“Not the time, Flynn,” I yelled. My mind reeled, compiling all the things we’d need to do to secure the castle.The protective charms we set out earlier today will hold them back for a while, but not even they will stop a fire, and we can’t use our magic against them until they’re inside the walls, which means we’ve got no way out?—
“Why weren’t you in the house?” Maeve yelled at Aline. “You were supposed to watch for something like this and warn us.”
“I’m sorry!” Aline sobbed, throwing herself against the island. “I wanted to see Daigh again. I wanted to help.”
“And because of youtrying to help, they got a jump on us. If we hadn’t seen them when we did, we might not’ve made it back in time.” Aline shrunk away from Maeve’s anger.
“This isn’t important right now,” I growled, pulling myself off the door and racing into the hall. We couldn’t just sit here and argue while the villagers approached.
“Corbin, where are you going?” Maeve called after me.
“Rowan, bolt the kitchen gate,” I called back, as I hit the hallway and kept on running. Behind me, wood scraped against wood as Rowan slid the heavy bolts into place.
“Corbin, hold up, mate.” Arthur grabbed my shoulder, yanking me back so hard he wrenched my arm and we bumped against a heavy medieval dresser.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“You can’t just run off like that. Remember, you’re not the leader any more.”
“Our enemy approaches. We’ve got to prepare ourselves for a siege – bar the gates and strengthen our defences.”
Arthur looked confused.
I clench my fists with exasperation. “Come on, Aragorn, you know this stuff. Unless they’ve brought equipment for scaling the walls, the only two ways into the inner courtyard and the keep is through the main portcullis and Rowan’s kitchen garden.”
Understanding dawned on Arthur’s face. “Right. I’ll help you.”
The portcullis was operated from a locked gatehouse near the gift shop. I grabbed the key from the rack beside the door and raced across the courtyard, Arthur at my heels. Insidethe gatehouse was an old-fashioned crank, installed during the Victorian period to replace the medieval one that had finally given up the ghost. We’d often talked about getting something modern we could operate from a switch in the house, but we lowered the portcullis so infrequently it wasn’t worth the expense.
Arthur and I leaned on the enormous winch, and after a bit of grunting and sweating, we managed to unlock it and lower the portcullis. We shut the wooden inner doors and slid the bolts true.
Once we were back inside, I slid the heavy bolts over the keep doors. “They can’t get in that way.”
“They’ve got flaming torches,” Maeve whimpered, knocking her knuckles against the wooden door.
“And we’ve got a human power hose who can work magic as soon as they’re inside the grounds,” I grinned, jabbing my finger at Flynn, who took a deep bow. Maeve didn’t look convinced.
“Don’t forget, the majority of the castle is made of stone. It’s not as easy to burn,” Arthur added.
“If I had to be trapped in a medieval castle with anyone, I’m glad it’s you guys,” Maeve smiled.
I clapped my hands, and six heads turned toward me. “Okay, next line of defence. If they manage to break through to the inner courtyard, we’re vulnerable because of the windows that face inward. But the windows on the first floor all have the security bars over them, so we’re good there. Our big problems are the kitchen windows and that huge glass panel in the drawing room that could be broken. We need to bar the doors to those rooms.”
“I’m on it,” Arthur said. “I’ll shift those heavy dressers in the hall in front of the doors. I’d like to see them shift those.”
“Go,” Maeve nodded. Arthur ran off.
“What about the secret passage in the kitchen?” Blake asked.
“We’ll block the top of it, but I think we leave the bottom alone. It might be a useful escape route for us. We just have to hope like hell none of them notice the door in the back of the pantry.”
“What about the Great Hall windows?” Maeve asked. “The ones overlooking the gardens could also be broken.”
“The ditch is right underneath them. To get at those windows they’d have to either be giants or have access to some seriously sturdy ladders.” I thought of the garden shed down by the orchard, and all Flynn’s tools in the stable buildings. They might find a ladder in there. “Just to be safe, we’ll seal off the Great Hall, too. But we should get all these weapons off the walls. If they manage to get in here, I don’t want to give them access to an arsenal.”
“Should we move the tapestries?” Maeve asked. “Dora said they were valuable.”
“Not as valuable as our lives. We don’t have time.”
