Chapter 234

The door to the castle was nearly nonexistent. Shards of wood hung from the upper posts, a few clung to the doorjambs, but for the most part, what had been an elegant entryway was now reduced to nothing but splinters and flecks of gold paint, thanks to the battering ram Eli had mentioned earlier.

Realizing the only weapon she had was the small dagger, Kit scoured the ground for a sword. She saw one lying on the floor just inside of the castle entrance and picked it up, certain the poor fellow reposing nearby would no longer need it. She turned to tell her ladies they should do the same but noted they were already armed. Seph and Isla both had swords, though not as large and cumbersome as the one Kit had just procured, and Avinia had a bow she must’ve been carrying on her saddle, a quiver strung to her back.

Armant and the other men who had come along with him stepped forward. “This is where we must leave you. We’ll head to the infirmary and check on the situation there. I must prepare to help as many wounded as possible.”

“Be careful, Armant. Your service is invaluable to me,” Kit said, reaching out and taking the physician’s hand.

He bowed his head. “Le atsa,” he said with a proud smile, and Kit was glad he was on her side.

That left just Kit’s seven men, her three ladies-in-waiting, and Mil and Frano, Avinia’s and Isla’s husbands who looked frightened and ill-prepared. Still, it was better for her cousins to have them alongside the party as they advanced.

Noises of conflict surrounded them as they continued. Jate notched an arrow when they reached the hallway that was the most direct path to the throne room. The battle raged on here, but the few soldiers on these lower floors were drastically outnumbered, and it seemed only a matter of time until they would either fall or surrender.

The party rounded a corner to find a line of Queen’s Guard standing in their way. The soldiers looked just as surprised to see the band as they had been to see the half-dozen men coming at them, fallen citizens on the ground nearby. Jate fired quickly, hitting one as Avinia managed to take out another before Cassius and Eli’s sword clambered into two more. Landon and Reeve took on the other pair as Drake, Danyen, Mil, and Frano shielded the women.

Another soldier came from behind as the swords in front of Kit clanked against each other. She was just about to sound an alarm when a screech had Kit’s head spinning back around as the soldier Landon had been engaged with went down, bleeding from his chest. Another shout had her looking back behind them. Avinia landed an arrow in the lone soldier’s neck. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?” Jate shouted at her as he notched another arrow.

“Lots of practice,” Avinia replied, pulling another arrow from her quiver.

It was a surprise to Kit that her cousin was such a markswoman. She wished she was as talented. At least a bow wasn’t as heavy as the sword in her hand. “Will the pair of you teach me someday?” she asked.

Jate grinned at her. “Yes, but not today.” Then, turning back to the foray before them, he shouted, “Reeve, duck!” and let his arrow fly just as the other Representative bowed out of the way. It hit his target in the upper chest, freeing Reeve to help press back the remaining soldiers, though Eli and Cassius were holding their own. With four against two now, it didn’t take long for the guardsmen to fall.

Stepping over the bleeding men was gruesome, but Kit did so, careful not to step in the blood. She ran along behind the others, turning down corridors where signs of battle were evident. Bodies, broken décor, blood stains, scratches in the marble floor, and occasionally, another skirmish was visible down one hall or another.

Near the small throne room adjoined to her mother’s chambers, they encountered several members of the Queen’s Guard facing off with four of Kit’s own guardsman, led by Galter, whose arm was bleeding badly. Eli rushed over to help the fellow members of the Princess’s Guard, and Landon and Reeve joined him. The throne room was only a short distance away, down the hall, and Kit could hear a great cacophony coming from that direction.

“Do you think the queen is in the throne room, or will she have hidden herself away? What if she’s fled?” Kit asked no one in particular.

“I’m certain she will not have fled,” Cassius replied, the scowl on his face indicating his loathing for Rona. “If she’s not in the throne room, they will have either barricaded her into her chambers, or she’ll be in one of the towers.”

Kit thought of the other councilwomen and prayed none of them had been harmed. “Do you know where Grandmother is?” she asked Avinia.

“She’s safe. She and several of the other nobles are hidden within the castle,” her cousin assured her. “My mother and Isla’s are with her.”

Glad to hear it, Kit took a deep breath. She wondered how much warning Rona had had and if she believed the outside forces to be a threat or thought Wrenbrook impenetrable. She couldn’t have guessed there would be so many citizens willing to join in on the revolt. Perhaps the queen had already been captured.

The Queen’s Guard was putting up a good fight, but with the addition of the extra men, they began to crumble. Eli and the others took advantage of every weakness until they were all down. Kit noticed she had also lost two guardsmen in the fray, men she did not know. It still saddened her to see their bodies lying on the floor in pools of blood.

Back at her side, Eli gestured toward the throne room. “Shall we?”

“I intend to,” Kit replied. He smiled at her, and they continued, now joined by Galter and the men who had been with him.

As they ran down the hall, Galter filled them in. “The queen was in the throne room when the first assault began. Eastbury was at the helm, but there were troops flying colors from many provinces. Some even attacked at the back of the castle. Up until a few minutes before the wall was breached, Rona had had no idea anything was amiss. Though word of the prisoners’ escape had reached her by then, I’m not sure she put the two together.”

“Do you think she’s still in the throne room, then?” Landon asked.

“I’m not certain, but I believe she’s in her own bed chambers, beyond the throne room. Members of her guard flocked to the throne room in an attempt to protect her once the castle was breached. For the most part, it was the military who fought the intruders, but at least half abandoned their positions and either joined us or fled.”

Kit’s eyebrows raised. She would’ve never imagined only half of the military would refuse to fight against the revolt.

Even if she’d wanted to ask more, she couldn’t. The throne room was in sight now, but Kit hardly recognized what she was looking at. The regal doors she’d entered thousands of times were split, a discarded battering ram tossed aside down the hall. The marble floor directly outside the entry point was almost as red as the carpet that led to the throne, and inside, dozens of combatants were locked in hand-to-hand combat.

“Kit, you should stay here, in the hall, where it’s safer,” Eli said, his tone reflecting he would not be argued with.

She nodded in understanding, though she wished she could enter to have an idea of how the tide was ebbing.

“Galter, you’re injured. You and these men shall stay here with her, her ladies, and their husbands,” the commander continued, reclaiming his previous title.

Galter nodded, though Kit could tell he didn’t like the idea. Eli and the others rushed into the throne room, and Kit strained to see what was happening as the seven men she loved disappeared into the melee.

“Is it possible the queen would escape through her own chambers and into the passages?” Seph shouted above the din of the battle.

“No, we’ve insured there are no exits to be had through the passages,” Galter explained. “All of the doors have been sealed tightly. It’s conceivable they could be reopened at some point, but it would be nearly impossible for anyone to break through them undetected.”

“How did you manage that?” Kit asked.

“Metal wedges, hinges, locks, all sorts of ironclad devices,” Galter said with a smile. “While you were on your way to the dungeon, your guard was shoring up the queen’s methods of escape.”

Kit nodded, glad to hear Rona still had to be trapped inside of the castle then. The idea of chasing her down was unsettling. She wanted this to end tonight. By the looks of it, the battle was nearly won.