Page 76 of The Noble Servant

Good. Because he was sweating like he was three feet from the sun, reliving every nightmare he’d ever had.

“Thank You, God, that we’re getting close. Please help us find it. Guide us in the dark.”

“I think I felt something.” A crack or fissure in the ceiling. As they moved farther he felt another crack. He stopped and grabbed her hand. “Here, take the reins.” He put them in her palm. Then he used his fingers to feel around the crack.

“Close your eyes.” Dirt rained down as he pushed with all his might. Something gave way and let in a stream of light as well as dirt. He coughed, then pushed again and the opening widened.He threw off the covering. He stood up straight and stuck his head out.

A misty rain was falling in a small clearing that surrounded the spot, with two long wooden planks propped against a tree not far away.

“Boost me up,” Magdalen said, already lifting her arms over her head. “Once I get out I can get my father’s boards and get the horses out.”

He stooped and grabbed her around her knees and lifted her. After all the wood and water he’d been carrying, she felt quite light. He held her up until she’d had time to grasp the top of the opening, then he boosted her again. She scrambled up and out of the opening.

“Watch your eyes,” she said, and suddenly a huge section of the ceiling overhead started peeling away.

For several moments he heard nothing except the wind blowing outside, and leaves swept into the opening, making the horses stamp their feet and snort restlessly. Had she been captured by Lord Hazen’s men?

“Watch your head,” she said as a wooden plank appeared above him. He moved the horses a little farther out of the way as she slid the hewn plank in until it touched the floor of the mine. Then another plank appeared, and he helped guide it down beside the first one.

He tugged on the first horse’s reins and led him up, walking on the planks until they were both safely out of the hole. He handed the reins to Magdalen and went back down for the second horse.

Magdalen smiled in triumph. “We made it.”

Steffan was a bit pale, but he heaved a sigh. “Let us go. Lord Hazen’s men could spot us at any moment.”

“Should we close the opening?”

He was already bending down to grasp the first plank and haul it up. He got both of them up before she could even offer to help, then they placed the wooden covers back over the hole, kicking leaves and dirt over them. They each took the reins of their own horse.

“We need a place to hide.” Steffan looked intently in her eyes, standing so close they were almost touching.

“The only place I can think of is in one of the mines.”

“Choose one that was not on the map.”

She closed her eyes and pictured the map in her head. Yes, there was one in the valley on the other side of the village. “Come. I know which one.”

She tugged on her horse’s reins, leading her toward the top of the hill. Once there, she let the horse take her time going down the other side, as it was steep and the rain made the ground slick.

They crept along, making their way down the heavily forested, leaf-covered hillside. When they reached the base of the small ravine, Magdalen turned right, in the direction of one of the older mines.

“Mount up!” Steffan grabbed her by the waist from behind and practically threw her into her saddle. She looked over her shoulder. Four or five men on horseback were galloping toward them in a straight line along the ravine.

Magdalen urged her horse into a run. Steffan leapt on his own horse and was right behind her.

How would they ever lose them? Would they be able to get away? If they went to the mine she had planned on hiding in, themen would see them and trap them inside, as that mine did not have a second entrance.

Magdalen let her horse run the length of the ravine, and when it abruptly turned back to the left, she turned with it. But instead of following it all the way, knowing they were blocked from the view of Lord Hazen’s men, she steered her horse straight up the side of a short hill, then plunged down the other side.

The rain poured down now. Her horse slipped but then regained her footing.

Trusting that Steffan was right behind her, she drove her horse hard along the side of a less steep hill, avoiding the rocks along the way. Thankfully the trees were sparser here as well, though she still had to duck to avoid limbs.

She found a dirt trail that led them to a small wooden house in a clearing. She kept going and passed the house, rubbing the rain out of her eyes.

Now that she was at a level place, she looked behind her. Steffan was there, very close, and Lord Hazen’s men were nowhere in sight.

She steered her horse back toward the left. They looped around the side of the hill where the old mine was located. Would it be better to go to Mallin Park House? To the large stone home where her mother and sisters lived? Her mother did not have any guards and very few male servants who could help defend them. Thinking about her little siblings made her keep to her path around the hill and toward the mine.