Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“I have done so before.”
“Not as my wife you have not.” He sounded determined that she would not do this.
Mary thought otherwise. “I will not see Jenna and her brother suffer when I am capable of helping. I will return before you realize I am gone.”
“I think not. When I lay in bed without your warm, soft body next to mine, I will worry.”
She placed a gentle hand on his arm. “Nothing will happen to me. I will see them safe and be in our bed before dawn tomorrow. Besides, I am experienced with a bow and can use one if necessary.”
“A bow? Who taught you how to handle a bow?”
“The bowman in the village I was brought to. I was barely eleven and angry over my parents’ deaths. Vengeance filled my heart and the thought of piercing my enemy’s heart with an arrow filled me with determination to learn how to use a bow.”
He placed his hand over hers. “You did pierce my heart, though it was love’s arrow that felled the mighty Decimus.”
She smiled proudly. “I am an excellent bow woman.”
He laughed and kissed her with a gentle haste. “I am glad to know that, though I will not worry less about you. There is no time to spare if we are to do this. We must move immediately to free them. How did you slip past the guards when you freed Roarke?”
“I borrowed clothes from the stables and wore a cap to hide my long hair. Dirt smudges on my face helped greatly.”
“I will get you what you need and wait until you are ready. Then I will call the men from the dungeon so that there will be no one to stop you, but you have only minutes for they know I will not leave the dungeon unattended for long.”
She saw the worry in his dark eyes and thought to assure him. “I will be fine.”
He wrapped his arms around her. “You better be, for I will never forgive you or my own foolishness for letting you risk your life like this.”
He kissed her but there was no time to linger. They had to act now before the young pair would suffer.
In no time Mary was dressed once again as a lad, and before she tucked her blond hair beneath the wool cap, Decimus kissed her again.
“I love you.”
“And I you with all my heart,” she said.
“Travel safe and be careful, I already wait impatiently for your return.”
Holding her hand, Decimus checked the hall to see that they were alone. Together they sneaked down the curving staircase. Mary hid within the shadows, a bow clasped tightly in her hand and a sack of arrows strapped to her back as Decimus summoned his men.
The escape had begun.
Chapter 33
Mary managed to free Jenna and her brother William from the dungeon with little difficulty, and within hours met with the men in the woods who would take them to safety. She did not, however, advise anyone of her fatigue.
Jenna had been shocked and relieved to learn that Mary would help them escape, though she made her concern for Mary known. She worried that Decimus would take his wrath out on his wife if he should learn that she freed them, and she urged Mary not to return.
“I cannot do that, Jenna.” Mary tried to explain. “I would place myself in even more danger. I must return; I have no choice.”
“But you are free,” she cried and wiped at her tears. “For the short time I have known you, you have been so very good to me. Now William and I have a chance to live a better life because of you. Please join us.”
“It is not possible, and I must be on my way. My husband thinks me ill and confined to my bed. He is busy with the escape, but there will come a time he looks in on me and will see that it is not his wife beneath the blanket but pillows.”
“I do not know how I can thank you,” Jenna said, clinging to Mary’s hand.
“By living a good life with your brother,” Mary said, then hugged the thin girl and bid her farewell.
Two men took her to the woods and one looked uncertain about leaving her on her own.
“The terrain is not easy, the path not always clear. Are you certain you can manage on your own?”
“Your directions are clear. I will be fine,” she assured him, though worried that her fatigue might catch up with her before she reached the fortress. But she had no choice; she had to return as quickly as possible. She could rest all she wanted to once in the fortress.
She took to the woods in bright daylight, but knew that it would be near to dawn before she reached the Fortress of Hell. She had walked quite a distance before she rested, and no sooner than she sat did she hear a noise. She was quick to her feet and quicker to take bow and arrow to hand and wait, the trees shielding her.