As soon as the door closed, he shoved Dawn toward a section of the wall and pushed on it, revealing a boarded up opening. He couldn’t rip the boards down without calling attention to the noise and that’s when the scream sounded. As soon as it did, the cleric kicked at the boards and shoved Dawn through the opening.
Dawn slipped as she descended on the narrow stone stairs a few times receiving some bumps to her elbows and knees. It did not take long to reach the bottom and once there the cleric, though by now Dawn realized the man was no cleric, kicked the boards until a sufficient opening was made and he forced her through it, following behind her and not letting go of her. His grip was so strong it stung her skin.
He shoved her toward the woods and Dawn already shivered from the bitter cold and prayed that Cree would be close on her trail.
~~~
Cree hurried along the hall with Torr and Sloan following behind, having been informed that Lucerne was carrying on uncontrollably. He stopped abruptly in front of Elwin wanting to make certain Dawn was all right.
“She rests?” he asked.
“The cleric is hearing her confession. Dawn seemed agreeable having nodded,” Elwin said. “What does two taps to the arm mean?”
Cree kicked the door open and rushed into his bedchamber, Torr, Sloan, and Elwin following. His heart pounding wildly in his chest, he turned to Elwin. “When did she tap your arm?”
“When the cleric said they were going to your bedchamber so he could hear her confession, she reached out and tapped my arm twice.”
“She was letting you know that wasn’t so,” Cree said, his fear escalating like never before. “Alert the men. Have them search the woods near where this secret passageway ends.”
Elwin nodded and hurried off to see it done.
Cree didn’t waste a minute; he entered the secret passageway, Torr, and Sloan following.
“He isn’t a cleric is he?” Torr asked as they maneuvered the narrow staircase.
“No, he isn’t,” Cree said more determined than ever to find the bastard cleric and kill him.
“But he spoke about seeing your sister,” Sloan said.
“I have no doubt he tortured the real cleric to get what information he could out of him so that he would be able to play the role well. I should have realized that something was wrong when he didn’t refer to the abbey or Abbess by name.”
“But who is he?” Torr said.
“That’s what I intend to find out before I kill him,” Cree said as they emerged out into the cold.
~~~
The man shoved and dragged Dawn when he didn’t feel that she walked fast enough and his detailed threats of what he intended to do to her made her shiver more with fear than from the cold.
“I think tying you to a tree and cutting you good so that your blood attracts hungry animals is a fitting end for someone who has caused me endless trouble.” He shook his head. “I forget that you cannot utter a sound. That is good, for then you cannot scream when the animals feast on you.”
No matter what happened, she could not let him tie her to a tree. She had to get away from him and back to the keep. Cree would come for her. He was probably already on the way.
“I will be glad when this chore is done and I can be on my way. You’ve been more trouble than you are worth. No matter how many men I hired to see you finished, not a one could see the chore done.”
Dawn didn’t try to communicate with him, she let him talk wanting to learn all she could.
“Have to admit though that if it wasn’t for my precious, darling wife who took on the chore of raising the dumb daughter of a noblewoman, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make myself some wealth.”
That stopped Dawn, and she turned to face the man claiming to be Lucerne’s father.
“The stupid bitch thought I was dead. She never realized that I didn’t want to come home to her and a whining babe. When I finally had no place to go, I returned home figuring my dependable wife would be there and what a surprise it was to find out that she was gone with who I thought was my daughter until I saw Lucerne. She was the image of my wife when I first met her.” He gave her a shove and she fell to her knees and winced, a snow-covered rock jabbing into one knee. He hoisted her up with a roughness that jarred her. “Get moving. I’m tired of acting the pious man. I want this done so I can be gone.”
The pain in her knee caused Dawn to stumble before she righted her steps. She could feel the blood running down her leg and she prayed that it would leave a trail for Cree to follow, though she did need to slow their pace.