A bang awoke Quilla. She bolted upright in bed as several more bangs followed it.

  “Rianne! Rianne! Open this door now!”

  Annai was sitting up now as well, a dagger in her hand.

  “Open this door or my boys will break it down!”

  Gabby jumped to her feet, threw a cloak on, and started pushing the wardrobe.

  Quilla grabbed her own cloak and hurried over to help Gabby. “What’s going on?”

  “My former employer,” Gabby said quietly. “Rianne’s the name I’ve been using.”

  As soon as the wardrobe was out of the way, the door flew open. A tall, thin Folith stood there. Behind him were three muscular men, each holding heavy lengths of wood or metal.

  The tall man stepped into the room and looked about. “I told you, you were to be out of here.”

  Gabby stepped right up to him. While he was taller, she was still a tall person and more muscular than him, so he didn’t dwarf her. “You said we could leave in the morning.”

  “I said you had to be gone by the morning. It’s now morning and you’re still here.”

  “We’ll be gone in an hour.”

  He laughed. “You’ll be gone in ten minutes, or…”

  Gabby took a step closer to him, right in his face. “Or what? You really think I’m afraid of your toughs? You’ve seen me fight. You know I’ll break them without even breaking a sweat.”

  The toughs started forward, but the man held up a hand and they stopped. “You’ll be gone in ten minutes or I’ll get the Red Knights involved.”

  Gabby hesitated a moment. When she spoke, the assertiveness she’d had before was gone and there was a slight waver in her voice. “And what are you going to tell them?”

  “I don’t know yet.” The man leaned to the side and pointed at Quilla. “But they’ll believe anything I say about her.”

  Annai jumped to her feet. “Don’t you dare do anything to her!”

  The man laughed. “You’ve got nine minutes left!” Then he turned around, waved his toughs aside and left the room.

  Gabby slammed the door shut. “Fuck!” She turned to face Quilla and Annai. “Get dressed. Quickly! Grab everything. We don’t have much time.”

  “It’s fine,” Quilla said. “It’s not like we have a lot of stuff anyway.”

  Beyond their clothes, there really wasn’t much to gather. There were the two princesses’ swords and each of them had a dagger, all of which had to be kept hidden under their winter clothes. There was also the food Quilla had acquired on her second trip to the market yesterday afternoon. Beyond that, there was virtually nothing. Quilla didn’t even have her locket any more. Gods, she missed that more than anything. Her last link to Garet...gone.

  As they hurriedly dressed, Quilla turned to Annai. “Thanks, by the way.” Had Annai really leapt to her defence? Wonders never ceased. When Annai just looked at her blankly, Quilla added, “For jumping up to help me.”

  Annai’s eyes widened. “Oh that! Right, well, what he was suggesting was just...disgusting. I couldn’t let him treat a fr...anyone like that.”

  It was hard to tell exactly how long it took them, but it couldn’t have been more than seven or eight minutes, definitely within the limit they’d been given.

  As they headed outside, Annai said to Gabriella, “Why did you work for that jerk anyway?”

  “It’s not like there are a lot of jobs to choose from at the moment,” Gabby said.

  Gabby’s former employer stood outside with two of his toughs. He had a grin on his face.

  “There,” Gabby said. “We’re going.”

  The man snickered and pointed. A short distance down the street were two Bloods and with them, what looked like the third tough.

  Gabby rounded on her employer. “You said we had ten minutes!”

  The man merely shrugged. “I had to summon them in advance for them to be here when the time ran out. You should have been quicker.”

  “Fuck!” Gabby grabbed Quilla’s arm and led her to the side a little. “Get out of here. Fast as you can.”

  “What?”

  “Take Annai with you and get out of here. I’ll hold them off. Meet me in three hours in the Night Plaza behind the Cathedral of the Gods.”

  “What are you going to do?” Quilla asked.

  “Just go!” Gabby hissed. “Now!” She strolled forward, placing herself between the Bloods, and Quilla and Annai. She reached inside her cloak and drew her sword.

  “What the hell?” he employer said. “Where did you get a sword?”

  “Gabby, what are you doing?” Annai hissed.

  Quilla grabbed Annai’s arm and tried to pull her away. “Come on, we have to go.”

  Annai glared at her. “We can’t leave her!”

  The two Bloods were now running towards them.

  “We have to,” Quilla said, pulling on Annai’s arm some more. “Let’s go!”

  “But…” Annai looked desperately at Gabby for a moment.

  “Annai, go!” Gabby yelled.

  With a nod, Annai turned, and Quilla turned with her.

  “Annai?” Gabby’s employer said. His two toughs moved to block their way.

  “Shit,” Quilla muttered.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Gabby spun past them, her sword swinging out in a wide arc and slicing the throat of one of the toughs. “Run!”

  As the tough fell over in a pool of blood and the other one took a step back, Quilla clutched Annai’s hand and ran. Annai didn’t resist.

  A whistle sounded behind them. Annai hesitated slightly, pulling back on Quilla’s arm and looking back, but she kept going.

  Hopefully any other patrols that heard that whistle were too far away to get here before they could be well out of sight.

  “We have to help her!” Annai said, but didn’t slow.

  “We can’t.”

  “I know how to use a sword. I can fight.”

  “Not well enough, and you know it. Gabby’s better on her own. It was her choice. Trust her and just run.”

  There were yells and cries behind them, but Quilla refused to look back. She was fairly certain Annai did a couple times, every time she fell behind a bit, tugging on Quilla’s arm. But it didn’t matter as long as Annai kept running.

  They turned a corner as soon as they were able, and kept running a couple more blocks. Annai was heaving and slowing down at that point. “I can’t go on.”

  Quilla nodded, and they slowed down. If they kept running for too long, they’d draw attention anyway. It was important now to look casual, blend in with the crowd, and hope they weren’t stopped by any patrols.

  * * * * *

  It was a bright, sunny day, but bitterly cold. The tall pines in the plaza provided some cover from the wind, but not much, as the wind just whipped around them and seemed to change direction frequently. The monument in the centre of the plaza provided only slightly better cover, but it was something, so that was where Quilla and Annai stood shivering, waiting for Gabby.

  They had spent the last couple hours moving cautiously through Arnor City, jumping at shadows, and hoping not to be stopped by any patrols. They’d been lucky. A couple patrols had watched them closely—watched Quilla more specifically—as they passed, but hadn’t stopped them. Finally, they’d made their way here.

  The Night Plaza was located just off the Tower of Night at the back of the Cathedral of the Gods. Despite its name, it was not a place to honour Night, but rather to honour the dead. There were not a lot of people here at the moment, and most importantly, there were no Blood patrols in sight. Hopefully, any would stay away long enough for Gabby to get here.

  “Ardon’s name isn’t here,” Annai said.

  “Huh?” Quilla turned to look at what Annai was doing.

  She indicated the list of names carved into the base of the monument, which was a large obelisk. “Ardon’s name isn’t here. He must still be alive.”

  The list was of all the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Universal Religion for the last two hundred years, up to and including Ardon’s predecessor, who had died nearly fifty years ago. Gods, just how old was that man? Unfortunately, the lack of his name didn’t necessarily mean he was still alive. “They might not have had time to add it yet.”

  “Yes, but then, surely there would have been a public announcement. They’d have to appoint a new patriarch.”

  Quilla shook her head. “I wouldn’t trust any announcements put out right now. Remember, Gabby’s confirmed dead according to the official announcements.”

  Annai frowned, and turned away. “Everybody’s dying.”

  Quilla groaned inwardly. She shouldn’t be such a downer. “Oh, don’t mind me. You’re probably right that he’s still alive. He’s too wily to have died in a simple coup.”

  Annai sniffled loudly. “What about Gabby? Shouldn’t she be here by now?”

  “She said three hours.”

  “It’s been three hours.”

  “Approximately. She didn’t mean exactly. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

  “What if they killed her?”

  “I’m sure she got away. She’s a competent warrior, probably better than any of them. Garet always said she was the only one who ever game him any real competition.”

  “It doesn’t matter how good she is if she was outnumbered.”

  “One of the thugs was already down, and there were only two Bloods.”

  “With more on the way!”

  “And Gabby probably got away before they got there.”

  “And if she didn’t?”

  Quilla hesitated a moment. Nearby, the bells of the Cathedral of the Gods began to ring. “It’s not worth thinking like that. Gabby’s going to be fine. You just have to—”

  Annai rounded on her. “Don’t patronise me, Quilla. I’m not a child. I may not be as worldly as you or Gabby, but I do know a few things. You’re just as worried about Gabby as I am, so stop babying me.”

  Quilla sighed. Annai was right. She was worried. As skilled as Gabby was, she was likely to be overwhelmed. She had said three hours yet… Quilla wasn’t sure exactly what time they had left the tenement, but in the time she and Annai had spent moving through the city, the bells had already rung eight, nine, and ten o’clock. Now, they were just finishing eleven. It had been well over three hours.

  Gabby should have been here by now.

  “See?” Annai said. “You don’t have anything to respond to me with.”

  “Look, I just…” She paused and took a deep breath. This wasn’t worth getting angry over. “I’m just trying to be hopeful, that’s all.”

  Annai turned back to the monument and ran a gloved hand over the stone. “I don’t think I have any hope left.”

  “Let’s give her time, okay? She might have been delayed.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  They stood there shivering in the bitter cold, Annai lightly sobbing after a little while, Quilla trying not to sob. It became harder and harder. They tried walking in circles around the plaza to keep from freezing, but it didn’t help much.

  A patrol of Bloods passed by, eyeing them. Quilla kept walking in a straight line, hoping Annai followed without comment. They walked out of the plaza and a couple blocks down the street before circling round and retracing their steps. The Bloods were long gone by the time they got back to the plaza.

  They waited some more.

  The Cathedral of the Gods rang noon.

  Then it rang one.

  “She’s not coming, Quilla,” Annai said eventually. “And we’re going to freeze to death if we stand around here any longer.”

  Quilla stared out into the streets of Arnor City. She wasn’t sure she felt the cold anymore. It was there, but somehow it seemed distant.

  “Quilla?”

  Gabby was the only real friend Quilla had in the Royal Family—except for Felit?a, she supposed, but she’d fucked up her relationship with Felit?a already, so Gabby was the only one left. Except now she wasn’t. She was probably dead.

  Maybe she was a prisoner. No, they’d kill her at the first opportunity. She was a threat to Lidda Plavin’s claim to the throne.

  Maybe she’d gotten away but was unable to get here for some reason. Maybe she was hurt and needed help.

  “Quilla!”

  Annai grabbed her arm, and Quilla turned to look at her. There were frozen tears on Annai’s scarves, glinting in the sunlight like morning frost.

  “We have to go, Quilla. If we stay here too long, a patrol that has already passed here is going to come back and recognise we haven’t. Then they’ll question us.”

  “I can’t abandon her.”

  “She’s dead, Quilla, and believe me, I know what it means to say that. She’s my sister, and I’ve lost so many people already, but we have to face facts. We have to go! Please!”

  Quilla looked back out to the streets. In the distance along one, there was a hint of a couple red figures moving amongst the people. They were moving slowly in the direction of the cathedral. She looked back at Annai. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  Annai gave her a weak smile. “It’s okay. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been the one wallowing in my emotions and you’ve been the strong one. You deserve a turn to be weak once in a while.” She took Quilla’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s go. Please.”

  Quilla nodded. “There’s a patrol up that way. We should go this way.” She started to lead the way, but hesitated and looked back.

  “What’s wrong?” Annai asked.

  Quilla shook her head. “Nothing.” She wanted to leave a message for Gabby just in case, but she had no idea how to leave one that would only be recognised by Gabby. She couldn’t take the chance of anyone else finding it.

  “Then let’s go!”

  With a sigh, she nodded and they continued on their way.

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