Page 131 of Shadows of Winter

“Open the gate,” Targon barked.

One of the other guards, realizing Vlerion, Kaylina, and the taybarri had taken down all the invaders around him, ran to obey. He frowned at the man on the ground, who was gripping his forehead where the lead round had struck, and stepped over him to pull the lever. It wasn’t stuck. The portcullis rose, and uniformed men and black-clad rangers on taybarri rushed inside.

“Take back the cannons!” Targon yelled. “And someone make sure the king and queen are defended.”

Levitke ran through the open doors, her size making the wide hallway seem small. Kaylina caught herself ducking under the ceiling beams as the taybarri raced after the invaders that had run inside. She glanced back, having no idea where they were going, and was relieved to see Crenoch and Vlerion pounding after her.

Levitke turned into another hallway, this one equally wide, and, when they crossed an intersection, Kaylina recognized the area. They’d exited the dungeon near there.

The hallway opened into a great chamber with wide stairs at the end. The two intruders had reached the landing at the top.

A boom from somewhere nearby made a chandelier above their heads tremble and clink, but it was Levitke that drew the men’s gazes and made them gawk.

Certain they were up to no good, Kaylina lifted her sling, but the intruders darted into a hallway behind the landing and out of view.

“The royal rooms are that way,” Vlerion said as Crenoch caught up. “The king and queen.”

Both taybarri sprang up the stairs but couldn’t fit into the narrower hallway at the top. Kaylina slid off and let Vlerion take the lead. Without the fearsome Levitke, she was only a girl with a sling.

Outside, the booms dwindled, and Kaylina trusted Targon and the rest of the rangers were securing the defenses.

At the end of the hall, two castle guards lay dead before a splintered door that had been knocked partway off its hinges. Vlerion rushed into the spacious sitting room of an opulent suite with multiple fireplaces, but the rugs were askew and furniture knocked over. An older man with a confused and terrified expression crouched between two guards, who were fighting off the intruders, swords clanging against maces and shields.

Vlerion rushed into the fray, springing upon the invaders from behind. Kaylina lifted the sling in case they needed help.

Someone ran out of a bedroom with a woman slung over his shoulder. The queen. She wasn’t moving and had to be unconscious. Hopefully not dead.

Kaylina fired at the kidnapper. With her feet on solid ground, her aim was impeccable, and the round took the man above the ear. He dropped the queen and whirled toward Kaylina as he grabbed the side of his head.

She readied another round, but the kidnapper had drawn a throwing knife, and he hurled it at her. She dropped flat to the floor to avoid it, but it grazed her shoulder, burning as it sliced through her dress and cut flesh.

He yanked out another knife. Kaylina rolled behind an upturned divan as someone leaped over it and her. Vlerion.

The intruder shifted his aim, hurling the knife at Vlerion. He whipped his sword up and deflected it with a clang. It struck the brick of a hearth across the room.

Vlerion reached the intruder, sword again ready to attack. The man must have realized he couldn’t win against a ranger because he spun and tried to run. But he tripped over the unmoving queen. She groaned at the contact—at least she was alive—but didn’t otherwise stir. Vlerion plunged his sword deep into the man’s heart.

The suite fell silent, the intruders all downed. A guard gripping his side with blood streaming between his fingers staggered out of the queen’s room. He started to nod at Vlerion but then spotted Kaylina. His eyes bulged.

“The queen’s poisoner! Pargorak, get her.” The guard ran to stand in front of the queen but pointed at one of the two guards protecting the king in the corner, their elderly monarch on the floor with his hands over his head.

“I came to help.” Kaylina opened her hand and held up her sling.

The two guards rushed toward her.

“No,” Vlerion barked and intercepted them. Even as he bowled them over, he waved for Kaylina to get out of the suite.

Though she wanted to defend herself, to say she’d helped Vlerion and therefore had to be innocent, the queen hadn’t seen her fighting at his side. She wasn’t even awake. And the king? He wasn’t looking at anything but the floor. As far as the royals knew, nothing had changed since Kaylina had been thrown into the dungeon.

Swearing, she ran out into the hallway. She didn’t know where to go but thought if she reached the taybarri, Levitke might help her escape.

She and Crenoch were still on the landing, but two other taybarri had arrived and brought more rangers. Kaylina almost crashed into Targon when he stepped in front of the hallway exit. She flailed to a stop, but he grabbed her arm.

Would he believe the queen’s guards and take her personally back to the dungeon?

Vlerion caught up with Kaylina, looming at her shoulder and meeting Targon’s gaze. “She’s helping us.”

“I saw.” Targon released Kaylina.

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