Rosa took a long look at the men behind us and nodded. She whipped her head back forward. "We'll climb a tree."

Idel made a strangled sound at the back of her throat, though Rosa didn't seem to have heard it through her dying gasps.

"You crazy?" I wheezed out. I didn't even have the energy to act surprised anymore. Since we were running behind the stalls, the stands and the walls of the houses lined up behind them were making our ways narrower. The men were thankfully being slowed down by the bulky man in the front who sometimes had to slow down to squeeze through the spaces.

Still, we wouldn't have time to hoist ourselves up a tree and call it a day!

"There's a tree up ahead of us," insisted Rosa. She was breathing hard. "We'll climb there."

"What?!" I screeched. I risked a backwards glance, just in time to see one of the men stumble over a crate, making the men behind him slow down as well. They cursed at him, and I looked forward again, this time at Rosa.  "What?!"

"Gwack!" Idel said as she tripped forward behind me. I twisted around to help stabilize her, though I almost tripped myself. 

"Rosa!" I yelled.

"Trust me!" she yelled back, and we helplessly moved forward. I definitely did not trust her, but my brain was dying and so was I. We didn't have a choice, did we?

"There!" Rosa pointed, and I looked ahead of us. "That's the tree!"

My eyes widened and my heart sank down to my knees. "That tree?"

Now, a short note here. I have climbed plenty of trees with Rosa when I was little. We both know what makes a tree climbable: sturdy branches that hang low on a thick trunk. No ants, no stick tree sap waiting for our hands, and definitely no termites. A bit of rough bark hurt the hands but made for easier climbing-- no bark, or slippery ones, made it hard to grab.

But this tree that Rosa was pointing at, the one we were nearing in a matter of seconds-- giant, yes. Thick trunk, yes, sturdy branches, yes. Low-hanging? Rough surface? Definitely not. 

This could be a palm tree and I wouldn't even be surprised.

"Rosa!" I yelped, even as we neared it. I craned my neck just to look at the lowest branch. Waay too high for any of us to reach.

"It's okay!" the determined girl said. "Idel can go first. We'll prop her up!"

"This is madness!"

Idel sob-wheezed behind me. 

"When we get to the trunk, step on my hands and jump, okay Idel? And you, you push her up too from the back!"

"Noooo" was Idel's rasp answer. 

"Madness!!" was mine.

"Now, go!" was Rosa's response to both of us.

A tear ran down my cheek (or was it sweat? It was probably sweat). Dear mom, I thought morosely, still gasping. I'm sorry I lied to you this morning and said I made my bed. I actually didn't. And I'm sorry I didn't buy you that one bag you wanted and got myself a pair of boots instead. I love boots, you know. And I'm sorry for not becoming a better daughter, a better companion in this life of ours, a better--

Idel shrieked as she jumped off of Rosa's interconnected hands, which she'd put on a bent knee in half-kneeling position so that she could push her up. I cried out as I lifted her up with all my strength too.

--person in general. If you find out somehow I died like this because of Rosa, please don't hate her. She'll be dead too.

Idel just barely grabbed hold of the lowest branch, but it was too smooth that she immediately lost her grip and fell to the ground in a thump.

The shouts of the men were nearing.

"One more time!" Rosa shouted. Idel was practically sobbing, but she stood back up and ran towards Rosa waiting with her hands poised on her knee. "Hurry!"

This time, Idel jumped up high enough to grab the branch with both her hands. When she began to slip again, I hurried below her and grabbed both her feet with my two hands and struggled to keep her aloft.

Rosa joined me, and soon Idel had heaved herself up to her armpits at the branches, dangling.

"Push up, Idel!" Rosa called. "So that your feet aren't hanging!"

"Hey!" one of the men shouted, and my eyes met with Rosa's for a split second before we reached into our skirts to pull out our daggers. 

We turned around, breathing heavily, with one knife in each hand, our backs facing the tree.

"Get behind me, Rosa," I hissed to her. "They might be here for you." I'd known the moment Rosa had said Idel should go first that she had no intention of getting up there. We could fight-- we'd grown up on the streets, for goodness sake, with poverty as our friend-- but Idel, soft, gentle Idel, had grown up in a wealthy family and wouldn't be able to do a thing.

But that didn't mean they weren't here for Rosa, the new Chesterfield daughter.

"Oh, so the little girls know how to fight," laughed the large one. He pulled out his own dagger casually and spun it in his hand, grinning.

I held back a taunt, grimly focusing on our options instead. We had a tall, brick wall to our right, the tree behind us, the men in front of us, and the back of a blue tarp tent to our left. Hidden out of sight from the crowds. Enough space for maybe two people to stroll through, if they avoided the crates and random boxes that littered the narrowly formed corridor of sorts. I had a knife in one hand, and Rosa had two.

The only way they would be able to get Idel was if they pushed Rose and me out of the way or by throwing things at her. If they were here for Idel, she was safe for now-- they wouldn't try to kill her, so they wouldn't throw daggers at her since they wanted to take her. Or at least, I hoped so. We wouldn't be able to do anything about flying weapons. If they were here for Rosa, we had the chance of running, though I didn't want to leave Idel by herself. 

First things first. I took a deep breath. We had to figure out who they were after. 

"This all better be worth it," muttered one of the thinner men. He had a scar down his neck, and he scowled at the bulky man. "You sure boss'll give us something for the girl?"

"Keep yer trap shut if nothin' ya ain't gonna do ain't ought to is complain," another man said behind him, whom the first man shoved. "Oy!"

I sharply inhaled, and Rosa clenched her teeth, bringing up her daggers a little higher. "That didn't make sense," Rosa murmured, and I nodded in all seriousness, and it wasn't because I knew a thing or two about grammar.

A dialect that didn't make sense. That accent. A cold chill went up my spine.

What was a Grevinler doing in our town?

"Who're you fighting for?" Rosa called, nudging her chin towards the big guy. I kept an eye on the other three, in case they tried to pull anything on us.

"Up for a little conversation, eh?" he chuckled, flipping his knife to the other hand. "And what, pray tell, makes you think we'll blow?"

Without taking her eyes off of him, she tilted her chin towards the Grevinler. "What's he doing here?"

The other men glanced towards the foreigner, who scowled in return. "Oy, why ain't it oughta matter?"

"Yeah, what about him?" one of the guys echoed, jutting out his chin. My gaze dropped down to his face, and I narrowed my eyes. I hadn't even noticed him until now. So we had five opponents instead. This one seemed way too small to be in this kind of crowd-- almost like he wasn't--

The man with the scar cuffed him in the head. "Shut it, shrimp," he said, training his eyes on Rosa, who was still looking at the bulky guy. Then his gaze flickered upward to where Idel cowered, hugging the trunk of the tree with her feet around her, giving her a long, evaluating look. He didn't see me look at him.

Grim satisfaction, and a rush of relief, clicked inside of me. So they were after her.

"Delsi gettar," I muttered to Rosa, and after a pause, she nodded, gripping her daggers even harder.

"Ntdo rywor," she replied. "I veha a anpl."

Don't worry, I translated, I have a plan. I mentally scoffed. I was quite tired of her plans by now, thank you very much. But did I have a choice?

No. I didn't have a choice. So I wordlessly nodded anyway.

"C'mon," the 'shrimp' whined from the back. "Are we going to do anything?"

"The shrimp is right, for once in his life," the scarred guy nodded. "What are we waiting for, Dutt?"

Dutt, the burly one, grinned. "Shall we have some fun, then?"

They moved in altogether, slowly advancing, all grinning themselves silly. 

I backed away slowly, but Rosa stayed rooted in her spot. "Rosa," I hissed, not daring to take my eyes off the grinning men. "This is not the restaurant!"

"I know," she replied in a low voice. "It's fine."

I could hear a quiet moan from above us, where Idel was probably shaking in fear.

"Don't forget Idel," I reminded her.

"Trust me," she urged, and I risked a glance at her. Her hard, flashing, unblinking eyes reminded me of when we were seven, and a rabid dog had hounded me. She had said that then, too. Trust me. 

I pursed my lips. "Fine," I whispered.

She smiled, though her eyes remained grim. "When I say the word," she murmured, barely moving her lips, "you go to the left and cut open the tent. Wide enough to be seen."

"Mm."

I waited with bated breath, the air so tense around us that I could taste it on my tongue. Bitter, and the saltiness of sweat.

Dear mom, I thought wryly, if I'm dead and Rosa is not, feel free to get revenge.