"You first, Miss Repentance," Shamed said, as he held up a rope with a loop tied in it. "Step into this."
"What am I first at?" she asked, stepping in.
He pulled the loop up to her thighs. "You're going to sit down on this and I'm going to lower you down the cliff. Hold the rope right here." He showed her where to put her hands and slipped three pickles into her pocket. "Give Bramble my regards."
"Wait! You're going to lower me down? How far is it?"
He shrugged. "I've got sixty feet of rope and you'll hit bottom before I run out."
She tried to think how far sixty feet was but the words meant nothing to her. Her body trembled in fear.
"Keep your hands inside your sleeves so you don't hit the mountain and burn your skin on the way down."
She used her arms to push off from the cliff face as Shamed lowered her, and she made it down with only one small ice burn on the knuckles of her right hand.
She managed to wriggle out of the loop of rope, no easy task with Bramble snuffling at her pockets, and let it go so Shamed could pull it back up.
A minute later, Tigen came over the top of the cliff and began bobbing his way down the face. Shortly after him, Sober followed.
Tigen rode on Bramble, sitting in front of Repentance, while Sober walked as a slave should, leading the yak his mistress sat upon.
They were going, then. They were escaping. They were going to be free. Repentance sucked in a breath—she felt free already.
Sober led the yak down the deserted road that ran along the palace grounds. Soon they would turn and head away from the palace—away from the king and the prince and the sentence of death.
"Where are we going?" Repentance asked. "And how long do we have before they come after us?"
"They shouldn't discover you missing until tomorrow. When Goodwoman Hardscrabble's girl takes you your meal, she'll report the escape."
"So we have to get through the city gates tonight." Repentance said. "They'll be looking for us tomorrow. When do they lock the gates? Are we too late?"
She looked at the moon, hanging low in the eastern sky, testifying to the early evening hour.
"The gates are locked at sunset," Sober said. "But they'll open them up for emergencies."
"What's our story, then?" She looked at Tigen. "Traveling at night because the doctor told me I had to get my sick brother to the healing house immediately or he'd die?"
Sober gave her an approving grin. "I like that one better than the one we planned. Only we can't take Tigen out of the city. He has to go back with the yak. He took Bramble out this afternoon as if he were going for a ride. We mean for him to go back tonight saying the beast ran away from him and that's why he's late."
They turned onto the main road, then. The one that ran in front of the palace. Talking ceased. Repentance could see the two huge statues of dragon hunters that guarded the palace gate. She knew a guard shack stood there, too, though she couldn't see it. They were far away, but she, a condemned assassin, was moseying along in plain view, kidnapping the prince's son. It hardly seemed like a good plan.
Long before they reached the palace gate, though, Sober cut into an alley that led down to the next level of the city.
Repentance breathed a little more freely as the palace fell behind. "Tigen, you took Bramble this afternoon? How did you sneak back into the palace without being seen?"
"There was no other way to get the yak out of the palace grounds," Tigen said. "But I had to get back in to take the boat under your cell. Shamed pulled me up the same way we came down."
She hugged him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "You are so brave, Tigen."
"I'd go with you all the way, too. Only if I don't go back tonight, I'll never be able to go back. They'll know I helped you."
"Of course you must go back. And someday, when you're grown, you'll visit me. And we'll laugh over this adventure."
"Remember the dragons, my Lady?"
"Dragons?"
"The picture I drew in class?"
"Ah, yes, you were a big dragon and you had your wing wrapped around me."
He nodded.
"And now here you are saving me." She hugged him tighter. "Thank you, Tigen, my brave friend." Her voice broke and she gave her eyes a quick swipe with the back of her hand.
Sober turned to the right onto a major street—this one busy with yak carts going up and down and with people shopping in the stores, which lined both sides of the thoroughfare.
Repentance stiffened, seeing all the overlords.
Some wore hats and vests made from sun cloth, so they looked like giant lanterns bobbing about. Tall posts hung with suncloths and mooncloths were set at regular intervals, too, pouring more light into the street. Repentance shivered, feeling exposed and vulnerable.
She couldn't enjoy the sparkling street, the icy storefronts, or the frozen sculptures scattered willy-nilly along the walkways. All she wanted was to get out of this city. Fast. She pictured in her mind the map carved and painted on the wall of the queen's suite. She had memorized every turn. Two blocks down and three blocks to the right was the slave market with the swing frame in the courtyard. The more distance she put between herself and that, the better.
But Sober walked along at a slow pace, as if there were no place he'd rather be.
"If you were to lead us off the main street," Repentance whispered,
