The Princess Spy (34 page)

They began to climb the stone stairs to Claybrook’s bedchamber when Claybrook began to moan. He continued to climb, but he moved even slower. When they reached the top of the steps, Claybrook coughed, then bent over and vomited on the floor.

Two of the guards took hold of Margaretha’s arms while the third asked Claybrook if he needed help.

Claybrook ordered, “Take her to her own chamber until I send for her.” He leaned over and retched some more.

Margaretha shuddered. She did not envy the poor servant who would be forced to clean that up. But . . .
Thank you
,
God
,
for the reprieve!

The two guards compelled her to start walking down the corridor to her chamber. When they had rounded the bend, they stopped.

They were looking at each other. Perhaps this was her opportunity!

“Men, if you will help me escape,” Margaretha whispered, “I will make it worth your while. My father, Duke Wilhelm, will reward you well — ”

One of the guards interrupted her. “We will help you escape, if you have a plan.”

“You will? But why?”

“We have our reasons.”

“Tell us,” the other one said.

“You must take me to the dungeon.”

“To the dungeon? My lady — ”

“To the dungeon. Pretend you are bringing me there on Lord Claybrook’s orders, to clamp me in irons. I will tell you the rest when we get there.”

They crept forward and peeked down the corridor. No one was in sight. Then they heard Claybrook retching again farther down the corridor.

The two men compelled her forward. Once at the top of the stairs, they maneuvered around the mess on the floor and hurried down the steps, with Margaretha in the lead.

“We should move more slowly,” one guard whispered, “so as not to create suspicion should the other guards see us.”

Margaretha nodded and slowed her pace, allowing the guards to take her by each arm again, as though they were holding her captive.

“Why do you want to help me?” Margaretha whispered. Could she really trust them? She was desperate for a way out, so she had little choice.

She stopped and faced them, and they stopped as well, halting in the corner at the top of the stairs that led to the dungeon.

The two men were burly, one with dark reddish hair and the other with light brown. They met her eyes openly. “We thought we could better our status by coming with Claybrook here, but we didn’t know what a brutal, unjust man he was.”

The one with light brown hair and a crooked nose added, “And we regret being forced to kill innocent men. He promised that if we came with him, he would give us our own estates in exchange for helping him foist a usurper from his family’s lands.”

“And then we discovered he had lied to us. We don’t like the man.” The redhead shook his head. “Also, we heard from the kitchen servants that the men of Hagenheim are sneaking out of the town, being lowered down the wall to go and join Duke Wilhelm. They say he is raising an army to fight Claybrook.”

“Not only that, but we believe the kitchen servants poisoned Claybrook’s wine.”

“So that is why he is sick!” Margaretha’s heart leapt at the news.

“I heard them say that the last carafe of wine was only for Claybrook and his knights.”

“I believe you are trustworthy,” Margaretha announced. “But you must tell me your names.”

“I am Thomas Stephenson,” the red-haired one said.

“Thaddeus Lee,” the other said.

“Now I shall tell you a secret that you must not tell another soul.” Margaretha cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered in the red-haired man’s ear and told him about the tunnel in the dungeon that led outside the wall of the town. Then she told the brown-haired man, as he leaned down and offered her his ear.

“When we get to the bottom of the steps, go to the right.”

The men nodded, then escorted her down the dark steps.

“Who goes there?” A guard stood at the bottom of the steps holding up a torch, his other hand reaching for his sword hilt at his belt. The old gaoler was nowhere in sight.

Thomas greeted him and said, “Lord Claybrook ordered Lady Margaretha to spend the night in the dungeon.”

Men — her father’s own knights and soldiers — lined the walls, chained hand and foot. She even recognized Britta’s sweetheart, Gustaf. The sight of them made her clench her teeth and itch to use the heavy cross in her sleeve.

Thomas and Thaddeus had let go of her arms while they talked with the man guarding the dungeon. She heard a thud and turned to look.

The guard sank to the floor. Thomas stood holding his sword at an odd angle. Apparently he had struck the guard with the butt of the hilt. The guard lay unmoving on the stone floor.

“We must set these men free.”

Thaddeus was already taking the keys from the large ring hanging from the guard’s belt. He systematically unlocked each man’s manacles.

The men had obviously been shackled to the wall for quite some time. The ones who could barely walk were supported by the ones who were stronger and not injured.

“Come this way.” They grabbed all the torches they could find and Margaretha led them all down the corridor to the chamber at the end, then pressed the trigger stone to open the wall and lead them into the secret tunnel. When they were safely through, they closed the stone wall back into place.

Margaretha led them all as they moved, one in front of the other, in the narrow tunnel. Finally, without encountering any bats or even any rats, they came to the end.

“Here is the door leading out,” she said to Thomas and Thaddeus. They put their shoulders up to it and pushed the door open easily. The dark of night greeted them, with stars and moon shining in the clear sky, as they all climbed out of the tunnel and onto the grassy meadow.

“I want to go with you to find my father, but I hate to leave my family. It is possible Claybrook may kill them when he discovers I’ve escaped.”

“I don’t think he will,” Thomas said. “He will use them for bargaining if things don’t go well and the castle is besieged. Besides, he’s too sick at the moment to order anyone killed.”

That was certainly true.

“But what will happen to these men?” Thaddeus asked her, looking around at the men who had been chained in the dungeon. “Some of them are not able to come with us.”

“You are right.”

“Lady Margaretha.” One of the men approached her, and she realized it was Sir Edgar. “The men who are not able to come with you to find your father will all find succor at my home, which is only a short walk from here. My wife and servants will personally attend the injured ones.”

“Thank you, Sir Edgar. That is very good of you.”

While Sir Edgar gave instructions to the injured, Margaretha turned to Thaddeus and Thomas. “Do you think we can find Duke Wilhelm without being captured by Claybrook’s men?”

“I think so,” Thaddeus said. “Most of Claybrook’s men are either guarding the city gates or guarding the castle.”

Thomas said, “Since you are with us, Lady Margaretha, we should find Duke Wilhelm and his men without much delay, as the people know you and will not be afraid to tell you. But we should hurry, since we don’t know how potent the poison was that Lord Claybrook drank. Perhaps he will only be sick for a short time.”

As the injured started for Sir Edgar’s house, the rest of her father’s men that they had rescued from the dungeon joined with Thomas, Thaddeus, and Margaretha, and they started walking east, away from Hagenheim Castle.

Margaretha’s feet were still sore from all the journeying she and Colin had done, but she was too grateful to have escaped Claybrook to complain. She walked through the trees, across meadows, crossed a stream, over hills, and still they walked.

One of the men they had rescued from the dungeon knocked on the door to a family friend’s house to ask if he had heard where Duke Wilhelm, Lord Hamlin, and their men were. He did not know, but he told them the name of someone who might, and explained where to find him. So they walked on.

Margaretha had not slept well in many days, and she felt she could almost sleep standing up. Finally, they came to the large stone manse that belonged to another of Duke Wilhelm’s guards. Margaretha went to the door, along with the others, and knocked. When she had explained to the parents of this guard who she was and that they were looking for Duke Wilhelm and Lord Hamlin, they pulled Margaretha inside and immediately bustled about, finding her a chair to sit on and bringing her a goblet of wine.

The woman of the house told her, “My dear Lady Margaretha, you look worn half to death. Stay here while the men go and join your father.”

“Then you know where he is?”

“Bless your soul, yes. My husband has been helping him round up men for the battle for Hagenheim Castle, to take place at dawn tomorrow. These fine men can join him, and you can stay here and rest yourself in a nice warm bed.”

It didn’t take long for the good woman to convince Margaretha that she should stay and get as much sleep as possible before being reunited with her father. She was almost too exhausted to climb the stairs to the bedchamber the lady had sent her servants to prepare for her. When she did lie down, the bed felt exquisite.

When she was alone and the candle had been extinguished, she pulled the heavy iron cross out of her sleeve and clutched it to her chest, feeling comforted, as it was not only a weapon but the representation of all her hope. “Thank you, Jesus,” she whispered, “for Claybrook becoming sick, and for Thomas and Thaddeus helping me escape.”

Her thoughts immediately turned to Colin. Where was he? Was he well and safe? Was he trying to come to her? And where was her father and Valten? Had Colin left Toby in Marienberg? Was he safe and happy?

When she had been with Colin, she missed her mother. Now that she had been with her mother, she missed Colin. Remembering how he had held her in his arms when she cried, she felt a strange, almost painful tug at her heart. How she wished to see him again, to talk to him, to tell him everything that had happened to her. She wanted him to hold her again. She wanted him to feel about her the way her brothers felt about their wives. She wanted him to get that look in his eyes that Gabe had for Sophie and Valten had for Gisela.

“Colin, Colin. I escaped. Again. Now I just want you to be safe and come back for me. Please come back.” She closed her eyes, her hand touching the cross beside her in the bed.

Chapter
31

It was twilight when Colin and the rest of his
party arrived at Duke Wilhelm’s encampment. Now they were all gathered — a mighty force, including several men of high rank and all their knights and soldiers who were allied with Duke Wilhelm.

Colin had been surprised to find his father at Marienberg when he and Toby made their way there a few hours after Margaretha had been captured by Claybrook’s men. He soon learned Colin’s father had felt it his duty to come to Germany and try to bring Claybrook to justice for the heinous murder the man had committed. And he had also come looking for his son, worried that Colin would get himself killed, no doubt. He had stopped in Marienberg because he had heard that Claybrook was on a mission to woo Duke Wilhelm’s daughter. He also knew that the Duke of Marienberg was a near relation of Duke Wilhelm, and that Claybrook’s uncle lived in Keiterhafen, which was near Hagenheim.

When Colin arrived at Marienberg Castle, speaking only English, the castle servants had not understood him. He had been quite surprised when they went and fetched his father. Colin had been nearly overcome by his father’s joy at seeing his son unharmed. He would not admit it to anyone but himself, but there had been a few tears shed, by both men.

Now the plan was to attack Claybrook and his men at Hagenheim Castle an hour before dawn, as Duke Theodemar of Marienberg, Lord Glynval, and all their combined fighting men, had joined Duke Wilhelm and his knights and allies. As they waited for the appropriate time to attack, Colin realized he might finally be able to speak to Duke Wilhelm.

Colin compelled a new friend he had made, Sir Gerek, who was one of Duke Wilhelm’s knights, to translate his meeting with Duke Wilhelm. But first, the Duke of Marienberg would make the introductions for Colin and his father.

“Duke Wilhelm,” Duke Theodemar said, “allow me to present the Earl of Glynval and his son, Lord le Wyse, both of England. I have only recently made their acquaintance, but I can assure you, they are well worth having as allies. And now I will allow Lord le Wyse to explain why they are here to fight against Claybrook, while I see to my men.”

Sir Gerek quietly interpreted for Colin and his father.

The uncle and nephew exchanged a few more words of friendly greeting before Duke Theodemar excused himself.

“Your Grace,” Colin began, as he faced Margaretha’s father for the first time, trying to appear both humble and confident. “I came to the Holy Roman Empire with the intention of capturing Claybrook and taking him back to England to face the consequences of a murder that he had committed there. I was attacked and left for dead by his men and was brought to your healer at Hagenheim Castle.”

Up to that point, Duke Wilhelm had looked at him with piercing but expressionless blue eyes. His brows lifted when Colin mentioned Hagenheim Castle, and as Sir Gerek interpreted Colin’s English into German for Duke Wilhelm.