Cassandra's heartbeat pounded thunderously in her ears as she hung, cramped, inside the bird-like cage with Rainne. The iron bars pressed painfully against their bodies, pinning them to its sides, as they dangled over a pit of spikes. 

"You had to pet the horse," Cassandra hissed under her breath, eyes scanning the shadowy figures of their captors below. They sat around a fire, laughing, oblivious to the two assassins suspended high above them.

"How was I supposed to know?" Rainne hissed back. Her voice was strained, more from the tight quarters than the situation. "It was just... standing there. Looking all peaceful and pretty and lonely..."

"Nothing's peaceful around here," Cassandra muttered. The mercenary, their captor, marched towards the pit, his heavy boots crunching and tossing the loose gravel. "We need to move before he comes back for his patrol."

Rainne's eyes flicked from the man to the cage's ceiling, which was tied by a thick rope to a rusted pulley. "You think you can reach the rope?"

"I'm thinking I'm going to have to," Cassandra replied. She carefully shifted her weight, testing the strength of the bars. The cage swayed back and forth like a pendulum, drawing a few glances from the crew below. Cassandra froze, holding her breath.

Rainne winced, her hand gently tapping Cassandra's shoulder. "Maybe if you... distract them, I can cut the rope with the throwing knife in my boot."

Cassandra nodded. "Alright. On my signal."

She waited, then suddenly grabbed one of the bars and shook the cage violently. The men below looked up, startled. 

"Hey!" Cassandra called down, her voice dripping with false cheer. "How long are you going to keep us hanging around here? If you're trying to hang out with us you have to be up here as well."

The men laughed, and the main mercenary stepped forward, sneering. "Just wait until I decide what to do with you. Maybe drop you into the spikes. Or maybe I take yall out of there and slowly strip the skin from your bones."

Rainne had used the moment of distraction to retrieve her dagger, the slim blade glinting in the firelight. Her hands moved swiftly, slicing through the rope bit by bit.

"Come on, that can't be your worst. Tell me your tricks, if that's your best then I'm quite ashamed I have to die by your hand. Really quite embarrassing. Come on tell me, I've done quite a bit worse. Would you like to be an example?" Cassandra taunted.

The mercenary stepped closer to the pit. "Keep your mouth shut before I sew it closed myself."

"Come and do it then," Cassandra said with a wicked grin.

Rainne's movements grew more frantic as the rope began to fray. She shot Cassandra a quick glance.

Then—SNAP.

The rope broke. Everything moved in slow motion as their stomachs dropped and the cage swung. Instead of plunging into the pit, it carried them outward, forced by the momentum of its release. They slammed into a nearby wooden beam with a thud that left a ringing in their ears.

Rainne kicked open the latch of the now-loose door. "Go!"

Cassandra slipped out first, gripping the rigid beam and pulling herself up. Rainne followed, both of them balancing shakely on the thin wood. Below, the men were shouting back and forth in confusion, but in the darkness, the assassins turned to ghosts.

"You're still banned from petting horses," Cassandra whispered.

"Fair," Rainne smirked. "But I still saved us, didn't I?"

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Cassandra sighed. 

They saw an opening from the cave looming overhead about one story up from the rock shelf they stood on, "You think we could climb up there? There looks to be enough foot holes," Rainne says while accessing the rock wall.

Cassandra felt the rock wall then tried to hoist herself on to the wall. "It holds, let's go." 

Rainne pulls herself on to the wall and Cassandra and Rainne both start their way to their escape. Each of their hands finding small holds in the uneven stone. Their boots barely pressing into narrow footholds, their muscles tightened as they ascended. The wall isn't too high, but the real challenge lies in the lipped overhang above. As they near it, they both pause, "What do you think the best way to get over the lip is?" Rainne says while looking a bit skeptical. 

"Not really sure, I'm just going to go for it," Cassandra says as one hand stretches out, fingers brushing the rough ledge of the overhang. With a deep breath, she hoists herself upward, just barely scrambling over the edge. "Come on Rainne, I got you just keep climbing up."

"Cass help me I can't reach." Rainne says in a worried voice. When Cassandra looks over the edge she sees their captors below them. She grabs Rainne's arm and hoists her up hastily. She glances over the short drop to the rocky ledge below when a bolt from a crossbow shoots past her head barely missing Rainne. 

"Go, go, go," Cassandra shouts. They run out of the cave entrance and find themselves standing on a rough overhang. Below lies the sprawling and shadowed forest. They jumped away from the outcropping and started on their way into the shadowy forest.