Page 22 of Time of the Warlord (Stones of Scotland #5)
M atthew turned out to be an invaluable ally. No one questioned him when he went in to visit the prisoner, taking Sadie along with him.
“They’ll already have run to fetch my mother,” he warned her from the corner of his mouth. “We don’t have long. Now, go back and talk to them for a moment. Then wander outside as if nothing’s wrong.”
Sadie did as he ordered, her heart pounding. Norah was being held in a small stone room, built against the rock of the hill fort. The place seemed impregnable, but Matthew was confident to the point of cockiness.
And no wonder. A few moments later, he came strolling out, Norah by his side.
“How did you do that?” Sadie asked with a gasp as she rushed to hug her sister tightly. Norah was stiff and unyielding, and made no effort to hug Sadie in return. She just stood awkwardly beside Matthew.
He shrugged.
“No one really pays attention to me. And I guess they forgot you’d already walked past them. Now, let’s get moving.”
He hustled them to the stables, where a frightened-looking stable boy had three mounts ready and waiting. The boy gasped with horror when he saw the two women flanking Matthew.
“Matty, you didn’t say this was why you wanted the horses! I can’t let you escape with prisoners!”
Matthew shrugged.
“Warn the guard if you like. But get out of the way. I’m leaving on this horse right now .”
Something strange flashed in his eyes, a burst of bright blue. Before Sadie could even guess what was going on, Matthew was pushing her towards a mounting block. The stable boy stood motionless, his jaw hanging slightly open.
“Get on the horse and go,” Matthew ordered. He was already mounted and kicking his horse towards the door. Sadie and Norah scrambled onto their own mounts and hastened after him. They bolted for the main gate, Matthew in the lead and moving fast.
“Open the gates!” he ordered, his voice almost a scream. “By order of Prince Matthew, open the gate!”
The guards rushed to obey, pulling the huge gates open. Matthew didn’t even slow his horse, just pelted onwards. Sadie and Norah raced behind him, clinging on. Sadie could see her own fear reflected in her sister’s white face.
They had almost made it to the gate when one of the guards shouted out a warning. He must have recognized the two women and grasped what was going on. The guards made to close the gate again, but the three riders were moving too fast. They were through the gate and out onto the road almost before the guards had a chance to react.
“Don’t slow down,” Matthew yelled over his shoulder. “We don’t have far to go.”
Sadie clung grimly onto her reins, gripping her mount hard with her thighs. The strange, flat saddle was comfortable enough but offered almost no grip - and, worst of all, there were still no stirrups. At least she was a passable rider - and knew Norah was, too. In fact, when she looked over at Norah, her sister looked completely relaxed in the saddle, as if she’d done this a hundred times. Perhaps she had, in the year since she’d gone missing.
They rode straight on down the road for a few moments, their horses’ hooves kicking up dirt and pounding hard on the dirt. Sadie could barely see a thing in the darkness, but her mount seemed confident enough. The horses must know this road well.
“We need to turn off here,” Matthew said, slowing his horse a little. Sadie and Norah followed suit, riding close to hover just behind him.
He raised one hand and clicked his fingers. Sudden light, an unnaturally bright blue, flared in his hand. Sadie gasped in shock, then reprimanded herself silently. He was from the twenty-first century, after all. He probably just had some kind of strange flashlight. That was certainly not magic lighting up his hand like that. Such things were impossible.
With the strange blue light illuminating their path, the three of them rode slowly off the road and into the undergrowth that lined it.
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked, her voice a little wobbly. “There’s nothing out here.”
“We only need one thing,” Matthew said. “And we’re almost there.”
The blue glow from his hands spread more widely, covering a large enough area that Sadie could see what lay ahead of them, where the dense bushes opened up to long grass. They were riding straight for a stone circle - smaller than the one she had traveled through before, but still unmistakable.
“You’re sure you can get us home?” Norah asked, speaking for the first time.
“As long as you promise to help me find my father on the other side,” Matthew said. “Time travel isn’t hard. It’s only on the other side that I’ll need your help.”
Sadie and Norah exchanged glances. Time travel isn’t hard ? Something about this boy made her uncomfortable, although he’d never been anything but good-natured. The eerie blue light certainly wasn’t helping.
“Now, I need both of you to lay your hands flat on one of the stones,” Matthew said, swinging down from his horse. “It’s probably best if you’re touching each other as well.”
“What shall we do with the horses?” Sadie asked, wincing as she landed on the ground with a thud.
“Just leave them,” Matthew said. “They’ll find their way home. Now, the stone.”
Sadie and Norah picked their way across the damp grass to place their hands on the stone. Matthew was still hunting for something in his saddlebag.
“We need to hurry up,” Sadie called nervously.
“I’m coming,” Matthew called back. He appeared around the side of his horse, striding towards them.
“Hello, there.”
Sadie whirled around, Norah right beside her. On the far side of the stone circle, two men stood staring at them - and she recognized them both. One was the man from the first stone circle, the man who’d given her the language chip. The other was the sailor who’d pushed her into the ocean.
“Matthew, we have to go!” Norah screamed, throwing herself at the stone. Matthew ran towards them, his feet slapping on the ground, but he was just a little too slow. One man grabbed Sadie and the other grabbed Norah. Matthew slid to a halt, wide-eyed and clearly unsure what to do.
“Fetch Ciaran!” Sadie shouted. “We need his help!”
Matthew stood there, as still and poised as a frightened deer. Then he ran - but not in the direction Sadie had expected. He bolted for the stones, moving so fast that his legs were almost a blur. He hit the stone and, in a flash of bright light, he was gone.