Page 102 of Exile's Return

Sarah shrugged. ‘Don’t know what that is, but it leads directly into the cellars. You may be able to get ‘em out without too much trouble.’

Daniel stood up and clasped the girl’s face between his hands, planting a kiss on her forehead.

‘You are a godsend, lass. Thornton, I’ll go in with Sarah once it is dark.’

Jonathan rose to his feet and looked around at the woods and the little cottage. ‘There’s nothing we can do until dark anyway. If you can get them out, I will wait outside, but I warn you I won’t wait beyond two hours.’

‘But —’ Daniel’s protest was cut short by Jonathan.

‘Alone and on foot I should be able to reach Preston, and I will raise help from the local authorities. They won’t countenance Ashby’s high-handed behaviour, not at this point.’

Daniel nodded. ‘You just have to make sure you get that help before Ashby hangs them out of hand.’

A humourless smile twitched the corners of Jonathan’s mouth. ‘That’s all we have to do.’ He clapped Daniel on the shoulder. ‘Let us just hope you can get them out first.’

Chapter 44

Agnes shivered, wrapping her arms around herself in a vain attempt to keep warm as she paced the floor. The room into which they had been thrown must have been a buttery or something similar in a past life. A long, low, heavy stone bench ran along one wall, below two small windows so grimed with dirt and cobwebs as to admit only the faintest light.

Kit sat on the cold, filthy, flag-tiled floor, with his back to the wall and his eyes closed. Peg huddled in a corner, drawn in on herself. The shock of her capture and the brutal means that had been used to drag her to the castle had broken the old woman.

‘Sit down,’ Kit grumbled. ‘You’re making me tired.’

Agnes turned to face him. ‘How can you be so calm?’

‘I have already been hanged once in my life,’ Kit said, all humour gone from his voice. ‘Death holds no fears for me anymore.’

Agnes turned away so he could not see her face. ‘I don’t want to die, Kit.’ She choked back the sob that rose unbidden andturned back to face him. ‘Why can’t we just let him have the gold?’

Kit blew out his breath, making a cloud in the cold air. ‘I don’t know where it is. Thornton’s hidden it somewhere. Anyway, lass, we’re not going to die. Ashby’s all bluster and Dan and Thornton will find a way to get us out.’

Agnes, who had already envisaged Jonathan and Daniel halfway to Seven Ways, narrowed her eyes. ‘You believe that?’

‘I know,’ Kit said and smiled without humour. ‘They don’t have a horse between them and they will hardly be setting off on foot with Ashby’s men on the rampage.’

In her corner, Peg cried out, and Agnes hunched down beside the old woman, wrapping her arms around her, trying to instil some warmth into the frail old body, but she got no response. Peg threw off her arms and looked at her with unseeing eyes.

The hours passed and the light faded from the window, plunging the room into darkness. Agnes drew the woman tighter into her arms.

The click of the key in the lock made her start to her feet and she braced, every muscle tensed, as the door opened to admit Leah Turner, carrying a basket and a lantern. Agnes rose to her feet, standing like a lioness over her two charges. The two women faced each other across the length of the room.

Leah met Agnes’s fierce gaze and gestured at Kit. ‘I’ve brought bandages for him,’ she said, ‘and some food and drink.’

‘Really?’ The magnanimity of the gesture caused Agnes’s anger with the woman to falter. ‘Thank you.’

Leah sniffed. ‘I only do what my Christian duty commands.’

‘Did you come alone?’ Agnes enquired.

Leah set the basket down on the floor beside Kit and held the lantern up to scan his face.

‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Kit Lovell, and you, Madame?’

‘Leah Turner. How badly are you hurt?’

‘It wasn’t too bad until your friend upstairs decided to drag me through the slush by my wrists,’ Kit grumbled.