“Of course,” Haney assured him, not at all surprised he wanted to think about things before committing. “I will be here and ready to answer any questions you have.”
“Me thanks. Come along, daughter.”
Ashlynn bobbed her head at the abbot in farewell before trailing after Broden. They were barely through the gates before she dropped her guise and stopped muttering. “Well! That was informative, and yet not.”
Broden growled in vexation. “The man never did show us more than the first floor. I lay odds on your sisters being up on the second.”
“Or squirreled away somewhere in the basement,” she added darkly. “We don’t know for sure. But at least we have a better idea of how the abbey is laid out now. Do we know enough to breach the place?”
“Mayhap.” He eyed her sideways as they walked. “Ye said afore the abbot approached that since the locks are ordinary, we have no need to break in afore they close the gates. What mean ye by that, lass?”
“Oh. Well, my fear of waiting until after dark was that I would have to break through whatever magical or divine protections were on the gates before we could go in. And doing that would not be quiet or subtle in the least. It would raise major alarms, actually. I thought if we’re going to draw attention to ourselves, why not do it in daylight, when it’s not as dangerous to run? But if the locks are ordinary iron, then we can easily break in without raising any alarms, assuming someone can take care of the guards.”
Broden stroked at his chin, a plan coming together in his mind. “Oh, the guards be easy enough.”
Her head jerked around, eyes wide. “You can take care of the guards?”
“Aye, lass, it be a simple matter. Did ye no’ notice the walls? They have chinks in them, mostly from age, but they give a man plenty of footholds. All it will take be a few minutes for me to climb up on top, and from there, I can shoot any guards foolhardy enough to step outside.”
Her lips parted in wonder. “All twelve. You’re confident you can defeat all twelve?”
Broden smirked at her and didn’t say a word.
“Oh, I’m so glad I partnered with you!” Rubbing her hands together in glee, she nearly skipped a few steps before catching herself. “Alright. We need to rethink our exit strategy on leaving the city, then. If we can leave tonight, that changes things.”
“It be best we plan for late evening, I think.” He looked overhead at the sky. “There be a storm brewing, and we best take advantage of it.”
Chapter Twenty-two
“I wish I could just put a hole in the wall,” Ashlynn grumbled again.
Broden was fairly sure she was not kidding. Worried the idea might be too tempting, he reminded her patiently, “We only have an idea where yer sisters be in that abbey.”
“I know,” she growled, expression tight with anger. “Otherwise, I’d destroy the place brick by brick. But we have to find them first.”
Glad she saw reason in that, he let out a covert breath of relief.
After he and Ashlynn had returned from their tour that morning, they’d spent the entirety of the day making plans. Ashlynn used a spell that put the image of the abbey up on a blank wall, which boggled his mind. He watched it play out as if he were walking through the abbey all over again. For several minutes he just watched, entranced with the spell, until she grabbed an arm and tugged him away from it.
As the abbey tour played out, they debated on what to do, but really they did not have much in the way of options. Only a fool would retreat back the way they had come, so returning by the highway would be the wrong move. They chose instead to go south, just as far as the Trilakes, and take a boat there. They could either take the Grove River up as far as The Grove, which would bring them halfway up through Trenena, or they could take the boat all the way to the Eastern Sea and simply sail around and back to Estole. Either way, it would be an easier journey, and a safer one to boot.
The idea of going by ship, at least at first, was urged on by Ashlynn. Oh, none of them wanted to spend another two weeks or more in the saddle, make no mistake. But Ashlynn feared for her sisters’ wellbeing. With the storm overhead, it would make a fine cover for them to break in with, but a poor thing for their escape. It would surely lead to muddy camps, which led to infections, and even Ashlynn’s magic could not do much about such conditions. Better to take a ship, avoid the mud and misery of riding in the wet altogether.
Now, the arrangements had all been made. A ship was paid for and waiting on them toward the south. Their bags were packed, horses saddled and tied up on the southern end of the abbey. They all kept an eye on the sky, waiting. From the dark grey color of the clouds, and the heavy feeling of the air, Broden judged that the heavens would break free any minute now. They waited in the shadow of a building, anxious, fidgeting, fighting the urge to just go now.
When the first raindrop hit Ashlynn’s head, she looked at Broden and ordered, “Go.”
He went, running at a half-crouch, keeping as low to the ground as he could.
When breaking into a fortified location, rain was a man’s friend. There were two reasons for this—one, the sound of the storm overhead covered the noise of breaking through the defenses. The second was that it encouraged the guards on patrol to seek shelter, and not be as watchful as they should.
In the past, Broden had liked using a storm as cover, but also cursed it because he could not use his bow while it rained. But now, of course, there was a bit of magic on his bow so that it could not get wet no matter what happened. (Bless Ashlynn for that.) It gave him all the advantage he needed.
With a silent tread, he climbed up the half-decayed wall on the outer edge of the old abbey, and made his way to perch near the top. The way the storm clouds rolled and twisted overhead blocked the moon, and so cast the roof in thick shadow. With a huff, he settled himself right next to the turret wall so that he had cover if he needed it.
This cat-vision that Ashlynn had cast on his eyes felt beyond strange. Everything glowed with a slightly greenish tint, making things overly sharp around the edges. He could not complain, though. It was certainly better than trying to determine friend from foe in near darkness. The wind whipped around his head, bringing the scent of a cook fire and tea brewing, which told him the guards were well settled.
He unwound the cord from around his quiver, letting him draw out multiple arrows all at once. Flipping one in his hand, he nocked an arrow and set his sights on the small turret room that served as guard house on the adjacent wall. There were more than a dozen guards in this place, six of them on top of the wall keeping lookout. Broden had to take out those six before the rest of his group could move about freely.
One guard came out, an oiled cloak wrapped tight around him to ward off the falling rain, and took a quick peek around. Broden lost no time in targeting him, drawing the bow back, and firing. At this distance, even a man with poor skills could have hit him.
The guard clutched his chest with a half-muted gurgle before toppling out over the side and to the ground below. Broden had timed his shot so that the man’s balance leaned toward the outside of the abbey instead of the inside, but there was always a chance the man wouldn’t fall the way he wanted to. This time he was lucky, as the guard tumbled out of sight.
Good. That trick should work at least two more times, and then he would have to change vantages to take out anyone still left in the guardhouse.
Minutes passed in silence. Finally someone inside noticed that their companion had been gone too long, and this time two of them came out to check. Broden let them get several feet away from the door before firing, taking them down in quick succession. There was no way to cover up what he was doing, and of course they fell into the main courtyard instead of over the other side. Three down, but that still left three more to go.
“Broden, you need to talk to me,” Ashlynn chided. “What’s going on?”
“Three down,” he murmured toward the amulet hanging about his neck. “Three still left.” And
short of somehow smoking them out, he wasn’t sure how to get them out of there anytime soon.
“Are they all in one place?” Konrath asked, voice deep.
“Aye.”
“Can you keep them pinned there?”
Ah. He saw what the man was driving at. “Aye. Come ahead. I will keep the path clear.”
Because of the rumbling of the storm overhead, and the way the wind whipped around his head to steal the sound before it could reach his ear, he did not hear Ashlynn break open the front gates. But he knew she must have, as he saw several cloaked figures dart along the far wall of the main courtyard. They went directly for the kitchen door with his wizard leading the way.
He kept one eye on the turret doorway, one eye on the courtyard below, not wanting any guards to sneak up behind his people and take them unawares. The roof overhead was not wide enough to shield him completely against the rain, so his left shoulder quickly became drenched, but he paid it no heed. With an arrow nocked, he stayed vigilant, willing to shoot the first thing that moved.
As he stood and watched, he listened as the tiny voices came from the amulet on his collarbones.
“—doesn’t matter who it is,” Marissa said in exasperation. “Anyone living here will know. We just need someone who can tell us which room they’re in.”
“I can’t imagine that the abbot will broadcast he has three political prisoners in here,” Seth argued. “I don’t think most of the people here will know. I mean, Lugh is the God of Light and Death, after all. He frowns on this sort of thing.”
“Not enough, apparently,” Tant grumbled. “Otherwise His abbot wouldn’t be getting by with it. But I’m with Seth, I can’t imagine that this is a well-kept secret. I think we can grab anyone and they’ll be able to tell us.”
“Whatever we do, we have to be quick,” Konrath warned. “We spend too much time in here, and the whole place will be up in arms.”
Broden rolled his eyes. They might do that anyway if those chatterboxes didn’t keep quiet.
“Hey! What ye people doing in here?!”
“Found someone,” Ashlynn said happily.
There were several thumps, a loud curse, and then a choked-off gasp, as if something had hit a man hard in the throat. Broden could more or less picture what was going on below just by the sounds. Ashlynn had used a combination of her staff and magic to tackle the poor sod and ram him into the wall, the staff belike held at his throat like a drawn sword.
“I am looking for three young women that are from Iysh, and held captive in these walls,” Ashlynn purred, her tone menacing. “You’re going to guide me to their room. If you take me to the wrong room, you and whoever is in it, dies immediately. Take me to the right room, I chain you in their place and you live to see tomorrow. Which shall it be?”
The man thought it over for a full second before stuttering, “I-I do no’ have the right keys to get ye there. There be three doors to pass through, and a man can no’ enter the tower without them.”
“Don’t worry about the locks, I can get us through. You just show me the way. Fast and snell, now!”
Broden’s mouth twitched. Ashlynn really did like mimicking him, did no’ she just. A man had to wonder why, though.
Their footsteps as they ran through the stone hallways sounded raucously loud to his ears, but like as not, it was the amulets amplifying the sound, as no one else seemed to hear them. At least, no alarm was raised.
A guard came out of the turret, calling out someone’s name—likely one of the men he’d already shot. Broden took aim and fired, the arrow whistling as it cut cleanly through the air. The man half-folded over the arrow in his chest before hitting the ground, but unlike the previous three, he did not fall off the battlement. Broden cursed his luck as it became obvious to the two still inside the turret that they were under attack.
He could do nothing to stop them as they rang a bell, a low, ponderous sound that sent shivers up his spine.
“Broden. What was that?” Ashlynn demanded.
“Alarm,” he admitted a trifle grumpily. “The last two finally noticed and rang it.”
She let out several choice words that no young woman should know.
“I need to change locations,” he informed her as he left his perch and darted for the far side of the wall.
“Are you going for the horses?”
“Aye. Someone needs to keep an eye on them and keep the door clear for ye lot.”
“Good plan,” Konrath approved. “Do that. In fact, I’ll keep this doorway clear for you to come back out of.”
“Yes, that’s a good plan. Ashlynn, I’ll stay with him,” Marissa volunteered.
Broden silently agreed with all of this even as he kept running. When he’d almost reached the southwestern turret, the guards on the far side came out of their turret room and finally noticed they had someone up on the wall with them. One of them had a crossbow, and Broden heard the crank, even above the wind. (The idiot really should have oiled that.) The sound was warning enough for him to turn sideways as he ran, flipping up arrows into position. He nocked and drew the bow with deadly efficiency, felling the last two guards.
Well. At least up here, it was clear.
He started running again for the southern edge, although not at the same breakneck speed as before, as he did not want to chance slipping and falling to his death when he did not have to.
The bell did its damage. Several armed men, not completely dressed, started pouring out of different side doors. Broden stopped here and there to fire, taking them down as he could, but there was no way to take out this many with just a single bow. He mostly kept his head down and muttered warnings to Marissa and Konrath as he saw the enemy re-enter the building and head for their location.
From the amulet, he heard a sharp crack as metal broke, then a door slammed against a stone wall.
“Ashlynn!” three different female voices exclaimed all at once, surprise and relief clear in that name alone.
He puffed out a breath, glad they’d found the girls. He kept an ear on the conversation as they asked questions on top of each other, gave answers, and he suspected a hug or three was exchanged as well, as Ashlynn broke them out of their chains. But he did not let the reunion distract him as he kept his eye on the courtyard inside, and the horses still waiting patiently outside. If they could not get to the boat, this whole thing was useless.
Anyone that neared the door leading out toward the south was shot down immediately, but other than that, he let them run around in mad circles inside. He did not have enough arrows to just fire indiscriminately after all.
“Broden, we have them,” Ashlynn told him, her breath puffing a bit. She sounded winded after running up and down the stairs, but she did not stop talking to catch her breath again. “Is the southern door clear?”
“Aye, lass, but ye best pick up the pace. That alarm got all sorts of guards running about down here, looking for intruders, and I be a mite short on arrows.”
“We’re almost down to the main level again. Marissa, Konrath, is the door clear?”
“No,” Marissa denied in a snarl. “We’ve got three down here.”
“Time for me to make a new door, then. Broden, get off that wall. NOW.”
Realizing what she was planning, it was his turn to swear viciously even as he scrambled to race down the stairs. The set near him was worn from use, the middle of the stairs dipping in odd ways, and he hugged the wall even as he tried to take them two at a time. He tripped now and again, just barely catching himself before falling head first, but he was not about to slow his pace. When Ashlynn was in a mood as fine as this, she had no patience, and would not wait more than a few seconds before making that new door of hers.
He was halfway down when the whole building rattled and shook, like a giant had playfully punched the abbey in the side. It sent his feet to skittering, too, and it was only desperately clinging to the wall that saved him from going down the stairs bottom first.
T
here was a general cry of alarm and panic as the whole abbey woke up. Some were convinced lightning had struck the place, others thought that an earthquake had hit them, but regardless—they were all awake now.
So much for a quiet raid on the place.
Shaking himself back into motion, he managed to get all the way to the ground before he found himself facing two half-dressed guardsmen, neither of them particularly pleased to see him. He hadn’t drawn any more arrows from his quiver while on top, and so was caught a bit short. Instead, he used his bow like a staff and whirled it about, hitting them in the throats and up the side of the head, knocking them both unconscious. Trying to avoid a similar fight, he ducked to the side and under the small overhang, guarding the door that would lead to the horses. There he stayed perfectly still, knowing that it was motion that caught a man’s eye faster than any other thing.
As he stood there, he fretted about his near empty quiver. He had another on his horse that was stock full, but he did not dare try to go and fetch it now. They could come through any minute, after all, and some arrows were better than none at all.
It seemed an eternity, but finally his group broke through to the courtyard. Broden used the last three arrows in his quiver to cover them as they raced past and through the open doorway. He stayed just long enough to make sure that everyone was out, and then he followed.
Ashlynn spelled the door shut as he raced for his horse. Then there was a percussive sound, like a drum had been slapped hard. He glanced over his shoulder to see that she had broken a part of the wall so that it covered the door, making it impossible for anyone to follow them. Through that door, at least.
With a voice loud enough to put any army commander to shame, the wizard bellowed, “RIDE!”
Chapter Twenty-three
Of course, they did not have a clean escape. In fact, they barely got out of the city and into the southern end of the foothills before the enemy caught up.
Arrows Of Change (Book 1) Page 20