Part 30 (2/2)
”Never shall I call a monk a fool again for wearing out his skirts in holy pursuits. The ladder leads up to a grate, and the grate covers a hole in the garden overgrown with bushes and hawthorn. An easy climb too, if you think to keep your back braced against the wall as you are going. Easier” he said to Gil, ”than clambering up a tree, even with one wing damaged!”
”I will take my chances here, Puck,” Gil said grimly. ”I prefer to die with a bow in my hand, thank you, not wedged up some tunnel like a frightened rat.”
Alaric was about to join the argument when three of the Wolf's men who had been left on guard in the corridors, came staggering through the door. All three were badly wounded and out of arrows. Helped down the stairs, they gasped a warning that De Gournay's mercenaries were in the cellars and closing fast. There were only three, perhaps four men left between the donjon and the tide of murdering guardsmen, but how long those men could last before they too had to retreat, was anyone's guess.
”That settles it then; we use the shaft,” Lucien said, and reached to arm himself. A crossbow was thrust into his hand and he found himself staring into eyes as gray and brooding as his own. The boy had gathered the guards' weapons and quivers of bolts without being ordered to do so, despite the terrible pain of his wound.
”Do you think you can climb, lad?”
”I think so, milord. Yes milord, I can climb.”
”Good. Sparrow, off you go again. Take the boy with you and if you value your scrawny neck, you will not let him fall.”
”Aye, lord, and good luck to you too.”
”Gil-” The Wolf turned to the master archer and the look in his eye warned against any further arguments. ”You and Sir Roger are in charge of the wounded men. Use ropes if you have to, but get them up that shaft and yourselves after them.”
”What about Robert?” she asked quietly. ”He needs more than ropes, and he cannot make the climb.”
”Robert can b.l.o.o.d.y take care o' himself,” the Welshman gnashed through his teeth. ”I need no flame-topped wench keening after me. Now go! Do as the laird says, or by the saints, I'll not only show ye how swift I can climb, but I'll do it kicking yer backside up ahead of me!”
When Gil had moved away, the Wolf dropped onto his knee beside the burly Welshman. ”Robert-”
”Do not trouble yerself, laird. I am almost dead now, and surely would be long afore ye could think of a way to winch me hand over heel up a wee tunnel. At least here, I can still be of some use to ye. Give me weapons-arm as many of the poxy crossbows as ye can set beside me, an' I'll keep the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds honest as long as I can.”
Lucien grasped the Welshman's big paw of a hand. ”You have been a loyal friend, Robert. I have envied you your courage and your laughter, and have been honoured to have you fight by my side.”
”Bah! The honour was mine in knowing there are still men who fight for what is good an' just. As for courage-ye have all that ye need and more ... and still more waiting for ye in some G.o.dforsaken place called the eagle's eyrie. Save her, laird. She'll help ye laugh again, see if she does not.”
Alaric had come up beside them and his attention was split between listening to their exchange and listening to the sudden, ominous silence coming from the top of the stairs.
”I do not think there will be any others joining us,” he said tautly as the Wolf joined him in staring up at the dimly lit archway.
”Did you get the wounded away?”
”Aye. Sir Roger argued to remain behind, but I threatened to throttle him myself if he did not start climbing. Lucien ... the other prisoners cannot be moved. Most of them ... have no hands or feet.”
The Wolf's gaze followed Alaric's to the row of low, dark cells that lined the walls. For a long moment he stood in stony silence, his face expressionless, yet more ominous than a gathering storm.
”I put the worst of them out of their misery,” Alaric said softly. ”That leaves only the three of us and-” He tilted his head meaningfully toward the workbench where Stutter sat cradling his brother's head to his heart.
”Go,” the Wolf said tersely. ”We will be right behind.”
”G.o.d be with you, Robert,” Alaric said quickly, touching the brave man's shoulder before he too was gone.
”Stutter, you are next. Off you go.”
”I ... cannot leave Oswald,” said the desolate twin. He lifted a face that was wet with tears and appealed to Lucien forlornly. ”I would not know what to do without him.”
”You could live,” the Wolf insisted. ”It is not a new or uncommon notion, and I am certain your brother would have wished it.”
”No.” Stutter shook his head sadly. ”We made a pact, my lord. To live and die together. We swore it.”
”Well ... unswear it, d.a.m.n you, and get into the shaft. We can argue honour later.”
”My lord ... no. Even if I wanted to ...” He glanced pointedly at his leg and the Wolf felt a further sinking in his breast as he realized the blood pooled on the floor was not Mutter's. Stutter's leg had been broken in the fight; he had been thrown by D'Aeth and had landed awkwardly on the stone, twisting his leg and breaking it with enough force to drive the splintered ends of the bone through the flesh.
”Oh G.o.d,” the Wolf murmured, sitting heavily on the edge of the bench.
Stutter shook his head. ”You must not linger any longer to worry over us, my lord. Robert and I ... we shall keep one another company, and together ... we shall endeavour to keep the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds honest. I am not nearly as good a shot as Robert, but I can keep the bows armed ... and besides, you need someone to push the stones back into place behind you, or the Dragon's men will just climb up after you. This way, perhaps they will be confused enough to have to think on it a while.”
”The lad speaks sense,” Robert admitted. ”It would work in your favour for the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds to find no answers here. And they'll not find any, laird, not live ones. That I promise ye.”
Lucien Wardieu looked from Robert to Stutter, and it was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do, to nod a.s.sent. ”If I thought there was the slightest chance-”
”There is no chance for us, laird, an' well we know it. But there is a chance for you to lead the rest o' the men to safety, and by G.o.d, I'll not be the reason any more good men give their lives! Go now, laird, and G.o.d be with you.”
”G.o.d be with you,” said the Wolf, clasping hands in a reluctant farewell.
He helped Stutter to the door of the cell and squeezed himself through the hole in the wall. He stood there in the darkness, clinging to the damp stones, listening to the harsh sc.r.a.pe of the blocks being nudged and cajoled back into place. His heart was pounding in his chest and his brow was clammy cold. The taste of rage was strong and bitter in his mouth-rage at his own helplessness; rage over the loss of the valiant men they were leaving behind.
28.
”The eagle's eyrie,” said Lucien bluntly, ”is about the most inaccessible place he could have found to put Lady Servanne. Two guards with a ready supply of arrows could hold off an army until h.e.l.l froze over.”
Alaric and Gil exchanged a glance before she lowered her head and continued to bind a minor but annoyingly leaky cut on her arm.
The pitfully small group had taken refuge in one of the overgrown orchards flanking the keep, where they had an excellent overview of the castle grounds. For the time being, all was relatively peaceful, but the Wolf was certain, when the general alarm alerted the castle to the escape, the guards would be thick as fireflies, poking their torches and their swords into every nook and cranny. The orchard would not be safe for very long, nor would the routes that led to the outer walls.
As for the eyrie ...
”Thank G.o.d for Biddy,” Lucien said grimly. ”In truth, I never would have throught of the eyrie until after I had searched every tower and chamber within the walls.”
He finished tying up a makes.h.i.+ft sling for Sir Roger's arm, studiously avoiding Alaric's startled glance as he did so. De Chesnai had been carrying his shoulder at an odd angle and it was not until after he had stumbled and fallen that they discovered the joint had been dislocated. Lucien and Alaric had managed to reseat the shoulder, but the arm was swollen and immobile.
”Within the walls?” Alaric queried. ”Are you saying this eagle's eyrie is something other than a tower or a spire?” the walls?” Alaric queried. ”Are you saying this eagle's eyrie is something other than a tower or a spire?”
”It is a single cell, built to hold a single prisoner ... but I thought it had been abandoned for that purpose years ago.”
”Which was probably why the Dragon put her where he did.”
”Nonetheless it was a brave thing Biddy did, and she deserves more than just my thanks.” He glanced up from under his brows and found where Sparrow was hunkered down in the shadows. ”Perhaps I will make a gift to her of young Woodc.o.c.k.”
Sparrow's tousled cap of brown curls jumped as he whirled around. ”You would do that to me?”
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