"There'll be more of them outside," I hissed. "You'll fall right into their arms!"
"Come out!" a new man ordered, addressing me. "I have your girl!"
Trina gasped, so I knew the threat was real. "I can't open the panel!" she shrieked. "I don't know how it's done!"
Furious at Kestra, who was still bent on widening the hole she'd made, I shoved open the secret door, drew the sword that had been at my side, and charged into the room.
The man closest to me was wiry in build, carrying a horseman's axe that most Halderians favored. He raised his weapon, still coated in the innkeeper's blood. So far, Trina appeared to be safe. I took the aggressor's stance and locked blades with him.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Trina lunge toward the secret cupboard, but Kestra was already climbing through the hole, which was barely wide enough to squeeze through.
I didn't know if Kestra could make the jump between the hole and the tree, but it was clear she intended to try. While I finished this fight, Trina would have to follow Kestra.
"You're insane!" Trina scowled.
"I'll survive." Kestra's words were clearly a taunt. "Not sure if you will."
"Kestra?" Getting his first good look at her, my opponent seemed to forget about everyone else in the room. "You must come with us!"
I used the distraction to thrust my blade into the man's gut, feeling his pain for myself, as I always did. He fell, but other footsteps pounded up the stairs. More Halderians. My only option was the hole Kestra had made. She must've made a successful jump, because Trina immediately followed. Through the hole in the wall, I heard Trina say, "I hate you, Kestra. I really do."
By the time I got to the hole, Kestra had already shinnied to the ground and was wrangling one of the Halderian's horses. Trina was shouting at her to hurry, that more Halderians were coming.
There was no time to think, or even to beg the heavens' forgiveness before I jumped. The first tree branch I grabbed quaked beneath my weight, then broke almost immediately. I fell past three or four other branches, failing to slow myself down, then landed on a thicker branch below it and from there, simply dropped to the ground. The bruising in my feet tomorrow would be brutal.
To get into the saddle, Kestra had used my knife to lengthen an existing tear in her skirt halfway up her leg. The fact that she knew how to ride astride was surprising. Girls of her status all rode sidesaddle, if they rode at all. But Kestra knew exactly what she was doing.
Another problem I'd have to deal with after we escaped. If we escaped.
Meanwhile, Trina had taken the reins of another horse into her hands and shooed the rest of the horses away. She was making it impossible for the men to follow.
Which they would try to do. I already heard yelling that we were outside.
I scrambled to my feet, and although Kestra tried to maneuver her horse away from me, I got hold of one rein and yanked the horse toward me. I swung into the saddle behind her and rapped the horse's side with my heels.
"I can handle this horse just fine!" she scowled. "Why don't you get your own?"
"Because I know you can handle this horse just fine. Were you escaping with us, or from us?" I sped up the horse enough to discourage her from attempting to slide off, then called to Trina. "Let's get off the road!"
Trina checked the skies. "The moon will go behind the clouds soon. We'll have the darkness on our side."
We left the road and headed into a patch of weeds, which would openly expose us, but if we weren't spotted, we'd soon be in the trees, where it would be much easier to hide. Trina was keeping up behind us, though she was hissing at Kestra the whole time.
"You never should've kicked through that wall! You gave away your hiding place!"
"I had to, based on the stellar way you were handling things!" Kestra snapped.
We angled back toward the inn. Trina cursed my decision until she understood my intention: The building would mask us. The men would likely split up to search the area, but I doubted they'd think to look behind the inn itself.
It would have been better to enter All Spirits Forest, on the opposite side of the road. Magic was said to exist there, both for good and for evil. For that reason, the Halderians wouldn't be stupid enough to follow us in. But I wasn't stupid either.
As soon as we were deep enough into the woods behind the inn, I growled at Kestra. "Kicking out that panel could've gotten us all killed, including you!"
"Well, maybe you should've threatened someone else!" she replied with equal force. "I'm sorry this kidnapping isn't going the way you wanted! Did you also want to thank me for saving your l
ives back there, or are you angry about that too?"
"I'm definitely angry," I said, and I meant it. Despite that, I smiled. "But maybe one day, I'll return the favor and save your life."