Page 77 of The Herald's Heart
“You idiot’s spawn. Do you not know how to obey orders? I’ll see you hung by your balls for this foolishness.”
“But I’m the one who released you after Baron Le Hourde escaped and locked you in the dungeon.”
“And by searching for me, you let Lady Larkin go into the caves alone.”
“What goes here?” Talon finally got his man’s attention.
“This addlepate thought he should get permission before denying Lady Larkin entrance into the caves, and with the baron free to pursue her.”
“How was I to know you’d lost him?” the guardsman protested.
“How long has she been gone?” Talon would worry about Cleve’s story later. If Le Hourde was free, finding Larkin was paramount.
“H ... half a day, sir,” the terrified man stuttered.
“And why did it take you so long to find me?” Cleve asked.
“I was ordered to guard the door and could not leave my post.”
Cleve groaned.
“Never mind that. Where did the lady go?” Talon grasped the guard by the shoulder and restrained the urge to choke the man.
“I ... I don’t know, Sir Talon. She said she only had a little way to go. That getting an escort would take too much time.”
“Didn’t you at least watch which way she turned?”
“I did, sir, truly I did, but I forgot.”
He could not waste more time questioning a man too terrified to know his own name, let alone any clue to Larkin’s whereabouts. Talon turned to Cleve. “Gather the men with all the torches and lanterns you can find. Meet me at the door to the caves. Bring chalk and string. A great deal of both.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Amis, take that torch and follow me.” He was halfway to the hidden stairs before Amis lifted the flame.
Talon clattered down the hidden staircase that led to the caves. Praise heaven, the tide was out. Finding Larkin shouldn’t be that difficult if she was still here. He refused to consider that she might have left, or worse, been stolen from him.
How many caverns and tunnels had he and Larkin missed before becoming trapped by the tide? And how would he find them now? Were those unexplored passages deeper than the shallow few they’d examined? He couldn’t believe any unexplored pathways would be extensive. If they were, the chances of finding Larkin approached infinity. Even if the caves were all shallow, the problem was that there were so very many of them. He pulled to a halt at the first intersection.
Multiple footsteps sounded behind him. He turned and looked into the faces of the men he’d begun to think of as his—could see the panic he felt as clearly as he could see the worry writ on their brows. Amis nodded somberly.
“I want all men going by twos,” he ordered. “The first pair starts here, with a pair taking each new passage as we come to it. Mark your steps with twine and each cave entrance with an X. I don’t want anyone else getting lost. When you reach the end of your tunnel, return to this main passage and wait. Guard the entrance and allow no one in or out without my leave. If—no, when—Lady Larkin is found, leave one man to escort her out and send the other running to find me. Do you all understand?”
Nods and murmurs came from the men crowded into the narrow tunnel.
Talon turned to enter the first passage, but Amis’s voice halted him.
“Talon,” he spoke gently. “What if we find someone else? And what if Larkin is injured?”
Talon turned back to the men. “Anyone else found in the caves will be held for questioning. Is that clear?”
Again the men nodded.
Talon swallowed. He couldn’t bring himself to contemplate the likelihood that Larkin was hurt—or worse. “If anyone is found injured, send one man back to find me or Sir Amis. Any other questions?”
No one spoke.
“The let’s get on with it. A handsome reward goes to the men who find Lady Larkin and bring her to me.”
The men rushed into the caves, but Talon was headed down his chosen passageway and had to rely on their cheers to confirm their increased enthusiasm for the search.
He trod as quickly as possible, nearly outdistancing the light cast by Amis’s torch.
“Slow down, Talon.”
“No!” He threw the word over his shoulder.
“’Twill do Lady Larkin no good if you bypass a side tunnel that she may have taken or trip and hurt yourself because you could not see well enough to watch your steps.”
Everything in him urged him to hurry. But Amis was right. He had to be certain that he searched every bend and hollow in this tangle of caves, and he had to be physically able to help Larkin if she needed it. Pray God she would not.
