Waterfall (11 page)

“Have you taken a chill, m’lady?”

“A chill?” I asked blankly.

“Yes, you’ve donned a cape, on one of the warmest evenings of the summer.”

I kept my eyes straight ahead. This was Marcello’s right-hand man. No idiot.

“Mayhap I’m coming down with the chills,” I said, lifting my hand from his arm and to my head.

That seemed to stop his conjecture. “Oh, I hope not. Let’s fetch you a cup of mulled wine and get you straight to bed. Most likely you’re overwrought. You’ve endured much today.”

“You’re probably right,” I said.

We moved down through a wide hall and into a massive kitchen, still full of the odors of cooling meat and fresh-baked bread. Cook looked up in surprise at us as she wiped her hands on a cloth. “Can I be of aid, m’lady, m’lord?”

“The lady is in need of something warm to drink,” Luca said.

“Right away, right away,” she murmured. She took a crockery mug with no handles from a shelf, then went to the wide stone oven where a fire still crackled and embers glowed. She dipped a ladle into a kettle at the edge and poured the steaming liquid into a cup, then waddled back over to us.

“Do you have need of anything else, m’lady? You hardly touched your supper. Mayhap some bread? There’s some left from the meal.”

It would be wise to take a little food on the road with me, I realized. It might take hours to find the tombs in the dark, if I didn’t discover just the right path. “Some bread would be wonderful, Cook.”

She smiled, pleased to have guessed at my need, and went to wrap a small, brown loaf in a cloth. “Anything else?”

“No. Thank you. For everything.”

I saw her frown a little at that, and realized I sounded as if I were saying farewell. I lifted the cup. Maybe that would explain the everything.

“Sleep well, m’lady.”

“Thank you.”

Luca walked with me back through the Great Hall.

“Well,” I said. “I believe I can make it back to my room and not get lost again.”

“I’ll see you across the courtyard,” he said, his eyes slightly troubled. He was taking in the bead of sweat on my brow. Probably worrying that I really was ill. But that blasted kitchen had been sweltering. I longed to ditch the cape, but couldn’t, for obvious reasons. If he saw my weapons…

We moved across the cobblestones and reached the corridor hallway. “All right,” I said with a grin. “I know I can make it from here.”

“Are you certain, m’lady?” he asked, his worry turning to teasing.

“Quite. Good night, Sir Luca.”

“Good night, m’lady,” he said. “I hope that morning finds you feeling much better.”

“As do I.” I eased through the doorway and ignored his curious expression. He knew something was up. “Good night,” I said again, closing the door, like a girl on her first date with a boy who didn’t want to leave without a kiss. I put my back to it and closed my eyes, feeling the length of the broadsword down my spine.

I listened, and after a moment, heard his soft leather boots take the first few steps away. I let out a big breath of relief and looked to the candle and rope. On closer inspection, it wasn’t nearly long enough to scale down a castle wall. But then I saw another, on the other end. Its candle simply wasn’t lit.

I hurriedly fetched both lengths of rope, leaving the candle platforms neatly to one side of the corridor-hoping it looked as if a servant were merely servicing them-then tied the ends together. Mom had grown up sailing and delighted in teaching us the ten knots she remembered. Over and under and through, bippety, boppety, boo, I remembered her chanting to us as little girls.

The knot worked now as it had then. I pulled on either end. It would hold.

I’m on my way, Mom. I’m eomin’ home.

I wrapped the long lengths of rope into a figure eight and pulled it over one arm. Then I ducked through the hallway door and climbed the turret staircase that led to the top of the wall where the windows were located. On the last step, I listened and then peeked out. The guard was at the other end, peering over the edge as if he’d seen something. I eased out and quickly moved to the opposite side, where I was partially blocked by the top portion of the tower. Another guard was moving away from me at a leisurely pace. I had about ninety seconds before he would turn and come back in my direction. Ninety, eighty-nine.

I bent and pushed the end of the rope out one slot in the wall-arrow slots, if I remembered it right-then reached to grab it and pull it back through the next slot, counting off the seconds as I worked. Seventy-two, seventy-one. In quick order, after glancing around the tower to be sure the first guard hadn’t caught sight of me, I let the length of rope drop over the edge. It dangled six feet from the ground. Close enough. Sixty-five, sixty-four.

I hurriedly wrapped my hands in strips of cloth to avoid the rope burn to come, pulled the rope up and made a loop, preparing to rappel.

“So that’s why you had need of a sword this night,” said a droll voice a few feet away.

I gasped and jumped, nearly losing my balance on the edge of the wall.

Luca was leaning against the wall, looking down on my intended escape route. “It’s a long drop, m’lady. Why not go through the gate?” he asked, as if he always came across women trying to climb down the castle wall. Fifty-three, fifty-two…

I shook my head, in no mood for his humor at this moment. “I can’t go through the gate,” I whispered, hoping to convince him to just let me go before the guard returned. “They will not allow it at such an hour.”

“Indeed they will not.” He nodded out to the dark woods. “You mean to return to the tumuli?”

I nodded, begging with my eyes.

“That is no place for a lady at night. Do you not remember our encounter this afternoon and the Paratores’ hatred of the Forellis?”

“I am not a Forelli.”

“You may as well be. A night spent in the Forelli household makes you a member.”

“Please, Luca. I must be off. I must look for my sister. My mother.” I took another nervous glance toward the guard. He was nearing the end of the wall.

“In the dark of night? You will find no one except yourself, lost. But you are likely to be discovered by a Paratore patrol. Or worse.”

“Worse? Who is worse?” I looked to the guards on either end, still unaware of us. The last thing I needed was for them to come running on over here too.

Luca sighed heavily. “M’lady, the Paratores are not the Forellis’ only enemy. Surely you know that. Wander ten miles north or south of here, and you’ll find a castle or village who are firmly set for the Florentines. A Norman such as yourself cannot assume to know where it is safe to go. If you need to go, allow me to go as your guard. In the morning, out the gate.”

“Nay. I must be away. I cannot sleep, knowing Evangelia might be out there….”

Luca glanced over the side and raised a brow. “Then I shall go with you now, through the gates.”

“Marcello will not allow you to go.”

“Marcello slumbers. Come, we’ll take a look, if we must. Then we can get back for a few winks before daylight is upon us.”

“If we go through the gates, ten guards will be ringing the bells.”

“So you truly intend to climb the wall?” he asked incredulously. “You’ll fall and break your neck. Then what will Marcello do to me?”

“I will not fall,” I said with a grin, putting my feet over and finding a small ledge. “I wish I had some carabiners and straps, but this will do.” I gave the rope a quick tug then leaned outward. Thirty-two, thirty-one… the guards were probably turning by now, heading back in my direction. Quickly, I rappelled a foot down.

“M’lady!”

“I am fine, Luca,” I hissed, not wanting him to draw attention. “Quit worrying over me like Cook.” I went another foot and smiled up at him. The poor guy was in total shock. “Look away, Luca. Then you can say you never saw me leave, only that I disappeared in the dark.” I eased down quickly then, sliding as fast as I dared, halfexpecting Luca to sound an alarm.

But as I dropped, panting, to the soft peat below, I saw that as the silhouette of the guard returned, my rope was already gone, pulled in from above.

I turned and ran, stumbling a couple of times over branches. I heard a shout from the castle but ignored it. Soon I was deep in the forest, on the narrow horse path that led to the creek. There was just enough of a moon out to see it. If I stayed on it, I should be able to find the Etruscan hill.

It took me about ten minutes to realize I wasn’t alone.

I stopped abruptly and turned, easing my dagger out of its sheath, but keeping it hidden in the folds of my cape.

Then I exhaled a breath as I realized it was Marcello. I could make out his curly hair, his strong, wide shoulders. Luca was right behind him.

I put a hand to my head when they came close. “You scared me to death,” I scolded.

“Mayhap you are dead. Luca says you scale walls like a wraith.” He moved to my side and looked down at me, then grabbed my wrist, slowly bringing the dagger to the soft, ivory light of night. His eyes met mine. “Are you a spy as my father feared, Lady Betarrini?”

“Nay!” Those words kept popping out of me, but they felt more natural now, not quite so weird. “I simply am in search of my family. And you will not let me go look for them, so I had to find another way.”

He looked down at the dagger and then back to me.

“I did not know it was you two, behind me in the woods,” I sputtered. “You think me daft enough to come out in the night, unarmed?” I shook off his hand and slid the dagger back into the front sheath. “I told Luca I wished to do this alone.”

“And I told you,” Luca said, no trace of humor in his voice, “that I could not allow it.”

“Why are you so certain that you will find your sister at the tombs?” Marcello grit out.

“I’m not. I simply…have to know. I cannot sleep another night, thinking she might be out here, lost, looking for me…. What if the Paratores get hold of her?” I shuddered.

“He doesn’t have her, m’lady,” Marcello said, his tone placating again. “He would’ve used her as bait… or demanded a ransom once he connected her to you.”

“Well, that is good for us, then,” I said. “That makes it more likely that Lia is still at the tombs. I’ll either find her there… or I will not. At least on foot, we can approach without detection.”

Marcello sighed and trudged past me. “If we’re to do this foolish thing, let’s get it done. I’d still like to get some sleep this night.”

I hurried after him, struggling to keep up with his fast, irritated pace. Luca followed behind me. It was good to not be alone. I was far less creeped out.

But how was I to enter the tomb with them hovering about?

Marcello stomped forward, never looking back. I paused to let him go ahead and put my hands to my knees, gasping for breath. Apparently, I needed a bit more cardio in my workout routine.

He disappeared into the dark, but Luca stayed behind me. “He’s angry.

Ya think? I was breathing too hard to speak.

Luca took a step closer, dropping his tone. “Mayhap it’s different in Normandy. Here, few dare to question m’lord’s decisions. Frankly, I’m surprised he didn’t drag you back to the castello.”

“You didn’t have to tell him,” I gasped.

“Yes, I did.”

“He didn’t ever… have to know …I was gone,” I insisted.

“He did. The protection of Castello Forelli is his responsibility.”

I gaped at him. “You thought me a spy too?”

“I didn’t know what to think, m’lady. I-we’ve-never met a woman like you.”

There’s a good reason for that…. I stood up straight. “Listen, simply get me to those tombs. I’m certain that I will find something there that will give me hope in finding Lia, or… cease fretting over it.”

He nodded and took the path before me. We caught up with Marcello a few minutes later. He said nothing, just took the rear guard position when we passed.

And then we were there. I could see the curves of the tomb roofs, stretching out before us, the wide, flat plain on which they had been built. “Lia,” I said in a stage whisper, aware of the Paratore castle, no more than a half-mile away. If the wind was right, could they hear us? I wasn’t taking any chances.

“Evangelia?” I tried again, edging around a second tomb, hunched over like the men. None of us wished to be seen by a Paratore patrol in the pale moonlight. “Lia?”

I held my breath, hoping against hope that she’d emerge, jump into my arms. That I wouldn’t be alone.

But the only response, after a pause, was the crickets, resuming their song.

She wasn’t here. She hadn’t made it through the leap in time. Did that mean she was back in our time? Or lost somewhere in between?

“Mayhap she is inside, sleeping as I did,” I said to Marcello. “Let me crawl in, have a quick look.”

“I will go.”

“Nay,” I said, grabbing his forearm, then quickly releasing it. “You will frighten her, if she’s in there. She might scream.”

He considered me a moment, then gestured inside. “Make haste.”

I bent at once and crawled, as best I could in the cursed skirts, through the tunnel, standing to my full height when I knew I must be beneath the large, rounded dome. “Lia,” I whispered, still hoping. But the echo of her name wrapped around the room and disappeared out the entrance as if it had never left my lips.