My panic spiked. Hounds? Definitelynotwhat I needed. Visions of floppy-eared dogs with drooling maws and sharpteeth flashed through my mind. But who knew what they’d look like here, or what they might do?
I tried to move downward faster without putting too much stress on the rope. My shoes skidded, caught, then skidded again. The wall chewed at my gloves, front, and sleeves, fabric rasping against rough stone. The pulse in my ears pounded so loudly that I couldn’t hear them above me anymore.
Slowly, I made it another foot down…then another.
The ground inched closer, but I was still too high. If I shoved outward and dropped, I could aim for the roof of the closest building in the row built near the castle wall, but it was so steep I’d probably slide off and fall just as dangerous a distance.
My arms shook with the effort to control every movement as my heart raced faster.
Above me, metal scraped stone. I looked up again. A helmeted head appeared between the stones, then another. Snow shook loose as they leaned farther out.
“There—she’s on the rope there!” A dark figure jabbed a finger in my direction.
“Grab it!”
The line jerked.
My body slammed into the wall, ribs cracking against it hard enough to knock a cry out of me. Fucking bastards! The impact rattled my teeth and sent pain flaring down my side as the rope slid another inch through my grip. Heat screamed across my palms through the gloves, fierce and immediate.
“No—” The word tore free as I clawed at the stone while my fingers scrabbled uselessly for a hold.
The rope shifted again. I forced myself to descend, my hands sliding despite my rubber-soled shoes fighting for cracks to catch a grip. My breaths came fast and shallow, fogging the air in front of my face.
When I glanced up again, a gloved hand appeared above me, fingers reaching through the gap in the wall.
Then the rope snapped taut.
My feet ripped free of the stone as the guards hauled upward. My body swung out into open air for a sickening second before I smashed back into the wall. Pain exploded through my shoulders. I gasped, my vision flashing white, one hand locking around the rope while the other grabbed at the wall.
They pulled again.
I slid upward despite myself, the rope biting cruelly into my arms as my shoes couldn’t find any traction. Snow spun past my face, blinding me in quick bursts. I kicked, twisted, fought to drag myself down instead of up, forcing my hands to slide farther down the rope even as my skin and muscles screamed in protest.
But the ground was closer now, and I would run out of rope fast.
Heart hammering, I risked a glance down. Ten feet. Maybe a little more. Close enough that fear shifted, sharp and focused, into calculation.
“Pull!” The command rang out in the icy air above me.
I didn’t wait for them to drag me higher.
I let go.
The world dropped, and my stomach lurched into my throat. Cold air tore past me as I twisted into the fall the way experience and instinct demanded, body loose, knees bent, chin tucked. I hit the ground hard, the balls of my feet striking first and my knees bending as far as they could before my body folded, and I rolled so that my hip and shoulder slammed down hardest. Pain detonated through my side, snow and grit tearing at me, stone scraping my back.
I came to a stop, gasping, the ground brutal and real beneath me.
Holy shit. I’d made it in one piece.
Shouts exploded above the wall. “She’s loose!”
“She’s on the ground!”
“Is she dead?”
I sucked in a breath that felt like knives slicing my lungs and forced myself upright while pain roared inside me. I’d be sore tomorrow, if I got to see tomorrow at all. My legs trembled but held, and I pushed away from the wall before they could decide otherwise.
“Awooo—wooorrrr—awoooo!” A long series of howls rolled from beyond the castle walls.
