Page 24 of Keepers of the Highland Crown
Her eyes burst open as her feet raced into flight like a doe across the highlands. “Callum, he has ventured this direction – make haste!”
Running down the fresh passage, she stared up at the next choice of turn. Left or right?Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Right.
At the turn, an elder laundress, arms filled with linens, shouted at Callum, “Put the arrow to the quiver or you shall hurt someone, you dark-haired bastard!”
They bore past the laundress, Callum directly beside her, toward the doorway leading where the cursing laundress had emerged. A new massive chamber appeared by torchlight littered with casks half-filled with ashen water, and those washing the cloth in them by beating the fabric with wooden rods. A scream tore the air from a laundress near the entryway who spotted Callum. All movements halted. The action caused a turn from the lean stranger clad in a dark cloak which appeared part dragon wing at the way it swirled around him.
“Nella,” Callum growled, while stepping before her same as a granite wall, “remain behind me.”
The hood lingered over Hiss’s features so only eyes peered at them through the shadows cast upon his face.He looks like a grim reaper.Her feet remained planted behind Callum.
A chuckle sounding part hiss, same as a snake, echoed before he grabbed a young laundress who had been folding near him around her waist. A fresh scream by the innocent ripped across the chamber as Hiss used the laundress as a shield from Callum’s nocked weapon.
“Aim, now, archer!” Hiss challenged.
“You are a brave one to hide behind an innocent lass,” Callum snarled as he tightened the bow string.
“Nawww,” he replied darkly, “a clever one is my calling. You have the look of a noble heart, ack, weak is your calling! You may land an arrow into her then a second to me. However, you will not. I gathered as much by your demand to place your bonny lady behind you.” He paused, looking at Nella. “Bonny one indeed. Your move, noble heart.”
Everything in the chamber turned as still as the granite walls except for the water which had been swirling in the casks by momentum.
Callum took a step forward. “Release her and I will aim for your shoulder not skull.”
“Nae, I believe the soft shield is rather to my liking,” he countered, and began to back up, dragging the wide-eyed captive before him.
The door. The bastard was headed for the far door that led out to the covered arcade which would take him to the kitchens with the innocent lass in his grip. Callum cursed something in Gaelic under his breath as the stalemate continued when the captor pulled the lass with him for the only way out. At the last moment he threw her forward toward Callum, who lowered the bow when the possible shot was lost while Nella dove forward, catching her.
The door was slammed by the stranger as he vanished from the chamber. “I am well,” the laundress assured them, then looked at Callum, demanding, “Go seize the arsehole!”
Callum tore for the door.Bang!The oak protested when he ripped it open, and the covered arcade leading for the kitchens came into view. The coward, with hood raised, appeared at the arcade’s far side near the kitchen’s entry where he rushed inside.
“Nella,” Callum ordered, “shadow behind me, lest he seeks to charge us.”
“Aye.”
Her veil whipped about her face as Callum took lead while they chased after the Benefactor’s snake. Their feet pounding over the cobblestones echoed off the keep’s granite walls like a drum to war. Hiss had turned part snake at how fast he slithered away after spying them pursuing. Nearing the wide-open door which cast light from hearths and scent by roast, she stayeddirectly behind Callum whose stride scared off a rat headed the same way they were.
Whoosh.Was that…? Hell! She grabbed Callum’s tunic and pulled – hard. “Callum, hold!”Crack.The enemyhadcharged, but not with his fists. A butcher’s axe from the kitchen landed onto the doorway’s edge, just missing Callum’s temple after she yanked him backward. Screams tore through the air from inside at the intruder.
“You do not belong here!” a cackled voice cried while another shouted, “LEAVE US!”
“Nella.” Callum darted behind the outer wall, taking her with him. While lowering the bow, he grasped her arm and shielded her between him and the wall. He puffed the words and squeezed her hand briefly in gratitude. “’Tis odd, why does he seek the kitchens and not the stables?”
She questioned in reply. “Only one way in or out, unless there is another way unseen?”
A darkness stole his expression. “Aye.”
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, step step step…“Callum, stairs, he has left the kitchens for a set of stairs. This is why it has grown silent by those within and why he has not charged at us here.”
He glanced toward the entry. “There is nae second level so there must be a cellar he seeks or a concealed passageway.” He paused, looking at her, and the darkness flashed into concern with a breath. “Nella, I cannot chance you…”
“Callum, together, we hold each other safe, aye?”
His brows bore together. “Aye, remain directly behind me, agreed?”
“Agreed.”
He re-nocked the arrow then spun into the open doorway. A few fresh screams sounded at him.
