Michael Spradlin - Trail of Fate

We had to move quickly or we would be trapped. Sir Hugh was banking on the fact that we were still inside the castle, and we wouldn’t be able to dodge them forever.

In the corner of the castle wall, between the stables and the gate, was a stone stairway leading to the battlements above. “If we can make it up there without being seen, we might be able to scale down the wall,” I said.

“Are you crazy?” Robard snorted. “It’s a good twenty feet to the ground. If we fall, we’ll be lucky not to bust both legs. And what about her?” he said, gesturing to Angel.

It was immediately clear I hadn’t thought this all the way through.

“Wait! In the stables, there was a long coil of rope. We can use it to climb down! I’ll be right back,” Maryam said. She sprinted back along the wall in the direction we had come.

“Maryam! No!” Robard whispered. He went after her, but I put my arm out to stop him.

“Hold,” I said. “Let’s wait until we see what happens. Maryam is stealthy. She might be able. .” I let my words trail off. I could feel the tension in Robard’s arm and realized then how much he’d come to care for her. I knew how Maryam felt about him. It was evident every time she looked at him. But I’d not realized it about Robard until now.

In silence, we watched as she slid quickly along in the shadows of the wall and in seconds had slipped through the door of the stables. With rising panic, we watched four of the King’s Guards crossing the courtyard toward the stables. Robard started after her again, and it took all my strength to pull him back into the shadows.

“Robard, stop!” I whispered. “Wait to see what happens first. It does no good for all of us to be recaptured.” They were certain to find her, and knowing Maryam, she would most likely fight to the death.

Our worst fears were confirmed when a loud commotion rose inside the stable. We heard shouts, and then came a ululating scream and the clang of steel. Robard pulled an arrow from his wallet and nocked it. The doors to the stable burst open, and three of the guards came out carrying a twisting and thrashing Maryam. The fourth guard never appeared.

Robard raised his bow and took aim, but I pushed his arm aside. He whirled on me, and for a moment I thought he might shoot me instead. He was coiled and angry, and I held up my hands.

“Robard, wait. Don’t shoot. You might hit her. We’ll get her back, I promise. But we have to have a plan.”

“I hit what I aim for, Templar!” he snarled, but he released the tension in his bow. Maryam was half dragged, half carried to the center of the bailey where the Captain waited with Sir Hugh. When the guards reached them, they put Maryam on her feet. We were too far away to hear what was said, but without warning Sir Hugh backhanded Maryam across the face and she slumped in the arms of the guards.

Robard cursed and raised his bow again, but realized his folly and lowered it. Angel growled and slunk away in the shadows.

“Think of something, Tristan! Quickly! They’ll kill her,” he said. My thoughts were frozen in my head, and I was scared and didn’t know what to do next.

Maryam still stood slumped in the arms of the two guards, her head bobbing on her chest. The Captain shouted orders, and a wagon with a wooden windlass on its back rolled forward. It was probably used for loading and unloading supplies. One guard threw a rope over the crossbeam, and two others rolled a barrel beneath it. A noose was fastened from the end of the rope, and the two guards raised Maryam up on the barrel and placed the noose around her neck.

Sir Hugh cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Squire! Now is the time to surrender!”

They were going to hang Maryam.

Maryam came awake with a jolt and looked about frantically, then settled herself. She shouted at Sir Hugh, but the guards rocked the barrel back and forth and she nearly fell off it. If she did, it would instantly break her neck. She struggled to regain her balance. Then the barrel righted and she stood still on top of it. Robard cursed them for tormenting her. “They’re all dead,” he muttered under his breath.

“Do you hear me, squire?” Sir Hugh shouted. “Come forward now or your friend dies!”

Sweat poured down my face as I leaned back against the cool stone wall.

“You need to give it to him,” Robard said.

“Yes, I know, Robard. But if I give it to him now, he’ll kill her anyway. We need leverage. Something we can trade.”

“What? We have nothing. Do you understand? Maryam is going to die,” he pleaded. It was unsettling to hear Robard talk like this. He was begging me for her life.

Then an idea came to me.

“Robard? Can you shoot the rope?”

“What? Shoot the rope? Of course not! I mean, I’m sure I could if I could get closer, but why?”

“You have to be sure. Can you shoot it? If you were to work your way up behind the wagon over there, you’d be less than thirty yards away. Could you make the shot from such a distance?”

“That’s it? That’s your plan? For me to get closer and shoot the rope? They’ll just kill her with a sword anyway.”

“Yes. No. I mean, it’s only part of the plan. Can you do it?” Robard removed his wallet and ran his hand through the feathers of his arrows. He removed one a bit longer than the others, with a broader arrowhead. He held it up, sighting along it as if inspecting it for defects. He nocked it in his bow and said, “Yes, I can make the shot. You’ll have to give me three or four seconds to stand, draw and sight. But I’ll do it.”

“Good. Then wait for my signal,” I said. Most of the guards had clustered in the courtyard, delaying their search of the grounds to see what happened next.

“All right. When I leave, you make your way to the wagon. Make sure none of the guards up on the battlements can see you clearly. They may have archers up there.”

“Leave? What do you mean, leave?” he asked.

“I’m going to get us something to trade,” I said.

The castle had enclosed towers on each corner, but to my advantage, the guardhouses were built so the guards could see out, not into the interior. I would be out of their sight lines if I was careful. Leaving Robard still sputtering behind the barrels, I sprinted for the corner stairway. Within seconds I was above the courtyard.

“Squire! I’m telling you, your friend will hang at my command unless you surrender this instant!” Sir Hugh bellowed from down below. He was bluffing. He wouldn’t hang Maryam until he knew for sure we were still in the castle. If he did let her die before he got his hands on the Grail, he undoubtedly knew Robard would shoot him at the first opportunity. Sir Hugh was nothing if not a coward. Still I had no time to waste.

As I moved across the rampart, I stayed close to the crenature, which provided me with cover. My brown tunic blended well with the castle stone. I wondered about Robard’s progress below, but there was no time to check. In a few seconds, I reached the shadows of the far corner. To my right now was a door into the second level of the keep. I hoped it wasn’t locked and made fast toward it, pulling up at the door, pushing against it with my hip.

“Squire, I grow weary of this!” I heard Sir Hugh call out from down below. “I give you to the count of one hundred to show yourself or she hangs!” Luckily the door made no sound. If I was right and Sir Hugh had ordered every available guard outside to search, my plan was going to work. I needed his cooperation, and counted on his greed to possess the Grail.

Once inside there was another stone stairway leading to the upper levels. I gambled the Queen Mother’s quarters would be on the top floor. She would demand the most commanding view in the castle. I raced up the two levels of stone steps and stopped, peeking out into the corridor of the top floor. My luck was holding, for a single guard was standing outside a door in the middle of the hallway. I pulled my sword out but carried it down along my leg, where it was concealed in the folds of my tunic. Then I burst into the hallway, running full tilt toward him.