Page 23 of The Thief (Castle Blackstone #3)

“ Aaaaaaaay!”

The scream ripped from Kate’s throat. Ian! It was he who was being tortured on the rack. Stretched out naked, hands and feet bound by rope. She could see his face, the sweat, see and smell his blood.

A scream ripped from his throat and she screamed with him.

“Katie! For God’s sake, wake up!”

Someone held her close and she flung her arms, trying to get free.

“Kate, open your eyes. Child, you’re alright. Open your eyes.”

Still screaming and heart bounding, Kate did and was shocked to see that she was in her room and in her father’s arms.

Panting, she managed, “Papa?”

“Aye, Katie. Thank God.” He wiped the sweat from her brow and continued to hold her close. “You frightened me near to death. You have had some bad ones, but this has got to be the worst.”

“Ian!” She struggled to get free.

Her father held firm. “Ian who? You kept screaming the name.”

She shook her head and fought harder, her mind consumed with the images and sounds of Ian’s pain. She had to get to the Tower. She had seen her cloak, his boots in the corner of the cell, knew what he’d done. How he had been captured was still a mystery but the fact remained that he was in the Tower and desperately needed her help.

Her father grabbed her by the arms and shook her. “Answer me!”

She shook her head, renewing her struggle to leave the bed. “I can’t. I can’t.”

He pulled her to him again, surprising her with his strength. Running his hand over her head he murmured, “My child, my poor child.”

Blinding pain bloomed behind her eyes. Oh, no, not now! I haven’t time for this now.

She was suddenly looking at her mother, a girl of sixteen through her father’s eyes. Black glossy hair being blown out behind her, smiling at him shyly yet knowingly. Kate could feel her father’s joy in just looking at her then a rising apprehension.

“ Will you?” he asked.

Her mother twisted back and forth at the waist, her hands behind her back. They were surrounded by fields of wheat. The sense of apprehension grew to near pain, and then her mother’s face broke into a broad smile.

“ Aye, I’ll marry you.”

Overwhelming joy, so strong it nearly took her breath away, flooded her.

The image subsided and with it the pain lodged behind her eyes. She shook her head and found her father, tears in his eyes, staring at the cross Ian had given her. She asked, “Why are you crying?”

He cleared his throat. “I know you’re fey, child. Just like your mother. I’ve known for a long time.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to deny it, but then Kate saw little point. She had lived with this lie for close to twenty years and was bone weary of it. “So now what? Will you now hate me as you hated her?”

A tear slipped down her father’s cheek and he took her hands in his. “Never. As long as I breathe, Katie, I shall always love you.”

He loved her? She dare not believe it. “You stopped loving Mama.”

“No, I let her die without admitting my mistake or letting her know that I had never stopped loving her.” He squeezed Kate’s hands. “I was frightened, Katie, but not of her and what she knew. I feared that she would say the wrong thing to the wrong person and we would all hang for heresy. My fear manifested as anger with her when in truth I was angry with myself, for I lacked the courage to walk away from an important post, the court, my king. I thought if I made her knuckle under my will, I could have it all: keep my prestigious position and income and keep us safe.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I was foolish and prideful and cruel.”

Kate’s heart and mind churned. “So why are you telling me this now?” She had to go and quickly.

“Because I’m about to lose you, and I did not want you to go without your knowing that I do know and still love you.”

She desperately wanted to believe him, but experience had taught her caution and she refused to risk Ian’s life in the hopes of salvaging what little was left of her own.

“Father, do you have any coins?”

He nodded and reached for the pouch he always carried unless in bed. “How much do you need?”

“As much as you have.”

He took a deep breath and emptied the pouch into her palm. “Will you tell me what you need this for?”

“I wish I could, but do thank you from the bottom of my heart.” Scrambling out of bed in her cotton night dress, she threw her on over it the filthy gown she’d worn for the last week and then donned the last clean gown she had to her name over that. Her father silently watched as she gathered her few ribbons, her extra undersleeves and underskirt. Tossing them in a basket, she looked about the room. “You will take good care of Mr. Boots?”

He nodded and rose. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too, Fa—-Papa. ”

He managed a brittle grin, his eyes again filling with tears.

“Oh, Papa.” She wrapped her arms about him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Her heart as heavy as it had ever been, she tore around the living room, throwing the wine budget, some bread and her shears into the basket. She then grabbed her father’s cloak from the floor and raced out the door.

Hugh, tears streaming down his face, swore lividly as his daughter disappeared. He ran to his room, lifted a floorboard and pulled out a small leather pouch. Kate had screamed far more than just Ian while trapped in her nightmare. She was on her way to the Tower where this Ian was apparently being held. Fearing he might have already lost her forever, he raced down the stairs and into the night.

~#~

Jogging along the wharf, ignoring the catcalls of sailors weaving their way back to their berths, Kate had eyes only for public houses. She had to find doxies, preferably a handful of them. Hearing shouts and feminine peals of laughter she peered down a short mews and saw lamplight splashing onto the hard-packed ground. Mayhap. Keeping to the wall, she peered in the window and found two ladies with painted faces sitting on men’s laps. Perfect. Now to get them out where she could speak with them.

She waved before the glass. No one noticed. She went to the partially open door and waved, hoping to catch one of the ladies’ notice. Nothing. Ugh! Time was fleeing. Kate threw the door wide. All eyes turned to her.

She forced a smile and crooked a finger at the doxie closest to her.

A scruffy buffoon in rags bellowed, “Watch it, Rosie, else ye end up in the cloisters.”

For some reason that set all within the low-ceilinged room to howling like braying asses.

The one named Rosie, a short woman of mayhap Irish descent, ambled up to Kate, one hand on her hip. “My, my, what have we ‘ere?”

“I need a private word.”

Rosie turned to the crowd, and with jiggling her breasts hooted, “She needs a private word.”

The room exploded with laughter.

Kate, her fear mounting and her patience at an end, took hold of the woman’s elbow and hauled her into the mews. “Mistress, I do not have the time for foolishness. Would you like to earn a fast pound or not?”

The woman’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “A pound ? And what need I do to earn it, fuck the king?” She threw back her head and laughed.

Kate crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine. If not you then give me the name of one who does.”

The woman sobered immediately. “What exactly need I do? I’m not into beatings, mind ye.”

Beatings? Kate shuddered. “I need you to find three more ladies and come with me.”

“The ladies ain’t a problem. But come where and do what?”

Merciful mother, give me patience. “I need you and the ladies to entertain--keep happily occupied, if you will-- several of His Majesty’s guards so I might...do what I need to do.”

Rosie cocked her head. “At the Tower, ye mean? Whilst ye entertain someone else being held within?”

Kate felt hard-pressed not to scream in frustration. “Yes, if you must know.”

The woman grinned. “Well, ducks, never let it be said ol’ Rosie has a hard heart, but it will cost ye two pounds. One for me and one for the ladies to split. We’re gonna need seven ladies. They’ve doubled the guard yon, for some reason. And we’ll need wine. Lots of it.” She held out her palm. “Half now...for the wine and the girls.”

Praying the woman was honest, Kate counted out the coins and put them in the woman’s soiled palm. “Doubled the guard?” She had no idea in which tower Ian was being held, much less how she would get him out.

Rosie pocketed the coins and took her by the arm. “Not to worry. One of the guards is a regular...friend. I’ll say we’ve come to celebrate some good fortune with him and his mates. Get ’em drunk and entertained in no time ‘tall and then ye can slip in.”

At the corner of the mews Rosie murmured, “But don’t ye dally more than an hour. They’ll be changing the guard at midnight and we had best be away.”

My word, was it so late already? No, it couldn’t be. Kate looked about for a clock.

“Come, ducks, in here.”

Rosie led Kate into a dark alley with yet another public house. “Wait.” A moment later she returned with two young women in tow. They went to three more establishments before the garishly dressed doxies numbered eight. All carried flagons of wine.

At the southwest corner of the Tower, Rosie pulled Kate aside. “Ye wait there in the shadows as close to the moat as ye can. Give us a bit, then come look. If ye see naught by the gate, then all is well. We made it into the gatehouses. If we’re still at the gates, then ye have lost yer coins for naught.”

Kate nodded and handed the woman the rest of the coins she had promised. “God’s speed.”

Rosie chuckled. “Ain’t no God here, ducks. ‘Tis the Devil’s work we do, but I thank ye for the thought...and the coins.”

As Kate moved into the Tower’s shadow, Roxie collected her friends and, arms about each other, they started laughing and weaving, heading for the gates.

Minutes felt like hours. Kate wrung her hands and strained to hear what went on just yards away. The women’s voices finally grew distant then faded completely.

Oh, please, please let them be in.

Her basket looped over her arm, Kate edged toward the torch-lit gatehouse. At the unglazed slit aperture she peeked in and saw Rosie, her back to the wall. Before Rosie stood a guard, his hose down around his knees. Next to her another girl had a guard fully occupied, but from behind.

Hurrying around the portal on silent feet Kate silently blessed Rosie. At the middle guardhouse, Kate found the same scenario. Four girls, four guards rutting. Two couples in either side of the moat guardhouse.

She slowed as she entered the bailey. The guard before the Bell Tower frowned as she approached. She pushed her hood back and his features relaxed. “Ah, it is you for sure. Kind of late for you, though.”

Her dream was proving too accurate. “Good evening, Mr. Potts. Yes, it is late, but Father has come down with fever and wanted me to fetch the Latin books for him.”

Mr. Potts unlocked the door and muttered, “Be quick about it.”

Kate’s heart suddenly plunged. She’d given no thought to how she’d get Ian out should he be too injured to walk. She looked toward the stable. Guards sat three deep playing with dice. Praying she sounded calm, she replied, “I shall.”

At the first landing she checked to be sure no one observed her then ran down the long corridor toward Beauchamp Tower. If any questioned her she would lie and say she was looking for her father who had come this way. He often wandered about, enthralled with the history of the place. She, on the other hand, loathed the Tower’s dark passages and cold stones.

Finding Beauchamp empty, Kate searched on. Panting, she cursed at the top level of the Deveraux Tower. Empty. To the next, then. She flew down the stairs, coming close to falling twice. At the lowest level she peeked out the door, and finding the north corridor empty, she ran toward Flint Tower.

Just as she reached the portal someone reached out and grabbed her. Her scream became trapped in her throat as a strong hand covered her mouth, and she was pulled backward into shadows.

“ Hush , Kate. It’s only me.”

Kate’s legs nearly gave out. “ Father? ” What on earth was he doing here?

“I’ve been praying I was wrong but your presence here obviously proves me right.” He hauled her deeper into the shadows. “I found him. He’s in the Salt Tower. You may give him food and water and then you need to say good-bye. I forbid you to risk your life like this.”

He took her arm and led her forward. Kate, still not believing her eyes, sputtered, “But how? Why?”

“Later. Just prepare yourself. He’s hurt and badly.”

As they passed Constable Tower a guard stepped out of Broad Arrow Tower some distance ahead of them. “Easy, daughter. We’re just walking about. Nothing more.”

As the guard approached, her father murmured, “Good eve, Mr. Tooley.”

Not until after the guard answered in kind and continued on down the long east corridor did Kate release her breath.

At Salt Tower her father paused. He checked the hallway and then peered through an open aperture to view the courtyard before pulling on the door and whispering, “The next level. Hurry.”

Kate grabbed her skirts and took the winding stairs two at a time. On the first level she lifted a rush torch from its wrought iron holder, carried it to the nearest cell door, and peered through the narrow grill portal. Empty. She went to the next cell, held the light high again and nearly screamed.