Always: You'll Never Walk Alone (13 page)

Chapter Nineteen

I don’t know which door she’d come out from, but there she was running across the courtyard, her blond hair streaming behind her. She reached the injured boy and examined his leg, calling out to an older woman, who turned and ran back inside. I stood at the window transfixed, I wanted to call out to her, but she would never hear me from this distance, and I couldn’t give myself away. I whispered her name. As if she had heard, she turned and looked directly at me. I waved frantically but the sun was shining directly on the window and she never saw me.

I stood there looking at her for another few minutes, while she tended to the injured boy, then turned back to the door to make my way back down stairs. Reaching the door, I was just about to go out when I heard voices on the other side. I stood silently waiting for them to pass, but they stopped right outside the door. I could clearly hear them through the door.

“…and now he’s decided to go back to London. I think he’s tired of those poor kid’s he’s got here. I guess they’ll disappear like the last lot. One day he’ll get caught, even a Lord can’t get away with that kind of thing forever.”

“You’re wrong. People like him can get away with anything, and they do.”

“Well he might get away with it in this world, but he’ll get his retribution in the next.”

What kid’s were they talking about? Did they mean Sarah? I heard them walk away down the hall. I opened the door and watched their backs as they turned the corner and disappeared from view.

I hurried back to the door that led downstairs and retraced my way back to the courtyard. The boy had been put on another cart, his leg strapped up. He must have been in shock; he was laying quietly, his face white but no longer crying. Sarah was standing by him, talking quietly and stroking his hair. It was all I could do to stop myself running across the courtyard but I forced myself to walk slowly. I had only gone about fifteen feet when Lord Beecham stalked out. “WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON HERE? WHY IS EVERYONE STANDING AROUND?”

I saw Sarah wince, as if she’d been struck.

“Please Sir, this boy has been injured. One of the carts fell on him.” She pointed to the cart with the broken wheel.

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT SOME PEASANT AND HIS INJURIES. GET HIM OUT OF HERE, AND GET THIS MESS CLEANED UP, AND YOU…” Glaring at Sarah, “GET BACK INSIDE. YOU’VE NO BUSINESS BEING OUT. NOW ALL OF YOU GET THIS STUFF UNLOADED AND GET OUT.”

Storming away, he turned to Sarah. “GET INSIDE.”

Sarah turned back to the boy, stroked his hair one last time, said something to the boy’s father and turned back in the direction she’d come. I stood where I was, unable to move. Lord Beecham hadn’t seen me, or if he had he didn’t remembered me. Sarah was just about to go inside when I shook off my stupor. I broke into a run, reaching her just as she opened the door.

“Sarah...”

She turned and looked at me. For a moment, she didn’t say a word and I thought she didn’t recognize me.

“Stephen?”

Her face lit up and she threw her arms around me.

“Stephen what are you doing? How did you get here?”

I held her tightly, smelling the freshness of her hair. Not believing that I was finally holding her in my arms.

“I’ll tell you all that later. Right now we have to get out of here.”

She tightened her grip on me, as I kissed her hair, her cheek, her neck. We were starting to attract attention, so she pulled away.

“Stephen this is too dangerous. Lord Beecham could come back out at any time. Go to the animal pen. I’ll go inside there’s a door that leads into the pen from there. Wait for me.”

I didn’t want to let her go, but someone from the castle was starting towards us, so she slipped inside and I casually walked away.

“You boy, what are you doing here?”

He was standing in front of me, but looking at the door through which Sarah had just gone.

“N, Nothing Sir. I’m here with Jack Taggart, we were just making a delivery.”

“Delivery? Is that what you call it? I’m sure I saw Taggart leaving an hour ago. You’d better get out now, and don’t let me see you around here talking to any of the residents, or you’ll be spending more time than you’d like, talking to the residents of the sewers. Now get out.”

“Yessir.”

I made my way towards the gate, as I reached it I turned around, he was nowhere in sight and I detoured to the pen. I hid myself at the back so no one could see me, and waited.

The farmers continued with their deliveries as the afternoon wore on and the last one was just leaving when Sarah finally arrived. She ran to me and threw her arms around me once more. We kissed breathlessly. When we finally broke apart, four cows encircled us, staring placidly. It may have been my imagination, but I’m sure they were smiling.

I heard the big gates closing. We were locked inside! Sarah apologized for taking so long to get to me, but the man who’d questioned me had followed her inside and sent her back to her quarters. It was only now that she’d finally felt it was safe to come out.

We sat on a bail of straw, our legs touching, our arms around each other. I was so happy I felt that almost forgotten silly grin return. I tried to hide it, but when I looked at Sarah, she had such a big smile that I couldn’t turn away and we sat there grinning at each other.

“I can’t tell you how many nights I’ve dreamed of that grin of yours.” She laughed.

“I didn’t know you’d ever seen it before.”

“Stephen, we lived together for six weeks. I must’ve seen it at least twice a day.”

I blushed, and she laughed. “Don’t ever stop grinning Stephen. It’s one of the first things that made me fall in love with you.”

My grin got even bigger and I took her in my arms and said, “I love you too Sarah.”

We kissed again, holding each other tightly. I didn’t want this moment to ever end, but finally she pulled away.

“I thought I’d never see you again. We’re so far from London; it took about four days to get here. I was so scared, I don’t even really know exactly where we are. When they first took me I was blindfolded and bound. We travelled for hours before we stopped. Then the blindfold was taken off and I was untied. They said if I tried to escape, or spoke to anyone, they would kill me. I was led into a tavern of some sort where we stayed for the night, the next morning we were on our way again before it was light. We continued on for another three days until we finally arrived here. The windows of the coach were blacked out so I never saw anything of where we were going, except for the overnight stops, and then it was dark. No one spoke to me for the first few days I was here and it wasn’t until I’d been here for a few weeks before I found out I was in Cornwall. How did you ever find me?”

I told her my story, leaving out some of the worst parts, but even so by the time I’d finished she was crying and I held her close.

“Don’t cry. I’m here now and I’m going to take you out of here, although I’m not sure how, now that the gates are locked again. I was hoping to get you out while everyone was going in and out, but we’ll have to come up with another plan now.” I didn’t tell her what I’d heard in the hallway. I thought it best not to scare her now.

She dried her eyes. “There’s another way out. There’s a small gate at the back of the castle it can be unlocked from the inside. We’ll have to wait ‘til it’s dark, but we can sneak out that way unnoticed. The guards stay at the front of the castle most of the time, so if we time it right we can be away, and it’ll be hours before they realize I’m gone. I have to go back now or they’ll start looking for me. You’ll have to wait here for me. I’ll come back in a few hours after everyone’s asleep and take you to the gate.”

She hugged me again, kissed me and turned to go.

“I love you Sarah. Be careful.” I squeezed her hand. “I’ll stay here with the cows until you return.”

She left the pen, rushed across the courtyard and disappeared back into the castle. I sat down to wait for her return and the start of our life together. The courtyard was deserted, except for the chickens that were enjoying a feast from the droppings of the delivery carts. Occasionally the guards would walk past the pen on their route around the castle, but they were focussed on the outside and never once looked in my direction.

The light faded in the sky, and lights came on inside the castle. I could see shadows passing the windows and wondered which room Sarah was in and what she was doing. With the disappearance of the sun, whatever warmth there was disappeared along with it. I moved closer to the cows to get some of their body warmth, but even the cold couldn’t take the smile from my face. The hours passed and one by one lights went out in the castle.

I waited for Sarah!

A door opened into the courtyard, spilling out light. I went out to greet Sarah, but whoever it was went to the opposite side and into another entrance. I went back to my position in the pen and continued to wait. I heard a clock strike midnight she still didn’t come. I was starting to get worried maybe someone had discovered our plan but if that was the case surely they would have come for me by now. No it must be something else. Then I remembered the conversation in the hall. Maybe Lord Beecham had decided to act earlier rather than waiting ‘til tomorrow. I couldn’t wait any longer I slipped out of the pen, checked to see if there were any guards then made my way towards the door I’d last seen Sarah enter. I put my ear against it but couldn’t hear anything so I carefully turned the handle. It was dark inside and I quietly entered, closing the door behind me. I stood there waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness my ears cocked listening for the slightest noise.

There was nothing, it was almost as if the castle was deserted. As my eyes adjusted, I made out the outlines of some shelves. I was in an alcove that led into a vast hallway. There were three sets of stairs leading from the hall and four sets of doors. I was just trying to decide which way to go when one of the doors opened. A woman of about forty, holding a candle, came out. I frantically looked around for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere. I was trapped!

“You must be Stephen.”

“I, I…”

“It’s alright Sarah’s told me about you. I was just coming to see you.”

“Is she alright?”

“Yes she’s fine, but she hasn’t been able to get out. Lord Beecham is leaving for London tomorrow and he has half the staff up running around in preparation. She may have to wait ‘til tomorrow after he’s gone. Everything is much more relaxed when he’s not around and it will be a lot easier to get away. You’ll have to stay in the pen, but I’ve brought some food and I’ll bring more in the morning.”

“No! It has to be tonight.”

I told her what I’d heard earlier and a look of concern came over her face.

“Not again. I didn’t think he would do that again after all the trouble last time. But that man is so evil. I should have seen this coming. I’ll see Sarah; you go back to the pen. I’ll make sure she gets to you. I have to try and save the others. Go Stephen, it may take a little while but I’ll get her there.”

She bustled off and I turned back to the door I’d come in and slipped out.

I was going crazy. It had been more than five hours and Sarah still hadn’t arrived. I’d paced around the pen I don’t know how many times. I’d sat down, stood up, paced, sat down, stood up and paced again. Dawn was starting to break, although it was only about six, I could see the sky just beginning to lighten. If we didn’t leave soon it would be too late. I sat down, stood up and paced again.

Just as I thought she wasn’t going to come, I heard a door open. I went to the edge of the pen and could just make out a figure coming towards me. It was too dark to tell who it was. The person was covered in a coat and some sort of head covering. Then I saw a flash of blonde hair, it was Sarah. My heart leapt, and then we were in each other’s arms.

“We don’t have much time we must leave right now.” She took my hand. Just as we started to go, the guards came past. I pulled her back into the shelter of the pen.

“What…”

“Shh. The guards.”

There were two of them. They stopped about twenty feet away... waiting. It was getting lighter; if they looked in our direction they would see us. We moved further back inside the pen. What were they waiting for? Minutes went by and still they waited. I thought they were going to stay there all morning but finally two more guards came to meet them. They exchanged angry words, apparently this was the watch change. The first two guards were tired and the second two were late. They finally went their own separate ways and the courtyard was clear once more. We ran from the pen across the courtyard and through a small door. There were stairs leading down which we followed into a dank subterranean cellar. Sarah lit a candle and led me across to another set of stairs. We went up, at the top was a small but heavy door bolted top and bottom. I undid the bottom one but the top one wouldn’t move. We were locked in! I looked around for something to break the bolt. There was nothing!

This couldn’t happen. Not after we’d come this far. I took the candle and slowly made my way around the cellar again and then I saw it… a loose stone at the edge of a wall. I worked it backward and forwards until it finally came free. I ran back up the stairs, the candle blew out just as I reached the top, and we were pitched into darkness. I felt the door until I found the bolt, took the stone, and smashed it at the bolt. The noise reverberated through the cellar but I couldn’t stop now and I pounded it again and again. The bolt slid back an inch, then another and then it was free. I pulled on the door and it swung open. The light spilt in lighting Sarah’s face.