Will was heavier than he looked, and by the time we made it down the hall to the stairs I couldn’t carry him any further and had to dump him on the floor. I was contemplating whether I should just leave him there when a heavy hand closed on my shoulder. The winged rock had crept up behind me again. “This isn’t a good time, Etinarg.”

“The prince says find you. Keep you safe in your room.”

“My room is not safe. The castle is not safe. I need to get out.”

I could see the stones grinding inside his head. “But his highness said…”

“And my highness is saying I’m leaving. What’s your oath?”

“To serve the crown…”

“And is my brother more the crown than I am?”

“You are prince and princess…”

“Then you cannot disobey me, right?”

“My first duty is to protect the royal family.”

Tanya cut in. “If Aranda is leaving, and Andular is staying here, he needs your protection more than she does, doesn’t he?”

Etinarg hesitated, working that out in his head.

“But the wizard need protecting too. He’s hurt.”

Tanya and I were both well aware that it would only complicate matters if he found out how Will had been knocked out. “All the more reason to get him out of here, then, wouldn’t you say?”

“But Andular has many protectors, and-”

“Look, if I let you get us safely to the stables, will you go and take care of Andular after that?”

He paused for another moment. “Yes, your highness.”

“Good boy. Carry the wizard and let’s move. We’ve wasted too much time already.”

Etinarg could be a pain, but he was at least obedient, and him carrying Will meant I didn’t have to. We headed down the stairs, and had made it three flights before the first crossbow bolt narrowly missed my head.

“Down,” I hissed, falling backward onto Tanya. Etinarg wrapped his stony arms around Will’s body and spread his wings to shield us all. I heard two or three more bolts shatter on his wings as he laid Will on the steps, then let himself tumble. Whomever was waiting below us shrieked in fear and pain as hundreds of pounds of gargoyle slammed into them.

“Watch him,” I muttered to Tanya, then I was propelling myself down after him, Quickfyre in my left hand. Flickerflame was too heavy for the technique I was using; I as letting myself control my fall just enough to stay upright as I plunged down the steps. As Etinarg slammed into a wall with an organic crunch from whoever was underneath him, the victim’s companions hacked ineffectively at him with swords. The closer of the two looked up in time to take Quickfyre across one cheek, magical flames searing the flesh solid even as it was cut. I angled the backswing, my momentum carrying me forward, and the point of my sword caught his friend in the throat. No honor among assassins, the one still standing turned to run, but Etinarg flicked out a wing, knocking his legs from under him. This was a little inconvenient for me, as I was standing on Etinarg at the time, but I turned my fall into a lunge and tackled the man as he hit the ground.

He was a youngish human, with short black hair that showed blond roots, probably dyed to blend in with shadows better. The wound I’d scored on his face would join a network of scars, if I let him live long enough. He was making that hard to want to do, though, as a dagger sliced the air an inch from my face. I started to push myself up, and when he used that opportunity to start to slide free, I let myself drop, planting my right elbow in his solar plexus.

As he caught his breath, I started to get up for real, and barely brought up an arm in time to let his dagger bite into my armor instead of my face. The enchantment on the leather held, repelling the blade, and I noticed an oily residue left behind. Of course the blade would be poisoned, I groaned inwardly, they were here to kill me. Or to kill Andular, or someone, but why assume I wasn’t in danger?

As I was still crouching, I planted Quickfyre into his leg, sending him to the ground again. He appeared to pass out from the pain at that point, so I got to my feet and headed back up to Tanya while Etinarg collected himself. “No other activity?”

“None. That was…” I noticed, then, that she was rather pale, and was trying very hard not to look at the bodies below us. Truth be told, as the adrenaline wore off, I was feeling a bit queasy at the thought of what I had just done myself.

“Come on, there’s barely any blood, Quickfyre cauterizes wounds. You can’t have never seen a dead body before.”

“Usually… usually I’m being rescued by Sir Christopher or, or someone, and… well, usually the bodies are made by the enemy, and I’m… they never… the smell…” The fog of battle had prevented me from noticing, but she was right. The air was heavy with the reek of burnt flesh, and it made my stomach roll a bit to think about it. I’d never stabbed anyone with my swords before; while I’d received some very high quality training, this was my first real life-or-death battle. The reality of what I’d done was a bit unsettling.

“Highness, Lady Grace, we must move. It is not safe here.” Etinarg hoisted Will’s limp form and headed down the stairs. Tanya and I stepped over the prone forms, and I tried not to think about the smell that now filled the stairwell.

“Andy,” whispered Tanya, “I thought you said no one ever came back here.”

“They don’t. Which means the problem is worse than we thought; we’ve got a small army of people in the castle, if they have the manpower to spread out even to here.”

“Where did they come from? We’d notice a force like this coming, wouldn’t we?”

I thought back to something Will had said at dinner. “Not if they came to the city a few at a time, as supplicants to the Academy. There’s nothing suspicious about a few armed people coming to Pyrosia each day, we wouldn’t have noticed while the army built itself inside our walls, especially if they’re not ranked soldiers, but mercenaries and sell-spells. Doesn’t explain who, or why, but it answers how for now.”

Tanya narrowed her eyes. “Costeri,” she spat.

“Costeri? They’re on the opposite coast, hundreds of miles from here, with the Badlands in between. The guys who attacked us back there hardly seemed like goblins, or like anyone who could have passed through there without problems.”

“They’d do it. I know they’d do it.”

“We can worry about that later. For now we have to hurry.”

“I’m hurrying as fast as I can.”

“Shame you didn’t change when I did. That gown can’t possibly be good for running.”

“Well, I could lose my gown…”

“No, I have my emergency outfit on underneath.”

“I’m not sure whether I’m more disturbed by the concept of an emergency outfit, or that you’re wearing it under formal priestess robes for no reason.”

“Andy, dear, I love you like a sister, but you’re new to this whole ‘random attack’ thing. Trust me, being abducted can happen at any time, and if it does, you need to be prepared. I couldn’t allow myself to be held prisoner dressed like this, there are standards one has to maintain.”

“Like… cleavage? Ripped bodices? Fill me in here.”

“Ugh, no, those are for amateurs. Girls who only get abducted because they think it will help them meet men. Honestly, if a guy has to rescue a woman from a mad wizard to get a date, he’s probably not that great a catch to begin with. Here…” She began shrugging out of her gown, and I helped her in the interest of time. “There now. Skirt above the knees for easy running, short sleeves to balance modesty and comfort, ragged edges to convey distress but nothing so revealing as to suggest I’m an easy conquest. Neckline stays up here, see? And no bare midriff, that’s important. Guys see a navel and they start getting ideas.”

“I’ll stick with my armor and swords, thanks. I think that my gear conveys all that men need to ‘get’ about me if they have any ideas about me needing ‘rescue.’ Not all of us have a Sir Christopher with nothing better to do than run around beating people up.”

“Suit yourself, as it were. My way’s worked well enough for me so far, and I’m not the one who barely avoided being stabbed by a poison dagger.”

“Because if I hadn’t, you would have.”

“Exactly. I had someone to watch out for me.”

I bit back a scream that there was only someone watching out for her because I was the one doing it, and hurried down the last flight of stairs in silence. The stable yard seemed clear, and I was eager to be out of the castle and rid of Etinarg. If he came along, Etinge knew he’d be constantly trying to drag me back to the “safety” of the castle. If Will was right, I’d be in danger here until we resolved this, so I couldn’t have that.

“Etinarg, we’re almost clear. You’ll go protect Andular when I’m gone, right?”

“You are… sure you don’t need me?”

“If all the bad men are here, I’ll be fine, right? But I’m worried about Andular. We’ll go hide with someone friendly until this is over, but he needs protection, right?”

“You’re not… having an adventure?”

I did my best to put on an innocent face. “Of course not. That would be dangerous, and no one wants to see me in any danger, right?”

Strangely, the stone brow seemed to furrow a bit. “Oh. Then I will stay here. Protect Andular.”

Tanya put a hand on one massive stone arm. “If Andy sets out on an adventure where she needs you, I’m sure she’d ask you right away.”

There was a slow grinding noise that seemed suspiciously like fidgeting. “I would like that. It has been many years since I left the castle, and if I had been with…” Tanya cut him off with a hand on his mouth.

“Her parents would want you protecting their children, and right now Andular needs it more. He’s trying to hold the castle, after all.” This seemed to satisfy the gargoyle, who slumped a bit and shuffled forward with Will.

Inside the stables, all was shadowy and quiet. The horses were subdued, their trained senses realizing something was wrong and they may be pressed into a fight. Many were personal warhorses, frequently from air touched stock for speed, or earth touched stock for stamina. I selected three draft horses, as they wouldn’t be recognizable as we rode, and as they didn’t belong to anyone, it wouldn’t be immediately obvious who took them.

As Etinarg slumped Will over a saddle, something occurred to me. Pulling a dagger from my hip, I sent it flying into the shadows among the rafters. A soft meaty thunk was quickly followed by a crash as the man who’d been hidden there fell. Tanya flinched a bit and Etinarg pushed past me to shield us.

“Gah, you ashen, stup- erm…” Etinarg had picked up Jusudi from where he’d fallen, my dagger still sticking out of his shoulder. The gamekeeper deflated a bit beneath the stony gaze. “Stupendous. Yes. Stupendously brilliant princess, realizing there might be someone hiding in the rafters. Could you put me down so I can pull the sharp metal bit out of my shoulder, please?” He was slowly lowered to the floor, and scowled as he wrenched the dagger free. “I slipped down here to make sure none of our uninvited guests tried to borrow an escape route. I’ve got four of them hidden under the straw, by the way. Your Lady Grace, you’ll be taking the princess to the temple? And what happened to our new court wizard?”

“We saw some action on our way here. Etinarg has been protecting us quite well, but surely he would be more of an asset fighting the invaders without having to worry for the Princess’ safety. William sustained a blow while weaving some protective spells, and I’m trying to get both of them to safety. Surely an astute guardian such as yourself recognizes the wisdom of this?”

Jusudi nodded, flinching slightly as he clutched the wound on his shoulder. “Her highness has been paying attention to her combat training, and I’m not so sure she needs protection, if that dagger was any indication, but getting her away from the attack would be best, I agree. I’ll let Prince Andular know where you’ve gone.”

I nodded hesitantly. “You do that.”

“Thank you so much,” gushed Tanya. “Now, we should be going. We’re just in the way here.” She swung herself onto a horse and coaxed it toward the main stable doors, leading the horse with Will on it. “Come, your highness, we have to get you to safety.”

As he lifted me onto my horse, Etinarg squeezed me gently. “Be safe, Princess. No adventures without me to protect you.” I clicked my tongue, and my horse hurried after Tanya’s, out of the stable, out of the castle, and into the maze of the city where we’d hopefully soon be lost.