Page 65 of Castle of Refuge

A strong hand grabbed her upper arm and yanked her to her feet, almost as swiftly as she’d fallen.

Audrey sucked in a loud breath.

“It’s me,” Edwin’s voice came in her ear. “We must run.”

Her heart soared at his presence. She put her hand on his back and started running, intermittently touching him so she wouldn’t get separated from him. Did he know where he was going? It was so dark. Was he familiar with this place? Shewanted so much to ask him, but there was no time. And for the moment it hardly mattered. They had to keep running.

A partial moon hung overhead, thankfully, so there was a bit of light, but a tree trunk was suddenly in front of her, and Edwin pulled her to the side just before she ran headlong into it. He must have lost his balance because he suddenly fell to one knee. But he was up again in a moment.

“I know a place where we can hide,” he said, talking so low she barely heard him. “Follow me.”

“Come back here!” Maris screamed from somewhere behind them.

At least she wasn’t as close as Audrey had feared. But where was Umfrey? No doubt with his enormous legs he was leaping over bushes and pushing aside the small trees.

Lord Dericott made a sharp right turn. She caught the back of his shirt and followed him.

They scrambled down into a ravine, sparsely occupied by small trees. Then Audrey realized the slight roaring sound she was hearing was water, and they were getting closer. Audrey did not know how to swim. Was his plan to cross a river? Most waters she’d encountered in this part of England were not deep, but if it was moving as fast as this sounded, she could get swept downstream.

Perhaps she should just trust him not to let her come to harm. They were running too hard, and the danger behind them was too great, to ask him to explain his plans.

The way was a little rougher now, with large rocks in their path. Then Audrey saw it—a waterfall shining in the light ofthe moon. Only about thirty feet away, the water rushed down some rocks and went over the side of a ledge, plunging into the darkness.

Edwin headed straight for the waterfall, then toward the ledge. Two feet away from stepping out into the water, he sat down on the grassy slope and began making his way down. Audrey followed right behind him, mimicking him.

When they were halfway to the bottom of the six-foot waterfall, Lord Dericott stepped to the side and disappeared behind the water that was flowing straight down.

Her heart in her throat, Audrey strained her eyes to see where she would be stepping. Would she be dropping down into a river or a lake? Should she tell him she couldn’t swim? The water was making so much noise, he probably wouldn’t hear her.

Just as she was trying to decide if the darkness was a rock she could step on, Lord Dericott’s hand came out from behind the waterfall, palm up, as if he was waiting for her to grasp it. She did, and put her foot down on solid rock.

“It’s wet, so take care not to fall,” he said, leaning so close to her she could feel his breath in her hair.

Still holding on to his hand, she looked into his face. It was so dark she could barely make out more than the whites of his eyes.

She was breathing hard. Perhaps she looked frightened, because he squeezed her hand and leaned down to speak into her ear again.

“We will wait here until they have had time to pass us by.”

Audrey nodded, then they both stood facing the water thatwas falling in front of them. She could see less than a foot in front of her, but the water racing downward was splashing her with tiny droplets of water. And she recalled holding his hand once before, when he saved her from the snake that was about to strike her.

“Move back.” Lord Dericott gently pulled her as he moved two steps back.

Audrey stepped with him and her back bumped against uneven rock—as far away from the water as they could get.

She started to shiver. Her whole upper body shook, and she didn’t know if it was more because she was getting cold from being wet, or because she was reliving the shock and fear of the past several hours, culminating in running for her life in the dark.

She became aware of Lord Dericott looking down at her. He let go of her hand and unbuttoned the front of his outer tunic, then shrugged out of it. He wrapped it around her, and it engulfed her much smaller frame. Underneath his tunic he’d been wearing a white linen shirt with laces at the top.

“You’ll get cold,” Audrey said, her teeth chattering. “You shouldn’t give me your clothes. I think I just g-got sc-scared.” The tunic was wet on the outside but was made with two layers, and inside it was warm and dry.

“Come, we can sit down and get comfortable while we wait.”

The overhang was narrow but long, and he moved farther into the rocky recess behind the waterfall, bending over as the overhang got shorter, and sat down. When she stood gazing down at him, he repeated, “Come.”

Audrey moved to sit beside him. What would happen now? She was still shivering, her teeth knocking together.

“Forgive me if this suggestion offends you,” he said, “but you should sit close against my side to get warm. It’s the only way I can help you, and I promise not to do anything untoward.”