What good fortune! If the guards were lowering the bridge, that meant someone was coming in. This could be our opportunity to escape. Hurriedly, I gathered my nettles into my satchel, slung it over my shoulder, and slipped outside.
Do you have a plan, or do you mean to wander aimlessly?Kiki asked tartly.
I have a plan.Mostly.You know the stable I pass every day on my way to the kitchen? I’ll steal a horse and ride out while the gate is still open.
That’s a terrible plan!Kiki exclaimed.They’ll shoot you down before you even pass the gate.
I have to try.
I kept to the shadows as I scuttled across empty courtyards, dipping into the bushes when I saw movement ahead.
Just like Kiki said. Guards, soldiers, even sentinels—all rushing to the north gate. Some had even brought their horses.
They were moving fast, and the gate was already rumbling, the heavy iron doors grating against the earth. Archers sprang from the watchtowers, and horsemen rounded the fortress walls as rain washed down, churning the slush on the ground into muddy pools.
Beyond the gate was complete darkness.
Finally I acknowledged that this had been a terrible, terrible idea.
Now you see?Kiki whispered harshly.You think you can just dance out of the gate in this storm? Let’s go back to the cellar before someone sees you. Come on.
I bit my lip in defeat, hesitating only a moment before I picked up my feet and started to plod back to the fish cellar.
Behind me, the guards yelled at each other, pulling the gate open. “Make way—Lord Takkan has returned!”
My pulse quickened in counterpoint to my halting steps. Takkan was back?
Arrows whined through the sky, heading for the fortress. I only caught flashes in the torchlight. Then they landed, chipping the castle’s stone walls and stabbing the tiled roofs. More than a few skipped across the ground, landing not far from my feet.
I jumped back in shock. The fortress was under attack!
Kiki darted into a guardhouse for cover. As my bird hid on the wooden slats above the window, I crouched outside the door and squinted at what was happening.
A horse charged through the gate, its rider crying out words I could not discern. There were two men on the mount, and I thought I glimpsed Takkan, but I could not be sure.
As the storm intensified, the sentinels swiftly worked to close the gate. But men on the other side still funneled through the crack, their horses splashing against the wet ground.
Assassins.
There had to be over a dozen of them, their blades gleaming.
Rain pounded on my head, drowning out the sounds of the unfolding fight, but I crawled back inside the guardhouse. I pressed my cheek against a pillar. Outside, men fell. Lanterns shattered.
Fear crept up to my throat as Kiki shrank behind my hair.Never thought I’d say this, Shiori, but I miss the fish cellar.
I grabbed a stool, breaking off a leg to use as a weapon, and hid under the window. Flying arrows made the lanterns flicker; they were so close I could hear them slice through therain.
“Help!” a sentinel outside was yelling. “Oriyu? Hasege?”
His cry was lost in the storm, the alarm bells, and the clamor of battle, but I heard him. I peeked out, recognizing the sentinel’s horse as the one that had burst through the gate. An arrow shaft jutted out of the mount’s flank, and now the sentinel was easing his companion off its back.
“Help! Lord Takkan is wounded.”
My toes curled in my shoes. I had to do something. I had to help.
Shiori, don’t.Kiki yanked my hair.
I was already darting out.Here,I waved to the warrior, and grabbed Takkan by the legs. Together we hobbled back toward the guardhouse—evading arrows and falling debris.
