Return of the Rose (30 page)

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Morgan crouched behind a low woody plant as Robert crept toward the open field with a handful of rocks. Her adrenaline soared and her heart pounded against her chest.

Only one of Otgar’s men stood nearby, pacing slowly before Braddock’s eastern entrance. The hissing, crackling sounds of the fire and the cries of war were loud and yet Morgan worried the man could hear her breathing. The few seconds it took Robert to sneak into the field felt like hours.

Robert stooped low and pitched one of the rocks into the air. He threw another rock to the right of that. Twenty feet away a bird flew up from the tall grass.

Morgan stayed low as the man turned to peer toward the fields. He whistled, drawing forth another man, and together the two of them walked past her.

She held her breath as they passed.

Seconds later, Morgan huddled over the tunnel with Robert at her side and pushed the wood planks to the side. She thought of Matti, Shayna, Ciara, and all of the other people she’d come to care about. She prayed they were alive and well. She thought of Joseph, too, hoping he’d made it safely to the village.

She slid through the opening, her heart racing as she disappeared underground, knowing this could well be Braddock’s last hope. Robert slid in behind her, and she waited as he moved the planks back into place, muffling the sounds above.

The dark passageway felt more constricting than the last time she’d been here. Blindly, she crept through the burrows, using her fingers against the clay walls to guide her. Her body shook in repulsed shivers as little feet scampered away. They hurried forward and moments passed before the tunnel divided. She went to the left, fairly confident that this was the passageway Matti said would lead to the dungeon. Unlike the wooden hatch leading to the weaving room, this tunnel ended with a clay wall. Pinholes of light escaped. After removing bits of clay, she was relieved to see that the clay was their only barrier. Through the hole she saw the side view of a guard. He sat on a stool, whistling a merry tune as he whittled away at a stick.

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.