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“Whit o’ the boys?” she murmured, terrified to know the answer. “Whit o’ me brothers?”
The silence that stretched between them was answer enough, but a foolish spark of hope remained until her mother answered, “Dead as well. They were asleep wi’ the other clansmen and were killed before they could even wake.” Her lip trembled as she spoke and she looked away from Florence, as if she wanted to hide the devastation delivering this news caused her.
“How do ye ken?” Florence immediately hissed, refusing to believe her mother’s words. “Ye did no’ see…”
“Nae,” her mother agreed, glancing back at her. “I dinnae, but plenty o’ servants did. I heard o’ it from more than one o’ them.”
Florence’s knees buckled and she suddenly collapsed to the ground. She slipped from her mother’s hold as she curled up in on herself and let out a shrill scream of despair.
Her mother was kneeling at her side in an instant, placing her hand over Florence’s mouth.
“Ma sweet girl, I ken this is awful,” she said in a low, firm tone. “I ken yer grief is all-consuming and agonizing, but ye cannae give in tae it. No’ yet. Our first priority is surviving this night, do ye hear me? We will mourn our losses when we are safe.”
Florence was not certain she could push her grief aside now that she had unleashed it. It felt like an uncontrollable beast giving free rein to run rampant. Her mother ran her hand down her hair, however, and cooed soothing words in her ear. She encouraged Florence to breathe and to numb herself to the pain, if only for the time being.
It took several long moments, but Florence managed to get herself back under control. Her body did not want to feel the agony coursing through her anyway, and so letting herself go numb to it was not as difficult a thing as she thought it would be. Her body seemed to crave the relief of feeling nothing, as a matter of fact.
When she could breathe steadily again, her mother pushed to her feet and took her arm, urging her up as well.
“Come along,” she insisted. “We have nae time tae lose. The enemy will be looking for us.”
Florence managed to stand and nodded to her mother in a bit of a daze. Gripping her hand once more, her mother continued on down the tunnel, pulling Florence behind her.
She could not be certain of how long they ran. The entire escape was blurring in Florence’s mind and becoming jumbled. She did not think she would remember much of anything once this night was over and done with. Still, she did not speak or cry or think much of anything until they finally reached the end of the tunnel.
They came upon a dirt wall with nowhere else to go.
“Ma…what…?” Florence began in a murmur.
“Up, child,” her mother ordered, pointing above their heads.
Florence looked up and could just discern the outline of a wooden door about three yards above them. When she brought her gaze back down again, she saw that there was a ladder leaning against the wall. Her mother grabbed it and positioned it to stand beneath the door, balancing it against the protruding frame.
She gave Florence a somber look. “The climb is precarious, but it is our only way out. You go first and I will hold the ladder steady for you.”
Florence blinked, but did not argue. “Aye.”
While her mother braced herself against the ladder, Florence stepped up to it and slowly began to climb. It wobbled beneath her and she became painfully aware of the fact that the only things keeping the ladder from falling were her mother and the shallow lip of the doorframe above her.
When she made it to the top, she pressed her shoulder into the door and pushed. It did not budge at first, but she pushed harder, doing her best to ignore the shaking of the ladder. At last, there was a creaking and crunching sound, and the door gave way. Florence shoved it all the way open and cautiously poked her head out. She was stunned to find herself outside, the stars and moon high above her. Gazing around, she spotted the castle a short ways in the distance. Her stomach clenched to see smoke curling into the air, visibly in the glow of the fires burning within the walls.
Taking in a shaky breath, she climbed out of the hole, which she saw was hidden in the side of a small hill fortified by large stones. Once she was out, she turned back to help her mother, who was already climbing up after her. Her sword lay abandoned at the bottom of the tunnel. The ladder was shuddering and shaking dangerously, as there was no longer anyone at the bottom holding it in place. Just as her mother reached the top, the ladder slipped and went crashing to the bottom of the tunnel.
Luckily, her mother's hand managed to grab hold of the doorframe before the ladder collapsed and Florence quickly reached for her, taking hold of her wrists and pulling her from the hole.
Once free of the tunnel, they quickly began running away from the castle. Florence knew there was a village not too far away, and if they could reach it, they would be able to find shelter and safety, at least for the night.
A line of dark trees loomed ahead of them, but before they reached it, Florence could not resist looking back to her childhood home one last time.
That was when she spotted a man running after them.
“Ma!” she cried.
Her mother looked back as well and her eyes went wide when she saw they were being pursued.
“Keep running!” she ordered Florence.
They rushed forward, but the ground was rough and their feet were bare. Florence stepped on something sharp that made her stumble and fall to the ground. She cried out and her mother stopped and whipped around to rush back for her. Florence struggled to regain her footing, but before she could, the man slammed into her from behind, knocking her back down.
