While Maela was looking for an escape, Darla had been tidying the cabin and organizing things. Maela was conflicted. Their roles had somehow reversed over the past few days. Darla had embraced the quiet beauty of the Woodlands, while Maela was impatient to get away.

On the one hand, she wanted to shake Darla and tell her to focus on the important thing—escape. But on the other hand, she understood the appeal of quiet domesticity, especially after they both had a life of hard violence, Darla as a Mine Guard and Maela as a Thief Captain.

They deserved a break.

And to Darla’s credit, she was an appropriate combination of concerned and challenged by what Maela had described.

“Did you try every direction?”

Maela shook her head. “No. Not every direction. I left out the back, the front, and then another direction near the front. No matter which direction I left, however, I was returned to the edge of the clearing across from the front door.”

They were sitting at their kitchen table, eating dried strawberries. “It will probably be the same no matter what direction you go,” Darla replied, waving her hand while she had a strawberry between her thumb and forefinger.

“I have an idea,” Maela said, grabbing her own handful of strawberries. “What if the only exit is the road? That was how the wizards left, and that was the direction where the guard said we would face death. If every other path leads back to the cabin, that must be the way out.”

Darla nodded. “Yes. That makes sense.”

“So here is what I was thinking. I’ll grab the knife and head down the road, seeing what kind of guard we will be facing. We could then create a plan based on what I find.”

“But what if it’s an archer that just shoots you when you pass a certain point?”

“I’ll be careful.”

Darla dropped her hands to the table and stared at Maela. “No,” she finally replied.

“What do you mean no?” Maela felt anger rising inside her. Darla was her partner, her friend, and perhaps even more, but she was not her mother or guildmaster.

“It is too dangerous, and there is no need.”

“What do you mean there is no need? We are prisoners. We need to find a way to escape.”

With a look that seemed almost a pout, Darla replied, “Is this really a prison? We have food and shelter. It is beautiful.” She paused, and then added, “We have each other.”

Maela once again felt frustrated. What happened to the woman who proudly described drinking rat’s blood? She tried to understand Darla’s point-of-view. She had lived her whole life in the mines. She was a female guard, which was itself a prison sentence of a sort. Was it surprising that the open air of the forest and the lack of rigid discipline would seem to her more like freedom?

Maela reached her hand across the table, and Darla grabbed for it with what appeared to be excitement, or perhaps desperation. “Okay. We don’t need to make any decisions right now.” Darla squeezed her hand.

Things progressed over the next few days, and Maela found herself enjoying her and Darla’s time together. It was all new to her. She had spent her life pretending to be people of other guilds to gather information, skulking about to eavesdrop on guild leaders, fleeing through sewers, and saving her guild mates from prison or worse.

The entire idea of relaxing in a single location was so new to her that just sitting in front of the fireplace and watching the flames move in chaotic directions was enthralling. Using a knife to cut vegetables was a delight. Knowing that there was no one to save, no one to help, and no one who would command her to do some mission was more welcome than she cared to admit.

Her biggest concern ended up becoming her favorite thing—having no one to share her time and presence with but Darla. Maela feared it would be oppressive. She feared she would get bored. She had no real friends in Ness. She was constantly on the move, and her friends were simply people who accompanied her for one mission or another. And now she was tethered to a cabin and one person.

But all her fears were baseless. She loved every moment with Darla. They were both from very different backgrounds, but they were both no strangers to loneliness and harsh conditions. The thing was that their escape from their shared loneliness accentuated their interest in each other’s differences.

Darla talked about the mine. Growing up in darkness seemed normal, and her points-of-reference—caverns, stone, light, and minerals—were all delightful as she taught them to Maela. Doing the same, Maela discussed Ness, days of moon and sun, the River, the Wall, and so many other things that didn’t even exist for Darla in the mines.

After the fourth day, their discussion turned more personal, and the closeness they shared as they stumbled through the mountain, desperately relying on each other to survive, turned out to be real.

Maela had always considered that she favored men, but as she delighted in Darla dancing around in the filtered sunlight in nothing but a thin tunic, she realized that it was the opposite that was the case: She didn’t prefer men; Men preferred her. She didn’t think much of men that way at all, and their attention created her default expectation.

She thought she liked men, but that she just wasn’t a romantic. Yet here she was bringing a flower from deep in the forest to Darla, for no other reason that seeing the smile that it would generate.

“Thank you!” Darla threw her arms around Maela and kissed her on the cheek. Darla appeared nervous to do more, and Maela knew it was due to her own coldness and uncertainty.

“It reminded me of you. Delicate and beautiful, and yet thriving with a resilience and strength in the lonely dark of the forest.” Maela lowered her face but looked back up when Darla didn’t say anything.

As their eyes met, the reality of their freedom from male attention and mockery, stifling guild rules, and the oppressiveness of duty was never more obvious. Darla put her arms around Maela again, and this time she kissed more than Maela’s cheek.

They shoved their beds together in the back room, and Maela pushed aside thoughts of escape. She had more important things to focus on.

A week later, she and Darla lay on the grass in front of the cabin. The top of Darla’s head was tucked against Maela’s neck and shoulder. It was in the middle of their clearing, and was the best spot to view the stars. Darla loved watching the stars, as she had lived her whole life without them.

“I love that the most.” Darla pointed to a cluster of stars that didn’t have any discernible shape to Maela. “It reminds me of two swords clashing.”

“Tell me again of your final test.” Maela could tell Darla was smiling, even if she couldn’t see it.

“What’s there to tell? I defeated the Captain of the guard.”

“The first to do that in years.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

Maela knew Darla didn’t mean that, even if she didn’t admit it. “Yet you see swords in the stars.”

There was a shrug and then Darla said, “I wish I could see more. This clearing is nice, but I wonder what is beyond the trees.”

“There is a book in the Thieves library about the stars. They were used to navigate with years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Perhaps they even used the stars to travel on this side of the mountain.”

Laughing, Darla replied, “That’s not what I was referring to. I was asking about the library in the Thieves Tower. I’ve never seen a book before, but I’ve heard of them.”

“There’s so much you haven’t seen.”

Darla didn’t reply and things were quiet. Maela broke the silence, which wasn’t quite awkward but was getting there. “I keep looking for my favorite group of stars. There are three of them in a row, and they are bright. I used to see them all the time when I was on night missions, and they were the one constant no matter where I was.”

“I haven’t seen them.”

“I think they are lost behind the trees.”

“I wish I could have seen them. They brought you happiness in hard times.”

And with that comment, Maela realized where their future lay—together but wandering the world. In Ness, they would not lose their freedom of being together. They would gain the freedom of being together in Ness. There was still much for them to experience. Together.

The next day Maela grabbed the hunting knife and wore a light outfit that would allow her to walk quietly. As Darla worked on creating a garden, Maela started down the lane.

She knew without any doubt that this was the only escape, the magic of the clearing making any other direction a lost cause. With that in mind, there would undoubtedly be the guard that she had expected within the forest. There was the possibility that the lane itself would be guarded by some magical trap, so Maela did her best to be as observant as possible.

The goal of this first trip was to silently approach the guard or guards and assess their strengths and weaknesses. She would stage an attack, perhaps with Darla’s help, in the future. Maela stayed in the tree line just beyond the road. She went very slow, darting with absolute silence from tree to tree.

Every few trees she would spend time scanning the forest. Maela knew that it was likely the guard would stay in the road, but she couldn’t assume that there wouldn’t be some kind of defense or guardian hidden among the trees.

She had been traveling for thirty minutes, and even as slowly and quietly as she had been moving, she had put a good distance behind her. The trail was featureless, a wide path of grass and dirt that wound through the trees.

After examining what lie between her and the next tree, Maela assessed the steps she would take. There was a single bush, but she could avoid it and get to the tree without making any noise. She had taken a single step when a mighty blow struck her shoulder, throwing her body completely out of the forest and into the lane.

Her instincts took over, and she scrambled to her feet. Her right shoulder had dislocated but popped back into place as she landed. What was good, if painful, luck wasn’t good enough, as she was right-handed. Grabbing the hunting knife with her left hand, Maela’s eyes darted around, but there was nothing.

A noise from where she had been hiding, barely a rustle, caught her attention. Looking closer, it was the smallest thing that saved her life. A small patch of grass depressed into the ground. Another patch pressed down barely five feet from her.

Leaping to what she felt was just to the right of what was walking through the grass, Maela swung her knife in a wide circle. She felt resistance and then a glancing blow knocked her to the ground.

Despite the blow just barely hitting her, it was powerful and threw her several feet. It had at least bruised some ribs, if not broken them. Whatever the guardian was, it moved slowly. With a rapidly weakening and hurt body, Maela grabbed the knife that had fallen from her hand, scrambled to her feet, and sprinted down the lane back to the cabin.

Stumbling in the front door, she practically fell at Darla’s feet, out of breath and her ribs and shoulder screaming in pain.

“By the gods, Maela, what happened!?” Darla grabbed Maela to lead her to a chair, but her grip was on Maela’s hurt shoulder, and she cried out. Letting go, Darla looked on Maela with a look of concern and uncertainty.

“It’s okay,” Maela held up a hand as she grabbed Darla’s arm for support.

“What happened?” Darla repeated.

Maela smiled. “Well, I have two pieces of good news and one of bad. The good news is that I’ve found the way out. The bad news is that it is guarded by a massive invisible guardian.”

“Why would you do such a foolish thing without me?” Darla’s voice was half anger, half desperate concern. Maela couldn’t do more than attempt a shrug. Darla shook her head. “I should beat some sense into you.”

“As if you could.”

Darla frowned. “This is not amusing, Maela.”

“You forgot to ask me what the other good news is.”

“You are insufferable. Fine. You can tell me while I walk you to the bed for some rest.”

“It bleeds.” Maela held up her hunting knife, the blade of which was tacky with coagulating red blood.