other side of the wall.

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(TORIN)

Torin held out his hand, indicating that he wanted silence. The men obeyed immediately. The entire group was silent as they waited for the guard on top of the wall to walk past them. The glowing light from his torch swept across the top of the wall as he walked away. The men threw up their hooks and held onto the long ropes as they waited for the signal. 

Torin counted thirty breaths as they waited. He had archers aiming at the wall ready to take out anyone that walked across the top and noticed their hooks. If anyone noticed they would be shot before they could sound the alarm.  

'There should have been another guard by now,' he thought to himself. 'Something's wrong." 

They waited for fifty breaths and nothing happened. The men turned to look at Torin as they wondered why they weren't doing anything. They were looking for the signal. 

"They know we are here," Torin whispered to the man nearest him and soon the message was spread out to all of the men around him. Then Torin remembered Eric on the East side of the wall. He swore quietly under his breath as he signaled for the men to start back for the boats. 

Torin didn't watch to see if they obeyed him as he took of sprinting for the East wall. He paused to stop behind a tree and look for the hooks on the wall. He didn't see any hooks or any of the long connecting ropes. He squinted into the trees and he couldn't see any of his men. 

"Torin," Eric's voice caused him to breathe a sigh of relief. Torin jogged towards where the voice came from. The men seemed to materialize out of the darkness behind the trees as Eric came into view. "This looks promising, they know that we are here," Eric said excitedly as he looked at the wall that was in front of them. Torin knew that he was thinking their journey was finally over. Torin knew that Eric wanted to go home.