Cinderella and the Colonel (6 page)

All she
had to do was leave.

The
assailants spread out in a formation, giving her the opportunity to turn her back.

But
she couldn’t.

Cinderella scrunched her nose up. “Blast
,” she said before grabbing the Colonel’s hand. “Come on.”

“What?” the Colonel said
, sounding amused as Cinderella dragged him into the ruins.

“Don’t slouch along
,
run
,” Cinderella hissed, jumping a fallen support beam. She pulled him behind a crumbling wall. “Stay down,” she ordered before she peeked around the wall, looking for the men.

“What
has gotten into you?”

“Those weren’t Erlauf soldiers
,” Cinderella said.

“What are you talk
ing about? Of course they were.”

“Then why
did they carry Trieux weapons?” Cinderella asked, glancing at the crouching colonel.

“What?” he said.

“They were obviously hired to kill you,” Cinderella whispered, spotting a soldier who was headed into the stone maze of the ruins.

“Impossible
,” the Colonel scoffed.

Cinderella ducked
, avoiding an arrow that clipped the wall.

“Impossible
, you say,” Cinderella said, her voice dead.

“What about you? You aren’t a no-name. They could be after you
,” the Colonel argued as Cinderella abandoned her flag and indicated he should follow her.

“Why would they kill
me with
Trieux-
fletched arrows?” Cinderella asked, jumping a toppled wall before she darted into what once was an office. It was one of the few room in the building in which all four walls were still intact.

The Colonel said noth
ing, but stepped in front of Cinderella, as if to take the lead. “No you don’t,” Cinderella said, sliding in front of him. “You have no idea where we are. I’m leading.”

“The situation
has changed, Lady Lacreux. This is no historic tour,” the Colonel said. Somewhere along their flight, he had unsheathed his sword. He held it so naturally at his side Cinderella hadn’t noticed it until he brought it near to her body.

“Don’t you think I know
that? But you cannot fight five men. We have no choice; we must retreat. You don’t know where we are, and I do; therefore, I lead,” Cinderella said, starting through an open doorway.

“You’re a civilian. You aren’t trained in evasion techniques.”

Cinderella snorted. “I’m certainly a great deal more trained at evading in Werra than
you
are,” Cinderella said, heading for a winding staircase posted in the corner of the room. It led to the second floor, which was visible through great, gaping holes in the ceiling.

“Are you
kidding
? This cannot be stable enough to hold us,” the Colonel said.

“Would you stop fuss
ing and just follow me? You’re wasting time,” Cinderella said, halfway up the staircase.

“This is insane.”

“Walk only where I walk,” Cinderella instructed when the Colonel joined her on the second floor.

Cinderella edged down the hallway
, navigating her way through yawning chasms and weak floors. Although the air was cool, sweat beaded on her forehead. She tensed when a floorboard creaked when the Colonel stepped on it, but it held him.

When Cinderella heard footfalls on the stairs
, she led the Colonel into a side room. Most of the floor was gone. Cinderella thought the Colonel would hiss something at her, but he was quiet and faced the hallway, crouched in a defensive position.

Cinderella grabbed a ladder
that leaned against the closest wall. With the ease brought by practice, she lowered the ladder across the hole. She fixed it between two support beams, creating a precarious bridge.

“Come on
,” Cinderella said crawling across the hole.

“Will it hold me?” the Colonel asked.

“I should think so. A quite obese soldier used it once and it didn’t budge then. Come,” Cinderella bid.

Rather than shuffle across on his knees
, as Cinderella had done, the Colonel stooped and leaped from rung to rung, his sword outstretched.

The ladder buckled
, but the Colonel safely crossed. Cinderella hauled the ladder across the gap. A lavender fletched arrow struck the ladder from below.

The
assailants worked soundlessly. They did not call to one another, but Cinderella could hear the pattern in their footfalls.

Cinderella slid the ladder across the small bit of floor and threw a rock into the next room. She stepped up onto the crumbl
ing outer wall—which was only a foot or two above the floor—and motioned for the Colonel to join her. When he did, she took another brick and threw it into the room she slid the ladder into.

Cinderella heard the thud of an arrow embedd
ing into wood in the next room—her mislead had worked—before she picked her way along the crumbling perimeter wall.

Cinderella and the Colonel
shuffled along, traveling the length of the building. When they reached the far end—the same end at which they entered the ruins—Cinderella shimmied down a thick length of ivy.

When she reached the ground
, the Colonel slid halfway done the vine before letting go and dropping with the elegance of a cat.

It
was unfortunate, but besides the rubble, Alsace was stranded in an expanse of green lawn. Thankfully, once they cleared the park, soldiers were close.

“We go this way
,” Cinderella whispered, pointing in the direction of the Royal Trieux Library. “There are more patrols there. We will run into reinforcements faster. Ready?”

“Yes
,” the Colonel said before he and Cinderella started running.

Cinderella
was grateful for her knee-length skirts—sprinting in a full-length dress would have been torture—although she kicked up pebbles that stung her bare skin.

Cinderella didn’t hear the soldiers
, but the Colonel must have, for he wrenched Cinderella aside just in time to avoid getting hit by an arrow.

A soldier with a bow stood on the second floor of the ruins. He fitted another arrow to his bow as one of his companions chased after Cinderella and the Colonel
, Trieux sword extended.

The Colonel dragged Cinderella in a serpentine pattern
, snaking back and forth. It kept the archer from taking an easy shot, but it let the soldier with the sword catch up.

The archer shot at the Colonel just before they darted in between two buildings. He missed
, but they weren’t safe yet. There were still another two blocks to run before they could join the swirling masses of Werra.

Cinderella yelped when the pursi
ng soldier caught the hem of her skirts and yanked her backwards.

The Colonel could
have left Cinderella there. If he was smart, he would have. Instead, he lunged after her. He sliced through Cinderella’s skirts—shortening the back by several inches but freeing her—and kneed the soldier in the side.

He nailed the soldier in the sternum with the hilt of his sword
, driving the man back, before grabbing the soldier by the throat and smashing his head against a wall.

The man wore a helmet
—so it did not knock him out—but it jarred him enough that the Colonel was able to kick his feet out from under him and slam him to the ground.

“Keep runn
ing,” the Colonel said.

Guess
ing what he was about to do, Cinderella turned on her heels and fled.

The Colonel joined her a few moments later
, his sword red with blood.

Cinderella shivered
, her blood chilled, but she could hear the noises of activity and animals. She sucked in air before screaming, “
HELP
!”

The Colonel blew a metal whistle and hauled Cinderella along by her elbow. They ran an additional block before they
were surrounded by a sea of Erlauf soldiers wearing the dragon-plate-like armor and dressed in Erlauf burgundy.

“Five
men. One is down one street back, dead. Two archers, one dagger user, and another swordsman,” the Colonel said.

Two squad
s peeled off from the mass of soldiers, heading for the ruins of Alsace. The remaining soldiers moved into an organized, protective formation around Cinderella and the Colonel.

Cinderella stared at the Colonel’s bloodied sword.

“Cinderella.”

Cinderella snapped her head up so fast her neck cracked. “Yes?”

“Are you well? Were you hurt?” the Colonel said.

“I’m fine
,” Cinderella said, her voice sounding muffled and echo-y to her ears.

“It’s important
—the weapons were likely laced with poison. Did the swordsman even graze you?” the Colonel said.

Cinderella rocked
back and forth on her feet. “No. I stumbled in the ruins, but that’s all,” she said, her eyes falling back to the Colonel’s sword. “I don’t feel very well,” she said before her legs gave out underneath her.

Someth
ing roared in her ears. All Cinderella could think of was the Colonel’s red sword and the man he killed. She was vaguely aware that the soldiers around her stirred.

“—see she receives medical attention for you
, sir.”

“No
, I will take her there myself. It’s just shock, I think. No small wonder. I doubt she was ever chased by assassins before,” the Colonel said.

Cinderella felt arms around her before she
was picked off the ground. She would have protested, but her vision was blurry, and it felt like her heart might pop out of her chest.

“She didn’t run off and leave you?”

“No. I’m ashamed to admit it, but she was the one who noticed…”

“—brave little th
ing.”

“Yes.”

Cinderella’s head rolled back against her will, and she lost track of the conversation as her stomach heaved. “I’m going to be sick,” she said.

The Colonel and his soldiers didn’t react fast enough.

Half an hour later, Cinderella sat in a guardhouse with a steaming cup of tea in front of her. Two soldiers were posted at the door, stone-faced and holding wicked-looking scythes.

“
May I go home?” Cinderella meekly asked.

They ignored her.

Cinderella looked back at her tea, inhaling the soothing, herbal scent.

The Colone
l entered the room, his hair damp—probably from bathing—and wearing a fresh uniform.

Cinderella guilty looked away. “
I apologize,” she said.

“It
was understandable. Normally, I would have let you lie down where you were, but I did not want to leave you so close to danger,” the Colonel said.

Cinderella grimaced
, upset with herself and with the Colonel. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t stand the slaughter. But there was something shameful about throwing up on the man who was carrying her to safety.

“
The nurse reported you were fine,” the Colonel said.

Cinderella leaned into the steam of her cup. “
Yes. May I please go home now?”

“Not yet
,” the Colonel said, taking a seat across from Cinderella. He clasped his hands together and stared at her with an alarming amount of intensity. “Why?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Why did you tell me? You could have made an excuse and left. They would not have followed you. Why did you run with me?” the Colonel said.

Cinderella pressed her lips together and said noth
ing.

The silence stretched between them
, twisting around Cinderella like a snake.