I lifted my gaze higher.
Based on where the moon was, I was pretty sure I was looking east. The dark mountains rose sharp and unforgiving against the sky, glinting in the moonlight where the snow and ice gathered. There were no roads that I could see, just jagged rockand snow. A natural wall, crueler than the castle’s. No chance of escape there.
I turned west, and my fingers clenched inside the gloves. A faint golden glow reflected off the clouds from a town or city down below. Lanternlight, fires, and movement shifted throughout.
Where there were people, there would be shelter and places to hide.
Hope flared in my chest so sharp it hurt. That was where I’d go.
BAHROOOM! A deep-toned horn sounded a single note through the night.
Shouts followed. The door the guards had dragged me through slammed open. A deep voice called, “The new prisoner has escaped!”
“Cover the gates!”
Along the walls, guards snapped to attention, their heads jerking up and their weapons flashing. The one nearest to me was still over fifty feet away, and he leaned over the wall and viewed the courtyard below.
In the courtyard, the guards broke into smaller groups of four. One set ran toward the main gates, which looked as if they led into the larger enclosed space beyond this inner courtyard. Another four ran toward the entrance to the castle and up the stairs. The rest scattered to various doors.
The heavy tramping of booted footsteps filled the air as the horn sounded again and again. On the tower roofs, more heads appeared, archers and spearmen with at least two per tower.
My throat constricted, and I took a step back. Hopefully, when I stood still, my coat helped me blend in with the dark gray stones. However, my golden hair probably stood out in the darkness.
Two of the guards on the walkway turned and trotted toward the nearest towers. The third, nearest me, straightened with his hand tight around his spear. He looked up at one of the towers to the south.
This was my chance to move. My heart jumped as I ducked behind the waist-high wall, gripping the dagger tighter and shifting the rope against my side. If I were lucky, I could reach one of the towers and then the eastern outer wall. They wouldn’t expect me to be up here.
The muted sound of heavy footsteps moved away from me, but those watchmen on the towers would be looking for anything that didn’t fit. Okay, not good.
I hiked the rope coil higher on my shoulder and started moving, keeping my stance low. There wasn’t anything I could do about my hair. I edged along the walkway, trying to keep my movements smooth, steady, and hidden in the shadows.
My knees ached, and the stone under my sneakers squeaked with each step, but my feet never lost control. Thank goodness, they weren’t as slippery as I’d feared.
Despite wanting to rush, I kept my pace slow, knowing I’d slip otherwise. The dagger rested solid and reassuring in my grip while the rope bumped against my side and hip with each careful step.
The eastern tower loomed ahead, its dark spire rising out of the wall at least another thirty feet in the air. If I could reach the connection point without being seen, I could slip around the bend and?—
“Oi! Who’s that?” a voice bellowed from above.
“You down there, lift your head,” another called down.
Electric awareness shot through my veins as I hinged my gaze toward the voice without moving my head. In my periphery, I spotted dark shapes on the tower to my left. Shit. They’d spotted me.
The connecting junction where I'd make the turn to get to the tower was barely twenty feet away, with the eastern tower maybe fifty feet total. If I moved fast enough, none of the guards on this level were close enough to stop me. The nearest one was on a walkway junction a couple hundred feet away.
Breath locked in my chest, I bolted.
“Stop!” the first voice shouted.
“Get the ladders. Get up the stairs. Cut her off!” someone shouted from the courtyard below.
“Don’t let her get away!”
An arrow screamed past my shoulder and shattered against the stone ahead, sending sparks skittering across the walkway. I veered hard, and my sneaker caught an icy patch that sent my foot skidding into the wall.
Another arrow whistled close enough to move the air by my cheek.
More shouts exploded around me while boots thundered and metal clanged.
