“Why in Hell do you think I’m here?” he snapped. “You bloody savages think you’re the only ones to stand up for something? I stood up for Mary, and look what became of it.” He threw down the shovel in disgust. “Do you think I’m glad at what’s happened? I promised to protect her! My father will pay for what he’s done to me.”
Michael watched the younger man’s face intently, searching for any sign of deceit. He found none.
It seemed almost too good to be true. Not only might this man’s emotions be turned toward freeing the women. . .but by all appearances he was as shallow and guileless as his father was deep and cunning. But he knew better than to hope too much, or to show his true feelings, at all.
“Well. Leaving ‘bloody savages’ aside for the moment, perhaps we are not as far apart as I feared.” He lowered the weapon, leaned back against the tree. “Calm yourself, and perhaps we can talk as reasonable men.
“All right,” he continued. “Here, then, is what I’m offering. Your freedom, in exchange for the safe deliverance of Mary and the widow Scott. In this you may serve me as ally, or hostage. The choice is yours.”
“If you want them back,” said Stephen, “then let me go now. Give me Stubb’s horse, and a weapon to protect myself. All I have to do is reach Earl Arthur, and tell him my story. My father will lose all power over their fate, and a good many other things as well.”
“You will forgive me,” replied Michael, “if I am not as confident of English justice as you are. After they are rescued, you may do what you like to hurt your father. Not before.”
Stephen looked hard at him, first in anger, then in disbelief.
“You’re not serious. You can’t expect to win them from the Tower by stealth? It’s over two hundred feet high. Inside the castle are scores of armed soldiers, with a thousand more garrisoned less than two miles away. We don’t even know which cell they’re in, or if they’re still together.”
Michael grimaced, releasing a heavy breath. Though in his heart he knew the grim realities, to hear them spoken was still disquieting.