Chapter Fifty-Nine
Ralph had a plan. He would destroy de Lohr once and for all. When it was apparent that the gate was going down, he had vacated his post and raced into the castle, moving immediately for the prince’s rooms.
John was dressed in travelling clothes and surrounded by his elite guard.
He knew that Richard was coming to kill him and he was terrified.
De Lohr, Burton, and Lady Dustin were completely forgotten as he struggled to keep himself from falling into fits over the swing in luck.
Everything had happened so bloody fast that his head was still spinning, yet he knew that he must leave this place if he were going to survive.
He had hoped to use Lady Dustin as a bargaining tool to keep Nottingham, but those plans were long forgotten.
John was fabulous at making big plans but was terrible at following through.
At this very moment all he was concerned with was his own hide.
Nothing had worked out to his advantage, not one damn thing.
Ralph found his liege chomping at the bit and he personally escorted the prince down the winding staircases to the cavernous underground of Nottingham.
There was an escape route through one of the dug-out tunnels that led to a shielded exit in the wall.
John was adamant that Ralph go with him, but Ralph was firm.
He had unfinished business to attend to.
Promising to meet up with Ralph at Tickhill, Prince John was ushered out of the fortress covertly by his elite mercenary guard.
With John being skirted to safety, Ralph could better concentrate on the de Lohrs.
His plan was to confiscate Dustin and her babe, taking them the same route as the prince and leaving Nottingham.
He still felt firmly that they had the advantage of keeping Lady de Lohr as hostage, although the siege on the castle was in direct conflict with that reasoning.
Mayhap it wasn’t a wise idea after all, and mayhap Lady de Lohr served no purpose other than a nuisance.
But Ralph knew one thing for certain; Christopher de Lohr loved his wife desperately, and Ralph was determined to wreak misery on that man.
Dustin sat in Ralph’s bower wringing her hands nervously.
She could hear the sounds of battle far below and tears of fear were still in her eyes for her husband.
She refused to believe she had seen him killed.
Surely he was on his way to rescue her even now.
She was shaking with terror and fatigue, and her mind invented terrible scenarios of what was transpiring outside, around her.
Thank God Christin went to safety. If her daughter were still in Nottingham, surely she would be mad with grief right now.
As worried as she was for herself and for Christopher, she was also terribly worried for Gabrielle.
She hadn’t seen her friend since Ralph had so cruelly separated them and she worried for the woman’s safety.
The door to the bedchamber jolted and Dustin was seized with panic; she knew it to be either John or Ralph come for her.
But in the same breath she remembered that she had feigned illness for Ralph’s benefit.
Hoping they would have some pity on her, she threw herself back on the bed and grabbed her stomach, moaning softly.
After a jerk and a pop, the old door flew open and in came Ralph, his thin face flushed. Dustin eyed him through slit eyelids, moaning loudly this time. Ralph marched up on her and snatched her wrist barbarically.
“Get up,” he wheezed.
Dustin yelped in surprise as he yanked her off the bed and pulled her toward the open door. Forgetting about her ploy, she began to twist and fight, beating his arm with her free fist.
“Let go of me!” she demanded.
Ralph was in no mood to fool with her. Hauling off, he hit her across the face with a mailed glove, leaving a huge scrape already oozing blood. Dustin’s hand flew to her face, stunned.
“Do not resist me,” he seethed, spittle forming on his lips. “I have had enough of you and enough of your bastard husband. Where is your daughter?”
Tears stung her eyes, but her anger superseded her pain. “Go to hell,” she spat. “I will not tell you anything!”
With a grunt of frustration, he exited the room and yanked her so hard after him that he nearly dislocated her shoulder. Dustin grunted and almost tripped, but she caught herself and started to fight Ralph with everything she had.
Dustin’s shrieks and grunts filled the deserted hall as Ralph literally dragged her after him.
For his wiry build, he was amazingly strong and Dustin was having a hell of a time against him.
She tried grabbing onto chairs, portieres, anything that would anchor her against the force of the sheriff.
But Ralph would simply pull with all of his might and dislodge her, and she would trail after him cursing and fighting.
He pulled her down a small spiral staircase to the second floor of the castle and she tripped on purpose, crashing into the man and nearly sending both of them to the bottom in a heap.
Angered, he cursed and took another swing at her, but she ducked and kicked him in the thigh.
Nothing happened against his armor, but the gesture satisfied her just the same.
Undeterred, Ralph persevered onward with his fighting prisoner, determined to reach her rooms and collect the babe de Lohr.
He reached her chamber, tossing her inside viciously. Dustin flew with the momentum and crashed against the bed, fortunately, not hard enough to hurt her. Her eyes were spitting venom as Ralph raced to the small crib where Christin had slept.
“Where is she?” he demanded, his jaw ticking and his face sweaty. “Where is the damn baby?”
Dustin’s chin went up defiantly. “Not here, you loathsome bastard.”
“I can see that,” he yelled, rushing to her. “Where’s the goddamn baby?”
Dustin opened her mouth when suddenly there was a figure in the doorway. Gabrielle entered the room, quite calmly for all of the yelling that was going on. She fixed Ralph in the eye.
“The babe is gone,” she said frankly. “Le Londe came here before you and took her. I know not where they went.”
“Le Londe?” Ralph’s eyes widened with surprise. “He was here? Where did he go?”
“I do not know, my lord,” Gabrielle said, as cool as rain. “He snatched the babe and fled mere minutes ago.”
Dustin, shaking with shock, still retained sense enough to see what Gabrielle was doing. Weak with emotion and grateful for her friend’s assistance, she decided to play along. “And you let him? You bitch! Why did not you stop him?”
Gabrielle’s head jerked to Dustin, an amazing look of devilment filling the soft hazel eyes. “She is not my child. Besides, had I tried to stop him, he probably would have killed me.”
Dustin shrieked and moaned, throwing Ralph into fits of indecision and confusion.
“Shut up!” he screamed at her. “Shut up before I slit your throat.”
Dustin quieted, but not entirely. She pretended to cry weakly, overacting a bit, but Ralph did not notice. His mind was soaring with le Londe’s sighting.
“I must find him,” he said absently, looking to Gabrielle again. “Which way did he go?”
Gabrielle was a brilliant actress. She lowered her gaze demurely and stepped away from the door, pointing out into the hall. “I saw him take the stairs toward the grand hall.”
Ralph was seized with a sense of purpose again.
He grabbed Dustin once again, jerking her past Gabrielle.
Gabrielle looked at Dustin with such indifference that Dustin almost believed she truly did not care what was happening.
Ralph, however, knew better than to leave her behind.
He did not know why he should take her, only that he should.
With his free hand, he seized Gabrielle by the hair. “You are coming too.”
With his quarry, Ralph awkwardly raced down the hall.
Dustin was still shrieking and struggling and Gabrielle had begun to fight back, adding to Ralph’s woes.
He seriously considered throwing Gabrielle down the stairs just to be rid of her, but thought differently of it.
He was so confused and so anxious he simply couldn’t think straight any longer.
They reached the top of the stairs where Dustin could see soldiers dashing about below at the beginning of full-scale chaos.
She grabbed at the banister to throw Ralph off balance while Gabrielle, seeing what Dustin was doing, moved to do the same.
Ralph began to bellow and yank at them unmercifully.
From below, it was actually quite comical to see the Sheriff of Nottingham struggling with two women, listening to him ranting and cursing.
But to the participants, it was anything but comical.
Dustin had a death grip on the railing, anything to prevent Ralph from dragging her down below.
She glanced at Gabrielle, fearful for her safety because she was closer to the stairs.
As she looked at her friend, something caught in her peripheral vision and she looked back down the second floor corridor, positive soldiers were coming to Ralph’s aid and terrified that she and Gabrielle would be hurt in the struggle.
She was therefore astonished to see Christopher and Marcus at the very end of the hall. They were hundreds of feet away, but even at that distance she could read the surprise on their faces. It took her less than a second to react instinctively.
“Christopher!” she screamed.
He heard her; Christ, he heard her and was moving even as she cried his name. But Ralph saw him, too, and was screaming to the soldiers down below to aid him.