“Really?” I scoffed, my anger getting the best of me. “And how exactly will you do that when it’s two grown men against one smallish girl?” The reality of her impending fate ran through my head. “Mark my words, once you’ve been beaten to an inch of your life, Paddy will rape you while Calhoun goes for the priest.”
Fear flashed in her eyes, and I felt a pang of guilt for taking the detail so far. For the life of me, I’d meant to stop with the prospect of a beating, but the rest had just tumbled out of its own accord.
“I’m sorry, Ailish. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s not to happen.” She pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around herself, as though forming a protective shield. “I won’t let it.”
With another twinge of guilt, I pushed her distress to my best advantage. “Help me escape, and it won’t.”
“How’s that? What’s to matter if’n you’re here or not?”
“The answer’s so obvious, I’m surprised you can’t see it. Once I’m gone—”
A wheel ran a rut, throwing us each off balance. My shoulder hit the wall with a jolt of pain, while Ailish just swayed from side to side like a roly-poly toy. Rubbing at the soreness, I straightened and returned my gaze. “Once I’m gone, Calhoun will have no choice but to keep you in his show.”
She shook her head. “Paddy will just wait. Or he might decide to join us.” A shudder shook her small frame.
“Does he live near Waterford?”
“He does, about five miles north o’ the port.”
“Without me in the way, you’ll have leverage with Calhoun. At a minimum, it will buy some time to find a more permanent solution.”
This last bit appeared to have a better effect. “And where would you be going if’n I helped?”
“To Wexford to meet up with my friends.” I crossed my fingers and offered a silent prayer. Please let them be there...
She nodded, the slight motion nearly indiscernible. “I’ll think on your words.”
I frowned, disappointed by the delay. “You realize time is of the essence, right? That every minute just brings us closer to Paddy?”
“Don’t be getting your hopes up, Selah. I said I’d think on it, nothing more.”
Well, that made two of us, as I needed to formulate another plan in case she refused to help me. Attacking Calhoun presented a series of dangers, the most grave of these being that if he really possessed Cailleach’s blood, then I might as well save the effort and just attack myself. By the small chance we weren’t mortal enemies, once I dropped him, Ailish would no doubt incapacitate both of us again with a short trip to the Otherworld. And then it would be a matter of who gained consciousness first.
These thoughts went round and round until my head was spinning from the various scenarios, all of which seemed to end with the three of us knocked senseless.
There had to be another way. But how?
I curled my hand around the memory of Henry’s last kiss and pressed it to my heart for courage. Even if I failed, I knew he wouldn’t stop until the wretch was dead and Nora returned safely to London. This assurance offered a glimmer of light in what seemed to be an ever-expanding darkness.
A loud whistle mixed with the crack of a whip to hasten the horses. Ailish pulled her knees tighter, somehow making herself even smaller. A long while passed in this fashion, the grim silence interrupted only by the incessant rattling and creaking of the caravan. I began to tap my foot on the floor with growing impatience. She raised her head and gave me an odd look, which I answered by lifting a brow in question.
Will you help me or not?
Releasing her arms, she twisted around to rap on the wall behind the driver’s box.
Calhoun put his mouth to the small slatted opening. “What do you want?” he growled over the cacophony of pounding hooves and wheels.
Ailish turned to kneel on the bench, and stretched her neck to reach the opening. “I’ve got to make water,” she yelled.
“Hold it, me lass. We’ve no time to be wasting.”
One small hand tightened to a fist. “Stop the horses,” she said, “afore I piss on the floor.”
I agreed with the sentiment and silently thanked her for the stubborn insistence.
Calhoun didn’t say anything more, but after a minute the horses slowed to a stop. Grumbling, he jumped from the driver’s box and walked around to the door. It swung open, revealing a world awash with fog. Swaths of wild grass and thorny vines grew alongside the narrow dirt road. Just beyond, trees reached over the caravan from either side, their branches nearly touching overhead.
Anxious to be out, I put a stocking-covered foot on the first step when Calhoun held up a hand to stop me. He then peered at Ailish, who was busy rummaging through the cabinets. “Tie a rope around her waist, will you,” he told her.
I huffed a protest. “You’ve got to be jesting.”
Something hard glinted in his good eye. “Not a wee bit, Miss Kilbrid. You’ll soon learn that I take care o’ what’s mine.”
My chin tilted up a notch. “How fortunate that I don’t belong to you, nor anyone else for that matter.” I leaned farther on the step in challenge. “Please excuse me, I’ve nature’s call to attend.”