Brice snickered and raised the shovel higher, delaying the death blow for the pleasure of it. He didn’t hear the silent prayer that tumbled from Katherine’s lips nor did he see Alex’s hand move.
But Katherine did, and her heart surged with hope. She stalled for the time Alex needed to regain his full senses. “Don’t do this!” she screamed, striving to rise to her feet. “There’s no reason to kill me! I don’t know where the jewels are!”
“What? The mistress o’ this fine manor whimperin’ like a snared animal?”
But as Katherine stood and attempted to step backwards, her dress became wrapped around her legs, binding them so she couldn’t move, and she fell again to the ground.
Brice roared, his laughter concealing the noise of Alex’s movements as he rose to his knees.
Scrambling to her feet, Katherine scooped up a handful of the loose dirt and, with a vengeance, flung it into Brice’s face. She lurched at the blinded stableman with all her strength, shoving him backwards into a shallow hole. As he fell to the ground, the shovel flew from his hand and the gun from his belt, discharging its single shot into the wall.
Alex became fully conscious now. Rising, he yelled, “Katherine, by your feet! The shovel!”
Katherine tossed the implement toward him and, lifting her skirt high, raced across the chamber. Turning briefly, she watched as both Alex and Brice grappled for the shovel. Then she dashed up the stairs. She tried to think what she could do to save herself and Alex, but there wasn’t anyone that she could go to for help. Suddenly, she heard footsteps tearing up the stairs after her. Was it Alex or Brice? There wasn’t any way of knowing without stopping, and that she wasn’t about to do. Reaching the corridor, Katherine didn’t slow but flew through the gallery and into the great hall.
“Here, Mistress, here!” A woman’s voice called urgently from the shadows atop the stairwell.
“Molly?” Katherine cried, running up the stairs toward the voice.
The sound of the footfalls behind her grew louder as the distance closed between her and whoever was following her.
“This way, Mistress!”
Katherine followed the urgent call to the little used hall in the back of the manor.
“I found the maid you have been seeking,” the voice continued.
These compelling words drew Katherine toward a narrow room. Wariness coursed through her mind, and her heart quickened its beat. As if some wordless entity tried to warn her off, she paused for a moment, trying to place the room in her memory. But she and May-Jewel hadn’t investigated this particular one.
Her indecisiveness to enter gave way when she heard the voice again, calling, “Hurry, Mistress!”
But now the tone of Molly’s words didn’t sound right. Katherine couldn’t distinguish her accent. She thought that perhaps it was due to the fear that raced through her, and she moved forward.
Feeling uneasy and wary, she entered the room. The dim light from the hall window allowed her only to see that the room was empty except for a scant set of decaying stairs against the far wall leading to the top floor. Above the steps was a small door.
Thunderous footfalls came from down the hall toward her. Forced to close the door behind her, Katherine sank back into the furthest corner and awaited the inevitable in total darkness. But the steps raced past the door and, a moment later, the sound faded. She heaved a heavy sigh and felt her way along the wall back toward the door. Before she could find the knob and flee the room, the door atop the stairs creaked open, the small area becoming aglow with the flickering and swelling of candlelight. Katherine strained to see who was there.
“Molly, is that you?”
Out of the mute grayness appeared a small face. For a moment, terror overcame Katherine, and her knees threatened to buckle. Wild with despair, she pressed back against the wall.
“No, Mistress, it is I.” A wiry form stepped from the garret and paused on the top stair of the frail structure.
“Selina!” Katherine gasped. “This is where you’ve been hiding!”
Selina moved down on the next step and stood immobile, raising and lowering the candle as if to see all of Katherine. “What? No weapon?” She sneered. “No way to protect yourself from Selina? What were you going to do if you found me? Slap my face? Warn me away from this place? Wistmere is not yours! I am the legal wife of Robert. This place is mine!” She descended the next step.
Not daring to take her eyes off Selina and sliding her hand behind her, Katherine feverishly searched for the door knob. But it wasn’t within her reach. Panic muddled her senses, and she couldn’t remember how far away the door was from the corner of the room. Having finally come face to face with her nemesis, Katherine couldn’t form an answer for the dread that threatened to consume her. The creaking of the stairs as Selina moved down yet another step brought Katherine close to the edge of hysteria.
“Don’t bother. Should you reach the door, my man is on the other side. There is no escaping Selina this time.”
Freezing against the wall, Katherine almost stopped breathing. She assumed those were Brice’s steps running past the door a moment ago and that he was now searching for her in another part of the manor. Was she wrong? Selina sounded so sure. Were the fading footsteps actually Alex’s and was Selina playing another mental game to frighten her? Katherine’s mind frantically raced for a way to escape. She prayed for someone to rescue her. Surely David must have returned by now. Molly would have told him about Brice, and he would be looking for her. She held onto that hope, and knew she must stall for time. She had to distract Selina.
