The Battle for Duncragglin (27 page)

The stable master stepped up smartly. “Right away, Sire.” He pulled Alex forward by his chain. Alex frantically pulled back.

The stable master thrust Alex's chain into the hands of one of Hesselrigge's guards. “Here, hold this while I pin him to the rack.”

Hesselrigge's guard dutifully took hold of the chain. The stable master reached down, grasped the hilt of the guard's sword, and removed it in one deft motion.

“What the –” The guard's shout was cut off by a blow
from his own sword. He dropped the chain, staggered backwards, and fell to his knees. He held his throat with both hands, blood spurting between his fingers as he gasped for air.

Don-Dun instantly ran his sword through the middle of Rorie's one remaining guard, leaving the shocked man impaled and tottering. Don-Dun spun, pulled a dagger from his belt, and knocked Hesselrigge's last guard to the ground. The fallen guard flailed.

The stable master lunged with his sword for Rorie, but Rorie's sword flashed out and parried it neatly. Rorie's follow-up slice passed under the stable master's sword and would have hit the stable master had he not leapt back in time.

The stable master's sword-fighting ability, though impressive, was not up to the level of a seasoned professional like Rorie. The stable master retreated, jumping back to avoid another sweeping slice of Rorie's sword. His heel caught an uneven edge of flagstone and he fell backwards. He rolled quickly, Rorie's sword clanging hard against the stone floor right where he had been.

The next swing would have been the end of the stable master, but Alex swung the loose chain still manacled to his wrist and it wrapped over Rorie's shoulder. Momentarily unbalanced, Rorie missed. Again, his sword sparked off a flagstone.

The stable master lunged, sticking his sword directly into Rorie's gut. He gave an extrahard twist and pulled out the bloodied blade. Too late, he saw Rorie's weakened-but-still-forceful swing heading for him. The sword crashed into his upper arm, causing him to spin and fall to the ground.

Rorie staggered uncertainly, his hand over his lower abdomen. Gasping in heavy rasps, flecks of bright red blood bubbling about his lips, Rorie looked down in dis belief. His eyes turned to Alex. Grabbing the part of Alex's chain that was still wrapped around his body, he yanked, pulling Alex closer. He took a few unsteady steps forward, raising his sword. Don-Dun's sword swept up to intercept. The crashing impact jolted the sword from Rorie's grip. Rorie staggered backwards and clasped a heavy rope that hung against a wall. He clung on to the rope until his knees gave out, then fell heavily, face-first, onto the flagstones.

“No, ye do not!” roared Don-Dun. “Get over to the wall. Now, move.”

Hesselrigge slowly backed away. “Ye will pay for this with your life!” he hissed.

Don-Dun slammed the butt end of his sword into Hesselrigge's belly. Hesselrigge let out an
oof
and doubled over, eyes bulging.

“Don't ye threaten me! I'm done with people threatening me!” Don-Dun roughly raised Hesselrigge's arms and shackled them to the wall.

Alex looked in horror upon the carnage all around him: Rorie, the guards, dark splotches of blood on tunics, the stone floor … a neck sliced open. He averted his eyes.

The stable master clutched his injured arm as the fool helped him to his feet. “It's not deep,” he said, straining to see the gash in the back of his arm. “The coat of mail must've stopped most of it.”

The fool ripped the sleeve off Rorie's shirt and wrapped
it around the stable master's arm, tying it tightly. Blood was already showing through the cloth.

“Good thing it's not my sword arm,” the stable master said airily. He fumbled with a pouch on his belt and pulled out a key. “Here, Alex.” He tossed it.

Alex caught the key and unlocked his wrist manacle. He pried the hinged irons open and the chain clattered to the ground.

A loud rap sounded on the door.

“One sound and ye're a dead man.” Don-Dun growled at Hesselrigge. He joined the stable master in position, sword up and ready, on either side of the opening door.

To Alex's shock, it was Annie and Katie who appeared first, both bound by a coarse rope about their necks. They staggered into the room, shoved roughly by a surly guard.

“It's a trap – run!” Hesselrigge roared. “Run, you fool! Go!
Helmmmmmph
–”

Hesselrigge's shouts were abruptly muffled by the fool, who struggled to stuff a dirty rag into his mouth.

The guard managed to draw and swing his sword. The stable master deflected the blow with his sword, while Don-Dun ran him through. Together, they grabbed the sagging guard and pulled him into the room. Don-Dun kicked the door shut, and they dumped him into a corner.

“They got you too,” Annie said to Alex in dismay.

“Don't worry, we're with friends – we're all going to escape.” Alex quickly untied the ropes from their necks. Katie was shaking badly, her eyes dull and unfocused.

“What is it, Katie?” he asked.

Katie's voice was barely above a whisper, but she managed a weak smile. “
Och,
I'm a wee bit cold, that's all. It's so great to see ye again.” Shivers ran through her as she spoke.

“A blanket!” Alex called out. “Is there a blanket somewhere?”

The fool tossed over Hesselrigge's fur-trimmed blue cloak. Alex wrapped it around Katie several times.

The fool then knotted a torn cloth about Hesselrigge's head to keep him from spitting the rag from his mouth. “Who's the fool now, eh?” he said calmly.

“Damn! It's as I feared.” The stable master held up the end of the rope that Rorie had clung to before falling. “A bell rope! It travels up through that small hole to the higher levels. I suspect it rings a bell in the guardroom.
That
was why Rorie hung onto it so desperately. No doubt, guards will be on their way as we speak. Let us be off!”

Don-Dun reached for the door, but before his hand touched the handle, it burst open. Everyone jumped back in panic. Don-Dun and the stable master scrambled to draw their swords. It was Duncan.

A fierce scowl spreading over his face, Don-Dun lowered his sword. “Can ye no knock and announce your presence?”

Duncan looked at Don-Dun in astonishment, his mouth open but not uttering a sound. He held out his bloodstained hands in horror.

The stable master shook him by the shoulders. “Snap out of it, man. Where's the kitchen master?”

“Dead.” Duncan looked down at his hands as if wondering whose they were. “I had to … I had no choice …
he tried to take the dagger from me….” Duncan paused. With a look of growing disbelief, he stared at all the dead bodies sprawled across the floor. “What on earth has happened here?”

“We killed them – that's what ye do in a battle,” the stable master snapped. “So, where's your dagger?”

“I left it in him … oh, it was horrible. I couldn't pull it back out…. He kept breathing and twitching for the longest time…. I've never killed anyone before….”

The stable master snorted. “So he
did
take your dagger?”

“Duncan?” Annie looked out from behind Don-Dun. “Is that truly you?”

“Annie!” Duncan's face broke into a big grin. “I came to find ye, lassie. I came with the professor here to bring ye back to your dad. He's beside himself with worry.”

“Come, we haven't got all day.” The stable master stood impatiently holding the door. “Guards will be along any minute – we must be off.”

“But, we've got to find Willie, Annie's brother,” Alex said. “He's still in one of the cells somewhere!”

The stable master rolled his eyes. “Not another. This is getting to be so very difficult!” He sighed. “Alright, let's go.”

They hurried out of the room, leaving Hesselrigge chained to the wall. They passed row upon row of barred cells.

“Willie … Willie,” Annie called out softly. Haggard captives stared back, looking remarkably similar with their gaunt gray faces and patchy thin hair.

Don-Dun held up a hand. “Listen.”

They paused, holding their breaths. They could hear the distant screeching of the gate and the faint murmur of voices.

“That would be them!” The stable master waved for everyone to follow him. “We'll wait in here until the guards pass.” He ducked into a large empty cell and promptly fell headlong over an obstacle. Landing on his injured arm, he grunted with pain.

The dark mound he had tripped over had a dagger protruding from its side and wore a leather apron. The stable master got to his feet and yanked out the dagger. He flicked both sides of its blade onto the body's tunic and held it out, handle first, to Duncan. “Ye may need this again.”

Swaying unsteadily, Duncan just stared at it.

“Come on, man, the guards are on their way.” Sweat shone on the stable master's face. “Would ye rather they take Annie and Alex back to the rack room?”

Duncan's hand was shaking, but he took the dagger. He clenched it tightly, as if trying to squeeze the life from it.

The stable master grabbed the kitchen master's foot and unceremoniously slid him aside. Alex felt a stickiness under his feet. Don-Dun and the stable master positioned themselves nearest the main passage, backs pressed against the wall, swords drawn. They watched for the guards.

Annie clutched the stable master's arm. “When we find Willie, can we release the other captives too?”

“Don't be ridiculous!” the stable master snapped. “We'll be lucky to find your brother.”

“But we can't just leave them.” Annie was in tears. “It's horrible in those cells, all cold and wet, with no room to move…. It's not as if they're bad people; they're just people who couldn't pay their taxes and things like that. They'll die if we don't get them out!”

The stable master raised a finger to his lips. “We'll help them, don't ye worry. But we cannae do it now. The best thing we can do for these people, indeed for everyone who lives within and without the walls of this wretched place, is to help Wallace win – any way we can. Right now that means being still, so
weesht
before we're heard.”

Annie pressed against the wall and put her arm around the bundled-up Katie.

Within minutes, the echoes of clinking armor and distant voices penetrated their cell. The stable master held his free hand up behind him, cautioning everyone to be quiet. Slowly, his hands formed a tight grip on his sword. His fingers flexed and tightened, flexed and tightened. The approaching footsteps echoed louder and louder on the flagstone floor. A man flashed by, followed by five armored guards. None looked into their cell.

The sound of the receding footsteps had not yet faded when the stable master sheathed his sword and waved them out. “Quickly now, we have no time to lose. As soon as they see what awaits them in the rack room, they'll be back. Don-Dun, you and I need to act like we're guarding this lot of captives. Duncan, you announce to the gatekeeper that we're taking them up to work in the kitchens. Tell him ye're to bring the young captive named Willie with us also.”

They walked purposefully to the gate, Duncan in the lead, the pretend guards ushering along the pretend captives.

Duncan stopped at the guardroom door and gave it a rap. “Gatekeeper! Come out.”

There was silence within. Duncan pounded on the door once more. Furniture scraped over stone. The door creaked
open the width of a head, and the gatekeeper's stubbly face poked out. “What do ye want?” he grunted.

“We want for ye to have your assistant fetch us the foreign spy named Willie and for ye to open these gates. We're to bring this lot up to the kitchens.”

The gatekeeper looked them over with suspicion. “That cannae be. Lord Hesselrigge was about to question this lot why are ye taking 'm away?”

“We just spoke with him, and those are his orders, man,” Duncan said impatiently. “Give the orders that the captive Willie be brought to us and open the gate. And do it
now.”

The gatekeeper abruptly tried to shut the door, but Duncan had stuck his foot into the frame. The stable master brushed past Alex and hit the door with his shoulder. He staggered into the guardroom, with Don-Dun close behind.

There was only one other guard in the room and he was asleep on a pallet. The sound of the stable master bursting into the room woke him up, but Don-Dun's sword was on his neck before he could rise.

Annie clutched the gatekeeper's tunic and shook him. “Where's Willie?” she shouted. “What did you do with my brother?”

The gatekeeper cackled, but said nothing.

The stable master gently nudged Annie aside. He placed his hand on the gatekeeper's forehead and gave it a sharp shove. The back of the gatekeeper's head cracked against the wall with a nasty thud.

“The next one will give ye a
real
headache.” The stable master kept his hand resting lightly on the gatekeeper's forehead. “Now, answer her!”

“He's … been taken,” the gatekeeper choked.

“Where?” The stable master tensed his arm. “Quickly, man.”

“It's no my fault….” The gatekeeper's toothless mouth flapped. “I only take orders –”

“What's no your fault? Tell me! Where is the boy?”

“They took him to the gallows!” The gatekeeper shrieked, raising his hands to shield himself.