“Collapsing the tunnel entrance,” Akella said. “Get going, you’re in the way.”
Linna followed instructions, crawling on hands and knees until she had to drop to her stomach to go under the palisade wall. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Akella had abandoned their makeshift ladder, and behind the pirate was only rubble.
When they came up a few minutes later on the other side, Akella repeated the process with the other ladder, striking the roof of the tunnel until it partially collapsed. She climbed out after Linna, breathing hard and pulling up the ladder behind her. Then she flung it into the trees and rolled the stone that covered the shaft leading into the tunnel back into place.
Linna studied Akella, who was now bent over and clutching her side. “Why did we do that?”
“We needed to do it anyway. It might as well have been today.”
“But we could’ve used it to train tomorrow,” Linna argued. “And how are we going to get back inside now?”
Despite her apparent pain and exhaustion, a smirk spread across Akella’s face and she waved a hand in the direction of the camp. “I hear you’re particularly good at sneaking,” she said.
“He probably didn’t even see me,” Linna said, frustrated. “We should’ve just waited til they took a break and climbed out.”
“Never trifle with sorcerers,” Akella said. “And never underestimate them. Especially not that one.”
“Brother Rennus? But he’s been the Empress’s greatest supporter. All the other Brothers look up to him – he’s some kind of leader in the Brotherhood.”
“Exactly,” said Akella. “Now – lead the way, little seagull. We need to get back inside before we get stuck again.”
That much was true. Deciding they didn’t have time to argue, Linna started walking. The section of wall damaged during the mountain men’s recent raid hadn’t been fully repaired, so slipping inside that way would probably be the easiest way in.
Linna could still feel the prickle on the back of her neck. Even though rationally she knew Brother Rennus couldn’t have possibly seen her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d known exactly who was inside the barrel with the false bottom.