Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

gate does us no good if you can’t walk through it.”
    She guided him down to the grass. Limping like an old man, Haern approached the closed and barred front gate. Kayla remained hidden in the tree. She was close enough to intercept any guards who might spot him, and she hoped to surprise the first few who tried to stop the boy.
    When Haern reached the gate, he knelt down on his good knee, cupped the lock in his hands, and examined it. After a moment he glanced back to the tree and held up two fingers.
    Two minutes
, she thought.
The gods are kind.
    She began counting in her head. At seventeen she heard a cry of alarm. By twenty-nine she’d seen several men run around the side of the estate, all wearing brightly polished chain mail and brandishing curved swords. They were five in all, and glumly Kayla checked the daggers at her belt. She had only three left. There would be no whittling them down before they reached her, and she knew veteran killers were underneath that armor.
    Not good
, she thought.
    “Up, down, sideways, and every way between…” she muttered. If Haern knew of their approach, he obeyed Kayla’s request and kept his back turned and his eyes focused. Twirling one of her few daggers in her fingers, the woman silently dropped to the grass. One good throw, and she could make it four to one. Her speed was good, so she might blind or wound another before they realized she was there. After that, she might distract them long enough for Haern to open the gates. Would he escape, limping on a busted knee with angry guards chasing after?
    “Should have just let you run,” Kayla whispered as she began her sprint. “Easy money is never easy.”
    The whole while, she had never stopped her counting.
    … thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine…
    She chose not to throw her extra dagger. An errant throw might alert them to her presence, and surprise was the only advantage she had. Her heart pounding in her ears, she angled toward them. If she was right, she’d slam into the pack only ten feet away from Haern.
    … forty, forty-one, forty-two…
    She cut one across the eyes as he turned toward the sound of her charge. Another screamed and fell back, blood pouring out from underneath his arm.
Better than expected
, Kayla thought as she tried to twirl away. A hand latched onto her short raven hair. Now it was her turn to scream as she felt her scalp tug painfully, her momentum far too great for her to stop. The guard swore and tossed a handful of hair to the ground.
    … fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven…
    The blinded man staggered back toward the mansion, screaming like a stuck pig the whole time. Two chased after her, slashing the air before her chest and waist with their curved swords. The other man she had stabbed collapsed to the ground, only an occasional moan escaping his pale lips. That left only one to make for Haern.
    Their lives depending on it, Kayla hurled a dagger between the two guards chasing her. End over end it twirled, and when it stuck true, Kayla let out an excited cry. The man rushing for Haern collapsed, a blade embedded in his neck.
    … sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four…
    Now able to focus solely on the two guards, she went purely defensive. Her daggers could never compete with the reach of their swords, but they had seen her throw, and that fear was strong enough for her to work with. As she twirled and dropped, she would randomly pump a hand as if to throw. Each time, one of the guards would back away and hunker down, trying to protect his exposed parts with the bulk of his armor. She never let one go, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before they stopped falling for such a simple trick.
    … seventy, seventy-one…
    More shouts came from the house. The first five had only been a quick roundup of the outside guard. They’d expected only a young boy picking a lock. Now that they saw their own dying, the doors were flung open, and a group of at least twenty approached in an impressive collection of swords, armor, and shields.
    Kayla laughed, her situation so dire she found it somehow amusing.
    “Fuck, seventy-seven, me, seventy-eight, up, seventy-nine, down, eighty…”
    Now her opponents stepped back, clearly knowing numbers and time were on their side. They also blocked her way to Haern. Fear clawed at her throat. Accompanying a thief guildmaster’s son into the grounds of Keenan’s estate? She might as well have spit in the Reaper’s face. They would be tortured,