Chapter 16
The place Piper was supposedly being kept looked like an ordinary house at the end of the village square, except it appeared to be uninhabited. Lachlan kept a lookout while she peeked into the back windows, trying to see anything through the darkness.
“I can see desks and benches. I think this might be some kind of office or meeting hall. I guess they don’t have a regular jail yet.” She realized that in her own time, Castle on Hill didn’t have a proper jail either. If anyone got unruly, there was a cell in the provost’s office where they’d be locked up until transferred, or fined if it was something minor. “It seems deserted. Maybe they didn’t leave a guard since she’s so small.”
Lachlan eased open a window and wedged himself through it, reaching out a hand to help her over the sill. “Let us hope,” he said when they were both inside.
She followed him along a hallway, past several closed doors, until they reached the end. He nodded down at the doorknob. A rosary was wrapped around it, and when she looked further down, saw that there was a wooden cross leaning against the closed door. Witch protection?
Lachlan scowled and opened the door to reveal a stairway going down. At the bottom, a tiny window set high up by the ceiling afforded some dim moonlight, revealing a brick walled cellar with a chair and several cupboards. There were two barred doors, one draped with another rosary. Evelyn ran and flung herself at the door, which was heavy, solid wood and locked tight. Lachlan rattled the knob and looked around for a key.
“Piper, are you in there?” Evelyn called softly.
She pressed her ear against the planks, but couldn’t hear the slightest rustle from the other side. She called out louder. They both jumped when the door at the top of the stairs slammed shut and they heard footsteps running away.
Lachlan swore. “Stay here,” he said, bounding toward the stairs.
“Uh, no.” She took off after him, reaching the top in time to see a man carrying a lantern scramble down the hallway, Lachlan close on his heels.
He caught the man by the collar of his coat, yanking him back and causing him to drop his lantern. Evelyn rushed for it before it tipped and caused a fire. Lachlan shoved him into the wall and clapped his hand over the frightened man’s mouth before he could alert anyone else to their presence in the building. Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief until she saw the glimmer of a knife in the man’s hand.
No. If Piper was downstairs behind that locked door, she couldn’t let Lachlan be killed now. Her mind reeled and she opened her mouth to shriek a warning, but the man’s hand shot forward, plunging the knife into Lachlan’s side.
She shrieked anyway, and then watched in awe as Lachlan slammed the man once more into the wall, twisted his knife hand viciously to the side, and finally delivered a crushing punch to the man’s jaw. He slid to the floor and Lachlan turned around, his eyes blazing with berserk fury. He staggered a few steps toward her, growling with the pain of the knife wound.
She blinked from one to the other before realizing that Lachlan was still alive, standing upright in fact, and swearing under his breath. She hurried forward to help him.
“Aw, crap,” Evelyn said, pulling aside his waistcoat and shirt to see the damage. “I thought we might get out of this without you getting stabbed.”
He pushed her hands away and pressed against the wound to stanch the blood flow. “I dinna think it’s all that bad this time,” he said. “Just a scrape.” He looked down at his immobilized attacker with a frown. “I hope I didna break his neck.”
“So much for the place not being guarded,” she said. “I hope he was the only one.” She knelt beside him and searched his pockets for keys, assuring Lachlan that he was still alive, though hopefully he’d stay unconscious for a good long time. He didn’t have a key, so they went back to searching.
“They aren’t here,” she said after they’d desperately gone through every drawer and cupboard. She fiddled around with her dress, looking for one of the pins that fastened everything together. “Maybe we can pick the lock.”
Lachlan held his side, looking at the locked door. With a sigh and another muttered oath, he hurled himself at it, barely rattling it, but immediately trying again. After three attempts, he managed to crack the frame. Evelyn could see he was in terrible pain, but he steeled himself and rammed his shoulder into the door once more, this time with success.
He leaned over to catch his breath, clutching his side in agony, as Evelyn hurried past him into the room.
Piper lay unmoving in the corner, a tiny, shawl wrapped heap. Evelyn gasped, afraid of what she might find, and fell to the ground beside her, gently rolling her over. She was filthy and her skin was cold, but a soft groan escaped her cracked lips, filling Evelyn with intense relief. She was alive, but couldn’t seem to wake up.
Lachlan fell to the ground beside them and took Piper in his arms, calling her name and stroking her tangled hair away from her face. Her eyelids fluttered open and shut and she weakly grabbed at his jacket.
“Lachlan,” she rasped. “You came for me again.”
Lachlan looked at Evelyn, who shook her head, then tried to open Piper’s eyes. Her pupils were dilated and she groggily turned her face away from the lantern light.
“I think she’s dreaming,” Evelyn said, letting Piper close her eyes again. “They must have dosed her with something, the bastards.”
“She is drugged?” Lachlan asked, his face such that Evelyn was glad they were friends. “We must get her out of here.”
He gathered her up and stood, holding her close to his chest. The shawl that had been covering her fluttered to the ground and Evie retrieved it and draped it around her. She led the way up the stairs, holding the lantern aloft. At the top of the stairs, she stopped abruptly and turned back to Lachlan.
“The guard is gone,” she said, as panic started to swell.
They hadn’t been down in the room for more than ten minutes, surely. How long had the guard been gone? How much of a head start did he have and how big of an alarm was he about to raise?
All these thoughts plowed through her mind, stealing her ability to move. She stood there staring at the spot where the man had been lying until Lachlan nudged her with his elbow and nodded down at Piper. Right, they had to get out of there.
They hurried out the back door, where Evelyn was certain a crowd of angry villagers would be waiting to grab them, but it was just dark, quiet night. Lachlan paused and looked around, then tipped his chin in the direction they needed to go. She heard angry shouts coming from the street side of the house, far too close by.
“Run,” Lachlan said.