After lighting a taper, the Romani leader hurried off.
Knights’ voices inside the stable grew louder.
Cailin placed his finger over his lips. “Can you hold him alonefor a moment?”
Sir James nodded.
He shifted the weight of the prone man to the knight; Sir Petrus made the slightest of groans. A moment later, Cailin crept to where hecould look out.
“’Tis foolhardy traveling in the dead of night,” a knight entering the stable grumbled.
“Aye,” the man at his side agreed. “Sir Malcolm told the earl that he slipped away. Those at the Romani camp willna likely discover him gone till morning. A fool could see that if we leave at first light, we would still have time to surround the camp andsurprise them.”
Blast it, he must buy Taog time to warn Elspet and the others at the camp. Cailin crept back to Sir James, who’d shifted and propped Sir Petrus’s unconscious bodyagainst a wall.
“They are preparing to attack the Romani camp, as we feared,” Cailin said. “I am going to create a diversion to delay their departure.”
On a groan, the master-at-arms’s eyelids flickered open, and he gave a rough cough. Pain-filled eyes held Cailin’s. “I—” His entire body shook. “I?can help.”
That Cailin doubted. “If you can walk when we depart, ’twill helpus immensely.”
“I can. The bastard willna keep me down,” his mentor rasped. “Y?you mentioned a diversion. What are you going to do?”
He took another candle from a nearby indentation, lit it, and handed the taper to Sir James. “I am going to start a fire in the stable. You and Sir James head down the tunnel. I will catch up with you.”
“Aye.” After wedging his shoulder beneath Sir Petrus’s arm, a candle in his free hand, wavers of yellow illuminated the blackness as Sir James helped him hobbleinto the shaft.
Cailin peered through the slit, thankful to find only two guards near the secret exit. He crept into the stable and to the first knight, then slammed the hilt of his dagger against his head.
With a grunt, the warrior dropped to the hay.
The horse shifted, but thankfully, the other knight, three stalls down, was securing the girth on the saddle, his back to Cailin. Moments later, Cailin knocked out the second man and hauled both guards into the shadows of the bailey. After a quick glance around, thankful no other knights had entered, he freed the horses, then setthe hay ablaze.
Squeals and snorts filled the air as smoke began to billow from the stable. A stallion bolted for the bailey; therest followed.
Shouts filled the air as Cailin slipped inside the secret tunnel. Taper in hand, he hurried down the blackened passageway to catch up with Sir James and Sir Petrus, and prayed they’d reach camp to warn the others before the earl’s men attacked.
* * * *
Positioned behind a large rock, Elspet scanned the dense stand of trees, searching for any sign of movement as she and Taog’s men hid in the woods surroundingthe encampment.
Sunlight highlighted errant flakes of snow whirling to the ground like shimmers of hope. Dull thuds rang out as a woodpecker tapped on a nearby oak while several doves sat upon a barren limb and a squirrel chased another through the tangle of branches.
At any other time, she would have appreciated the beauty, lingered on how the soft sheen of white coated the landscape in a pristine glow, but with each hour passing since Taog’s return at first light, her worry grew.
Where were Cailin, Sir James, and Sir Petrus? Had they been forced to hide en route? Traveling with an injured man would slow them, evading the earl’s guard more so. Please God, let them have safely escaped the castle.
“I see nay sign of anyone,” Taog said at her side.
“Nor I. They should be here by now. Do you think they were caught?” Elspet asked, voicingher worst fear.
“Nay,” Taog said. “Cailin is too smart. If he sensed danger, they would have hidden until the earl’s guard had passed.”
The truth, ’twas foolish to worry. Cailin was a Knight Templar, trained above most, with skills he would use to ensure that he and the others were safe. If anything, she should be thankful a man of such caliber would soon rule Dalkirk. He was intelligent, fair, and did naught without sound reason.
Memories of his kiss, the tenderness of his touch, sifted through her mind as she scoured the sweep of trees. An ache built in her chest at how within days he’d become important to her, more than she could have ever imagined. It should be impossible, but however foolish, she wanted more with him, wanted…
Forever.
