Page 95 of Never Leave Me
Thankfully so far, they’d had no issues. Nicholas had known exactly where to find the raft he’d built years before and hidden a distance away in the woods. He’d known exactly when to begin the two-minute row across the moat under the cover of darkness.He’d known exactly where to hook the loop of rope that would bear their weight during the climb up the wall in the very spot he’d climbed dozens of times in his life. He’d known they’d have ten minutes to get off the wall before the guard walked past.
At the echo of boot steps coming their way, Nicholas motioned toward her to cease her efforts, then he disappeared to hide. As the boot slaps neared, Ellen held her breath and tried to flatten herself against the stone.
Nicholas had warned her that his brother would likely have more guards on duty in anticipation of Will attempting to attack and rescue her dad. All the more reason Nicholas had wanted to go in and liberate Dad by himself.
The footsteps hesitated only a few feet away. She sensed the guard was peering out over the moat and prayed he wouldn’t look down. Though the moon was shrouded in a thin layer of clouds, a faint glow illuminated the castle grounds and moat, enough that the soldier would be able to see her if he looked in the right place.
As the steps continued away, she resumed her jerking motions, lifting one hand over another in her slow climb. An instant later, Nicholas leaned over again and this time made contact with her hand. Within seconds, he pulled her up the rest of the way, and once she was kneeling next to him on the ledge, she sucked in a shaky breath.
Without wasting a second, Nicholas crouched low and led the way to a stone tower. The door was unlocked as he’d predicted it would be. To prevent the door from creaking and alerting the guards, Nicholas lifted it upward, pressing the slab hard against the hinges. Once through, he did the same to close it.
They tiptoed down the spiraling stone staircase. At the bottom, he led her across the bailey, sprinting from shadow to shadow. Nicholas suspected Lord Worth had sealed the guardhouse entrance to the dungeons after Ellen’s escape earlier in the week.Instead, Nicholas had decided to use the lower-level kitchen door to enter the keep. With soft, cautious steps, they made their way inside, winding through the kitchen. As the dogs lifted their noses toward them, Nicholas commanded the creatures with a simple motion of his hands to remain where they were on the flagstone near the hearth. Without an alert from the dogs, the kitchen staff sleeping on their pallets remained undisturbed.
The passageways were lit only by the faint light emanating from a sconce here and there, so that darkness mostly concealed them. When they reached the heavy door that led to the bowels of the castle, Nicholas crept down the stairway ahead of her. The cold dampness of the walls sent chills down to her bones.
The glow coming from the bottom illuminated the veins of water on the walls and the slick spots on each step. Voices grew louder the farther down they went. At the bottom, Nicholas held up a hand, urging her to remain in the stairwell. He slipped out before she could question why, and the scuffle and grunts of fighting rose in the air.
She held her breath.
A moment later, silence descended.
She waited, her nerves tightening with every passing second. What had happened? Did she dare peek around the corner?
Nicholas stepped back into the stairwell and held up a ring of keys. His expression was grim, almost pained. As he limped away, she caught a glimpse of blood oozing from a gash in his thigh below his hauberk.
The two guards, who’d been engaged in a game of dice, were both now sprawled out on the floor in pools of their own blood. She tried not to look at them as she passed by and had to suck in several deep breaths to quell the rising nausea.
She couldn’t bear the thought of any more bloodshed. She didn’t want danger to come to Will and his knights. Nor did shewish danger upon anyone in Reider Castle. The best thing was to get Dad out of his cell and back to Chesterfield Park as rapidly as possible. In fact, he would likely need to go into hiding for a time so that no one could try to recapture him. If she survived today, maybe she would need to go with him.
At the archway, Nicholas inserted a key and opened a thick oak door, bringing a waft of dank, cold air. Grabbing a torch from the wall holder, he ducked through and started down another passageway, this one lined with dark cells. Following after him, she hugged her arms, the memory of her time in the dungeons all too vivid.
Nicholas stumbled, and she nearly bumped into him. Had his injury been worse than he’d let on? Should she look at it and see if he needed a tourniquet?
Before she could question him, he paused in front of one of the cell doors, inserted another key, and swung it open as soundlessly as he had hers when he’d come to set her free. Even though the circumstances were dire, and they still had to get out of the castle without being detected, gratefulness welled up nevertheless for this man and his help. She wouldn’t have survived her time in the Middle Ages if not for his intervention.
He limped inside the cell and gingerly lowered himself to one knee beside her dad before shaking him. “Lady Ellen and I have come to take you away.”
Her dad pushed himself up. “Ellen’s here?”
At the distress in her dad’s voice, Ellen stepped forward. “I’m fine, Dad. We made it in without anyone noticing us, and we’ll make it out the same way.” At least she prayed so.
Nicholas helped her dad up from his pallet. “We must make haste.”
Her dad took a wobbly step forward, his body likely as cold and stiff as hers had been from her night in the dungeon. He was dusty and dirty but didn’t show any other signs of injury. At least not yet.
Ellen tugged the pouch holding the bottles out from beneath her skirt and pressed it into her dad’s hands. “Take these. If we get separated for any reason, I want you to have them.”
He took the pouch, felt it, then hesitated. “You should keep them. What if something happens to you?”
She pushed the pouch more firmly into his hands and stepped back. “I brought them along for you.” She met his gaze solemnly. She wouldn’t speak of the tragedy he’d face today in front of Nicholas. But she hoped her dad could read in her eyes that he would need the holy water more than she would. She could only pray the same thing that had happened to Marian would also happen to her dad, that when his present-day body ceased to function, his body in 1382 could be revived so that he might continue to live in the past.
Nicholas grasped her dad’s arm and began to guide him from the cell, both hunched under the low ceiling. She stepped out after them. “Nicholas, if my father is injured, promise you’ll give him a bottle of holy water in the pouch?”
“As you wish, my lady.”
“Thank you.”
He didn’t respond except to hurry her dad down the passageway.
