Doolan halted right below and glared up at us. ‘Who will come down and fight me?’ he taunted, his powerful voice booming upwards.
He received no reply and gave a long derisory laugh. ‘You’re cowards, all of you. There’s not one real man amongst you!’ he cried, and began to strut up and down before the walls, waving his axe at us in challenge.
‘Kill him!’ Shey commanded his archers.
They began to loose arrows at him. He was without armour and looked certain to die. But for some reason the arrows all missed or fell short. Was he using some sort of magic against them? If the mages could, with a spell, make novice gunners into experts, no doubt they could do the opposite. Then one arrow sped directly towards its target and seemed certain to bury itself in the big man’s heart, but he twirled his large battle-axe as if it were lighter than a feather and deflected the arrow harmlessly to the ground.
With another laugh, he turned his back and casually returned to his own lines; each arrow loosed after him fell well short. Immediately the enemy gunners began to fire again.
Eventually the light began to fail and the gunners stopped pounding the weak point on the western wall, but we knew that the next day would be critical: a full attack on the castle was expected as soon as that wall collapsed.
Soon after dark we had a meeting with Shey.
‘The castle will fall tomorrow – probably shortly after dawn,’ he admitted. ‘I suggest that as soon as the wall is breached, you make your escape, taking our prisoner with you. I can spare four soldiers to accompany you. I’ll stay here with the remainder of my men. We’ll make a fight of it and sell our lives dearly.’
The Spook nodded gravely. ‘Aye, that seems the best option,’ he said. ‘But won’t we be seen?’
‘There’s a small secret gate to the south, hidden by bushes and a mound of earth. The enemy’s attention will be on the breach. You’ve a good chance of getting away.’
‘We need to keep the mage alive and out of their hands,’ said the Spook. ‘Where should we make for? Is there another refuge?’
‘No – you need to get back to my home in Kenmare – that’s the safest place.’ Shey shook his head and sighed. ‘But it won’t be easy. You face a hazardous journey. To the south and east there are extensive boglands. I suggest you make for the river Inny. Then follow it upstream into the mountains. My men know the way. They’ll guide you through, passing well north of Staigue and avoiding the fort. Then back southeast to Kenmare again.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better to do it now, long before dawn?’ I suggested. ‘You say that the gate is well hidden, but the mages’ spies may know of it. We’d have a far better chance under cover of darkness.’
Alice smiled in approval, but for a moment I thought the Spook was about to dismiss my idea; then he scratched his beard and nodded. ‘The lad could well be right,’ he said, turning to Shey. ‘Would that present a problem?’
‘Not at all. We could have you away within the hour.’
So we made our preparations. The mage was brought up from his cell and secured with rope, his arms bound to his sides. He was also blindfolded and gagged so that he was unable to call for help, but his legs were left free. That done, we took our leave of Shey and wished him good fortune in the coming battle.
We were led to the southern gate by the four soldiers assigned as our escort; after climbing the stone steps up to it, they listened carefully for any sounds of activity outside. Satisfied that all was clear, they signalled to the leader of a small squad of armed troops who were standing by. This force was stationed here to prevent an attack on the gate from the outside.
Their leader unlocked the metal door with a large key. It opened inwards, and he eased it back to reveal a covering of soil and rocks. Two of his men stepped forward with spades and quickly cut their way through it; cool air suddenly wafted into our faces.
As they worked, the Spook looked at each of us in turn and spoke, his voice hardly more than a whisper. ‘If things go wrong and we get separated, meet up at the river.’
It was pitch-dark now. As we could use neither torches nor lanterns, it was vital to stick close together. There was a mound of earth about five paces from the gate – to hide it from distant observers – but there was still a chance that enemy soldiers were waiting just beyond it. What if the mages had discovered the existence of the secret gate? A powerful Pendle witch might certainly have sniffed it out.
This was a moment of danger, and the four soldiers went out first, climbing the steep slope to seek cover in the screen of bushes at the top. We listened, but all was silent. Our avenue of escape was clear. The Spook pushed the stumbling prisoner ahead of him, and Alice and I followed. We knelt down on the grass, listening to the sound of the door being locked behind us.
We were on our own now; if attacked, we could expect no help from those within the castle. We climbed the slope and crouched alongside our escort. There were fires visible in the distance to the south, west and east. The enemy completely encircled us, but there were gaps between those campfires, some larger than others. A few of the enemy would be on guard duty, alert for danger, but hopefully most would be asleep.
We began to crawl down the hill, one after the other. At the bottom we crept forward, three of our escort to the fore, the Spook next with the fourth soldier, carrying the prisoner between them. Alice was just behind them, with me bringing up the rear.
Every few minutes we came to a halt and lay perfectly still, face down on the damp ground. After about fifteen minutes of this we were almost level with the ring of fires that encircled the castle. We were midway between two, each about fifty paces away. I could see a sentry standing in front of a shelter made from animal skins stretched over a wooden frame. There were also men in the open – those who couldn’t be accommodated in the tent – sleeping close to the warmth of the fire.
This was the part of our escape that carried the greatest risk. If we were seen now, dozens of armed men would reach us in seconds. Once again we set off, leaving the fires behind now, the welcome darkness waiting to swallow us and hide us from our enemies.
Again we rested and lay face down in the dark. But then, as we began to crawl forward again, one of our soldiers stifled a cough. Instantly we froze. I glanced back to my left, and saw that the sentry outside the nearest tent was coming towards us. I held my breath. He halted but continued to stare in our direction. I could hear the soldier ahead of me spluttering and choking. He was fighting the almost irresistible urge to cough. Failure to do so would put all our lives in jeopardy.