The pieces were falling into place, but the risks still made my belly clench.
“I’m going to bring healing supplies to Eva,” I said. “Herbs, bandages, pain remedies. Food and clean water. Blankets. Clothing, since what she’s wearing is little more than rags.”
I fingered the soft hem of a blanket lying on the arm of the sofa. The prisoners slept under coarse scraps, if anything at all. The woman and the others had been suffering in that dungeon while I’d slept on soft sheets and ate elaborate meals. I remembered the cold bars and the despair in the air when I’d escaped the last time, and guilt hit me hard. While I couldn’t help them all tonight, I’d find a way to get supplies to everyone soon.
“Gather it together, and we’ll put it in a pack I can carry,” Trew said.
“We need to put a lot of things in place for a narrow window of time,” Derren said in a soft voice. “But we’ll hold them off for as long as we can.”
I thought about what I needed to ask this woman, assuming she’d talk to us at all. The questions tumbled through my mind, each one more crucial than the last.
“I’ll keep it quick,” I said, ticking items off with my fingers. “I need to know who pushed my mother. Why Eva was meeting with my mother in secret all those years. What she knows about Velacross, about veil-travel, and about the place south of Syllavar that might’ve belonged to my mother. Why my father imprisoned her.”
“And who the red-haired woman was,” Trew said, his voice tight.
“What my mother was planning before she died,” I said. “Why this woman helped me escape when I searched the cells.”
Derren spoke up. “Find out what she knows about Addie, about why your father imprisoned her in the dungeon, and your sister’s physical state when she was taken to the west tower.”
Trew’s hand tightened on mine. “Ask if she knows how to close the veil.”
Would this woman be able to help us with any of this?
“While there are many things we could ask her,” Kerralyn said. “Time will be the issue. So keep it brief and prioritize what you ask.”
I nodded.
“What about the route?” I asked Trew. “You’ve been studying the castle layout.”
Trew released my hand and rose from the sofa, collecting parchment and a pencil from my desk. He returned to sit beside me and with quick strokes, began sketching. “Servants’ stairs from this level, through an old storage corridor that’s rarely used anymore. Down to the first floor, bypassing the kitchen.”
“Wait,” I said. “We can go through the wine cellar. There’s an old door in the back. Addie and I discovered it when we were children. Unless it’s been sealed, there’s a tunnel inside that brings you out near the dungeon entrance and the kitchen staff quarters.”
Derren stood. “I have to go, but I’ll verify that it still exits near the dungeon. If so, that’s where I’ll be positioned.”
Trew adjusted his drawing. “There are two unavoidable guard stations, here and here. Derren can handle one, and I’ll use minimal magic to create a distraction for the other. I’m sure I can draw them away long enough for us to slip past.”
“When should we do this?” Derren asked, glancing toward the door.
“A few hours after dinner,” I said. “The guards will be relaxed, settled into their routines. But before the midnight shift change. Darkness to work with.”
“How will we communicate if something changes?” Kerralyn asked, hesitating as she rubbed her hands together. “We can’t use magic. Our king has been fully trained; we just started. We need to stick to non-magical ways.”
Pherin launched from the sofa back and landed on my shoulder.
Carry messages, she said.
I rushed to my bedroom and returned with my sewing box, opening the lid and pulling out ribbons I handed to my friends. “We’ll use a color code. Different ribbons for different signals and in specific locations on Pherin’s body.”
“Red for abort,” Lexie said. “Blue for proceed. Green for hold off. Yellow for complications but continuing?”
We agreed, and I committed the code to memory.
Smart bird,Pherin said.
Very.
She preened.