Before You Start A War

Chapter Eight

The next few days fly by quickly. Even though Harry had a bit of trouble, he was able to keep his comrades at bay from causing any more trouble. They all remained rude towards Niall, as usual, but none have tried anything to get themselves into trouble. He was able to create a bit of an action plan in his head on how things would play out when they finally get around to escaping.

Niall, on the other hand, has had a bit of a hard time figuring out the night schedule for the rest of the camp. While lights out is at ten and everyone, even the corporal, return to their quarters, there are still the nightly watchmen that walk the area around the camp. The watchmen change every night, so he hasn't been able to figure out the patterns that they all follow, but tonight, he's planning to hopefully get William's help to sneak back into camp and take the map.

William always takes the same route while on night watch, and since he normally stops caring around one in the morning, he'll oftentimes find a post on the very corner of the camp and take a nap for the rest of the watch time. He knows he'll be able to get in and out of the town quickly and without anyone noticing.

That night, when Niall goes in to feed everyone, when Harry comes up, he whispers to him, "Meet me here in a few hours. I'll knock on the wood twice next to your corner a little bit before I come. Get everyone ready to go during that time."

Harry''s eyes widen. They're actually doing it. They're actually going to escape.

"Sure." Harry whispers back, taking his piece of bread and refilling his canteen. At this point, the men's canteens are able to be filled up almost completely, and Harry knows to preserve it for now. They have a long walk ahead of them.

Three hours later, after everyone in the camp has gone to bed and Niall hasn't seen William for a good half hour, Niall dims his lantern so there's only a shallow ring surrounding him, closes his tent flaps, and knocks softly on the wood right next to where Harry should be waiting.

Harry perks up inside, looking around for a moment and listening for anything else before springing into action, waking up each of his comrades one by one, shushing them and telling them to wait in groups around the back of the barn.

Niall has already made it to the camp. His footsteps are soft, but every crack of a twig or crunch of a pinecone causes him to tense up. He's slow and weary until he eventually reaches the corporal's meeting chamber and quarters. The door creaks quietly as he opens it, seeming much louder in his head than it actually is. He stops in his tracks after closing the door behind him, listening for any sign of movement. After listening and not being able to hear anything for a solid minute, he continues his trek into the meeting chamber, where he knows the map is, still open and some ink still freshly dried after being updated today.

Niall looks it over for a moment, seeing several surrounding landmarks and even an arrow pointing to where the men were first captured. They probably returned to that spot constantly and searched around in all directions trying to find their camp. He then rolls it up slowly, feeling the weight of it in one hand while the other hand holds up the lantern slightly to see further in front of him.

His steps are still slow as he returns to the front door, again, stopping for a moment to listen for the corporal rousing at his presence. Again, there is nothing moving inside the house except himself. He creaks the door open slightly, leaving a gap just barely big enough for him to slip through. He closes the door, cringing at the high-pitched groans emitted, before finally taking his hand off the handle and tip-toeing down the steps on the front porch. He has a bit of a faster pace returning to the barn, since his adrenaline has built up quite a bit.

When he finally gets back to the barn, he takes a moment to look back on the camp. Nothing has moved, and no one is running at him in anger for going against his allies.