“Nay,” Brian said. “David was verra clear that I was to bring ye to Hume Castle and keep ye here.”
“Bea is good at drawing,” Will said and ran to fetch a charred piece of kindling from the hearth.
***
It was late afternoon before Brian returned. Alison knew from his defeated expression that he had not succeeded. She drew him and Robbie into a corner of the hall where they could speak alone.
“I found the tunnel. My guess is it hasn’t been used since the time of our grandfathers’ grandfathers. ’Tis narrow, with piles of loose rock and debris. I reached the door, but the lassies are right. There’s no way to open it without breaking through the stone wall, which would take time and cause a great deal of noise.”
“What we need is a man on the inside,” Robbie said. “Perhaps we can bribe one of their men to open the tunnel door.”
“He’d take our coin and betray us,” Brian said. “Then we’d have all the Blackadders waiting for us as we came out of the tunnel.”
The two argued ideas back and forth, but the answer was obvious to Alison.
“I can get inside,” she interrupted. “Patrick will let me in. I’ll find the door and open it for the rest of ye.”
This was a far better plan than her original vague notion of going in and somehow getting David out by herself.
“Nay,” Robbie said, folding his arms just like David. “Ye can’t do it. ’Tis far too dangerous.”
“I’m the only one who can,” she said. “Patrick won’t let anyone else in, and ye both know it.”
“David would never agree to let ye put yourself into that man’s clutches,” Brian said. “Wait for your brothers and let them persuade Patrick to release him.”
“I waited for my brothers once. I’ll not wait again,” she said, and stood up. “I’m going to save my husband.”
One of the Hume men ran into the hall and called out, “There are riders coming, Lady Alison. Can ye come tell us if they’re Douglases?”
Had she misjudged Archie and George? She hurried out of the keep and climbed the ladder to stand on the wall. Despair weighed down her shoulders when she saw the riders. Even if they were Douglases, what good were a dozen warriors?
Archie never rode with so few men now that he was the earl and chieftain. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see if George was one of the riders. One rider wore a gown and looked remarkably like…
Good heavens, it was her sister Sybil.
“Open the gates!” she shouted, then hurried down from the wall.
As soon as her sister rode in, she slid down from her horse and ran into Alison’s arms. Sybil was only seventeen, but she radiated confidence and a lively sensuality.
“I’m so glad to see ye,” Alison said. “But tell me there are more Douglases coming.”
“Archie and George were away, so I came with my guard,” Sybil said.
“I hoped Archie would come or send George to negotiate David’s release,” Alison said.
“I brought something more useful than Archie,” Sybil said with a glint in her eyes. She leaned close and whispered, “I stole his seal.”
Alison was shocked. A chieftain’s seal carried the weight of his authority. “Archie will be in a fury.”
“Not if I return it before he notices,” Sybil said with a wink.
“How did ye manage to take it?” Alison asked. “Surely he keeps his seal in a locked drawer.”
“I’ve known how to pick a lock since I was fourteen,” Sybil said. “I let a lad kiss me in exchange for the lesson.”
“Sybil, ye didn’t.”
“Ach, he was such a handsome lad, I might have kissed him anyway,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Now, we’ll write this nasty Patrick Blackadder a message. I’ve been practicing Archie’s signature since the day he became earl.”