“I doubt it. Everyone is too weak.”
“I’ll make a fight of it,” a woman from across the row breathed. “I’m done waiting to be sold.”
Hope soared within my chest. We might make it out of this after all.
“Okay, here is the plan,” I whispered. “I need to get over to the office. There are some records I need to find. And has anyone seen a shipment come in? Probably just one crate, but I don’t know how large.”
“There was one brought in a few days ago that all the guards were excited about,” the woman across from me said. “That’s in the office as well. I saw them take it in but I haven’t seen it come out. But they might have moved it while I was sleeping.”
This much good luck wasn’t normal. Something would go wrong; I could just feel it.
“After—” I broke off again as the guard entered the room again and patrolled in a bored lap around the cages, barely even looking at the sleeping prisoners.
I waited patiently until they left again, then used the closing of the door to mask the sound of the creaking hinges as I pushed my door open just enough to slip out. I handed the key to the prisoner next to me.
“Pass this around,” I told him. “Start unlocking everyone. We’re all getting out of here. But keep it quiet and wait. Nobody run yet.”
He nodded and took the key while I slunk over to the office.
It was pitch-black inside. There were no windows to even let the moonlight filter in, and after several tense minutes of searching blindly for a candle, I had to admit defeat. My memory wouldn’t help me if I couldn’t read any of the text.
So I strained my ears to listen for the guards to finish their next round of patrolling, then snuck back to take one of the dim lanterns off its hook to take with me into the office.
Blessedly warm light, which struggled to illuminate the vast chamber I’d left, had no problem lighting up the small, cluttered office. I set the lamp down and immediately set to riffling through the papers, searching for my mother’s name to appear anywhere.
Unfortunately, this office was nowhere near as organized as the Employer’s had been. My mother would have been sold many years before, so the parchment I was hunting forwould likely be old, nothing like the documents that looked untarnished by age or mice…if it was here at all.
I ignored the crate in the corner and sifted through piles of papers, frantically searching for any clue that would help me. As I hunted, I found occasional names and dates, but nothing that made me think my mother would be there.
Where was it? Her information had to be here, it had to be. I couldn’t have come this far simply to fail.
There was a loud screech of hinges from the room I’d left behind, followed by a shout from the guards. “Check the cages! Someone is missing!”
Shoals, they knew.
My heart thudded madly in my chest as I snatched a thick folder of some of the oldest-looking papers and leapt across the office to where the crate sat on the desk. Footsteps approached from the hall.
I hastily blew out the lantern and crouched behind the desk, waiting.
The door opened and another lantern illuminated the patch of ceiling I could see above the desk. I stayed hidden while whoever was holding the lantern did a sweep of the room. It sounded like only one person. I drew in several breaths, waited for him to come around the desk, then pounced.
He let out a muffled cry and threw a punch as I emerged, but I ducked under his fist, whirled around him, and looped my arm around his neck from behind, squeezing the air from his throat. His fingernails scrabbled at my elbow, but I continued to increase the pressure until his knees buckled and he collapsed…straight onto the table, which promptly broke.
“Someone’s in the office!” a guard shouted.
I crouched, prepared to attack the next person who came into the office, but then more cries erupted.
“The Nightsworn! The Nightsworn are here!”
Sounds of shouts and the clash of swords against swords came as the slavers began battling with the king’s rangers. My shoulders sagged in relief. I didn’t like the Nightsworn, but I couldn’t help but appreciate their timing. I shoved the papers into my shirt and grabbed the small crate, which felt surprisingly heavy, then stuck my head out to look down the hall.
There was pandemonium everywhere. Uniformed members of the Nightsworn were swarming in, opening the cages of all the prisoners, and cutting down any slavers who tried to stop them. Those who had been in the cages were fleeing or being helped out by their fellows. Quickly, I stripped off my jacket and threw it over the crate. If anyone saw it…
One of the slavers ran past me into the office, muttering to himself, and didn’t so much as look at me while he dashed past.
“No escape that way,” I muttered as I lugged the crate out. The Nightsworn were ignoring me and the other prisoners as everyone who was able to ran out, though many were still in the cages. The early dawn breeze had never felt more welcome after the horrendous stink of the warehouse’s interior.
“Gil!” a voice hissed the moment I was outside.
