Scarlet

The tunnel were small and bits were caving in, but it were still intact, and I kept low and ran the length of it. It went right to the apartments in the main bailey up on the top of the rock, and from there it were an easy, shadowy walk down to the prison on the middle bailey. The castle were set up like a giant twisting staircase, and each bailey were the flat of the stair, a walled, defensible castle unto itself. The top bailey were the best protected and held the people and the storerooms; the lowest were guards, and the middle bailey held just about everything else.

Now, the prison had one entrance in the front, and that were all. Under the ground in the middle bailey, the prison didn’t have any windows. It did, however, have an air vent that were almost my size exact.

I slid down headfirst, holding inside the vent to see if anyone were in the hallway. It were clear, and I dropped onto my hands and tucked down, staying quiet and sticking to the walls. There were rats all over the place, and the squeaks and claws covered my noises.

“The Hood!” I heard someone whisper. I wheeled my head around. A prisoner stood, plastered to the bars. “Are you looking for the boy?”

I nodded, keeping my head down. He pointed me to the end of the row. I could see the guard straight ahead, turned away from me, and Freddy’s cell were off to the left. It were perfect. I slid my pick from the inside of my belt as I snuck closer. Freddy were curled on his filthy bedroll. He looked even younger there, and a big bruise showed on his face.

The locks weren’t difficult to pick, but it still took a few moments, and it weren’t even the hard part. Going painful slow, I yawned the door open, drawing out the squeak till it were quiet.

With a breath, I snuck into the cell and pulled Freddy up, shushing him as he woke and pulling him onto my shoulders. He didn’t question me, holding on tight as I walked him out and shut the door slow behind, waiting for the heavy click of the lock.

I ran him back to the air vent and pushed him up, then scrambled up the wall myself. He wriggled up without being told, but at the top of the vent he turned back. “Where do I go?”

“Stay against the wall.”

He cleared the top, and I heard Freddy give a yelp in the dark beyond. With the fear of God in me, I scrambled up to the top in time to see John lean forward and grab my arm. His grip were bruising. “I will kill you later, Scar.”

I rolled my eyes. “Follow me.”

We came up the gauntlet to the upper bailey, ducking into the alley that stood between the thick wall and the artisan shops. At the end of the shops, there were a gap to cross over to the apartments. I edged along the wall, waving them back until I got a clear lookabout.

The daub wall were rough against my back. Sneaking slow, I went to the wooden post at the corner and peered around it.

I whipped my head back, the breath rushing from my chest. I froze.

“I expect this will garner results, Gisbourne.”

The name burned through me like a falling star. My throat felt like a hand were closing hard around it, pressing my pipes in, strapping my lungs closed.

I hadn’t seen him in four years, and now here he were, less than an arm’s length ’way from me. I’d run from him and kept running, and now it seemed fate’d run straight back around to slam our lives together.

“If by ‘results’ you mean a gang of thieves to string up while the adoring people watch, I assure you it will,” came the smooth, dark voice.

I screwed my eyes shut; his voice ate through me like acid. I felt sweat jump out of my skin, and my chest burned from not breathing. My fist found its way tight round a knife, and I sucked in a tiny breath.

“But when, Gisbourne?”

He laughed. “Very soon.”

“Make sure of it. The Hood and his men are the scourge of the forest. Prince John himself has written me that these thieves must be put down like dogs. The people protect them, and I can’t find them.”

“I can. Thieves are prey like any other, Sheriff. I hunt them, I track them, and I kill them.”

My heart dropped out from my chest, and my hands set to shaking.

“Good. I’ll see you to your apartments, then.”

The two of them crossed the bailey with a flank of guards and I crouched low, part because I didn’t want them to turn and see me none and part because my knees had gone fair wobbling. I waited until they were inside the apartments and then signaled to John. He and Freddy slid up beside me, and I jumped when Freddy touched my arm.

“The tunnel is behind the residences,” I whispered. I glanced back to watch a guard stay out front, pacing, and I sucked down a breath. “When he paces in the other direction, we can go one at a time.”

John sighed heavy. “Christ, Scar. I’m good for something.” He kicked a bit of a cracked cobblestone loose and picked it up. He heaved it back the way we came, and the guard went on alert. A moment later he jogged toward the noise.

“Go!” John ordered.

I scowled but began to run. John picked Freddy up under one arm and kept pace with me, flying ’cross the open courtyard to round back of the residences, tucked safe in shadow. That were the only rub about the tunnel; it were far from everything in the castle.

We made it to the tunnel, and I felt relief shake through me. John closed the trapdoor behind us, and once in the dark I heaved a sigh.

“It’s dark,” Freddy pointed out.

“I’ll go first, Freddy,” I told him. “You follow behind me.”

“Fred,” he corrected.

“Fred. Make sure not to lose John?”

“I will.”

We went quick through the tunnel, and at the mouth, in the dark, Fred pressed close to my side. “I’m not good with climbing.”

I crouched down. “I’m good with climbing. Hop on.”

“Don’t be silly,” John muttered, picking Fred up and slinging him onto his back. “As much as I’d like to see Will fall down Castle Rock, I’d like better for you, Fred.”

“Everyone knows Will Scarlet can do anything,” Fred told him.

John rolled his eyes.

I decided I’d steal Fred something extra this week for that.

Fred were quiet most of the way back, and John and I walked with him in between us, staying pretty close to each other. I felt like Fred needed people standing close to him right then, and I got an inkling John might’ve had the same notion.

Every step with the castle at my back meant I could breathe a touch easier, but even away from Castle Rock, and farther from Gisbourne, I didn’t feel no safer.