The castle was quiet as Kai buckled his sword belt in place and left his room. Guards fell in around him, and he couldn't help but notice the tension in them tonight. If Virelai's information was correct, it would start soon.
Kai had done all he could. It wasn't much, but hopefully it would be enough.
He had to trust that Seraiah had followed his instructions, and Kestrel would know to get them out. Then it would be up to the two of them to find Sterling and restore her to her rightful place.
A second set of guards entered the hall and headed directly for him. He could have turned away or gone back, but he knew it would do no good. The only way was forward.
When the guards reached him, they fanned out, blocking any passage.
"Come with us," the one at the center ordered.
Kai's other guards moved to block the way back.
He took a breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He wished he could have told Seraiah the truth, but it would have done neither of them any good—not when he knew how this would end. Telling her would have been purely selfish, and he was anything but that.
Kai released his breath and pulled his sword free.
Seraiah stepped up to the balcony railing and looked down—a long way down. It would put them on the other side of the castle from the stables if they could make it to the bottom in one piece.
Kestrel lifted the seat of what Seraiah had thought was a simple bench and pulled out a coil of rope.
"How did you know that was there? Did you know this was going to happen?" Seraiah asked, watching Kestrel shake out the coil.
"These were the Queen's rooms, remember? They were prepared in case of any sort of attack," Kestrel answered. "And no, I didn't know this was going to happen, but I'm betting Kai did and didn't see fit to tell either of us."
Seraiah detected a hint of annoyance in Kestrel's voice as she knotted the rope around the balcony railing.
"He's been unusually secretive lately," Kestrel said, straightening up.
Seraiah thought back to Kai telling her Virelai had information he needed. This must be what she'd told him about. He'd known what was going to happen, and this was why he'd warned Seraiah to keep Kestrel with her tonight.
Kestrel yanked on the rope to confirm it was secure before she tossed the rest of it over the edge.
"Ready?" she asked.
Seraiah shook her head. She would never be ready to rappel down the side of a castle.
"It's easy, really," Kestrel told her. "Just whatever you do, don't look down."
"Right," Seraiah said, taking a deep breath. "Don't look down. Got it."
She'd acted as bait for a human-eating monster, jumped from a moving horse to escape mages, battled giant beetles underground, made friends with dragons, and won a faery game—she could do this, too.
She didn't have a choice.
"I'll go first." Kestrel climbed over the rail and braced her feet on either side of the rope. She smiled. "See you on the ground."
Then she disappeared from sight.
Seraiah looked over the edge and watched Kestrel make her way to the ground. As with everything else, she made it look easy.
Once Kestrel touched the ground, she lifted her hand and motioned for Seraiah to start.
Seraiah's stomach flipped. Kestrel looked so small down there.
"You can do this," she murmured to herself.
Squaring her shoulders, Seraiah grabbed hold of the rope and climbed over the railing as she had watched Kestrel do. She braced herself and took a deep breath before pushing off the wall and letting herself slide down.
The rope was rough and burned her palms as she descended. Seraiah felt her knuckles split open again under the bandages Wisteria had wrapped over them, but she still didn't let go. She was incredibly thankful she'd spent the last few weeks training with Kestrel. All the sword work and fighting had strengthened her. She would've never been able to do this before.
The burning in her hands became unbearable, and her shoulders ached from the strain of holding her weight.
"Don't look down," she whispered to herself. "Whatever you do, don't look down."
Just when she thought her hands weren't going to be able to grip the rope anymore, her feet touched the ground.
She released the rope and took a step back on shaking legs. Kestrel patted her burning shoulder as Seraiah tipped her head back to look up at the balcony she'd been standing on minutes ago. It should have been empty, but now there were several people leaning over the railing, looking at them, aiming arrows.
"Time to go." Kestrel touched the rope, and it began to smoke. Then she yanked Seraiah against the castle wall and out of range of the archers.
She could hear their curses as they lost sight of them.
The two of them stuck to the wall, making their way around the side of the stable. Seraiah was sure that at any moment the soldiers they'd seen on the balcony would appear behind them even though Kestrel had burned their rope, but they made it around the side of the castle without seeing anyone else.
When they neared the stable yard, Kestrel held a finger to her lips. Then she crouched and peered around the corner. Seraiah stayed flattened against the castle wall, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.
"There are a lot of elves in the yard right now," Kestrel whispered to her.
"Is that a good thing?"
"It could be—if those elves aren't the ones hunting us."
"And if they are?"
"Let's just hope they aren't," Kestrel answered. "On the count of three, we are going to run to the wagon and use it as cover. Keep low. Got it?"
Seraiah nodded and dropped into a crouch, mimicking Kestrel.
Kestrel counted slowly, watching the crowd as she did. On three, she moved, and Seraiah scrambled to keep up.
As soon as she rounded the corner she spotted the wagon Kestrel wanted them to hide behind. It was not more than 25 feet from them.
She also saw the elves.
At first glance, it was mostly soldiers with a few townspeople who had business at the castle. The hard part was telling who was hunting them, and who was on their side.
They made it to the wagon with no one raising an alarm.
Torches burned around the yard, lighting up the space. As Seraiah studied the soldiers, she noticed some of them were scanning the faces as if they were looking for someone. It was subtle enough that unless you knew to look, you wouldn't notice it. They were trying not to alarm everyone.
Kestrel pointed at the nearest open stable door and indicated that this was where they were going next. It was twice as far as the wagon had been from the castle wall. They would also be out in the torchlight, so there was more risk of someone spotting them.
Kestrel held up three fingers and then slowly lowered one—a countdown again.
Seraiah tensed, preparing to run as she watched Kestrel's fingers. She shot one last glance around the yard before Kestrel lowered the third finger, and then they were on the move.
They made it in the stable door, but the noise in the yard had changed.
They'd been spotted.
Seraiah followed Kestrel to the back of the stable, where there was another door. They were almost at the end of the aisle when a figure stepped out of the darkness of the last stall.
They skidded to a halt, and it took Seraiah a moment to realize it was Eryx.
"Here," he hissed, tossing the reins of the horse to Kestrel before moving to the stall next door and leading that horse out as well. He passed these reins to Seraiah.
"Hurry."
Kestrel had already mounted her horse and prepared to flee out the back door.
As Seraiah mounted her own horse, Kestrel turned to Eryx. "Kai?"
Seraiah could hear the worry in her voice in that one word.
Eryx shook his head and drew his sword. "I'll hold them off as long as I can. Bring back our queen."
Kestrel stared at him for a moment before kicking her horse toward him. She leaned down and grabbed a handful of Eryx's tunic before pressing her lips to his.
Seraiah turned away, uncomfortable at seeing what should have been a private moment.
"Don't die on me," she heard Kestrel say.
Then Kestrel wheeled her horse around and disappeared into the night. Seraiah urged her own horse after them.
A clash of steel against steel rang out behind them, but neither looked back.