The Bard (Highland Heroes #5) - Maeve Greyson Page 0,92
hoping she wasn’t tightening any knots in the process. After what seemed like forever, her hopes soared as straw scratched against her bare heel. The sharp poking renewed her strength. It only took a few more moments of wiggling and pulling until both her feet were free, and her knees were loose enough to bend easily. She shed the cloth from her knees down, then braced herself for what she knew would probably be extremely painful.
Swinging her feet to the floor, she almost cried out as she sat upright quicker than she had expected. Cold sweat covered her forehead and trickled into her eyes. She blinked it away, and concentrated on her breathing. She promised herself a sip of water as soon as she lit the lantern. “We’re closer, lass,” she encouraged out loud.
Reaching out, she found the wall, supporting herself as she slowly stood. Her bruised hip made itself known, adding its ache to the rest. Leaning against the wall, she stood there for a bit, gathering her bearings. It was so easy to get off-kilter in this blasted darkness, but a blessing came with her new position. Her loosened wrappings fell into a pile at her feet, leaving her standing in nothing but her sleeveless shift and the bandages securing her ribs and shoulder.
“Praise God Almighty,” she said. The bedsheets had weighed on her mind as well as bound her body. One hand outstretched, she felt her way to the table, found the water bag, and took the promised drink. “Now, to light the lamp and get out of here. I’ll wet in the tunnel and leave my captor a little gift.” She wasn’t about to waste a moment of precious Heckie-free time by searching for a chamber pot in this prison.
A loud scrabbling and the muffled sound of a man’s yell almost stopped her heart. Another shout came from a different direction, but she couldn’t make out the words or the owner of the voice. She had to hurry. Whatever was happening surely had something to do with Heckie and might cause him to return. Her fingers brushed against what felt like the fat stub of a candle, then closed around the tinderbox beside it. That’s when she realized that creating light was a two-handed operation.
With her left arm bound to her side, she was as crippled as a winged bird. “I dinna care if I set my shift on fire, I will have light one way or another.” And she needed to hurry. While she hadn’t heard any additional shouts or sounds, that didn’t mean Heckie wasn’t headed her way.
She was afraid to take the time to remove the bandages binding her arm. Instead, she opened the tinderbox and placed the steel in her left hand, then leaned as close as she could to what she hoped was enough tinder left in the box to grant her flame. “Come on now,” she said, gritting her teeth. She held her breath and struck the steel. The tinder caught and blessed her with a weak flame. Dropping the flint, she grabbed the candle and lit it.
“Let there be light,” she whispered as she finally exhaled.
Pawing through the items piled on the table, she found a thick, new candle for the lantern. Remembering the hiding games of her childhood, she emptied the cloth sack of bread and tucked it into her sling. The sack would come in handy should she need to hide the light of her lantern and seek safety in the darkness. With the flame shining brightly, she headed for the wall at the foot of her cot and found the lever in the floor. Thankfully, it wasn’t so worn that she needed anything other than a painful stomp to set it in motion. Every bit of her body throbbed and ached, but she didn’t care. She tasted freedom, and it fed her the strength she needed to keep going.
“Grant me a bit of luck, aye?” she prayed to anyone or anything that might be listening.
Her guardian angel had probably quit her long ago after all that had come about recently. She held the lantern low so as not to blind herself and also not to be a beacon for anyone else, namely Heckie, to spot. The cold slabs of stone beneath her bare feet triggered memories of sneaking to Jenny’s chambers in the middle of the night when they were both wee things and supposed to be tucked away in their beds. They’d had such fun