Marysvale (47 page)

Jane wasted no time in reversing his
orders. Her musket belched fire through the darkness, briefly
giving away our position; but the officer didn’t notice. Her shot
found its mark, and he fell over dead.

More soldiers caught up and poured out
onto the stairs.

I took my turn, fired… and
missed…again.

Perhaps it was intuition, or maybe
because it’s what I would have done—either way, I didn’t have to
look to know that Jane eyed me questioningly. I didn’t meet her
gaze, and she said nothing. She broke her stare and
reloaded.

Trying to redeem myself, I grabbed up
the crossbow. Quickly, I aimed, and pulled the trigger—halfway, for
the first arrow, then all the way for the second. Silent and lethal
arrows sliced through the air, burying themselves deep into their
victims. Neither of them heard a thing. The first man cried out in
pain and fell backward. The other screamed and tumbled over the
edge, into the black abyss. Seconds passed before a crunching thud
echoed up, registering the end of his descent.

Regretting that I’d left the remaining
three arrows on Smoke, I returned to loading the musket.

Some of the soldiers saw the spark from
our muskets, including another officer. He yelled orders to shoot
at the flash.

I desperately grabbed Jane by the hand
and dragged her further down the stairs.

The soldiers fired.

Balls flew by dangerously close,
ricocheting off the cavern walls and out into the
blackness.

Jane finished loading and fired at the
officer; he crumbled to the ground with a croak.

She started to reload, but I took the
musket from her and thrust my loaded one into her hands. Then I
reloaded hers.

She fired and missed.

I finished loading and handed her the
musket. This time she hit her target. We repeated the cycle three
more times, with three more hits.

The mini massacre didn’t go unnoticed
by the remaining soldiers. Without an officer to direct and
motivate them, they fled to the safety of the passageway, stumbling
over the fallen and wounded in their escape.

Scooping up the crossbow, I tucked it
under my arm and grasped the musket and balls. With my other hand,
I took Jane’s.

“
Let’s go,” I said. “They
won’t stay there for long.”

And indeed the angry shouts of arriving
officers could already be heard as they ordered and reorganized the
men in preparation for another assault.

Hand in hand, we fled down the
stairs.

“
Amazing! Where did you
learn to shoot like that?” I asked.

“
Sarah,” she replied with a
grin. “I’ll teach you when we have more time.”

A sharp pain shot through my side. I
groaned through gritted teeth, withdrew my hand from Jane’s, and
pressed it against the wound. My clothes were soaked with blood. In
the excitement, I’d forgotten about it, though in light of the
pain, I’m not sure how.

“
You’re wounded,” cried
Jane. “When did it happen?”

“
The guard at the castle
door.”

“
When you cut in front of
me,” she said more to herself. She then added resolutely, “We need
to bandage it.”

“
I most assuredly agree. But
perhaps now isn’t the best time. Don’t worry, I won’t collapse for
at least another minute or two,” I joked.

She didn’t think I was
funny.

We reached the bottom and ran into the
passage leading to the dungeon where Sarah and Hannah waited. Jane
leapt up onto her horse, and I launched onto Smoke. Halfway through
my jump, I realized a more judicial and perhaps less heroic
approach to mounting Smoke would have been in order. In pain, I
gasped in a somewhat less masculine way than I would have liked.
But at least I made it, saving me the embarrassment of falling back
to the ground. I wondered what kind of hell Sarah and Hannah were
experiencing with their many cuts and wounds. It sent a tingle of
sympathy pangs to areas best left unmentioned.

The sound of soldiers clamoring down
the stairs filled the air.

“
Hurry! GO!” I shouted
unnecessarily, as Sarah had also heard the commotion and was
already galloping down the tunnel.

Through the passage we fled, and in no
time, one by one, we burst into the dungeon.

Suddenly, Hannah, then Jane let out
screams of terror; Hannah’s being the loudest.

Upon entering the chamber, I
immediately saw the horror that lay before us. I sucked in my
breath, stifling the cry that threatened to escape.

S
IX
Brean hunched over Lyman’s and the now dead
soldiers’ bodies. They were feasting on the corpses, their ugly
faces and hands drenched in blood.

Raising their massive heads, they
regarded us with their black, cold eyes.

My stare met with that of a Brean who,
although I couldn’t be sure, resembled the first one I’d seen and
shot near Sarah’s. It felt like ages ago.

It recognized me, too.

The monster stretched its jaws wide and
bellowed a deafening roar that blew spittle and blood. The other
Brean responded, in a chorus of thunderous vociferation that shook
the cave and sent shivers of fear down my spine.

Sarah charged through the chamber, past
the Brean, and down the last tunnel leading to the outside. Hannah
followed Sarah into the tunnel, with Jane right behind.

Altering Smoke’s course slightly, we
dashed by the wall, and I grabbed a torch before turning and
galloping down the tunnel.

Grunts, snarls, and the thumping of
padded feet, echoed behind us, and told me that the pursuit was
on.

Past the torture room and down the dark
tunnel we sped.

Looking back, my heart leapt. One of
the Brean had gained ground and was frightfully close.

Rounding the bend in the tunnel, I
turned my head just in time to see Sarah exit the cave and
disappear into the night.

Approaching the mouth of the cave
revealed what I’d been waiting for—barrels of black powder,
specifically the one with the lid that I’d pried back
earlier.

Hannah exited.

My hands felt cold and clammy. The
placement of the torch was a problem I hadn’t fully figured out
yet. All I knew was that tossing it directly on the powder would
cause an instant explosion, blowing everything left in the tunnel
to bits, including me and Smoke.

Jane exited.

At least I don’t have to shoot the
barrel
, I thought dryly.

I took a deep breath, which caused pain
to shoot through my side, and tossed the torch. It flew in an arch
and landed on the lid. The momentum from its weight caused the lid
to shift; and the burning torch reversed course and slowly started
its fatal roll down toward its destiny…entirely too fast. The cave
was about to become a tomb—my tomb.

The exit grew nearer, yet had the
terrible effect of shrinking away from me the closer the blazing
torch came to the powder.

When I was sure my life was over, an
odd experience happened.... Time slowed—or perhaps my brain sped
up. All kinds of thoughts filled my head. I thought about my short
time at Sarah’s, and my first encounter with Jane and Hannah. My
thoughts flowed like a river—the cascading water randomly bubbling
from one memory to another.

We sailed on as the tip of the fiery
torch rolled to the edge, about to fall into the powder and thereby
turn the cave into rubble. My river of thoughts became dark and
ugly—its murky water rushing over the edge of a high fall, tumbling
and tossing, racing to its final fate below. I was going to die in
this cave.
How will death come?
Perhaps I would be killed
quickly under the crushing weight of rock.
Or will I die
slowly—in a trapped pocket of air, as dust chokes my lungs and
suffocates me?

Like water dashing on the rocks below
the fall, a chilling screech pulled me from the dark corners of my
mind. It was a terrifying sound that drew my attention behind me.
The Brean leapt into the air. Its sharp claws poised for the kill
as it shot towards us.

Whether it was the cry from the monster
behind us that motivated him, or that he too could feel the
impending danger—whatever the reason, Smoke launched forward. He
accelerated so fast that I nearly tumbled off his back. It was
unnaturally swift, and the only thing that saved me was a desperate
grasp of his mane. In that moment, I learned that, not only was
Smoke an incredible animal, but
he
was special,
too.

With that incredible burst of speed, we
sailed out into the fresh air and away from the opening.

The explosion roared behind us. It
looked, and felt, like a cannon. Rock, dust, and bits of Brean
blasted out the opening of the cave and rained down over the
remains of the rock quarry and woods. The blast was devastating.
The earth trembled, as unseen rock collapsed and sealed the
entrance. The rumbling continued until the cave-in had completed
itself.

When the destruction was over, Sarah
asked in astonishment, “What happened?”

“
I threw a torch,” I replied
casually, as if that explained everything.

“
That was some torch,”
retorted Jane.

“
Yes, I’ll teach you how to
throw one when we have more time,” I replied calmly, though I shook
uncontrollably from fear and excitement.

Jane threw me a sarcastic
smile.

“
But for now,” I continued,
“I’m positive that the whole garrison is awake.”

“
If not the whole town,”
added Hannah.

“
Yes, well, my point is, I
think they may send someone to investigate. We should get
away.”

“
Oh, I am quite positive
they will do more than just that,” informed Sarah, looking
up.

We all followed her eyes. High above,
on his balcony, stood Lord Wright, glaring down at us through the
cloud of dust and debris. Two men stood at his side. One of them
pointed in our direction and said something. Wright
nodded.

“
Then we’d better not waste
any more time,” I suggested.

“
No,” contradicted
Jane.

“
What?” I asked, not
entirely sure I heard her right.

“
No,” she repeated. “I’m
going to check your wound and bandage it.” She alighted from her
mount.

I started to protest, but she cut me
off.

“
We have a few minutes at
the least. It will take them time to get horses and men ready.
And,” she said, holding a finger up to keep me from protesting, “it
will take longer if you argue, and much longer if we have to go
back and pick you up after you’ve fainted from loss of
blood.”

“
She’s right,” agreed Sarah.
“I’m afraid we won’t survive in the woods for very long without
you.”

I knew that arguing with the women was
a losing proposition, so I gave in. “Very well,” I said,
dismounting Smoke with a grimace. “But do hurry.”

“
As fast as I can,” she
assured.