At the sound of footsteps coming toward them, David shoved Alison behind him. Blood pounded in his veins, but he relaxed when a thin man with a weak build emerged from the shadows. Even in his current state, David could take him easily.
“’Tis the cook,” Alison said from behind him. “He’s a friend. We can trust him.”
The first time she told David to trust the cook, he had kicked the man out of the castle with the rest of the Blackadder servants. But he was a wiser man now.
“Can ye start a fire in the kitchens?” David asked the cook. “A big one?”
***
Alison coughed on the billowing smoke filling the undercroft as she peeked out from behind the door of the storeroom to watch the servants flee the kitchens. The cook was the last to run out. He paused to glance up the stairs after the others, then he waved for her and David to come out.
“Don’t worry that I’m burning the castle down,” he said. “The fire is more smoke than flame.”
“’Tis a perfect diversion,” David said. “My thanks to ye.”
“Watch how I clear the hall,” the cook said, his eyes shining as if he was actually enjoying himself. He turned and ran up the stairs shouting, “Fire! Run for your lives!”
Alison looked at David.God help me, how will I ever get him out?
He was so battered and bloody it was a wonder he could stand. If he collapsed, she could not carry him alone. She wiped more blood from the gashes on his face. His swollen eye looked so painful she did not dare touch it.
“Ready?” David said.
“I’ll go alone and bring the others back for ye.”
“I just watched a man try to rape and murder ye,” he said. “I’ll not let ye out of my sight until you’re safe.”
Ach, he was a stubborn man.There was no use talking to him, so she took his arm. As they started up the stairs, he swayed and had to catch himself with a hand on the stone wall. Alison swallowed back her fear and kept moving.
The hall was in chaos with men and women shouting and running in every direction. Though she thought it should be glaringly obvious to anyone who looked that David was the captured Hume laird, no one seemed to pay them any attention.
She strained under David’s weight as he suddenly leaned against her.
“Sorry, lass,” he said and straightened almost at once.
“We’re almost there,” she said.
She glanced behind them and saw that he was leaving a trail of blood. She was desperate to get him out of the hall and upstairs where she could see to his wounds.
Relief coursed through her when they finally reached the arched doorway to the tower stairs. Looking behind her, she caught sight of Walter. The tall, black-haired warrior was pushing people out of his way to reach the door that led outside.
“He’s the one who did this to my hand,” David said, staring after Walter. “I’d kill him now, but Brian needs his blood on his sword more than I do.”
Seeing Walter seemed to give David another burst of strength, and Alison had to run up the stairs to keep up with him. When they opened the laird’s chamber door, several Hume warriors were already in the room, and they drew their dirks before they realized who it was.
“Verra glad to see you’re alive, Laird, though I’ve seen ye looking better,” Brian said with a wide grin. He handed David his whisky flask. “Better have some of this to give ye strength.”
“Ach, you’re a good man.” David tilted his head back and took a long drink, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “That’s what I needed.”
Alison stayed close to David as the room rapidly filled with Hume warriors who were still coming through the tunnel. Finding their laird there to greet them seemed to put them in high spirits.
David took another drink of whisky. As he handed it back to Brian, he said, “Walter is here.”
Brian’s expression turned to granite, and he started for the door.
“We go together,” David said, stopping him.
“But Walter is mine,” Brian said.
