Page 42 of Beholden
The slaves were now crossing the bridge. Although the repairs to the slats seemed sturdy enough and had held the transporters bringing supplies and food to town, I couldn’t keep from thinking back to my first night at the camp, when the bridge had cracked, nearly sending Farthing to his death, and how Gabriella had raced out and saved his life. That had been the moment when I’d first started caring about her.
Affection for her pulsed through me, hurting me with its intensity. Heretofore, I’d wavered, hadn’t wanted to allow anything to interfere with the Testing. But how could I deny my feelings any longer? My ardor had been growing every day since the first. Now it filled me so completely, I couldn’t separate from it, even if I’d wanted to, which I didn’t.
“Do you have a plan for how you will save her when you get to the queen’s palace?” Ty asked quietly.
How had Ty known I was thinking about Gabriella? Was my passion that evident? “If I’m unable to reach her chamber, then I shall have to attend the ball.”
“And while dancing, you will simply tie her up and drag her off the dance floor?”
“Yes.”
“And you think the queen will allow it?”
“Let the queen or any man try to stop me.”
“They may very well try once they learn of your involvement in the slave rebellion.”
“I’m fully aware the queen will rise up against me. But I am prepared to suffer the consequences of my actions, including fighting without Scania’s aid.”
If the queen learned my true identity, I would assure her my father wasn’t involved in any way with my decisions. And if I had to single-handedly fight the queen’s army, I would.
“And what will these slaves do once they are free?” Ty peered out over the bridge, where people were crossing as hurriedly as they could.
Curly had assured me most of the slaves were shrewd and would find ways to disappear and avoid capture. For the weak and maimed, the task of obtaining refuge and staying safe would be much harder. Curly had suggested they go to Mercia. But I feared they wouldn’t be able to flee from Warwick swiftly enough.
If only I could take them back with me to Scania. I’d give them sanctuary in my homeland. There they’d be able to build new lives for themselves as fishermen and farmers. But how could I secret the people away without the queen knowing?
I sighed as I finished strapping on the last of the weapons. “For now, the people must escape north into Inglewood Forest. Once there, Curly assures me they will be able to hide in the thick woodland and live off the forest at least until winter. I will come for them when I’m able. But if something happens to me, I want them to seek out Kresten. He’ll show them compassion and come to their aid.”
Inglewood Forest covered hundreds of square miles in southern Mercia as well as northern Warwick, and I didn’t know how Curly and the others would be able to locate Kresten in so vast a wilderness. But I had to hold out hope that somehow, someway, our efforts to free these men and women from the mine pits wouldn’t be in vain.
A short while later, as the last of the slaves began crossing, Ty and I finally descended from the tower and hurried toward the bridge. At the edge of the ravine, Curly stood guard, constantly scanning the silent town and barracks.
I handed him the extra weapons and armor we’d gained in the tower. “When we reach the bottom of the foothills, I want you to lead the frailest north to Mercia.”
“Nay.” He paused in donning the hauberk. “I’ll be going with ye to Kensington to save Gabi.”
“Molly and the others need someone to guide them.”
“Molly knows the way.” Curly strapped on the weapons belt over the chain mail. “Her father was once a woodcutter in the north of Warwick in the days before the queen took away licenses and forced woodcutters into the mine.”
My thoughts warred within me. Curly was an honorable and good man, and I respected his desire to rescue Gabi alongside me. On the other hand, my mission was too risky. Even if I survived the fight with Grendel, the queen might still lock me—and anyone who fought with me—in her dungeons.
“Molly needs you.”
“And Gabi needs all of us.”
At what sounded like the banging of a door in town, I realized now wasn’t the time to try to convince Curly to go with the others. Hearing the same, Curly motioned me ahead of him onto the bridge.
“Go.” I squared my shoulders. “I shall take the rear.”
He opened his mouth as though to argue. But at a shout from near the barracks, he spun and began to leap from slat to slat.
I pushed Ty to cross next. He resisted only an instant, apparently seeing the determination in my face and realizing that attempting to persuade me otherwise would waste precious seconds.
I hurtled after him, and the bridge swayed dangerously with the hasty movement from all three of us. At the sudden clanging of a bell and more shouting from behind, my heart picked up pace, and I made myself go faster, closing in on Ty.
An arrow whizzed too close to my head, but I ducked and pressed onward. On the opposite side of the bridge, the others called out for us to hurry.
