Page 107 of Arrows and Gems
“There he is!” a guard hollered behind her. “Stop him!”
Grinning, she placed a foot on the ledge and jumped. The mercantile next door wasn’t as tall as the guard outpost, but it had an upper level where the family lived.
But the gap was a little wider than she’d thought.
Her lead foot barely caught. Throwing herself forward, she reached for the clothesline strung up nearby. It sagged toward her, giving her a face-full of trousers and shirts. But it held long enough for her to pull herself up.
“He’s running across the rooftops! Head him off!”
An arrow zipped past her. Whipping her bow out of its sheath, she spun and released an answer before launchingherself off the far side of the mercantile. Someone yelped in pain, but she could hear the sound of guards surging down the street.
Despite her bravado, Helena knew her chances of escaping into the forest were slim. But she would lead the guards in a merry chase for as long as she could. Every minute they followed her was another minute her friends had to slip away.
She hoped they found Cap. He was probably worried about them.
Would he be worried about her?
The memory of their dance crowded her mind as she paused to send an arrow toward a guard pointing a bow at her. Cap clasping her in his well-formed arms. Wrapping her tighter, leaning down to kiss her…
Helena’s eyes jumped between the guards and the next building. It was too far to make the jump, especially with her head annoyingly full of a certain outlaw.
No, not annoyingly. She would gladly dream about him, waking or sleeping.
But now wasn’t an ideal time.
Jogging to the back of the building, she searched for the one behind it. It was a little closer, but not enough.
Her pursuers would have her surrounded soon. Before she could talk herself out of it, she set her hands on the edge of the roof, flipped around, and let herself drop to the ground. She’d reached single-story homes. It wasn’t that far.
The ground sent a jolt through her, even with bent knees to absorb the impact. She shook it off and darted into the row of houses behind her.
“Is he still on the roof?”
“I can’t see him. Did he jump?”
Maybe she would get away, after all.
Helena plastered herself against the front of the building, listening.
“Split up. Search the village!”
Pounding footsteps surrounded her as guards ran between the houses. One passed a few feet from her as he bounded into the street.
A breeze curled around the corner of the house and fluttered Helena’s hair. She blew it out of her face, then froze when her scalp prickled.
This wasn’t a normal breeze.
It whirled away down the road, scattering dust that she could barely see in the moonlight. After looping around the guard trotting away from her, it rushed back to the outpost.
Maybe escape had never been more than a dream.
Taking advantage of the guard’s back to her, she sprinted across the narrow street. Trees crowded the houses in this part of the village; perhaps she could lose herself in them yet. Assuming the magical wind didn’t locate her for her enemies. But how quickly could it relay her location? If she kept moving, could she stay ahead of it? Could the user even identify her if she was silent?
Too bad it was Katy who had researched magical theory. Helena had only studied old languages. A lot of good that did her now.
She ducked under a low-hanging branch and focused on the last house in the village. It was just ahead. Her breath was coming in louder gasps now, but she couldn’t slow to a more sustainable pace yet. Not with the—
A sudden gust of wind knocked her sideways. Throwing an arm up, she barely managed to keep her head from smacking into a nearby tree. Her forearm stung from the rough bark, even through her sleeve.
