The Silver Crown

47.

"This is not the last you'll see of me," I whispered to Maisa. She had to have hope or else I was afraid that she would give in.

I didn't close her cell door, just in case, and hurried over to the others. All were clad in the black cloaks of the priests, even Tiris.

"So I know how to get us out, but I don't know these woods. What direction is the quickest to get us to people who will shelter us?" I asked.

There were a lot of blank stares going around, but Marek finally spoke up, "There is an army outpost two hours hard ride from here. I don't know exactly where we are but if we follow the main road north, we should stumble across it."

"Alright, we'll head for the outpost," I said, spinning around to make sure everyone was with me. "Are we ready?"

I received nods from each person in response.

Tiris nudged me, "The other prisoners."

Right. I turned to the people that I had set free that I didn't know. Tiris hadn't had enough cloaks for all of them. "Your best chance of escape is when the yelling starts. You get out and run in any direction except north. The priests will follow us, giving you plenty of time to get out," I said to them. Grim faces stared back at me.

I looked to the royal family and my new friend. "Tiris, get them to the spot we specified. Remember, when the yelling starts."

"Good luck," she said, and hugged me.

"The Goddess go with you," I whispered as she gathered together what used to be my family and led them out into the corridor.

I gave them a few minutes to get in position and reiterated several more times to the other prisoners that to leave this room before the yelling was certain death, if not torture. I think they understood.

I hurried up the stairs minutes later and into the still deserted kitchen. My heart was pounding in my chest and I could not seem to get a full breath. This had to work. If it didn't...I could not even think about the consequences.

I rummaged through the drawers in the kitchen, looking for a wooden ladle or some other long and skinny wooden utensil. The few I found were short, and when I stuck them in the fireplace, caught and burned too quickly. Finally I spotted a stool in the corner. I broke off one of the legs and wrapped a drying cloth that I'd found sitting on the counter around one end. The leg was as long as my arm and hopefully wouldn't burn as fast as the utensils.

I stuck the end of the stool leg with the fabric wrapped around it in the fire and waited for it to catch. It took a long time, perhaps because of a lacquer that had been painted over the wood, but eventually it began to burn. I hurried from the kitchen, holding the stool upright in my hand to stop it from burning down the leg.

I ran through the hall. Speed was what I needed now because even with a cloak on to look like one of the brothers, a stick of wood with fire was too suspicious.

I easily found the room with the tables and chairs again. The window was still open, exactly as I had left it.

I pulled myself up onto the sill one handed. Climbing with the fire would be difficult. If I had power like Tobin's I could have just magicked a fire once I was already on the roof. Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—I didn't have any power and so had to make do by climbing a vertical wall with a torch in one hand.

For most of the way I was able to climb one handed, keeping the fire well away from my billowing cloak. I kept climbing faster and faster, worried that the torch would burn out or that we would be discovered. I had never climbed so fast one handed.