Page 34 of Tashama
“The same.”
“No murderers or well…or other sorts are here?
10
Tashama wasn’t about to release murderers or rapists from the cell.
“No, miss, there are only thieves among us.” The man shook his head, then leaned against the wall. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to free you and your friends.”
The man chuckled. “And the prince is afraid of you!”
“I’m serious.” She touched his wrists bound with sisal, then her fingers twisted at the rope.
“Who are you?” the man asked.
“Tashama.”
He nodded with no sense of recognition that she was the daughter of the royal family of Karthland, who had warred with his own kingdom for twenty long years. She smiled as the knot untied. “Now undo the others.”
“Are you not afraid of us? We have not been this close to a woman in weeks.” He ran his fingers through the strands of her hair, then lifted them to his bulbous nose. His smile stretched across his face. “Water lily.”
“You must free the other men, then ensure the rope is secured to the metal rung over there. You can slip down to one of the tower windows below and make your escape. From there, it’ll be your business to leave the palace.”
“The sewers—we know them well.” The man released Tashama’s hair. He hurried to untie the other men as he shushed them while they grumbled about his waking them in such a gruff manner.
Tashama crawled back to her bed of straw.
One of the others asked, “What’s going on?”
“She has aided our escape. As soon as the last man is untied, three of you will climb down to the farthest window we can reach. After that, bind anyone in the room. I’ll follow with the woman and the others.”
Tashama lay on her straw, then shook her head. “I’ll only slow you down. I can barely stay awake, and I cannot walk a step.”
“We’ll carry you then. You’ll be punished for helping us to escape, miss. We wouldn’t leave you behind.”
The youngest of the men knelt at her side. He touched her cheek. “She’s nearly asleep with the drug they gave her. We’ll have to leave her.”
The man motioned for three of the others to make the climb. “She’ll sleep in a bed as her kind should then. At least we can do that much for her, Jaren.”
“But they’ll know which window we’ll climb into. They’ll find her before very long.”
“Then we’ll leave her in a room several floors down.”
“She’ll get us caught for certain.”
“She made our escape possible in the first place.”
The man lifted Tashama. Her stomach muscles tightened into a knot. Heights and narrow spaces…both she dreaded.
The man made the arduous climb with her draped over his broad shoulder, and she closed her eyes. When his feet landed on the wooden floor, he pulled her from his shoulder. She opened her eyes and frowned as a man and a woman, bound and gagged with their shredded satin sheets, sat on their bed, wild-eyed in the large chamber.
“Fear not,” the big man said. “We’re only rescuing a damsel in distress.” He bowed slightly to the couple as they wiggled against their restraints, then he headed out the door with the rest of his gang.
The thieves climbed three flights of stairs before the man motioned his head at one of the doors. With the tools of the trade, one of the thieves poked a long, skinny metal object into the keyhole. Within a matter of seconds, the men entered the lavish apartment. One of the men fingered a jeweled clock.
The others hurried to shred the sheets on the man’s bed. After tying him to his bedpost, the leader of the thief’s guild said, “The lady deserves a bed of luxury.” He touched the spongy goose-feather-filled mattress and smiled. “This one, in fact.”
