A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3) - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Castin walked in front, followed closely by me and then Kovin. I whispered directions every time we came across a split in the halls. The key Vali had given us was light, and I kept tapping my pocket to make sure it was still there.
It was hard not to compare this escape with my last one. Castin reminded me of the knights. He paused at every corner, fingers tightening around his sword hilt, and carefully looking to see if the hallway was empty. But there was something more instinctual about his movement. Something less disciplined. Sneaking around came naturally to him. He approached every corner confidently enough, going through the familiar motions of checking for guards. He was comfortable being quiet and unseen. It had been different with the knights, who had been more comfortable in the fight. In the midst of a battle they knew exactly what to do. They had been ready to take down any Deoran who stood in our way.
We moved as quickly as we could while keeping cautious. For a long time we didn't run into any guards. If Vali had managed to make the king's poisoning look like an assassination, they would have pulled guards from all over the city to protect the other nobles and search for the assassin. If it was as chaotic as West Draulin had been after Lord Tandrael's death, even Kalvahi and Kassia would have a hard time controlling everyone. They wouldn't want to waste too many guards on the prison.
At one corner, Castin drew back so quickly that I nearly walked into him. He pressed himself flat against the wall, and I carefully leaned across him to peek around the corner. The hallway stretched in both directions. The way to the right was clear, but the way to the left, where we wanted to go, was blocked. A guard stood down near the next intersecting corridor. I ducked back behind the wall.
"This one is up to you," I whispered.
Castin didn't move. "He'll raise an alarm before I can run up and attack. Even then, he'll have a chance to prepare."
"Do you remember that trick we played on Arow, when he was chasing me for that loaf of bread?"
Castin nodded.
I stepped past him. The guard saw me almost immediately, and called down the hall. I did a decent job at pretending to be surprised. If I had been better dressed, or at least cleaner, I could have pretended to be Deoran and tricked the man that way. Instead, I turned and ran down the right branch of the hall.
The guard drew his sword and bolted towards me, shouting. I faked a stumble so I could glance back and gauge the distance between the guard and the corner hiding Castin and Kovin. Then I snapped my fingers.
In one swift movement, Castin stepped around the corner and drove his sword into the man's stomach. The guard's momentum didn't stop. He crashed to the ground, pulling Castin down and forcing the sword further through his body. Years ago, Castin had simply stuck out his foot and tripped Arow. Of course, this situation was entirely different, but as Castin rolled away from the man and yanked his sword free, I realized that Castin himself was different.
He seemed unfazed by the blood that was now staining his tunic. "Someone probably heard that. We need to run."
He was right. I started down the left hall, eager to put as much distance between us and the body as possible. There probably weren't many guards nearby, but the last thing we needed was to be found by even a few of them. With Kovin barely managing to keep up, and me being relatively useless in a sword fight, it all came down to Castin. And while my opinion of Castin's ability to fight was higher than it had even been before, I doubted he would do well against a group.
We made it down a few more twists and turns without meeting any trouble. We were getting close to the doorway. That certainty made my caution falter, and I turned a corner without looking first. Castin was too close to catch himself and he skidded into me, sending us both to the floor. I rolled to my feet instantly, the little folding knife already flying out of my hand.
The guard on the left collapsed, my knife sticking out of his face. I barely had time to think about it. Castin shoved me aside, stepped forward, and met the strike of the second guard with his sword. They exchanged a few blows, swords clashing together loudly. The third guard, after very briefly crouching to check on the first one, lunged for me.
He was halted by Kovin's fist in his stomach. As Kovin wrestled with him, I scrambled to retrieve my knife. It was slick with blood, and deeply lodged in the dead man's eye. My hand shook as I closed my fingers around the handle and pulled it free.
I stood, just as Castin dealt a killing blow to the man he was fighting. In the same moment, Kovin slammed his guard against the wall so hard that the man's head knocked back against the stone. The man went limp. Kovin dropped him, and whatever desperation had allowed him to fight without feeling his arm left him in a rush. He dropped to his knees, clutching his left arm against his chest, his eyes closed.
Castin and I let him ride through whatever he was feeling. Kovin's breathing hitched and he slammed his clenched right hand against the floor. But he didn't make a sound. Finally, he lifted his right hand and Castin grasped it, helping him get to his feet.
Kovin looked at me, and started to nod. Then he paused, mid-nod, his eyes locked on something behind me. I spun around.
Kassia stood at the end of the hall, eyes wide, a long knife in each hand.
We couldn't fight her. I knew it, she knew it. I stepped forward. To distance myself from the bodies on the floor, men she probably knew. To distance myself from Castin and Kovin, because she cared about me more than either of them. I held my hands up, so she could see the knife in my hand and know I wasn't about to throw it.
"Kassia," I said her name quietly, pleading. "Let us go."
Her gaze darted from me, to the knife in my hand, to Castin and Kovin and the guards. Her hands gripped the handles of her knives.
"I knew you had something to do with this," she hissed. "I don't know how, but..." Her gaze locked onto the knife again, and recognition flashed in her eyes. "Val... If Kalvahi—" she cut herself off, and looked past me again. She didn't bother to fake her expression. I could read her thoughts on her face. Anger as she looked at the dead Deorans, disgust as she noticed Kovin's skinned forearm, respect as she saw the sword in Castin's hand. Then understanding, as she looked around the hallway and realized where we were.
"You're heading for the river door."
There was no reason to deny it. "Please, let us go."
Kassia narrowed her eyes. "One day, your luck is going to run out. But right now, I have more important things to do than waste time fighting you."
Something clicked together. If she had such important things to do, then why was she in the prison instead of in the castle? She should have been looking for an assassin. "Were you coming to get us?"
"I was coming to kill you," she snapped. "Before Kalvahi could torture you to death. I was going to slice a knife across your throat, and then I was going to do the same to those two." She gestured with one of her knives. "But now, thanks to your scheming, I have to make sure Kalvahi doesn't find out who poisoned the king."
Something else occurred to me. "Mayah won't be blamed, will she?"
"Luckily, Kalvahi doesn't really associate her with you," Kassia said. "Now get out of here. I trust you know the way."
To my mixed relief and shock, she turned and ran down the hallway. Back towards the underground tunnel that led to the castle.
We made it to the river door without seeing any more guards. Vali's key fit the lock, and soon we were hurrying down the narrow, dark steps. At the end of the staircase, I paused to glance around the corner. The cave looked like I had imagined it would. Human-made walls met with the natural cave. After a short tunnel, the dim light of an evening sky glowed. Tied to two small docks, rowboats bobbed gently on the waves. Nearby, a row of overturned boats was leaning against the wall.
In a small guardroom, a trio of soldiers lounged on chairs. They were holding cards, passing them back and forth in a game I immediately recognized as Stampede. The alarm from the castle could still be heard faintly, even way down there. The guards didn't seem particularly bothered by it. Likely their job was just to watch the secret entrance, no matter what was happening elsewhere in the city.
I described the cave to Castin and Kovin. I could tell, just from Castin's expression, that he was thinking the same thing I was. I said it for him. "It would be nice to avoid a fight."
Castin nodded. "Even if we try to distract them somehow, and manage to get a boat, they'll just get in another one and chase us."
"They won't have to chase us. They'll be able to shoot us before we even get out of the cave," I whispered.
"We can swim," Kovin said.
Castin and I looked at him, equally startled. He hadn't contributed much, and we didn't expect him to. It was enough of a miracle that he was keeping up.
But swimming. Slipping into the water as far from the torches as possible, and silently swimming out of the cave. That could work, except for one glaring problem. I gestured at Castin and myself. "We can't swim."
"Not that it's a bad idea," Castin chimed in. "But... in the sense that we actually can't. Don't know how. And..." He trailed off, his gaze going blank for a moment before he shook himself out of it. "I can't go into water."
Kovin leaned against the wall heavily. "Isn't a choice, though, Soldier. 's the only option. I can swim. I'll help you both."
I shook my head. I didn't like water. Castin had just suffered through nearly being drowned, over and over again. And Kovin— "I don't think it's a good idea for your arm to be in the water."
"S'not a choice." Kovin's voice slurred, but there was a hard edge to it all the same.
And as much as I hated it, he was right. "Cast."
"Tufa," he swore.
It was as much of an agreement as I was going to get. "Good. Follow me." I peeked around the corner, then made a dash for the row of rowboats. They were leaning against the wall at an angle, creating a narrow gap that served as a hidden tunnel to the water. I slipped in easily and wiggled out of sight. Castin would certainly fit. It would be tight for Kovin, but I was sure he could make it.
I crawled to the end of the makeshift tunnel as quietly as possible. Just as I reached the end, I heard a scuffle behind me. Then the scraping of chair legs on the stone floor as one of the guards stood up. In that moment, it seemed like everything we were doing was too loud. My heartbeat. Kovin breathing behind me. The gentlest tap of metal on stone from Castin's sword. I didn't need to understand the Deorans' words to understand what they were saying. Then, finally, questioning tones turned into dismissive ones, and the chair scraped again as the guards settled back into their game.
I waited a moment before carefully pulling myself out of the tunnel. Then it was just a slow crawl to reach the water's edge. As I gingerly slipped into the water, I offered Roe a prayer. And a second one for his wife, Tolle, who controlled fresh water. I nearly sighed in relief when my feet felt the ground. Standing in water wasn't so bad.
Kovin came next. He grimaced when his arm touched the water, but he bore it silently. Then it was Castin's turn, and when he reached the edge of the water he froze.
I gestured to him as emphatically as I could without splashing the water. It didn't work. The panic he had managed to fight through just moments before was back in full force. If there was any other option, I wouldn't have tried to force him into the water. But just I was reaching for his arm to pull him in, Kovin leaned in.
"Listen, mate." He sounded more alert. Maybe the chilly water had woken him up. "I'm not goin' t' let your head go under the water, understand? Isn't gonna happen, Soldier."
Castin nodded slowly. He reached out almost blindly and I offered him my hand. He squeezed my fingers so tightly I was almost afraid he might actually hurt me, but it worked. He slipped into the water.
We walked as far as we could. When I couldn't touch the ground anymore, Kovin let me hold his good arm. When Castin couldn't touch, Kovin let him grab his shoulders. As we neared the cave entrance, the water continued to deepen until even Kovin couldn't stand with his head above the surface. He started to swim, towing us along behind him.
Quietly, we left the cave, to find ourselves in the cool air of dusk settling over the desert.
We were free.