She’d felt so much hope when they had started up the steps. Now her heart was like a huge stone in her chest as she followed Colin back down.
Colin looked carefully before going around any corners, and soon they were back in the dungeon without having encountered anyone along the way.
Anne clasped Margaretha’s arm again. “Get me out of this rat-infested hole. I will not stay here another minute.”
“With God’s help, we will be out of here soon.” Maybe then Anne could lose that frustrated, fearful tone in her voice that was dancing on Margaretha’s nerves.
“Weapons,” Colin said, breaking into her thoughts. “Can you ask the gaoler to give us any weapons he has on him?”
“Of course.” Margaretha approached the gaoler, and he readily bent over and removed a dagger and its sheath, which was strapped to his thigh underneath his tunic.
“This is all I carry.” He handed them over to Colin. “But if you can wait, I can fetch a mace that I keep in the Great Hall.”
Margaretha translated.
“No, too unwieldy. We must be moving fast. But thank you.” Colin eyed Anne and Britta. “Who is going with us, and who is staying at Hagenheim Castle?”
Anne and Britta looked to Margaretha to clarify.
Margaretha had assumed they were both going. “Cannot they both go?”
“They can, but we do not know where we are going, exactly. They should know that now. I want to give them the choice.”
Margaretha translated for the two young women, but added, “You should come with us to avoid the chaos that is certainly coming.”
“Will I be able to go to my family in town?” Britta’s lip trembled as she spoke.
Margaretha thought for a moment. “I don’t see why not. Once we are out, you can always go back in — that is, until the fighting starts. Then the gates will probably close.”
Britta let out a squeak, like a mouse in a trap.
“Don’t worry. All will be well. Colin and I will protect you, and probably there won’t be any fighting anyway, if we can find — ”
“We must go. Tell them to decide now.” Colin’s manner reminded her of the black stallion just before he bolted.
Margaretha turned to Anne and Britta. “Will you go with us?”
“Do I have a choice?” Anne asked irritably.
“No, unless you want to go up to the solar and turn yourself over to the soldiers who are guarding the rest of my family.”
“Which way do we go?” Colin asked impatiently.
“We must get torches first.” Margaretha took one down from the wall, and Colin walked halfway up the steps to grab another.
“This way,” she said, starting for the tunnel to the right. She hoped Anne and Britta were behind her as she led the way. The tunnel narrowed until it was only wide enough for one person.
“A spider!” Anne’s voice reverberated off the stone walls. “Get it off .”
A scuffle ensued, followed by, “Ach! I am so angry with you, Margaretha.”
“What did I do?”
Anne’s voice came from behind, “You led me through a dungeon and through a spider web, which is still in my hair, and a spider crawled up my arm! I even saw a rat run by! If I die in this stinking hole, I will never forgive you.”
Margaretha sighed. “I am saving you, Anne, from an evil man. Please try to remember that.”
The light of her torch showed that the tunnel ended just ahead in a small chamber complete with chains and iron manacles and two wooden benches. Margaretha stepped into it and walked straight to the back wall. Feeling with her hand, she found a stone that jutted out. She pushed down on it and the wall shifted. She pushed harder and a four-foot by two-foot section of stones opened up like a door on a hinge.
Colin grunted behind her. “I need one of these.”
Margaretha smiled. Here was another secret she had never talked about. She couldn’t wait to tell her brothers how wrong they were about her.
She had not been allowed to know about the secret tunnel as a child, but a few years before, her father and mother had shown her and her sister Kirstyn where the tunnel was and how to open the secret door, in case there was some terrible event and they needed to leave the castle. Margaretha had dreamed of using it, of how exciting it would be to lead the castle household to safety while evil brigands attacked. All her imaginings were so close to today’s reality that it gave this moment a dream-like quality.
She truly was here, and she truly was leading people to safety through the secret tunnel — but more importantly, to get help.
She pushed the wall open as far as it would go and bent low to fit through the small opening, holding her torch before her.
More spider webs greeted her as she stepped into the seldom-used tunnel.