by SL Beaumont
Michael shook his head. “No. James hasn’t mentioned it. Old Charles really is quite bad, isn’t he?”
“Yeah. James shouldn’t be dealing with that on his own. It’s another thing that Alex has left for him to sort out. I’m gonna talk to Andy about it.”
Chapter 24
8pm, New Year’s Eve
The extended Cooper family had dinner at Ellie’s to celebrate New Year’s Eve. After dinner Matt and Stephanie escaped to her bedroom to review where they had gotten to with deciphering the map. Matt sprawled out on the little blue sofa and Stephanie sat on the windowsill, looking out into the darkness.
"I have to agree that the poem points to the castle,” Matt said.
“I know, but I’ve had a good look around and there are no doors that this key would fit,” she replied.
“Maybe the key unlocks something hidden in one of these spy holes that Kerry showed you,” Matt suggested.
Stephanie shrugged. “Maybe. Regardless, Alex wants this map badly if sending someone to trash my room is any indication,” she said. “I feel like we are at a dead end, but I also don’t want to just sit around and wait for him to make the next move.”
“Well, why don’t we check out the wall of the castle on the way to the pub—see if we can’t find another spy hole,” he suggested, looking at his watch. “We have an hour until we meet the others.”
Stephanie sent Michael a quick text to see if he wanted to join them. He replied while she was pulling her boots on.
No—having a quick drink with someone.
Someone? she texted back.
“Michael has been a little mysterious lately—I wonder if he has a new girlfriend,” she said to Matt as her phone chimed with Michael’s reply, which was simply a smiley face.
* * *
“Matt,” Stephanie called. “Anything?”
“No,” his slightly muffled reply echoed along the passageway.
“Damn it. I don’t know where else to look,” she said. “I can only assume that the archaeologists completely searched the outer wall, but maybe not these tunnels.” She continued methodically working her way along the stone wall of the underground chamber, running her fingers up and down and along it, feeling for any loose bricks. She shone her torch up and down in time with her hand. Nothing. The wall was solid. High above, the moon passed between two clouds and cast its light through the metal grid that covered a hole in the curved ceiling above them, throwing a crisscross pattern across the floor. She could see Matt further down the passage mirroring her movements. He looked along at her and grinned. Skirting along the outer wall of the castle, after Stephanie had shown Matt the spy hole that Kerry had revealed to her, they had found an unlocked gate, which led into a tunnel within the wall itself. It seemed as good a place as any to start looking.
“Bloody hell, it’s cold, Steph. We must be mad,” he said.
“I know—we might have to give up and come back tomorrow,” she agreed, as a gate clanged shut, somewhere in the castle complex. They stopped and looked at one another.
“What was that?” Stephanie whispered.
Matt shrugged. “The wind?”
“There is no wind.”
The sound of approaching footsteps crunching across the gravel silenced her. They switched off their torches and flattened themselves against the stone. Matt carefully started moving towards her but paused as a shadow passed over their hiding place, followed by a second.
“Said she was comin’ up ’ere.”
“Car’s in car park. She must be here. Split up. We want whatever it is she’s found,” the second man said.
Stephanie’s eyes widened. In the darkness she tip-toed towards Matt but her foot caught a loose stone which went skittering along the floor and crashed into the wall. She froze again. Powerful flashlight beams shone down through the metal grids, illuminating their hiding place.
“Run!” Matt yelled as he caught her hand and pulled her along with him. He shone his torch in front of them as they raced along the passage. Shouts rang out above.
Stephanie tripped and landed heavily on her hands and knees. “Shit, ow,” she said. Matt turned, a look of horror crossing his face. As Stephanie pulled herself back to her feet, a hand came through the metal railing covering another hole in the tunnel roof and clamped onto her shoulder. She screamed and struggled.
“I’ve got her,” a voice called.
Matt was at her side in an instant and prised the fingers off her shoulder, bending one back, so that the man yelled in pain. Stephanie was free and they began running again. Her hands and knees hurt from the fall, but adrenaline kept pushing her on. They wound their way deeper into the castle along the narrow brick tunnel. The uneven floor sloped downwards and every few metres the beam from the castle’s floodlights shone in through the holes in the ceiling.
“Matt, we have to be really careful. Kerry said that some of these tunnels could collapse at any time,” she whispered.
“We don’t have a lot of choice,” he replied.
The passage within the wall was a maze, with twists and turns, forks and dead ends. Stephanie’s boots slipped on hidden icy patches; holes in the ceiling had exposed the floor to the elements.
Then suddenly they were in darkness. Stephanie looked over her shoulder as Matt switched his torch back on.
“Hey, I think we must be under the hill,” she said, screwing up her nose. “It smells earthy.”
They came to another fork and Matt immediately veered right and down a steep spiral stone staircase. Stephanie shook her hand loose from his and using both hands braced herself on the walls of the stairwell. The steps were narrow and worn from years of use. She was terrified of slipping and really hurting herself. Her heart was racing. After several turns the stairs suddenly ended at a wooden door. Matt turned the large brass handle to open it, but it was locked.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he exclaimed in frustration.
Stephanie doubled over, bracing her hands on her knees to catch her breath and steady her shaking legs. “We’re just going to have to go back up,” she said. “Hang on, what’s this?” The door had a large keyhole low down, hidden by the shadows thrown across from the staircase. Stephanie fumbled in her pocket for the key from the cemetery and crouching down, inserted it in the keyhole. It was a perfect fit. As she twisted it carefully to the right, they heard the lock disengage.
“Yes.” Stephanie breathed. She glanced at Matt, her eyes shining. She gave the door a push, but the door wouldn’t budge,
“Here, let me try.” Matt put his shoulder into it and gave a hard shove. The door remained firmly closed. Above them they heard footsteps. “Come on, we can’t wait here. This is a dead end, we don’t want to be caught.” Matt grabbed her arm and propelled her back up the staircase. They took the other fork in the tunnel and plunged into the darkness. Matt switched on his torch as they came to another set of stairs leading down. They followed the narrow passageway as it wound around deep below the circular keep.
Matt switched the torch off as they paused for breath. Stephanie strained to listen for the footsteps of the men following them, but it had all gone quiet.
“They can’t have stopped looking,” she whispered. “We need to find another way out.”
“Yeah, we do. Do you still have the key?” Matt asked.
Stephanie gasped and looked at him wide-eyed. “No. I must have left it in the door. I hope they haven’t found it.”
They began to retrace their steps.
“I wonder what’s on the other side of the door?” Stephanie whispered.
“Dunno, but it’s right under the keep,” Matt said, before stopping abruptly as a loud crack sounded and a section of the roof in front of them collapsed. Dust filled the air and rubble spilled across the underground passage. A curse sounded from above. Stephanie pressed a hand over her mouth and gave a muffled cough as she breathed some of the dust into her lungs.
A flashlight immediately shone through the new
ly made hole in the ceiling and illuminated the passageway. She quickly pulled Matt into a crouch behind the rock fall. Several seconds later the light was gone. They stayed still as the footsteps above moved away from their hiding place.
Stephanie put her mouth to Matt’s ear. “Kerry said that these tunnels were unstable.”
“We should get out of here. This is dangerous. Come back when it’s daylight,” Matt whispered back.
Stephanie nodded. “We need to retrieve that key first.”
They stood and climbed over the pile of rubble, making as little noise as possible. They crept back up the stairs, pausing on the top step to listen. Muffled voices could be heard.
“Come on.” Matt led the way back to the fork in the tunnel. He risked switching on the flashlight as they made their way down the treacherous spiral staircase to the wooden door. Matt shone the torch at the keyhole. The key was still there. Stephanie pulled it out of the keyhole as Matt said, “Stop.”
He shone the light along the top of the door frame. A rusted slide bolt was engaged, locking the door into the brick surround. He reached up and forced it open. Stephanie turned the key again to unlock the door as they heard the voices getting closer. Matt switched the torch off again as she pushed at the door. A little movement this time, but it was still stuck.
“Damn it,” she exclaimed under her breath.
Above them more bricks could be heard falling, followed by a loud exclamation. Matt and Stephanie exchanged a concerned glance. Matt crouched down and quickly shone the light around the base of the door. He glanced up and grinned as he opened another slide bolt.
The door swung open and they stepped into a large circular room. Stephanie pulled the key out and quickly pushed the door closed. They shone their flashlights around the room. There didn’t appear to be any way out except the way that they had come in.
“We’re trapped,” Stephanie gasped.
“There has to be another way out,” Matt replied, shining his torch around the room. At regular intervals along the walls were large engraved plaques depicting aspects of castle life. Many were worn with time, but their outlines could still be made out—knights jousting, peasants working in the fields, ladies walking within the walled garden. Four enormous round columns made of small bricks were built into the circular wall at regular intervals. From the top of each, struts made from the same small bricks converged in the centre of the ceiling. Stephanie’s eyes followed them upwards. High above them heavy footsteps pounded down a staircase.
Stephanie studied the room. It was empty except for a low stone bench in the middle. As she approached it she noticed evenly spaced deep cuts in the floor converging towards the centre of the room forming a circular pattern around the bench. She ran her hand over the bench. It too was engraved—symbols, words and shapes—worn over the years. Shiny black stones were set deep into the top of the bench around the carving of a single rose. Her heart beat a little faster.
“Matt,” she called. “Look at this!”
Matt stopped inspecting the walls and turned to look at her. “Ah, legend has it that the Earl of Carlswick had his knights pledge their oath to him at an altar. Maybe that’s it. If it is, it was also the altar at which they lost their heads if they failed him,” he said.
“Ugh.” Stephanie stepped back, subconsciously wiping her hand on her jeans.
The footsteps above them stopped suddenly, followed by a muffled curse and the frustrated rattling of metal.
Matt resumed his investigation of the walls, looking for another way out. Stephanie started helping him but the altar bench distracted her.
“Matt, you don’t think this is where Mann and Masters pledged their word, do you?” she asked.
“Would make a good story.”
She approached the bench again, this time noting the two deep grooves running crossways over it. She traced the first one, then the other with her fingers. Crouching down, she followed the groove over the edge of the altar. A stone at the base moved under her hand. She jiggled it. Removing her gloves and with shaking hands, she carefully worked and prised the brick out from the bottom of the altar, just as Kerry had done to the brick on the outside wall.
Placing her torch on the ground, she reached into the hole. Her fingers landed on a soft cloth. She gave a sharp intake of breath and pulled out a small velvet bag with a drawstring at the top. It landed with a soft thud on the floor. Stephanie picked it up and turned it over in her hands. It felt as though it contained a small metal box. Her hands trembled with excitement. As she went to call out to Matt, a figure rushed into the room through the doorway. She quickly replaced the half brick and heard Matt utter the word, “You.”
She stood, tucking the bag into a deep pocket of her coat and shone her torch towards the newcomer. James.
“Was that you following us?” she said.
“No—there are two men out there and they are on their way down here,” he said, turning to Matt. “Are you trying to find the old tunnel entrance?”
Matt shook his head. “What tunnel?”
“Here.” James ran past Stephanie to the far side of the room and pushed on one of the columns. Cut into it, but cleverly disguised by the brickwork, was a small door which swung inward. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The footsteps were getting louder. James held the door open and Stephanie followed Matt through, stooping so as not to hit their heads on the low doorway. James stepped in behind her and pulled the door closed. They were in another tunnel.
“Torches off,” he instructed, and they were plunged into darkness. “Quiet.”
Stephanie stood rooted to the spot. The tunnel was cold. Colder than the room in the castle, and she shivered. Silently, James moved closer to her. She could feel the heat emanating from his body and his warm breath on the side of her head. She fought the urge to lean into him for comfort and warmth and instead slipped her hand into the pocket of her coat and felt for the velvet bag.
“They’re not here,” a voice close to their hiding place said in surprise.
“Whadda ya mean? They ’ave to be,” the second man replied, wheezing, sounding out of breath.
“Come on, back this way. They have to be hiding in one of the nooks on the stairwell—they can’t have gone far,” the first man said.
A radio crackled with static. “Can’t ’ear ya. Hang on,” the man shouted.
“Okay, let’s move,” James whispered. He switched his torch on and pointed it at the ground in front of him. “This tunnel leads back into the village.”
Stephanie and Matt exchanged glances in the gloom.
“What are you doing here?” she asked James, not moving.
James sighed. “I overheard Michael and Victoria talking at the Smuggler’s Inn earlier and he mentioned that you two had gone up to the castle to look for something. Then these two guys from another table got up, left their drinks and bolted. It didn’t seem right.”
Stephanie raised her eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yeah, I figured that you were probably still trying to find whatever it is that my brother is looking for, which probably meant that you would be putting yourself in danger once more. I refuse to let him hurt you again,” he said. Stephanie studied the face that she knew so well. In the shadows cast by the flashlight his expression softened and his eyes held hers.
Matt cleared his throat. “I would have found that doorway eventually,” he said.
“Of course you would’ve,” James replied. Matt stiffened.
“Not the time, you two. Let’s go, I hate cramped dark places,” Stephanie said, stepping between them. They heard voices again behind them in the circular room.
“Behind a pillar, ya say?”
“Shit. Go,” James said.
They ran as fast as they could along the narrow tunnel, stumbling occasionally on the uneven dirt floor. Stephanie turned back to look behind her and at one point she could see the halo from a torch bouncing off the walls of the tunnel behind them. After se
veral hundred meters, the tunnel widened and began getting steeper. James’s mobile beeped. “At last,” he breathed. “A signal.” He speed-dialled Andy, who picked up on the first ring.
“Are you still at the Smuggler’s?” he asked. “Good. We are coming along the old tunnel from the castle. Remember the one we used to play in?” He paused, listening. “Yeah, can you get in the back and open the trapdoor—we’re being chased and I don’t wanna get caught.”
He slipped the phone back in his pocket and reached for Stephanie’s hand. “Come on. Almost there,” he said, linking his fingers with hers.
The tunnel continued its steep incline for the next two hundred meters and opened out into an underground storeroom. At one end a trap door in the ceiling was open. Andy’s head appeared through the opening. “Quick. I can see lights coming behind you,” he called. Matt rolled a beer keg under the opening and stood on it. Andy moved back and Matt pulled himself up and through the opening. His head reappeared seconds later. “Come on, Steph, I’ll pull you up.” She too climbed on top of the keg and reached her arms up. Her fingers only just reached the trapdoor, but Andy and Matt leaned through and got a hand under each arm and pulled her up. James followed, kicking the keg out of the way. But just as his waist cleared the trapdoor a hand clamped around his ankle pulling him back down.
“Oh no ya don’t,” a rough voice said.
James kicked out with his free leg, catching his abductor under the chin. His foot was released with a stream of profanities. James quickly pulled himself through and together they slammed the trapdoor shut, securing it with bolts and moving several cases of wine and boxes of beer on top of it. Muffled shouts could be heard from below.
Chapter 25
10pm, New Year’s Eve
Stephanie stood rubbing her shoulder and looked around. They were in a back room at the Smuggler’s Inn. She could hear the muffled hum of people talking with the occasional burst of laughter through the wall. Boxes of beer, cases of wine and boxes of mixers were stacked throughout the room. Anna rushed forward and threw her arms around her. When she winced Anna stepped back, holding her at arm’s length, taking in her dishevelled appearance.
