The Lady and the Earl (52 page)

Lilly
’s eyes were blurred from tears, and the shadows hid the man’s face from her.  She blinked several times and strain
ed to get a clearer view of him
. 
If only she could see his face, she might discover w
here she
recognize
d
his
voice from
.

The two men with Lilly and Maggie
—Garret and Thomas—obeyed,
stealthily taking the two
women
away from their pursuers and into unfamiliar territory.  Lilly quietly cried as she allowed
Garret
to guide her.
 
Maggie
seemed to
struggle for a few moment
s before giving into Thomas
and allowing
him
to slip
her silently through the woods. 
Frustration and fear
w
ere
present on her face, but Lilly felt these men were not their enemies.  Something about that voice….
 

Connor and
Declan
watched as Arden was escorted inside the gates by what looked to be hired thugs.  There were still at least ten men standing guard.  They were going to have to be as quiet as possible. 

“Are you ready?” Connor whispered. 

Declan
nodded. 

The two men crouched low to the ground and made a dash for the outer wall, staying
hidden as much as possible.  The high, stone wall surrounding the gates was covered in vines that created some coverage for
the two men
as they searched for the small entrance to the hidden tunnel.  They found it where Maggie told them they would.  Vines covered the old wooden door, just as
she’d
said, hiding the door from those who did
not
know of its existence. 
Declan clasped the doorknob and cursed.

“What?”
Connor asked quietly.

“
It’s locked
,”
Declan
answered. 

Connor studied the door. 
“
It looks
old.  We could break it down,”
he
suggested.

“That would make too much noise,”
Declan
whispered.  He
stared at the door for a moment.  Then he pulled a dagger out of his boot and stuck the tip
in the keyhole.  He jiggled it around inside
as if trying
to unlock the door. 
He
worked the door mercilessly without success. 

“Infernal thing.
  Open up,” he hissed at the door as he jabbed at the keyhole. 

Connor watched his friend
pull his dagger away in frustration and jam it back down into his boot.  Then,
without thinking, he kicked hard at the door.  Not only did his foot go right through the old door, but it also tore it away from the hinges. 
Declan
was currently being dragged forward as the door fell to the ground creating a loud bang.   

If their situation weren’t dire, Connor would have thought the scene rather comical as he watched
Declan
being pulled into the tunnel by that old, wooden door.  As it was, though, all the noise
Declan
had just
caused
brought anxiety to both men.  They stared at each other in stilled silence, listening carefully for noise from above.  Had anyone heard them?

*
             
*
             
*

“Quick, get in here,”
Declan
hissed from within the dark tunnel.  He
began
tugging at his trapped foot.  Why
had he been so stupid?  If he’
d examined the door more closely, he would
have realized the wood was rotten, and then they could have carefully pried it open.  But no, he
’
d
lost
his temper and kick
ed
the damn thing.  His foot lurched free, the momentum sending him to the floor. 

“Damn door,”
Declan
cursed as he climbed to his feet.  He was ready to kick it again, but thought better of it.  He did
n’
t
have time to wrestle with a door.  There was a commotion from above.  Guards were coming to inspect the source of all the noise
Declan
had foolishly caused. 

“Could anything else go wrong
?” he
growled as both he and Connor broke into a sprint down the dark tunnel to
Lucas’s
manor. 

They could hear several pairs of feet following close behind.  “What
do you
think?” Connor asked between breaths.

“Turn and fight,”
Declan
began, “or try to outrun them?”

“This
t
unnel
can’
t last
much longer,” Connor panted.  “But who knows
what’
s
on
the other side.  We stand
a better chance…fighting in
close quarters
than we do out in the open,” he finished in a rush of air.

“Then we fight,”
Declan
said, slowing to a stop. 
They drew their swords and waited for their pursuers to catch up to them
. 

The tunnel was dark, not showing much beyond the silhouettes of men coming toward Connor and
Declan
.  As the mercenaries came closer,
Declan
could count six of them.  One drew his pistol and fired aimlessly into the dark tunnel, causing both Connor and
Declan
to duck for cover as the shot ricocheted off the wall to their right. 

“He
wants them alive, you fool!” t
hey heard a man shout out.  “Put away your guns.  We
have to take them
alive!
”

“Well, that i
s reassuring,” Connor said sarcastically.

“Ho
w did he know we were coming?”
Declan
asked quietly. 

Connor shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. 

They waited as the men approached.

“Put down your weapons,” a dark-skinned man said as the mercenaries grew closer. 

“
No
,”
Declan
replied.

“You are outnumbered,” the man began.  “You don’t stand a chance.”

“I think we do,” Connor said confidently. 

The two men stared at their pursuers defiantly.  

“Very well.
  Try not to kill them,” the dark-skinned man said to his men as he motioned them forward. 

The tunnel was narrow, only allowing two possibly three men to stand side by side.  It was perfect for
Declan
and Connor.  They had just enough room to maneuver their swords without getting in each other’s way.  The mercenaries were
ruthless
in their attacks, trading
dexterity for
power, but
Declan
and Connor were too fast and skilled for the blows.  They quickly dispatched the small party of men without difficulty. 

“I’
m glad we chose to stand our ground,” Connor said
while picking up a
dead men’s pistol.  “
Now we have additional weapons
.”

“Yes, but I’m afraid we’
re going to have to be more careful on
ce we get into the house.  They wi
ll be expecting us now,”
Declan
replied.  He was feeling very edgy as they drew closer to the house.  Why did Lucas want them kept alive, and did he know they were already here? 

They approached their exit without further complications.  There was a small, wooden ladder, which led up to a trapdoor, and that led to the storage room. 
Declan
eyed the wooden rungs with unease.  Hopefully, these weren’t as weak as the door he had kicked in. 

The steps held their weight, allowing them access to the above storage room where they cautiously made their way to the kitchen.  The cook let out a yelp as Connor and
Declan
entered from a room that, as far as she knew, had only one door, and that was the one the men were emerging from.  The other maids simply stared wide-eyed at Connor and
Declan
as though gods had suddenly appeared within their mists. 

“Where is Lady Allana?”
Declan
asked the group of women.  They continued to stare
dumbfounded at
him.  “Someone
answer
me!” h
e demanded.  “Which room is he keeping her in?” 
Still no answer.

“They don’t know,
Declan
.  Let’s
—
”

“She’s in one of the rooms on the third floor.  I heard voices up there earlier,” a redheaded girl with freckles finally said.

“Thank you,”
Declan
said appreciatively before heading toward the door
that
led to the back hallway.

“Wait,” the girl said frantically.  “There are guards every
—
”

“Shut-up you stupid girl.  Do you w
ant to get us all in trouble?” t
he cook hissed to the redhead.

“But
—
”

“We know,” Connor assured her as he followed
Declan
out of the kitchen and down the dimly lit hallway. 

They made it to the library after sneaking past two patrols of mercenaries and found the entrance to the second passageway that would take them closer to Allana.  It led them up a small, spiraled staircase and ended abruptly in front of a brick wall. 

“I wish we knew what was on the other side of this wall,”
Declan
said quietly.  There
could be an ambush waiting for all he knew. 

“I have
a bad feeling,” Connor said quietly to
Declan
’s
back. “We’ve made it too far without any problems, and that worries me.”

“I know.  Something
doesn’t
seem right about this,”
Declan
whispered in return.  “But we have to keep going.”  He shoved at the wall in front of him where Maggie had told him to push, causing it to slowly open.  When it did, seven men immediately swarmed
Declan
. 

“Run Connor!”
Declan
shouted while he fought off his attackers. 

*
             
*
             
*

Connor was already gone.  He could tell there was no help for
Declan
at the moment, so he had dashed back down the stairs away from the onslaught of men.  Their only hope was for him to get free and come back for
Declan
.  He reached the bottom of the spiral staircase
and was ambushed by
five men waiting for him.  He
threw an elbow due to the tight quarters, but was overwhelmed before he could do much else. 
In a matter of seconds, he was thrown to the ground, and his hands were bound tightly behind his back.
  He was furious.  There had been a time in his life when he
’d
boxed for money in the slums of London.  Once he had even taken on four separate opponents, beating them easily.  He
was
undefeated when he
d
ecided to give up the sport.  His sponsors
had been
very disappointed to lose him. 
Today he
should have fared better
.  To
be taken down in a matter of seconds was embarrassing.  Of course, he
had
been caught by surprise.
 

The men hauled him back up the stairs where they found
Declan
still fighting furiously.  It only lasted a few more minutes as Connor’s attackers joined forces with
Declan
’s
and
threw
him to the floor.  They bound him tightly as they had Connor and pulled him to his feet.

“There’
s someone who wants to see you,” a man with a
large
scar across his face sneered
at
Declan
.