But to answer, I shrugged and said, "I understand Lord Endrick for who he is, and I agree, he must be defeated. All I can do is hope that whoever ends up with the Blade will serve Antora well. If I can help them do it, then I will."
Trina's face softened, and she was about to speak when Simon knocked on the door, then ducked his head inside. "All the servants were called to a meeting with Sir Henry to coordinate their preparations for the wedding. Even the guards have been called up, in case you give them trouble. If we're going to escape, now might be our best chance."
Trina took a deep breath and looked at me. "Well?"
I brushed past Simon to enter the corridor. "I never want to see Woodcourt again. Let's say good-bye forever to this wretched place."
My biggest worry of the evening was getting Kestra through Woodcourt without being spotted. Even a chance encounter with a maid could be deadly. But Kestra brushed off those concerns. "I got caught out here a thousand times as a child before I figured out how to do it right."
"You used to sneak into the dungeons?" Trina asked.
"Of course not." Kestra smiled back at her. "But I knew exactly where Cook hid the leftover pastries. She thought it was mice."
I chuckled. "It appears that you've never been entirely loyal to your family."
Instantly, I regretted my words. They carried in the air like lead.
Kestra stopped walking. "I broke rules, yes. But I never betrayed them. Not like this."
By then, we had reached the door connecting Woodcourt to the dungeons. Trina tried the door, then gasped. "It's locked!"
I gave a key to Trina. "As Kestra's protector, I was given one in case she tried escaping from her room."
Trina smiled as she began unlocking the door. "The irony is priceless!"
I pulled a long length of rope from my satchel. It wasn't as thick as some of the other ropes I'd found out in the stables, but it had to fit in the satchel, so my options were limited.
I gave Trina my knife, and then offered Kestra the rope, saying, "Trina and I will disarm the guards. Stay here where they can't see you. When it's clear, can you get this rope tied off in my old cell?"
Her face twisted into a noticeable grimace, but she took the rope and nodded. She could do this. I hoped.
Once we were inside, Kestra remained high on the stairs. I followed Trina down them as quickly as we could go without slipping. The first guard was the younger one who had leered at Kestra earlier. His hand was raised in a friendly hello, but Trina whacked him broadside on the head and he immediately crumpled. I figured that wasn't too different from her usual technique for making friends.
I took on the second guard, the man who had been clever enough to remind me that the dungeons were not an inn. I hit him on the head with the flat side of my sword, a single hammer stroke that sent him to the ground.
The third man immediately dropped to his knees with his hands in the air. "My name is Bragh. I have no love for the Dominion!"
"Then you'll gladly help me drag these men into a cell." I tilted my head toward Trina. "Give her your keys."
He did, and while we dragged the first two guards away, Trina hurried ahead of us to unlock the first available cell door. When they were all inside, I swatted Bragh hard enough to make him sleepy for a few hours. It wasn't personal, at least on my part. Bragh might feel differently.
By the time I left the cell, Kestra was already padding past us, on her way to cell nine. In her hands was a set of keys that must have fallen from one of the guards' pockets. She did not acknowledge either Trina or me. It probably required her full attention just to force herself down the dark slope.
"I'll free the other prisoners," Trina said, holding Bragh's keys. "Show them where to go, and hurry! The executions begin at midnight."
She went to work, but I followed Kestra. She had stopped just outside cell nine, frozen in place, except for her fists, which were slowly clenching and unclenching. It would only be darker inside, colder, and more closed in. The torch beside her flickered from a nearby draft. I wondered how it could have given her a cross-shaped burn on her palm. That didn't make sense.
I started forward again, but a girl pushed past me, the girl with the bread--Rosalie?--and wrapped her arms around Kestra's waist.
"I told the others you'd free us!" Rosalie said to Kestra. "I knew you'd come."
"You shouldn't have been here in the first place," Kestra replied. "I had to fix this."
"You'll save all of Antora. I know you will."
Kestra smiled sadly, but pressed her lips together in determination. When we were alone, I'd ask her again about joining the Coracks. We needed her on our side.
More than that, I wanted her at my side.
My motives were undoubtedly selfish, yet I didn't know how to feel any other way. After Darrow was released, she would try to leave with him, probably leave Antora entirely. I understood her loyalties. Darrow was her protector and friend. But surely there was enough room in her heart to care for me too--as something more than a protector, and certainly as more than a friend.
Finally, Kestra began unlocking the door to cell number nine. Gerald's voice called back to her. "My lady? Is it you?"
To have earned this cell, Gerald must have deeply offended Sir Henry. He'd only been here a few hours, yet he already bore signs of his stay. He was filthy, his bluish cheeks were sallow, and his eyes seemed offended by the light of the torch.
Kestra greeted Gerald with a quick apology, then handed him the rope. "I need a place to tie this." She lifted her foot to enter the cell, then set it down again.
"A lady like you shouldn't have to do this," Rosalie said. "I'll help him tie off the rope."
"No, I'll do it." Kestra nodded curtly, as if she was giving herself an order, then stepped inside.
By the time I joined them, Rosalie was holding the bulk of the rope while Kestra and Gerald tied the other end around a rock pillar in the center of the cell. With more than twenty people needing to escape, I wished the pillar was thicker. But it was our only option.
I took the rope from Rosalie and tossed it over the edge of the pit. Behind me, Tenger entered the cell. Without warning, he twisted Kestra around and slammed her into the stone wall.
Gerald had been on his knees in the mud and went to his feet, but before either of us could act, Trina ran into the cell and cried, "Captain, don't!"
"I don't know how your father found us, but I warned you of the consequences of betraying us!" Tenger's threat to Kestra echoed throughout the cell.
"It wasn't Kestra!" By then, I was close enough to press between her and Tenger, and force him back. "It's only a coincidence that they found you."
"How do you know that?" Tenger snarled.
"Because if I'd arranged for your arrest, I'd have also arranged for your execution, not your rescue." She kicked her foot out, connecting with the knee on Tenger's good leg.
Tenger started forward again, but this time Trina intervened. "It's true, sir. We think we know where the Olden Blade is. If it's here, then we must hurry."
Tenger's glare beamed through the dim light. I understood that he didn't trust Kestra, but I did.
Did I?
Should I? Kestra herself had warned me against trusting her.
I took a deep breath, desperate to center my thoughts again. I was here to get the Olden Blade. That was my mission. My only purpose for coming here.
But not my only reason for staying. Tenger never should have sent me, but for the exact opposite reason I had first believed. My mind was spinning with confusion, questions, with Kestra a player in my every thought.
"Someone has to test the rope." Kestra's voice bore an unmistakable waver of fear. "I can't be first."
"Let me do it, my lady." Without waiting for permission, Gerald picked up the rope and swung his weight over the side. A soft crack came from the pillar as it felt his weight, but the knots held. After a breathless few minutes, he called up, "I'm down safe. Send more!"
 
; Trina and Tenger pushed past the prisoners to get down to the pit. Trina went first, then Tenger. "You said we'd find the dagger," Trina immediately called up. "Where is it?" Kestra looked back at me and shook her head, her eyes wider than ever.
"I'll go right after you," I said. "And Tenger and Trina are already there."
She groaned. "Because that should make me feel better?" With that, she took the rope, offered me a grim smile, then made the muddy descent into the pit. I followed.
It was farther down than I remembered, and darker. But in all other ways, it was exactly as I recalled, a knee-high cesspool of rot that gathered the worst of everything that passed through the dungeons. Mixed in with the sewage and mud were various belongings of former prisoners, and bones from the prisoners themselves who had gotten too close to the ledge and fallen, or jumped. The gates of hell would be flower fields compared to this. Making it more awful, the pit was small, hardly room enough for all the people who would collect down here.
"As they come down, send them into the tunnel," Tenger ordered me. "No one lingers, except those of us searching for the Blade."
Kestra and Gerald were already searching with Trina and Tenger for any sign of the Olden Blade. Another hundred searchers still wouldn't matter. A horse could hide in this muddy soup, never mind a small dagger.
Others were already descending the rope, a few of them Coracks I vaguely recognized from other camps. Most seemed to be ordinary Antoran citizens who must have already questioned a thousand times how they came to be here.
As each person came down, I directed them toward the small tunnel I had used to escape. The entrance was covered in hanging moss and a slime that reeked of decomposing flesh, but I cut away as much of it as possible to urge people inside. Nobody smiled when I showed them where to go, but they all went. It was better than execution. Slightly.
Kestra would disagree. She seemed to be holding herself together out of willpower and a desire to find the Blade, but nothing more. At least once a minute, she stopped to steady her breathing and to wrap her arms around herself. This was nothing compared to the tunnel, which was so narrow and fragile it had terrified me to crawl through it. I couldn't envision Kestra escaping that way, even to save her own life.
"If the Blade has been buried in mud all this time, it'll be rusted through," Trina said.
"Any other weapon, but not the Olden Blade." Tenger shouted to the prisoners. "If you're waiting to enter the tunnel, then help us search for a dagger. It's probably wrapped in cloth, or in a sack, but maybe not. Try not to touch it."
The searching intensified, but rather than joining in, I kept my eye on Kestra. I knew what she was up to, but said nothing. Not yet, anyway. This was the very reason why the captain always warned us to separate our emotions from our assignments.
"Never trust your heart," Tenger would say. "Only your orders."
Earlier tonight, Gerald had also warned me about having feelings for Kestra, though his warning had come too late. I knew he was right. My judgment was clouding, a flaw that could prove fatal. But if there was a way to force these emotions out of my heart, I didn't know how to do it.
"The dagger isn't here." Trina looked over at Tenger, defeated. "This is a trick!" She leapt to her feet, so muddy it was hard to see any actual flesh.
Trina reached for Kestra, but a large crack suddenly thundered from above. The woman who had been on the rope fell to the ground, crying that she had hurt her leg. Some prisoners began lifting her from the mud, but Tenger and Kestra sloshed over to help me gather the fallen rope in my hands.
"The pillar must have collapsed." I was furious with myself. If my attention hadn't been fixed on Kestra, I'd have noticed there were too many people on the rope at once.
Eight escapees were still waiting to come down. From what I could tell, four were children, Rosalie included, three were women, and there was one remaining man, though he was too old to bear the weight of lowering the others, even if he had any rope to do it. Another mistake, letting the strongest come down first.
"We've got to help them!" Kestra cried.
"If we get the rope back up to you, where can you tie it off?" Tenger called.
A woman's panicked voice came from higher up. "Nowhere. We're trapped!"
I looked at the rope in my hands, dreading the decision that had to be made. Someone on top of the wall would have to hold the rope for the other prisoners. Nothing else would work.
"There's a pounding sound!" Rosalie cried. "The guards are breaking down their cell door!"
When I had been eleven and slipped into the pit, my first instinct had been to get back up on top, to return to the main part of the cell. Thin outcroppings of rock dotted the wall, muddy and slippery, but with workable holds if you could find them. I had tried making the climb until my injured foot failed.
But I wouldn't fail now.
I threw the rope over my shoulder, then put my hands on the first hold. "I can climb this and lower everyone down."
"Then you'll be stuck up there!" Kestra said.
"I'll slide down on my back, like I did before."
She shook her head. "Luck saved you that day, nothing more. And you still got hurt in the fall." She turned to Tenger. "Let me climb out. I can't stand being in this pit anyway, and I'm strong enough to lower the others down."
Trina shouted, "She knows where the dagger really is! She wants to take it and escape on her own!"
"I can escape--that's my point. Simon won't! The guards never saw me here. I can play innocent. With my family name, they'll have to believe me."
"No." I respected Kestra's courage, but not her impulsivity. "Even if you convince them, returning to Woodcourt is not an option."
"Help us!" a woman above us called. "The guards have nearly broken down their door."
Tenger pointed to the remaining prisoners. "Everyone, get into that tunnel!"
"I'll stay with Lady Kestra," Gerald offered.
But Kestra shook her head. "I want you to go."
"My lady--"
She leaned closer to him, her voice rising in intensity as she said, "Gerald, you have to go. You know what you have to do." He clearly wasn't happy about the order, but bowed his head and obeyed.
Next, Tenger said to Trina, "You and Kestra will stay down here until we find the Blade."
"No!" Kestra shouted. "You need Simon more than you need me. I'm going on top!"
Tenger rubbed his chin, considering her, then me. When his attention fixed on Kestra again, his expression softened. He was going to choose her. That was unacceptable.
Despite the fierce pounding of my heart, it was time to do the right thing. I hoped this was right. "We have to keep Kestra with us. If she escapes up there, everything she knows about the Olden Blade goes with her."
"How dare you--" Kestra started.
"She'll stay in this pit until she finds it." There was ice in Trina's voice. "Or stay in this pit forever."
"You will not keep me here!" Kestra backed away from us, targeting her anger at me. "This is what I get for trusting you?"
I wouldn't let her go on top, but I wouldn't give Trina a reason to threaten her either. Barely looking at Kestra, I whispered, "Give it to them."
"I don't know what you--"
"We both know. It's over."
Her chest was heaving with a combination of fear and anger, but her fight was gone. Cursing under her breath, Kestra crouched down, retrieving a burlap bag from beneath her foot that seemed to have held up remarkably well over the years. That alone attested to the magic inside that bag.
She thrust it at Tenger. "You have what you want. Now, release my servants. I am free too, and I am going back up that wall."
Tenger took the bag, opened it, and smiled before closing it up again. Kestra was already trying to find the best place to begin her climb, so she didn't see the rest of what Tenger was doing. I did.
He grabbed Kestra, and Trina immediately offered him her knife. "If you want your servants back, then you w
ill come with me to get them. Simon, climb that wall and bring the rest of our people down. I expect you to get safely down too, so hurry."
Kestra tried to break free of Tenger's grip, but stopped when she felt the sharp edge of his knife. Instead, she darkened her glare at me. She knew I'd let Tenger take her and would hate me for it. Well, she could be angry all she wanted. She was not going back up that wall. For better or worse, that was my job.
No, this wouldn't be for better or worse. When I reached the top, it was only going to be worse.
I barely breathed while Simon made the long climb back up the wall. Two or three times, I was certain he would not find a reliable hold, but every time he did, I paid attention to his route. For a good reason.
As soon as he rolled safely over the top, he immediately lowered the rope back down, sending the women and children first. Tenger had backed me into the shadows while Trina directed them into the tunnels. No one noticed us. Even if they did, I'd get no sympathy. Most of these prisoners would blame me for their arrests.
"You have the dagger," I said to Tenger. "Release me."
"Not until I'm certain it's the Olden Blade."
"Do you want it for yourself? Do you think you are the Infidante? Then shouldn't it have lit up for you when you opened that bag?"
"It won't light up until the ceremony. You know that, my lady." He pushed me toward the tunnel. "Let's go."
Suddenly panicked, I dug my heels into the mud, and they found purchase with a buried rock, so for the moment, we stopped. "I can't go into the tunnel, Tenger. You don't understand, but I really can't. Let me help Simon. He'll bring me back to the Coracks to retrieve my servants."
"Simon has completed his mission." Tenger angled the knife, ensuring I felt its edge. "But you have not."
The last of the prisoners to come down was the old man, who upon landing said to Trina, "The guards are out already. They're just not sure where all of us went."
They'd figure it out soon enough, and Simon was alone up there. He threw the rope down, making it nearly impossible for the guards to follow the escapees. Now all he had to do was remember how he had come down before. He had to, because we all knew what the guards would do to him if he didn't. But I dreaded seeing his body come over the edge. There was evidence of many others who had tried that very thing, and failed.