Cassian (The Immortal Highland Centurions #2) - Jayne Castel Page 0,59
the door and onto the pebbly slope below.
Aila’s belly pitched. They were so exposed up here. One misstep and it would be over. Back in Dunnottar, she avoided walking too close to the ramparts. But out here in the dark, with the wind pummeling her, she was standing on the edge of a precipice.
Outside the wall, the women halted as instructed and waited for Cassian’s signal.
It took a while.
Aila peered into the stormy darkness, her eyes straining. She tried to catch sight of him. Her eyes were gradually adjusting to the gloom, but the storm had closed them in, obliterating the night sky and the fires of Stirling burning below.
“There are stairs,” he called back finally. “This way.”
Doing as bid, Aila inched her way down the slope a few feet.
“Slide down the stairs on your backsides,” Cassian instructed. “We’re going to have to feel our way down. It’ll be slow, but it’s safer.”
None of his companions argued with him. Right now, no one was worried about dirtying their clothing.
Her pulse beating in her ears, Aila obeyed. She let go of Jean, who now trembled against her, and lowered herself to the ground. “Come on, Jean,” she whispered. “Just do as he says, and we might get through this.”
Then, feeling her way with her feet, Aila shuffled onward. She found the first step and slid down onto it, and then the next.
It seemed to take an age to descend the steep, torturous stairway leading down from the Nether Bailey.
Impatience thrummed through Cassian. He too shuffled down the steps on his backside. The buffeting storm made everything more dangerous. His cloak was sodden, and the wind had plastered it against his body. He’d long since pushed back the cowl as no one could see him out here anyway.
Behind him, he could hear the scraping sounds of the women following. He hadn’t cautioned them again, for it was unnecessary. All of them understood just how dangerous this was.
Eventually, Cassian reached the rocky bottom of the volcanic outcrop on which Stirling Castle perched. He rose to his feet and waited for the women to join him.
They were on the edge of the town now; the gabled roof of the Kirk of the Holy Rude rose up to his left, a dark outline against the faint glow of lanterns.
Cassian’s jaw clenched as he considered his next move. There were a few options open to him. He could try and hide the women in Stirling itself—if the kirk had been open, he’d have taken them down to the mithraeum. But the kirk was barred at this hour, and such a move would only trap them all in Stirling. By the time they tried to leave, the hills would be crawling with English soldiers.
Tonight was their best chance of escape.
It was either the river or the hills.
The river was the riskier of the two options, for he’d have to steal a birlinn from Riverside before they could sail downriver with it. Cassian frowned then. The tide was out at this hour. The decision was made for him: he would have to take the women cross-country.
His frown deepened to a scowl.
Without horses and hampered by long skirts, the women wouldn’t be able to travel fast.
Turning, his gaze settled upon a cloaked shape that drew close. “Cassian … we’ve made it?” Aila’s breathless voice reached him.
“For now … are you all still with me?”
“I think so.”
Cassian raised his chin, eyes narrowing. High above, he spotted the glow of torches. The chatter of raised, angry voices drifted down the cliff toward them.
The English had discovered the secret door, and were now following them down the cliff face.
Cassian dropped his gaze to the four women who’d halted before him, their faces pale smudges in the darkness. Their lives were in his hands now; he couldn’t fail them. “Come,” he said gruffly. “It’s time to run.”
XXVI
THE WOODLAND GLADE
AILA LAY UPON her back and drew in deep gulps of air. Her lungs burned, her back ached, and her legs no longer had any strength in them. If Cassian hadn’t let them halt in the woodland glade, she would have collapsed.
A few yards away, she heard a soft retching sound. Exhaustion had dug its claws into them all. She wasn’t sure which of her companions was being sick in the bushes, but Aila wasn’t surprised. She too fought the waves of nausea that washed over her.
Too exhausted to even lift her head, Aila stared up through the embracing tree limbs overhead at the lightening