He swore. Time and numbers were against him. They were all mad.
“Hurry, your lordship. There isn’t much time,” said John as he unbolted Ghost’s chains. “Give me your best to the jaw and then chain me up.” John produced a piece of linen and Joshua gagged him with it.
“I won’t forget you, John.” Joshua chained him and then tapped him on the jaw, enough to leave a convincing bruise.
Joshua picked up John’s rifle and tossed it to Two Eagles. He peered around the edge of the door, inhaling lungfuls of fresh night air. How vital to breathe the air of freedom, giving power and vigor when one had the chance to escape the hangman.
He ached from the blows and beatings. Couldn’t think about that now. The suffocating damp atmosphere of the dungeon further weakened him. To have a bath to wash the grime and a bed of soft hemlock beneath his spine to rest upon had just moments ago seemed beyond his reach.
The way was clear. One at a time, he motioned for Juliet and the rest to follow. The hair lifted on the nape of his neck. Getting a large party through a well-fortified fort without capture would be miraculous.
He led them, keeping in the shadows of the buildings and wide yards. A guard was asleep next to a ladder set against the parapet. The sleeping draught John had given him had done its work. But farther down on the stockade walls, a guard was still at his post and alert. No doubt he’d not drunk his brew.
They stayed in the murkiness beneath the outcropping. Getting over the wall with this many people would be a problem. Two Eagles, Ghost and he could slip over the wall and disappear, but with three novices? He had to get rid of the guard first if they were going to make it happen.
He gestured to Two Eagles to stay with them. He looped back silently in the shadows, glancing apprehensively at the guard who was staring at the moon. It took Joshua more than ten seconds to climb the ladder. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. Two seconds to come up behind him. The soldier turned and met a hard right to the jaw. He tied and gagged the unconscious guard.
He ran down the parapet, helping Juliet up, her huge eyes bright in the gloom.
His pulse racing, he glanced over the stockade wall and to the ground below. A broken ankle on any one of them could spell delay, capture and death.
Two Eagles leapt to the ground. Edmund and Ghost followed. Joshua tossed their bundles to the men, and then picked up Mary, lowering her, he slipped his hands to her wrists and let go. Two Eagles caught her.
He faced Juliet. “Are you sure? You haven’t been discovered. You can go back to your bed. No one would suspect—”
“You cannot get rid of me that easy.”
He glimpsed the determination on her face and smiled. He lifted her, releasing her into Two Eagles’ arms, and then he glided over the wall and dropped to the ground. A hundred yards away from the fort, under the canopy of trees, Ghost stopped, shook their hands and disappeared into the forest like a specter.
A cannon boomed from the fort. “We’ve been discovered.”
Juliet said, “What now?”
“Luck favors those in motion.” The moon was cloaked with clouds. Barely enough discernable light illuminated their way. Joshua pushed through a narrow trail, pulling Juliet and Mary behind him. Edmund kept up the rear.
Mary stopped, jerked them back. “Where is Two Eagles?”
Joshua hauled them ahead. “He’s making a trail with Ghost to lead the colonel on a merry chase to the east, and covering our tracks west.”
“I’m not leaving without him.”
“He’s an expert at this. He knows what to do and will catch up with us later,” Joshua said as he led them on a winding path. They slipped in the mud from the torrential rains the day before, for a mile, in the dark. They stumbled on rocks and saved their breath for walking. The forest was dark and silent. Working around and beyond the fort, they came out of the trees by the river where Two Eagles had hidden their canoes. Two Eagles had planned in advance in case they needed to make a quick escape from the fort. He had obtained a second canoe just to be safe.
Joshua listened. No one approached. In silence, they cleared away the brush. More shots were fired to the east.
“Your dear cousin will not allow our flight. The woods will be crawling with redcoats. Move and quickly.” He shoved both canoes in the water, turned to help Edmund and Mary. A shadow loomed.
“I have it from here.” Two Eagles steadied the canoe while Edmund teetered to the bow nearly capsizing the craft. He lifted Mary, and she put her arms tight around his neck.
“I told you I’d never leave you,” Two Eagles said. He lowered her into the canoe as if she were the most valuable cargo he held, and then pushed off.
Joshua lifted Juliet and she moved to the bow. She felt the glide of water as Joshua pushed off the stern into the current and both dug in their paddles.
Juliet glanced at Edmund flailing about, the paddle foreign to him. He paddled left and right, and not ever in accord with Two Eagles. The rain flooded the river, making the water high and fast. Two Eagles warned his brother to dig deep.
Juliet responded to the rocks and trees and overhanging limbs but Edmund struggled. Everything was moving too fast, flying down the river there was no time to think of anything but avoiding menacing rocks and tree limbs.
“Avoid the upcoming rock. Paddle hard right,” Two Eagles spoke to his twin.
