He pushed forward, knocking the two of them off balance. It was over in another second. As they stumbled he dropped his sword and slammed their heads together. They slumped to the ground and lay still. The steward’s eyes widened in panic. “You cannae come in here.” He held his ground though his hands were shaking.
“Try and stop us,” Eddard said, punching him on the chin and sending him spinning around on the spot before he fell to his knees.
“Come on.” Eddard grabbed Jessica’s hand and together they ran into the castle leaving the steward yelling for help from a prone position on the ground.
“I need the key from him,” Jessica said, trying to twist free from Eddard’s grip.
“That can wait. We need to get you to the Laird and Lady first. The guards will kill you if you tarry.”
They ran across the courtyard as a bell began to ring. “In here,” Eddard said, pushing open a door and shoving Jessica inside. He followed, bolting the door behind them.
“Where are we?”
She knew the answer before he said it. They were in the keep. She knew this part. It was where she’d been taken for the guided tour. Around the corner and up the stairs and there would be her parents’ bedroom.
Wait.
Why did she think that?
It would be the Laird and Lady’s bedroom. Not her parents. She had no idea who they were.
“Up here,” Eddard said, checking the door behind them was secure. “Before he gets reinforcements. God, that punch felt good. I’ve been waiting to give him that for a very long time.” He’d reopened the cut in his hand but it was worth it.
They ascended the narrow stone stairs, walking out into a corridor little different from her time. There was the door. In front of it another guard stood. He looked their way when they appeared but said nothing.
“We must see the Laird,” Eddard said to him. “It is most urgent.”
“None may pass.”
“They will want to hear what we have to tell them.”
“Be on your way before I have you both thrown in the dungeon.”
“Please,” Jessica tried. “Will you just look at me. Who do you think I am?”
“Let me guess. Morag?”
There was a thump downstairs. “They’re getting through,” Eddard said. “We are running out of time.”
“So you recognize me?” Jessica asked the guard who seemed utterly indifferent to the noise downstairs.
“There have been many claiming to be the missing princess. Too many. They will see no more claimants. The pain is too great. Be off with you.”
A crash downstairs. Feet running, voices shouting.
The door opened behind the guard. A pale ethereal figure in white appeared in the gloom within.
“My Lady,” the guard said, bowing deeply. “I apologize for the disturbance. I was just dealing with-”
She held up a hand, silencing the guard at once. “I will speak with these people.”
At the end of the corridor more guards appeared, the steward among them. “Two thieves,” he said as he marched to the front and grabbed Jessica by the arm. “Go back inside, I will deal with them at once.”
“You will do nothing of the sort,” Rachel said. “You will all wait there. You-” she pointed at Jessica, “-will come with me.”
Jessica gulped. Under the piercing eyes of the woman in front of her, she felt utterly exposed. She could not stop herself walking through the door, leaving the steward to stand with his mouth open, staring after her. She knew that woman. Where from?
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom she was able to make out the contents of the room. It was funny. She would have guessed its layout even without seeing it. Over there was another door to the garret.
