Robert leaned over her shoulder to have a look for himself, but there was not enough room for both of them. He motioned for her to get behind him. They stepped back into the darker hollow of the tunnel and quietly struggled to change places.
Before she knew of Robert’s plan, he rammed his shoulder through the hard mud and landed with a thud on the dirt floor. In one fluid motion, he rolled from the ground and pounced on the guard. Robert easily wrestled the knife from the man and used it to silence the guard completely.
Morgan gasped. “Did you have to kill him?”
He shrugged. “‘Twas either him or me. Are you ready to give this mad game up and get away from here? ‘Tis not too late.”
Although the notion of getting away appealed to her more than ever, she shook her head. She couldn’t leave her friends. She grabbed a well-lit torch from an iron wall bracket and held the light over Robert as he rummaged through the dead man’s tunic. The corners of Robert’s lips curved upward as he held up a heavy brass ring from which hung a single key.
Together they went to the dungeon’s entrance where heard only a few coughs and muffled whispers.
Robert turned the key and pushed open thick timbered doors. With a loud creak of rusty hinges, the doors came open.
Derek’s men were being held captive within an iron cell. They waved their hands furiously and shouted a cacophony of words as she and Robert came through the doors.
Both she and Robert took a few seconds too long to figure out that the men were warning them to stay where they were. Robert plucked the knife from his sheath but it was too late. One of Otgar’s guards came up from behind and, with a powerful blow to the back of his head, knocked Robert to the ground.
Morgan stood momentarily frozen.
Countless faces were pushed up against the cell, arms reaching wildly through the iron bars as they all called out to her, everyone shouting at once. She stared back at them with wide, frantic eyes. Her gaze darted to the floor where they pointed. The key! Robert must have dropped it as he went down.
Her gaze darted from the torch in her hand to the man a few feet away. He, too, looked down at the key. With thoughts of living to see another day, she threw the torch at him before he could lunge for her or for the key. The man’s thick head of wiry hair went up in a fiery blaze. His screams of agony pierced her ears as he threw himself to the ground in a wild frenzy, rolling about, trying to smother the flames.
Morgan made a mad dash for the brass ring. Her hands trembled as she held onto the key and ran toward the cell. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow of yet another man as he came through the doors. Knowing she’d never make it in time, she threw the key toward the outstretched hands of Derek’s men and watched in horror as the brass ring fell to the beaten earth, just out of their reach.
She grabbed blindly for the slingshot hidden beneath her skirt when something solid hit her ankle. Without seeing what it was, she reached for the object and held it outward as the second man lunged for her. His eyes bulged and his lips curled in a deathly grimace as he fell, bringing them both hard to the ground. She fought for breath as she watched the man’s eyes roll to the back of his head. He was dead. And he was heavy. It took muscles she didn’t know she possessed to push the man off her.
Cheers and shouts filled the dungeon as she came to her feet. Dizzy and weak, she gazed down at the dead man before her. The wooden handle of a kitchen knife stuck out from his gut. She turned away, half expecting the man whose head she’d lit on fire to attack again. But he never came and she saw the reason why…one of Derek’s men had managed to reach the key and now three burly men-at-arms held Otgar’s man at bay.
Someone called her name and she turned back to the cell. “Emmon, thank God you’re alive!” Morgan ran to him and hugged his lanky body when he approached her, laughing with relief when he held up the brass key in triumph. Emmon followed her to Robert’s side. Robert’s chest fell in even breaths. He was alive.
“How did you get in here?” Emmon asked.
“Matti showed me a hidden passage the day we went swimming at the lake. The tunnels lead to the eastern side of Braddock and to the weaving room. You and the other men can enter the castle that way and take Otgar’s men by surprise.”
“Matti never talked of a passage before.”
“She told me there was no reason to tell anyone about the tunnel.”
Emmon gazed curiously at Robert. “Why would this man risk his life to save Braddock?”
“Because like everyone else around here,” Morgan said, “he thinks I’m Lady Amanda. And he’s in love with her.”
Robert’s moans broke through their exchange.
Emmon left her side and quickly organized the men into groups, telling them that they needed to act quickly.
Morgan squeezed Robert’s hand and smiled at him when he opened his eyes.
“You truly did it,” he said hoarsely.
“We did it, Robert. We did it together.”
He tried to smile, but grimaced instead.
“Robert, I have to leave you for now but I’ll be back, okay?”
“‘Twould make a difference if I told you nay?” he asked weakly.
She shook her head.
“Go then, before I find the strength to stop you as I should have done from the start.”
Morgan squeezed his hand again, grateful for his help. She was relieved to see Emmon take charge with newfound leadership. In a bold, confident voice he instructed a dozen men to go back through the underground tunnel and veer to the right. Another twelve men were to take the stairway back and wait until he signaled for them to enter the castle. The rest of the knights would follow him and Lady Amanda to the weaving room, thus giving them three areas from which to surprise the enemy.
“DeChaville will be safer left here in the dungeons,” Emmon called to her as they headed out.
Morgan nodded, knowing they had no choice.
“I will leave a man to guard him until the battle is over,” he said.
“Thank you, Emmon.”
After saying good-bye to Robert, she hurried to catch up with Emmon.
Minutes felt like hours by the time Morgan pushed through the trapdoor leading to the weaving room. She then pulled herself out of the tunnel.
“Matti! Shayna!” Morgan scrambled across the room where the two women were tied with thick ropes. She untied Matti while Emmon hurried over to untie Shayna. He pulled the gag from her mouth and she threw herself into his arms.
“Lady Amanda…Emmon,” Matti said in a panicked whisper as his head popped through the trap door. “They only just managed to take over the top towers. They have Lord Vanguard…and Hugo!” Matti rubbed at her sore wrists when the ropes were removed. “Most of the women and children are locked in the upper towers. I had no idea the men were locked within the dungeon until ‘twas too late. Otherwise I would have gone there first.”
Morgan cringed at the thought of it. Matti would have been alone and most likely killed if she had gone to the dungeons.
“We must hurry,” Matti went on. “The men who tied us will soon be back for they had eager eyes on Shayna.”
Emmon’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Chills raced up Morgan’s spine as she realized Emmon, overnight, had become a man and a true knight. And he’d already chosen his lady.
After the last man came through the tunnel, Emmon turned to Matti. “Where did they take Lord Vanguard and Hugo?”
“We are not certain.”
“Have you seen Odelia?” Morgan asked.
Matti and Shayna shook their heads.
Shayna placed an urgent, passionate kiss on Emmon’s mouth. Renewed by the kiss, Emmon raised his sword to signal his small army to follow him. “You three stay here and bolt the door.”
After the men were gone, Morgan turned to Matti and Shayna. “You know I’m not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs.” She bent forward to retrieve her slingshot and the sharp rock from beneath
her skirts. Matti and Shayna stayed close behind as she crept out the door and into the hallway. Emmon and his men were already gone.
As Morgan came to the stairs she heard the clanking of swords and the shouts of Derek’s men as they fought to regain control of Braddock. She had a clear view of the main hall. Derek’s men came upon the enemy from all sides. She let out a resounding “yes” when she saw little Joseph lead dozens of villagers through the castle’s entrance. The people were armed with hoes, rakes, and every sharp item they had made time to grab.
Failing to see Derek, Hugo, or Odelia, Morgan hurried back to where Shayna and Matti stood. All three then made their way slowly down the hallway, listening as they went. Matti gestured toward a half-opened door where they saw Derek sitting awkwardly within a high-back chair.
Morgan, Matti, and Shayna crept quietly forward. A loud crack sounded and a man dropped to the ground before Lord Vanguard’s feet.
“Hugo!” Matti said in a whispered cry.
Morgan grabbed her, stopping Matti from running to Hugo’s side. Footsteps thumped across the wood floor and a huge tree of a man kicked Hugo in the gut with the tip of his boot.
The giant apparently had no idea that Otgar’s men were losing the battle below. He yanked Derek’s head upward by his hair.
Derek muttered a threat, causing the man to laugh before he put a punishing fist to Derek’s face. Derek’s chin hit his chest. The three women held their breath as they stepped back out of sight, hoping the man hadn’t noticed them.
Morgan readied the slingshot, positioning the rock so that the sharp edge pointed forward. Pulling back on the leather strip, she stepped into the doorway, took aim and watched the rock take flight. The big man raised a sword above Derek’s head just as the stone hit his temple.
The giant fell forward like a newly cut tree, barely missing Derek with the sharp tip of his blade as he hit the floor with an earth shattering thud.
~~~~
The clashing of swords within Braddock caught Otgar’s attention. His face flushed with indignation as he stopped unfastening his breeches and sneered at the young girl. “Such a pretty name, Ciara. Too bad I have not the time to teach you a lesson.”
“What do we do with these two?” his man called out to him.
“Whatever you want. Just get rid of them,” Otgar answered before he ran to the high wall, climbed a thick twine rope and disappeared into the night.
The back door flew open and the thick planks hit the stone wall with a thundering crash. Emmon’s eyes darted wildly about before he spotted Ciara as she lay in a bloody heap on the ground. He looked up in time to see Odelia being dragged off. “Unhand the lady now!”
A thick-bearded brute with tiny slits for eyes didn’t waste any time grabbing his broadsword. The second man looked around nervously, dropped Odelia and ran off.
Odelia groaned when she fell to the ground. Otgar’s man stalked toward Emmon without fear, ducking and shuffling his feet with practiced ease as Emmon came at him with his sword. Odelia gasped when the man thrust his sword into Emmon’s leg, removing his blade just as swiftly. Crawling on her knees, Odelia tried to get to Emmon before blackness overcame her. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed unwillingly was the man lunging for Emmon’s heart.
~~~~
Morgan glanced at the fallen giant with disbelief. Had she really put that huge freak of nature down with one sharp rock? She felt like David striking down Goliath. She shoved the slingshot beneath her belt and ran to Derek’s side, kneeling before him. After untying the ropes binding his legs, she gently smothered his wounded face with kisses, thankful to find him alive.
Shayna finished with the rough knots that bound Derek’s hands to the back of the chair. “There,” she said, satisfied, “Now I must go see how Emmon is faring.”
“Be careful,” Morgan warned, but Shayna was already out the door. Morgan ripped the hem of her tunic and hastily wrapped the fabric around Derek’s shoulder.
Groggy and weak, he moaned at her efforts. He had lost new blood from his old wound. She coaxed him into standing, hoping to get him to the bed nearby.
~~~~
Derek blinked, tried to focus. Seeing that his wife was the one at his side caused his lip to curl. The teeth-clamping pain in his shoulder caused him to sway, but the searing sting was naught compared to the pain in his heart. He could not bear to look at her. She had betrayed him. And what ate at his gut most was the simple fact that he had known this day would come.
Women cannot be trusted. Women are like scavengers, leaving naught but destruction in their wake. How many times had his father said the words? A cruel and heartless man his father was, but at least he had stood up to his responsibilities. He had stayed and provided Derek with shelter and food. He had not abandoned him as his mother had or left him to die in the woods as his father’s mother had done to him. Bruised and battered…left to die. Scavengers, the lot of them.
As he staggered to where Matti knelt beside Hugo, he recalled how every part of his being had alerted him to Amanda’s intended deceit, but he had failed to listen to his instincts. And now he would pay the price.
Matti whispered soothing words in her husband’s ear and brushed her fingers through Hugo’s hair.
“How is he?” Derek asked.
“He’s breathing steadily.”
He shrugged Amanda away when she tried once again to tend to his wounds.
A loud groan emanated from the brute on the floor and Derek used his good arm to pick up the man’s sword and raise it high above the giant.
“Nay, my lord,” Matti pleaded. “There has been too much bloodshed already.”
Derek shoved the sword in his scabbard and summoned the strength to drag the giant of a man to the bed. He tied him securely to a bedpost using his belt and strips of bedcloth. Noticing the gash on the man’s head, Derek’s gaze darted about until he saw the slingshot protruding from his wife’s belt. Once again her weapon had proven dangerous, he thought sourly. After Matti turned her attentions back to Hugo, Derek took the opportunity to knee the man in the head and then the gut, making certain Otgar’s man would no longer be a threat.
“You’re not trying to punish me for what you think you saw, are you?” Amanda asked as she followed him out the door and into the hallway.
He gazed down at her and she touched his arm, begging for his attention. He flinched as her visage became that of his mother, promising him she’d always be there for him, her soothing voice drawing him in like sweet music draws out a snake.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“Nay, I have heard and seen enough.”
“I only hugged Robert because he agreed to help me get to the dungeons. The kiss was unexpected and he never would have done such a thing if he didn’t believe I was Amanda Forrester.”
Derek closed his eyes. Hot pain shot through his head as memories of his mother and father arguing filled his mind. Usually it was visions of his mother he saw as she made false promises or of his father as he lectured Derek on the evils of women. Not once before had he brought forth images of the two of them together. But clearly they were together now in his mind’s eye. Plainly, he saw his mother as she swore to Simon that she had not been unfaithful. Her eyes were filled with remorse…or mayhap fear? He could not tell, for suddenly she raised her arms before her face, covering her eyes as the same high-pitched screams that so often filled his dreams came to him now. He covered his ears.
I will not leave you, my son, not for all the riches in the world.
“Lies,” he said aloud, dropping his hands. “I am tired of the lies.”
His wife blinked, but remained silent for once. He wondered if she understood as well as he that they had reached the beginning of the end. Aye, he thought…she knew.
“I must see to my people now,” he said before he left her standing alone in the empty hallway.
Instead of grief or sadness, he was glad for the familiar hollowness that quickly took its place.
He and Amanda would talk again as they would be forced to endure a lifetime together, but things would never be as they were at Windsor. Never. He would not allow himself to be eaten up by jealousies, but neither would he listen to her endless falsehoods…or be taken in by her insincere declarations of love. Hogwash, all of it.
~~~~
Emmon’s very life flashed before him. For the first time since being ceremonially inducted into knighthood, Emmon realized he might not live to see another day. The man before him surely deviated from the norm, Emmon thought, for Otgar’s man appeared to be an unnatural force as he came upon him with great swiftness. Emmon attempted to lunge to his right but his bloodied leg betrayed him. Had he perished then and there, his last thoughts would have been of Shayna’s soft mouth and pale skin. But as it was, a huge iron cauldron came from the sky and fell upon his adversary, killing him in an instant.
Emmon lifted his gaze to the high window.
Shayna smiled down upon him from a high open window. He gave her a wide grin, and she put her fingers to her lips and blew him a sweet kiss.
~~~~
Just past midnight there were no particular sounds to herald the end of the siege. But for the most part it was over and Braddock had withstood the attack.
Morgan made her way to the dungeons to check on Robert. Chaos and a foul odor reminding her of dead rodents filled the passageway. Otgar’s men, injured and bloodied, were being dragged and carried to the same cell where Derek’s men had been held captive earlier. A dead man was being carted away and Morgan maneuvered around the wheelbarrow when it passed. Anxiously, she gazed about the castle as she went. Robert was gone. Recognizing the man who’d been ordered to guard him, she hurried over to him and asked of Robert’s whereabouts. The man stuttered and was difficult to understand, but if she understood correctly, Robert had been well enough to leave Braddock on his own accord.
Return of the Rose Page 24