“What if they discover that ye have helped me?”
“I dinna think there is a danger of that. Even if I was directly accused, none of those men would believe it. Take care, wee Ailis. Take care of that baby. Dinna let the one brave thing I have done in my life go to waste.”
Jaime led Una away. For the first time since she had been dragged to Craigandubh, Ailis did not mind the sound of the bolt sliding across and locking her in. There was hope now. In a few hours there could also be freedom.
There was not much room to pace in her bedchamber, but Ailis was unable to be still. She had not thought that a half day of waiting would be so difficult, but the moment Jaime and Una had left, time had slowed to a painful crawl. She feared every sound she heard, for it could be Donald coming to torment her with the discovery and thwarting of her escape attempt. Another thing she dreaded was word from Jaime that poor Una had returned to her vague, deluded self and, worse, that she had done so before she could reveal the way out. Occasionally she had the wild thought that the visit from Una and Jaime, the talk of the escape, had all been a dream brought on by her own desperate desire.
She rubbed her damp palms dry on her brown woolen undertunic. There had not been much for her to do in preparation, and she knew that did not help. Some work would have helped to fill the time and make her feel as if she was accomplishing something. Instead, she paced and worried, worried and paced.
Her child kicked inside of her, and she moved to sit on the bed, gently smoothing her hands over her stomach. It was not going to be easy to walk back to Rathmor. She prayed that her escape would not be as dangerous for her child as Donald MacCordy so clearly was. She also prayed that she would not just find more grief at Rathmor. There had not been any definite word on Alexander. It was possible that she could return to Rathmor to find him resting in the kirkyard next to his little Elizbet. She forced that thought from her mind.
“Ailis.”
That soft call startled her so that she nearly cried aloud, but quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. She glared at Jaime as he quietly shut the door behind him and walked over to the bed. She had been so caught up in her own worries that she had not heard him arrive.
“Ye frightened me out of a year or two, at least,” she scolded Jaime, then realized what his presence meant. “ ‘Tis midnight? ‘Tis time for us to escape this place?” She grasped his hands in hers and hopped off of the bed.
“Aye, if ye are hale enough for the ordeal.”
“It canna possibly be any more of an ordeal than being entombed at Craigandubh with Donald MacCordy.”
“I just dinna want ye to think that all will be well now. It might not be.” Jaime frowned as she quickly donned her cloak.
“Oh, I ken the risks well enough, dinna fear, my friend. I ken the risks of lingering here, too. The ones I face by leaving are chanced in an attempt to keep my child alive. ‘Tisna too high a price to pay.”
“Nay, mistress, it isna. Stay close behind me and, if ye find it grows too dim in a place or two, get a good strong grip on the bag secured to me back.” He glanced at her belly. “I think ye will fit through everywhere.”
“Ye just push me and pull me until I get unstuck.” She took him by the hand. “Come along ere someone comes to check on us. ‘Twould kill me to be caught when escape is so close to hand. What is in the bag?”
“Some food, a few other important supplies, and some extra clothing for the both of us.”
“I dinna ken what I would do without ye, Jaime.”
“Ye would escape on your own.”
She exchanged a smile with him as they stepped out of her chambers and Jaime locked the door behind them. He had not been able to hide a slight puff of pride over her words. They both knew that she would have tried to get free with or without him, but that his presence was extremely helpful. Ailis also knew that this late in her pregnancy his presence could all to easily prove to be vital to her.
Without a word they crept along the narrow hall, keeping to the shadows. Ailis was a little surprised at how lax the guard was within the keep itself. She and Jaime were able to get all the way down into the food storage chambers beneath the great hall without once being challenged. All that changed was that what dim light there had been from the occasional torch completely vanished as they crept down the steep stairway into the food cellars of Craigandubh. Ailis had to clutch at the bag on Jaime’s back.
Jaime finally paused to light a candle, and Ailis breathed a sigh of relief. They had slowed down to the point where they inched along at a painfully slow pace. The candle gave them enough light for Jaime to move faster, and she allowed herself to be tugged along. It was awkward, but she preferred that to moving so dangerously slowly that they seriously risked being discovered.
When Jaime stopped in front of a wall, she stepped aside to watch. It was obvious that the escape route from the MacCordy keep had not been used in a long while, and in a display of common MacCordy stupidity, it had not been cared for, either. Jaime was hard-pressed to open the small door hidden behind a stack of wine casks. The surge of stale, musty air that escaped when he finally opened it made her cough. It also made her very reluctant to follow him into the tunnel beyond. She knew what kind of creatures called such dark, damp places their home. Then she looked at Jaime and wondered how, with his tormenting fears, he could even contemplate going into such a place.
“Jaime?” She put her hand on his arm and drew his attention away from the dark tunnel. “Can ye do it? Mayhaps there is another way?”
“Nay, there isnoother way. We must go through here.” She edged closer and peered inside. “It looks and smells like all the places ye so deeply dread.”
“Aye, but I shall have a wee light and I shallna be alone.”
“Do ye want me to make a noise, a steady sound as we go along, so that ye ken that I am right with ye?”
He nodded. “That would be a help. And keep a firm hold on my hand.”
She immediately put her hand in his. “Done. Just keep telling yourself that we move forward, toward freedom, that we are escaping, not being captured, and that at the end of this lies the open air.”
“The open, cold, and damp air.” He frowned at her. “The weather isna good. It could be dangerous for ye.”
“Staying here is dangerous for me, Jaime. Even if the snow were still knee-deep and more were falling, I would leave here. Enough of this talking about it.” She stepped into the low, narrow tunnel and tugged him after her.
