by Matie Cole
Bethany had mentioned that to him, but now he was a little concerned that he could not recall what she said about it. It was only mentioned briefly which had him hoping that the way around would be obvious. He pushed his way to the front of the crowd and stood beside Ethan who mad eye contact with him for the first time in days. Ethan was questioning him, asking him which way to go next, which helped Mason hold his head up a little higher. If Ethan could push their problems to one side for this, then everything would work out. He grinned, glad to be feeling that extra boost of much needed confidence.
Voice surrounded them. English voices. They were coming from the left-hand side which gave the men a clue as to which way to move next. They were slowly getting to the place where a potential battle was needed and everyone could feel it. Any minute now, things could get ugly and none of them wanted that.
But it was for Jackson, and that was what kept all of them going. He was known for being as great as his father and people were keen for the days when he would lead them. He was important to everyone, not just Mason. But Mason’s fatherly love, the knowledge that his only child needed him, it drove him on.
A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, alerting the men to the dungeons. Ethan took the moment to charge ahead with Alex not far behind him, and the battle sounds began. Mason and everyone else raced outwards to find the Scottish men taking down the guards for the dungeon with ease.
This is going well, Mason immediately thought to himself, unsure if he should be pleased or worried. At least it meant that the English definitely were not expecting them because this could not have been their best men on duty. If my men can takedown the guards, then I can search for Jackson.
Alex tossed him a set of keys as he searched for the door which contained his son. It was challenging for him not to yell for his son, but he did not want to make things worse by alerting other guards to what was going on. So far, they had acted in stealth mode and it was all going smoothly.
“Oh my God, Jackson.” His son looked hurt, beat up, but still very much alive which was all that Mason needed to see. Everything could be fixed with ease as soon as he got his son out of here. “I am here.” His hands trembled with excitement and happiness, almost making it a challenge for him to get Jackson out. The keys made too much noise in his hands, but the emotions were really getting to him.” Are you well, son? How are you feeling? I am so sorry that you have been stuck here. He was supposed to trade...”
“George Windsor would never trade,” Jackson shot back wryly, with the wisdom that lay far beyond his years. “He is not a reasonable man. He is ruthless and terrible. We can not let him come for us or our lands. We must keep him and his armies as far away as we can.”
Mason unlocked the cell and Jackson raced to him, throwing his arms around his father in sheer relief. He had to admit that there had been times when hopelessness had come for him and he was not sure that he could ever escape, but of course his father was always going to come to save him. He should not have ever doubted him even for a second. It was a relief though, to know that his home was coming.
“We need to get you out of here.” Mason could feel himself starting to get choked up and this was definitely not the time or place to lose himself to the emotions that threated to consume him. “We need to get as far away from here as possible. We have been lucky so far, but that might not last.”
“How did you even find me?” Jackson gasped in shock. “How did you know how to get to me?”
“That is a story for another time.” It was too long and involved. Plus, with what Jackson had just been through at the hands of the English, he might not wish to hear that your English bride to be had saved him. It could send him insane. “Let us go. We need to head this way. Are you ready to run?”
Alex was the first man that Mason alerted and he guided Jackson to the tunnel while Mason gathered up everyone else. It seemed like they were about to escape and this whole mess could come to an end, but all of a sudden, Mason realized that Ethan was not with them. Something bad had happened...
“I could not stop him,” Alex admitted sadly. “He said something about refusing to be so close to George without killing him. I should have been faster and I might have been able to prevent it...”
“Nothing would have stopped him,” Mason accepted. “The mood that he was in...” He paused thoughtfully for a moment. “I can not just leave him. Please, get Jackson and everyone else out of here. I will do what I can to ensure that Ethan returns with us. That he does not do anything stupid.”
Alex did not like the idea, but he also knew that Mason would not simply leave a man behind, particularly one who had always been so loyal to him. It was just such a shame that hatred had blinded Ethan so much. He did what Mason wanted of him though and got everyone else moving in the right direction.
Once his son and his men were out of sight and on the way to safety, Mason drew his sword and ascended quietly up the thick stone steps in the same way that Ethan had run off on his mission. Mason wished that he had been pre-warned of Ethan’s intentions before they came in to the castle, that he was aware of his need to kill George Windsor, but then he probably would have left him behind and then he would have made his way in alone anyway. All he could do now was stop his friend from being killed.
“You are George?” He could not believe it as he heard Ethan’s voice. “You are the king and you are here alone. Where are your men? Where is your protection? You are asking to be killed.”
A string of expletives flew out of George’s mouth, making Ethan laugh nastily. Mason knew that this was terrible news, and that jumping head first in to the situation would only make things worse, so he paused for just a second to see which way this was going to turn out. He hoped that Ethan would just leave this alone because as much as life would be easier with George dead, it could not end well here...
“You have not come here to kill me.” All of a sudden, George spoke louder so Mason could hear him. “Or you would have done it already. No, you have come here for something else, but what, I wonder?”
“You do not know what you are speaking of, old man,” Ethan growled. “I despise you...”
“Yet you are here, having a conversation with me, because you know that I will be a winner.”
“I know nothing of the sort. Nothing can defeat the Scottish. We are too powerful for you.”
“You look like a good fighter,” George continued as if he had not heard Ethan at all. “I could use a man like you on my side. Why not come and fight for my army? You do not need to end up dead.”
“Your arrogance is astounding. But it will not win favor for me. I have no love for you or your people. I do not want to have anything to do with what you are proposing to me. Not a chance.”
“You could be the laird of the MacGregors.” Mason got a tight knot in his chest as he heard this offer for Ethan. Things had not been great between them which could end up affecting his decision. “For me. Once I have won over Mason, we could work together. You are not here because you have been sent, you have your own mission which means that you are an innovative thinker. I would like that from you...”
There was a silence, one that lasted a beat too long which made Mason very anxious. He did not want his friend to be swayed with lies but if he stepped out now then it would upset Ethan and there was no telling which way things would go then. Ethan’s moods were always irrational and this was the worst out bursts of them that Mason had ever seen. Ethan had never thrown himself in the firing line like this before.
“I will be a hero in my clan, the man who killed you, and your daughter as well.” Mason cringed at Ethan’s stupidity. “Do you even know that she is here? That she led us here and helped us? Some kingdom you are running here. You do not even have the support of your own people.”
Bringing Bethany in to it was a bad plan. Mason hated it and George would as well. Even if he did not love and respect his daughter as a father should, he would not like her working for the other side
.
“You did something to her,” George growled as if he had not been a bad father for his entire life. “She would not put her own people at risk for you scum. She knows all about you.”
“Would scum does this?” Mason risked peeking his head around the corner just at the moment Ethan lurched forwards with his sword and blood seemed to splurt from all sides. But before Mason could even begin to make a move, other men who must have also been in hiding, English men, charged at Ethan until Mason could not see. This had somehow all turned in to a trap and his friend was caught in the middle of it.
This was Mason’s right hand man, he could not simply stand back and watch him die, but he also could not throw himself in to the middle of a battle that he did not start and did not even want, to end up dead himself. He would be no good to Jackson or the kingdom if he was dead.
No, Mason needed to act smarter than that and quickly too, or no one would get out of here alive.
Chapter 16
P eople piled out of the tunnel, lots of them, including a young boy who Bethany could only assume was Jackson, which allowed her to feel relieved at long last. It had been a tense moment waiting for everyone to return, but there was really only one face that she wanted to see; Mason, and he was not here.
“Where is Mason?” she asked, but no ont seemed to have an answer for her. “Mason, where is he?”
“We need to get somewhere safe,” Alex insisted quickly, letting her know that whatever was going on, it had not come to an end yet. “We need to get these people protected. Then, we can go back...”
She felt sick to her stomach, everything inside of Bethany churned and twisted like crazy. She could hardly think straight but clearly these people needed her right now, it was time for her to do her bit, so she indicated for Alex and everyone else to follow her which they did. They went with her in to the woodlands where her hut was still standing. She had spent a moment checking on it while everyone was inside the castle, so she knew that this would be alright for everyone, but soon she was going to need answers.
There was a reason that Mason had not come out of the castle and that scared the life out of her. Her mind kept jumping all over the place, picturing the worst case scenarios. She hated that, thinking of the man that she loved in any kind of terror was almost too much for her. She could not stand it.
“Alex, what happened?” she asked once more the closer that they got. “Where is Mason?”
“Mason went back in,” Alex confirmed. “After Ethan. Ethan got angry, he let his anger get the better of him. Mason would not leave him, he has gone to save him and to try and save your father as well.”
“Father?” Jackson jumped in. “I am definitely missing something here. What is happening?”
“I will explain it to you all when you are safe,” Alex informed him. “Let us just hide away first.”
Bethany was relieved to see the hut and that everyone could be there safely. She knew that was what Mason wanted from her, especially for his son after everything that he had been through, but it also meant that she was getting closer to the time that she could run back to find Mason. Even if it meant going back in to the castle, even if it meant facing off with her father once more which was a place that she never wanted to be again. Mason was worth anything. She already knew that she would do anything for him...
“Is this the place?” Alex sounded a little doubtful as he spotted the hut, but Bethany was not worried. He would soon see that this was the place that would look after them and keep them away from prying eyes.
“Yes, no one knows that this place is here, so it will be a good place for us to wait until we can all be together again.” She opened up the hut and got everyone to follow her inside. They expressed surprise that there was so much space for them to all settle down in, but she was impatient, she needed to go. “Alex, you do not need anything else from me, do you?” she asked rapidly, unable to keep the anxiety from her voice. “Because I need to get back to the meeting spot to wait for the others.”
Alex grabbed on to her arm to keep her in place. “Are you going to the meeting spot or in the castle?”
“I... I do not know,” she admitted honestly. “I just can not cope without Mason here.”
She could feel the prickle of Jackson’s eyes up on her, and she knew that the poor boy needed an explanation. He would get one, her and Mason would eventually have to let him know what had happened in his absence, but this was not the time. Not when Mason was out there all alone.
“I will come with you,” Alex insisted. “I can not leave you alone. Mason would not let me.”
Bethany did not like that. She was not prepared for someone to come with her, especially someone who might stop her from acting in the way that she so desperately wanted to act, but she could already tell that Alex would not take no for an answer. Perhaps in a way, it would be better for her to have a person by her side who could help her if everything went wrong. Chances were, it would go wrong.
“Then we must move quickly,” she insisted. “We need to see what is going on with Ethan and Mason.”
The idea of Ethan’s anger, his hatred towards her father, getting Mason killed terrified her. It was the worst thing that she could imagine, knowing that he completed the mission but got killed because of his friend’s stupidity. That would break her. She could not lose Mason, she needed him, more than anything.
With Alex by her side, Bethany raced off quickly, faster than before, she was actually a little surprised that Alex could keep up with her, but he did. They returned back to the meeting spot rapidly just to find themselves very much alone. Mason and Ethan had not yet come out of the castle. There was nowhere else that they could have gone, they did not know the area well enough to escape to anywhere else. They would not have endangered themselves in such a way, not needlessly. They were still inside.
“We need to keep on going,” Bethany insisted. “I have to go inside. I can not leave him like that. I can not leave him inside there. I do not know what my father will do to him. You have to understand, Alex...”
“We will go.” Alex did not argue, which surprised Bethany. “I will come with you. I agree.”
Bethany and Alex looked at one another for a second, knowing that they were throwing themselves in to the firing line for other people, a bit like Mason had done for Ethan, but that did not stop them. It kept them going, it kept them moving towards the tunnels where they hoped to find the missing men.
“This is the way in,” Bethany whispered, forgetting that Alex had only just come back from that direction. “We need to keep quiet, we need to be vigilant in case any of the soldiers, we need to... to be careful...”
Together they climbed in to tunnels together and they crept through the darkness in unison. Bethany’s heart pounded in her ears, making it challenging for her to listen out for anyone coming the opposite direction. She strained her ears, she desperately wanted to be pre-warned if anything was going to happen, but to be honest it was more of a challenge to even breathe properly at the moment. Her lungs were ragged and raw, her throat aching with agony, her body weighted down by what was to come.
“Bethany, stop,” Alex hissed as he gripped on to her once more. “I hear someone. I can hear...”
Bethany’s body went ice cold as she heard it too. She was sure that no one else knew of these tunnels, she had stumble across them years ago by accident, but perhaps they had been found since, maybe Ethan had accidently led them to it... or even on purpose, because of his hatred for her.
“Who... who is it?” she stammered back, clutching to Alex as the sheer terror grabbed on to her. Her life flashed before her eyes. She could sense it coming to an end, and it was just too damn much. She did not want it all to end right now, not here, not like this when she had just found a scrap of happiness.
“B... Bethany,” a rasping, distinctly Scottish voice called back. “Bethany is that you?”
“Mason.” She dropped Alex and started to run once more. She could hea
r the pain in Mason’s voice, it was a physical pain which she feared might mean all of her nightmares had come true. “Oh, Mason.”
She threw her arms around Mason but he winced with agony so she snatched away. He really was hurt which made hot tears spring in her eyes. She needed to save him. She did not know how, but she did. She started patted around his body in the dark trying to find his wound to make it better.
“We need to get out of here,” Mason continued, speaking rapidly and fearfully. “Now. I am not sure if people are chasing after us. I do not know if we managed to get away quickly enough...”
“We?” Alex asked from behind her. “Ethan go out as well? Where is he?”
The silence that followed was a scary one. Bethany was too tied up in knots to realize what it really meant. She just knew that it could not be good. It had to be bad news for Ethan.
“Help me, Alex,” Mason asked instead of giving a straight forward answer. “Help me get him out of here. I am struggling to do it alone. I am hurt too but I came here to get him out and that’s what I need to do.”
Bethany assisted as well, as much as she could anyway. Ethan was heavy, hard to pull along because he was dead weight, literally it seemed, and they three of them moved as quickly as they could. It seemed that Mason was wrong about them being followed though because no one caught up with them, no one was trailing them, despite all the badness that had surrounded them, it seemed like they were getting some luck now. They could get to the outside safely and somehow found themselves alone.
“What has happened?” Bethany whispered. “Why has my father not sent out men?”
“Your... your father is hurt,” Mason admitted, finding it hard to meet her eyes with this information. “I do not know how hurt, I was not close enough to tell, but as soon as Ethan harmed George, he was attacked.”
Bethany came over to check on Ethan; on the man who hated her and who hurt her father, but the state of him made her feel sick. He had clearly been very punished for what he had done to her father because now he was no longer breathing. He would never breathe again, her father’s men had made sure of that.