Time of the Warlord by Ivy Hollins

Author:Ivy Hollins [Hollins, Ivy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2019-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The shouts reached Sadie from where she waited amid the rocks that topped the summit of the hill fort. This was a strange, eerie place, like some leftover of an even older time, when this hill had been as much temple as fortress. Loud shouts from below echoed strangely around the stones, and it took Sadie a second to realize what she was hearing. The familiar bellow of Ciaran’s deep, loud voice. Then a higher-pitched scream - a woman. Sadie suddenly knew what had happened.

She began to run, cursing the long skirts of the stupid dress. She scrambled down off the rocks and down the dirt path that cut through the center of the hill fort.

And there was Norah, her face tear-stained and afraid in the flickering torchlight. Her arms were bound behind her back, and a guard gripped her on either side. Ciaran stood there, looking on. One look at his cold, hard face, and Sadie’s heart froze.

“Norah!” she shouted, rushing forwards. But Ciaran whirled around in an instant, grabbing Sadie and holding her back so that she couldn’t touch her sister. She tried to fight him off, but it was like wrestling against iron.

“Did you know?” he murmured in her ear. “Did you know she was here?”

Sadie knew she could lie. Knew she should lie, to preserve any advantage she had. But after everything that had happened between her and Ciaran, she at least owed him the truth.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I knew.”

He thrust her away from him with such force that she almost fell, her feet skidding for purchase on the slick ground. He did not turn to look at her again.

“This woman needs to be locked up,” he said, gesturing at Norah. “The king will deal with her in the morning. I will inform him straight away.”

He strode away without so much as glancing at Sadie.

“Norah!” she shouted again, but there were more guards now, and none of them would let her near her sister. They seemed reluctant to touch a guest of the king, but they would not back down. Norah looked back over her shoulder, eyes wide and fearful, and Sadie could do nothing but watch as her sister was led away.

Sadie rushed back to her room, full of nervous energy. She could not let this happen. The king might have been kind to her, but that kindness would surely not extend to an attempted assassination attempt. Sadie knew how harsh the laws of this time were - Norah would surely die for her crimes, no matter why she had acted as she did. That could not happen. Sadie needed to get her out of here before dawn came.

But how? She didn’t even know where Norah was, let alone how to get her out. And Ciaran, her one ally, had clearly turned against her.

Unless… Ciaran might not be her only ally. Sadie paused in her anxious pacing. There was someone else she could ask for help, if she dared. But if she misjudged, everything would fall apart.

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