Page 68 of A Touch So Wicked

“Who goes there?”

“The kitchen lad, sir,” Elissa said in a thick brogue.

“What are you doing here, lad? You’d best return to the keep.”

“The kitchen was hot, I needed some air.” She stepped past the gatekeeper and peered through the gate’s narrow iron slats, pretending interest in something beyond the walls. “What is that?” she asked excitedly.

The gatekeeper pushed her aside. “I see nothing, lad. Are you sure…” His sentence ended in a sigh as Kimbra struck him from behind with a rock.

“Help me,” Kimbra said, struggling with the apparatus operating the gate.

Together they managed to lift the gate high enough for Elissa to slip through. The gate lowered behind Elissa and she hugged the wall a moment to catch her breath. When no alarm sounded, she blew out a sigh of relief and moved out from the shadow of the wall.

The guard who had been conversing with Reverend Trilby must have heard something suspicious, for he advised the Reverend to return to the keep before sprinting toward the gatehouse. Once he was gone, Kimbra emerged from the shadows.

Damian leaned against bulwarks, gazing at the numerous campfires visible through the trees.

“Do you think they’ll attack tonight?” Dickon asked.

“Nay, they appear to be settling down for the night. I look for a dawn attack.”

Suddenly a scream rent the air. Damian peered over the bulwarks to the courtyard below.

“I can’t see what’s going on,” Damian stated as he turned and sprinted toward the stairs, “but I’m going to find out.” Dickon followed him down the stone steps to the courtyard.

Damian braced his body as Kimbra launched herself at him. He tried to disentangle her arms from his neck but she clung to him like a vine.

“Calm down, Kimbra,” Damian bit out. “What are you doing out here? Was that you screaming? What happened?”

“Spies, Damian. Gordon spies. I heard them planning treason. They spoke of raising the gate and letting the Gordons inside. I followed them outside but became frightened and decided to return to the keep to warn you. Then someone shouted and I didn’t know what to do, so I screamed.”

“Go back inside, I’ll take care of this.”

Men-at-arms spilled from the keep, following close behind Damian as he raced to the front gate. Kimbra followed at a discreet distance though Damian had forbade it.

“Over here,” a voice shouted.

Someone held a lantern aloft. The circle of light revealed two men, one propped against the wall and the other bending over him. To Damian’s relief, the gate was down.

“What happened, Betts?” Damian asked.

“I was conversing nearby with the Reverend Trilby when I heard a suspicious noise. I ran to the gatehouse and found Corbin unconscious,” Betts said, “but he seems to be coming out of it.”

“Move aside,” Damian ordered, “I wish to question him.” He dropped to his knees. “What happened, Corbin? Did you see your assailant?”

“’Twas a lad, my lord,” Corbin said groggily. “But he wasn’t the one who hit me. Another attacked me from behind while we were talking. The lad must have had an accomplice.”

Kimbra pushed her way to Damian’s side. “I told you there was treason afoot. They must have let themselves out the gate.”

“Aye,” Betts concurred. “’Twas the sound of the gate opening and closing that alerted me. When I arrived, I found Corbin unconscious.”

“You have to stop them, Damian,” Kimbra said urgently. “No telling what the traitors have planned. They mustn’t reach Gordon’s camp.”

“I’ll take a patrol out,” Dickon volunteered.

Damian’s lips thinned. He wanted Gordon’s spies alive. “Can you describe the men, Corbin?”

“The one I spoke with claimed to be a kitchen lad,” Corbin recalled. “’Tis all I can tell you. ’Twas too dark to see clearly.”