“I do not have it.”
“Then you shall die beside your friend.” He waved a hand for the lever to be pulled.
“Stop,” Natalie shouted, waving her arms wildly as she reached the flat ground by the drawbridge. “I have the key. Don’t do this.”
The barefoot man nodded and the man by the lever stepped away. Wallace turned to look at her, his eyes bulging in the tightness of the noose. “Dinnae do this,” he shouted. “Get out of here while you can.”
The barefoot man punched him in the stomach, sending the air out of his lungs. “Shut your trap,” he snapped before turning back to Natalie. “Come on then, my girl. Let’s see the key.”
He had his eyes fixed on it as she brought it out, holding it high for all to see. He continued to stare at it, not noticing as she took hold of the dagger hidden in her waistband. She lunged for the barefoot man, the point of the blade aimed right at his heart.
He saw it at the last moment, dodging the blow and twisting his body so she stabbed only at empty air. With a yank of his hand he grabbed the key from her, stepping back and laughing wildly.
“I have it,” he shouted, the earth starting to rumble under his bare feet. “At last, I have the key.”
Natalie could barely stand, the ground was shaking so much. By the time she got upright, the ground was cracking, long jagged marks moving outward from the spot where the barefoot man stood.
The gibbet began to fall onto its side, the captain and Wallace fighting to stay upright.
“I have the key,” the barefoot man said, leaping into the hole that had appeared in the ground. He was gone from sight in an instant.
The other men were running for their lives, fleeing the gaping hole in the earth that continued to widen and lengthen.
Natalie had to fight to keep her balance as she made her way frantically to the gibbet. One end of it was falling into the hole.
Wallace and the captain were dying, the rope pulling tight on their necks. She thrust the dagger forward. It cut through the ropes as if they were butter. At once her companions were free.
“You must get home,” Wallace said, pulling the noose from his neck. “Before it’s too late.”
“He goes to free his father,” the captain said, his voice hoarse. “Scarlett told me this would happen.”
“Get out of here,” Wallace said, trying to push Natalie away. “Save yourself.”
“No,” she replied, looking over the edge into the abyss. As the ground shook again “We must stop him.”
“This is not your fight. You should go home.”
She shook her head, gripping the dagger tightly in her hand. “This is the answer,” she said. “It’s telling me to go down there.”
“You’ll be killed.”
She shrugged. “Then so be it.”
She took a step over the edge, finding a toehold in the crumbling earth, lowering herself down.
“Wait,” Wallace said, grabbing her shoulder.
“Don’t tell me not to. I’m doing this.”
Wallace ran and grabbed the rope from the gibbet, tossing it down into the hole. He tugged at the rope, checking it was secure before lowering himself down on it, abseiling the first few feet into the hole. “I was going to tell you I’m coming too.”
“So we go together?”
He nodded. She took his outstretched hand, grabbing onto him as he began to climb down into the pit.
“I’ll stay here,” the captain shouted down after them. “Make sure everything’s fine up here. In many ways mine is the more dangerous job of the two. This wind might knock me off my feet at anymoment. Don’t you worry about me though. I’m made of stern stuff.”
His voice faded as Wallace and Natalie descended into the darkness of the ripped apart earth.
