Chapter 233

“Are the two of you at peace now?” Kit asked Eli and Cassius.

“I suppose so,” Eli began. “If he wants to go off and get himself killed, there will be one less person to share you with.” He smiled at Cassius, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and the larger man reached around Kit and popped him in the arm.

“You’d better not get yourself killed. Any of you.” Kit looked around and saw all seven of the men she’d chosen nearby, five of them already saddled and ready to go, the other two done arguing. While she hadn’t made Drake’s appointment official, she would, as soon as she knew the outcome of the battle at hand.

Kit’s hip was still aching from where she cut it on the door earlier. Normally, she’d be able to mount Belle by herself, but with her leg torn up, she decided it would be easier to ask for help. Turning to Eli, she asked, “Will you give me a boost?”

“Certainly.” He helped her into Belle’s saddle, and once she had her feet in the stirrups and was ready to go, Kit watched as Cassius refused any assistance into the saddle. It took him a few moments to finally heave himself all the way up on Snowduster’s back. Kit kept her mouth closed as she watched him get his bearings, afraid he might pass out and fall right off of the saddle, but he seemed to recover quickly enough, and then, those who were headed back to Wrenbrook were on their way, Kit well-guarded by a troop of men who wouldn’t let anything happen to her or any of her ladies. The three of them followed behind, along with Avinia’s and Isla’s husbands and a few other men who’d been recruited from the ranks of the castle staff and some of the prisoners who were sturdy enough to ride.

Snowduster and Aeros were itching to get to the fight and took off, leaving the other horses behind. Both Eli and Cassius turned back to check on her several times, but she was safe between Jate and Landon’s horses with Reeve, Danyen and Drake nearby as well. While she tried to keep a brave face, on the inside, her stomach was churning as she wondered what they would find at Wrenbrook.

It didn’t take long for her to find out. The roads leading to the castle were busy with horses and carts, mostly armed men, riding to join the fray. There was no issue getting through the gates because a great hole had been knocked through the stone, and one of the iron accesses had been broken from its hinges and sat tilted to one side.

Belle slowed to pick her way through the debris while the other horses sped on until Jate and Landon came back to spur the daintier horse through. On the other side of the gate, Kit saw her first casualties.

Soldiers, meant to protect the gate, lay on top of one another in a pile four deep. Several more lay strewn across the road and into the grassy area nearby. There were a couple of other bodies, those on her side of the fight she imagined, but the soldiers had certainly lost this altercation.

Trying not to think about how awful it was that people had already lost their lives in the name of her cause, Kit rode on, focusing on the good she would do her people, once she was queen and could right the wrongs her mother had visited upon their land. It was a difficult task, but images of what she’d seen in the village, and in the swamp behind the castle, reminded her that no just cause ever comes without a price.

Wrenbrook came into view outlined against a dark sky. A thousand stars twinkled above them, and yet the massive building was still cast in shadow. From what she could see, no major damage had been done by the catapults, which were no longer in use, and as she continued to ride, she saw their sizable forms up ahead, across the road that led to the main castle entrance.

The men closed in tightly around the princess and her ladies as they neared the conflict. Across the front of the castle grounds, from the dais where Kit had greeted most of these men, as far as the eye could see down toward the west end of the castle where the military was housed, groups of combatants lunged at each other with swords and axes. For the most part, however, it looked as if the heart of the battle was raging inside of Wrenbrook. Either that, or the soldiers had turned back many of the would-be attackers. From the looks of the bodies littering the ground, Kit didn’t think that was the case.

Eli and Cassius pulled their horses to a stop near the grand entrance to the castle and dismounted quickly. It seemed the rush of going into battle had Cassius acting like his old self, even if he still wore the bruises, cuts, and swollen features of a man who was nearly beaten to death earlier that day. The others followed suit, jumping off of their horses quickly, and Kit did the same, though she allowed Jate to help her down as others assisted her ladies.

“We should have fairly safe passage to the throne room, Kit, but you’ll need to stay with us and be careful,” Eli said, rushing to her, his sword already drawn.

“How do you know that?” she asked, not quite as alarmed as she had been before when she feared she’d be running into hostile territory, surrounded by combatants.

He gestured at the castle, and Kit looked closely for the first time. Nearly every flagpole on the first several stories wore a red flag. She counted over to where she believed the throne room would be, back away from the front of the castle, and plenty of red shown in the windows there. Her eyes continued to trace up the structure to the rooftops. Though she couldn’t see the highest peaks or the top of the towers from this angle, shouts echoed through the night, coming from up there, and occasionally little bits of stone would fall down, bouncing off of the lower roofs to sprinkle on the ground.

At the far end of the castle, there was a scream as a man dressed in the uniform of the Queen’s Guard came crashing to the ground. Even though she was too far distant to see the results, Kit still had to look away.

Once she’d recovered from the grizzly sight, she said, “The red is a signal then?” Eli nodded and she followed him toward the castle, Cassius ahead of him, and the other men spread around her.

“Yes, we wouldn’t have brought you this far if we weren’t fairly certain it was safe. That doesn’t make it without danger, but it does mean the attack was a surprise, and the citizens have been successful at breaching the castle, at least to the sixth floor.”

Kit had an idea that most of the soldiers and Queen’s Guard who would put up a fight must be engaged by now. If the castle had been claimed to that point, the prospects of a successful revolt seemed promising.

There would still be the queen to deal with, however, and something told Kit that Rona wouldn’t give up her crown easily. Now, fear for her own safety shifted slightly as she wondered what was to become of her mother.