Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
The lift cage creaked and rattled as if a hard knock would split it apart.
The sounds of running feet on stairs faded, but Hallie wasn’t sure if that was because the men had slowed down or if the sound wasn’t carrying through the solid rock that surrounded the lift.
Despite the apparently slow ascent, she thought the lift was still faster than a man could run up stairs, particularly a human.
And even though Findo had been able to almost outpace her on a flat foot chase in low city, he might struggle on so many stairs.
He was built for strength and power rather than speed.
Or so she hoped. She didn’t want to reach the top and find him waiting for her.
Looking up, there was a faint light in a rectangular shape, growing stronger as the lift continue to rise.
The corridor outside the lift had been lit, she remembered, and hoped that the clean rectangular shape meant that there was no one waiting for her.
It would be better to be prepared than hopeful, though, and she looked around for something she could use as a weapon.
Nothing. The metal body of the lift cage was in one piece and even though it was rusting in places and the door needed oil, there were no loose parts that she could pull off and use.
She was going to have to rely on her own resources and whatever she might be able to find in the house above.
So she did a few gentle stretches and moved her feet and toes as best she could, feeling the first prickle of discomfort which let her know that feeling was starting to return. That was a small piece of good news, at least.
Then the cage was almost at the top. She could see the empty opening. No armed men waiting for her. Another bit of good news. She put her hand over the red button. Not pressing it yet, but ready to stop the lift before it crashed into the ceiling.
When the cage floor was just coming up to the floor level of the house, she pressed the button and the lift creaked then came to a halt, the metal cage quivering around her.
She pulled open the door, wincing again at the noise it made, and hurled herself out of the lift, ready to take on whoever might be waiting in the corridor for her.
There was no one there. Relief and surprise made her light-headed for a moment.
There was also only one way for her to go, as the lift door formed the end of a corridor, so she headed that way.
The last thing she wanted was to be trapped at a dead-end.
As she moved, she recognised the bare floorboards as the ones she’d seen not that long ago when she’d been dangling from Findo Trask’s shoulder.
The walls here were bare stone, and looked as if they’d never been plastered or otherwise finished.
Which made her wonder just who had installed the lift.
She couldn’t imagine that any hochlen would be happy to use the creaking cage, or venture through the unfinished corridor to get to it.
Unless it had just been intended for servants’ use. That made sense.
Aware that she was distracting herself with irrelevant matters, Hallie took a long breath and focused.
Jonah and Findo might not have been waiting for her, but she was far from being safe.
There were at least a dozen armed men around the house and grounds, none of whom would just let her go without a fight.
She might have taken Jonah by surprise with her escape, but he would regroup quickly, and the thugs around the house were used to obeying his orders. She needed to move. Get out of here.
The corridor she was walking along had a few doors opening off to either side and then what looked like an external door ahead of her.
She latched on to the promise of getting outside.
Even without the rest of her stuff, in particular her boots, she still preferred the idea of being out of the house and in the forest to being stuck in the building with Jonah’s men.
As she approached the outer door, she caught the hint of movement on the other side.
Biting back a curse, she ducked into the nearest doorway, finding that she’d brought herself back to the storeroom where she’d woken up.
At least she wasn’t tied up this time, and her head was hurting a lot less.
The lantern on the barrel had been turned off, so no one should be able to see her, pressed against the wall.
The outer door opened quietly and someone came into the building, moving on soft feet as if they didn’t want to be heard.
From her position against the wall by the door, she silently willed the person to keep going, biting back another curse when they slowed outside the door. Over the thump of her heart she heard the soft shift of booted feet against a floorboard, and the person turned into the room.
Acting quickly, Hallie grabbed up the oil lantern from the barrel and swung it towards the newcomer, aiming for their head, only to pull her swing before it connected as the brighter light from the corridor showed her a wonderfully familiar face.
“Girard,” she said, relief making her knees waver. She put the lantern down and took a step forward, wrapping her arms around him. “You’re alright.”
“I’m fine,” he told her, returning the hug.
The worry she’d been holding in about what might have happened to him, what state he might be in, made her eyes sting, whole body weak with relief.
He was warm and safe and here. He brushed a hand over her hair, pausing when she winced. “You’ve got a massive lump there.”
“Got hit,” she said, feeling embarrassed. “Come, we need to get out of here.”
“Not yet.” Another voice drew Hallie’s attention around Girard’s shoulder and she saw Rhodda standing in the corridor, scowl on her face. “You promised to help,” the woman said to Girard, voice hard.
“I did make that promise, yes. Rhodda has a son here somewhere,” Girard said, resting his hand on Hallie’s cheek for a moment before he let her go and stepped back. “He wasn’t in the outbuildings, so we were going to search the house.”
“He’s not in the house just now,” Hallie said, drawing a deep breath and turning to Rhodda. “I’ve met your son. Brock. I’m sorry to tell you that he’s with Jonah.”
“What do you mean, with Jonah? No. He’s being held captive,” Rhodda said, frowning. Hallie could hear the fear and confusion in the woman’s voice. She’d heard that fear in Rhodda’s voice before. It made sense now. Not so much terrified for herself as for her son.
“No. I don’t mean that. He’s not a prisoner. Brock is part of Jonah’s group,” Hallie said, trying to be gentle.
“I don’t believe you.” Rhodda’s voice was hot with anger, scowl pulling her brows together.
“I don’t have any reason to lie to you. I woke up in this room, tied up and with a knot on my head, and Brock was standing guard over me,” Hallie told her.
She turned back to Girard, urgency taking hold again.
“We need to go. I managed to get away from Jonah and Findo, but they’ll catch up soon enough. ”
“Sorry, who? Findo? Findo Trask?” Girard looked absolutely shocked.
“Yes, yes, Findo Trask. Come on,” Hallie urged. “We were down at the harbour, but they weren’t that far behind me and there are too many armed men for just us to deal with.”
Girard looked as if he had about a hundred questions, but he managed to shove them aside and nod, apparently ready to move.
“Not without my son,” Rhodda said, planting her feet, stubborn set to her jaw.
For a moment, Hallie was tempted to just leave her. Let the woman find out for herself what her son had been up to. It was unlikely that Jonah would hurt her, or at least not badly. The governor needed Rhodda’s services, after all.
But Girard was frowning. He seemed to have made a promise to this woman, and not only would Girard not break his promise, Hallie couldn’t let him do that.
So either Rhodda needed to change her mind, or they all needed to stay.
To find a way of surviving. One look at Rhodda’s face told Hallie that the woman was not going to change her mind. She wanted her son.
“Saints,” Hallie muttered, scrubbing a hand through her hair and regretting it as she woke up the pain. “Alright. Fine. We’ll make a stand, see if we can get Brock out. But we’ll need a lot more guns. They took mine,” she added, for Girard’s benefit.
“The garage out back, where the ATVs are,” Rhodda said. “There are weapons there. Or there were last time I was here.”
“Alright. Let’s go get some arms and decide how we’re going to go from here,” Girard said. He cast a critical glance over Hallie. “And see if we can find you some boots, at least. You must be freezing.”
“Best thing for that is to keep moving,” Hallie told him, and followed Rhodda out of the house.
It was late afternoon, as far as she could judge from the fading light. Another too-short winter day. She must have been unconscious for a while.
The door they exited from was around the far side of the house from where Hallie had hidden in the forest, and opened out onto a roadway that must run from the outbuildings all the way down the mountain. Rhodda turned back to the outbuildings and set off for them at a steady jog.
“What about the patrols and the floodlights?” Hallie asked Girard, in as low a voice she could manage, as they followed Rhodda. Jonah had doubled the patrols, she remembered. Before she’d been caught, though. Perhaps he had changed his mind while she had been unconscious.
“Rhodda did something to the lights. Not sure what. And we haven’t seen a patrol yet. We just arrived, went through the outbuildings on our way, but I was coming to find you before we did anything else.”
The knowledge that he’d been looking for her warmed her inside. “Thank you.” She touched his arm and he covered her fingers with his for a moment. “What about the radio?” she asked, keeping her voice low, not wanting Rhodda to hear.