By then, we had reached the door connecting Woodcourt to the dungeons. Trina tried the door, then gasped. "It's locked!"
I gave a key to Trina. "As Kestra's protector, I was given one in case she tried escaping from her room."
Trina smiled as she began unlocking the door. "The irony is priceless!"
I pulled a long length of rope from my satchel. It wasn't as thick as some of the other ropes I'd found out in the stables, but it had to fit in the satchel, so my options were limited.
I gave Trina my knife, and then offered Kestra the rope, saying, "Trina and I will disarm the guards. Stay here where they can't see you. When it's clear, can you get this rope tied off in my old cell?"
Her face twisted into a noticeable grimace, but she took the rope and nodded. She could do this. I hoped.
Once we were inside, Kestra remained high on the stairs. I followed Trina down them as quickly as we could go without slipping. The first guard was the younger one who had leered at Kestra earlier. His hand was raised in a friendly hello, but Trina whacked him broadside on the head and he immediately crumpled. I figured that wasn't too different from her usual technique for making friends.
I took on the second guard, the man who had been clever enough to remind me that the dungeons were not an inn. I hit him on the head with the flat side of my sword, a single hammer stroke that sent him to the ground.
The third man immediately dropped to his knees with his hands in the air. "My name is Bragh. I have no love for the Dominion!"
"Then you'll gladly help me drag these men into a cell." I tilted my head toward Trina. "Give her your keys."
He did, and while we dragged the first two guards away, Trina hurried ahead of us to unlock the first available cell door. When they were all inside, I swatted Bragh hard enough to make him sleepy for a few hours. It wasn't personal, at least on my part. Bragh might feel differently.
By the time I left the cell, Kestra was already padding past us, on her way to cell nine. In her hands was a set of keys that must have fallen from one of the guards' pockets. She did not acknowledge either Trina or me. It probably required her full attention just to force herself down the dark slope.
"I'll free the other prisoners," Trina said, holding Bragh's keys. "Show them where to go, and hurry! The executions begin at midnight."
She went to work, but I followed Kestra. She had stopped just outside cell nine, frozen in place, except for her fists, which were slowly clenching and unclenching. It would only be darker inside, colder, and more closed in. The torch beside her flickered from a nearby draft. I wondered how it could have given her a cross-shaped burn on her palm. That didn't make sense.
I started forward again, but a girl pushed past me, the girl with the bread--Rosalie?--and wrapped her arms around Kestra's waist.
"I told the others you'd free us!" Rosalie said to Kestra. "I knew you'd come."
"You shouldn't have been here in the first place," Kestra replied. "I had to fix this."
"You'll save all of Antora. I know you will."
Kestra smiled sadly, but pressed her lips together in determination. When we were alone, I'd ask her again about joining the Coracks. We needed her on our side.
More than that, I wanted her at my side.
My motives were undoubtedly selfish, yet I didn't know how to feel any other way. After Darrow was released, she would try to leave with him, probably leave Antora entirely. I understood her loyalties. Darrow was her protector and friend. But surely there was enough room in her heart to care for me too--as something more than a protector, and certainly as more than a friend.
Finally, Kestra began unlocking the door to cell number nine. Gerald's voice called back to her. "My lady? Is it you?"
To have earned this cell, Gerald must have deeply offended Sir Henry. He'd only been here a few hours, yet he already bore signs of his stay. He was filthy, his bluish cheeks were sallow, and his eyes seemed offended by the light of the torch.
Kestra greeted Gerald with a quick apology, then handed him the rope. "I need a place to tie this." She lifted her foot to enter the cell, then set it down again.
"A lady like you shouldn't have to do this," Rosalie said. "I'll help him tie off the rope."
"No, I'll do it." Kestra nodded curtly, as if she was giving herself an order, then stepped inside.
By the time I joined them, Rosalie was holding the bulk of the rope while Kestra and Gerald tied the other end around a rock pillar in the center of the cell. With more than twenty people needing to escape, I wished the pillar was thicker. But it was our only option.
I took the rope from Rosalie and tossed it over the edge of the pit. Behind me, Tenger entered the cell. Without warning, he twisted Kestra around and slammed her into the stone wall.
Gerald had been on his knees in the mud and went to his feet, but before either of us could act, Trina ran into the cell and cried, "Captain, don't!"
"I don't know how your father found us, but I warned you of the consequences of betraying us!" Tenger's threat to Kestra echoed throughout the cell.