The Robber Knight's Secret

25. Friendship Born in Fire

Without ceremony, Ayla threw open the door and stepped onto the landing at the top of the small staircase that lead down into the dungeon. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she shouted over the assembled crowds of friends and chained enemies: "I need volunteers to help me form a bucket chain! As many as I can get! The castle is on fire!"

All heads turned. All eyes stared up at her. Not one man or woman said a word.

With three quick steps, Ayla was down the stairs and in front of Launas, the man who had comforted the young widow earlier. He didn't realize what she was going to do until she slipped her hand into her belt pouch and pulled out a large, iron key.

"Milady!" His voice was a rough whisper, his eyes wide and disbelieving. He tried to step back, clutching the child she had entrusted to him as if the baby could somehow protect him from his life being turned upside down, but Ayla grasped his arm and held him in place.

"Give the child to his brother," she told him, nodding towards young Bodo.

"But Milady..."

"No buts! Do as I say, now!"

Taking a deep breath, Launas handed the baby down to Bodo. A moment later, Ayla had grasped his chained wrists. One turn of the key, and Launas' chains fell to the ground, clattering on the stone. In a work of seconds, two more men were freed. They stood there, staring at her in incredulity. So did Burchard, who was still in the clutches of two of Launas' friends, further down the dungeon.

"Well?" Ayla raised an eyebrow at the first freed man. "The castle is about to go up in flames. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help save lives?"

There was a moment of hesitation. For that one moment, the fate of the feud hung in the balance. For that one moment, Ayla was surrounded by three enemy soldiers who could kill her, if they wanted to.

Then the moment passed.

"You heard the lady!" Launas shouted. "Let's get to work!"

It only took minutes to free all the soldiers in the dungeon—at least a dozen men, plus as many women who had instantly volunteered, leaving their children in the charge of the elderly. Ayla entrusted them to the capable hands of Burchard, who cursed her, and called her three sorts of foolish, but accompanied them upstairs anyway. He repeatedly glanced nervously over his shoulder as if he expected the freed prisoners to stick a knife into him from behind at any moment.

They didn't. In fact, they seemed just as eager to help as the women were. Ayla supposed that the desire not to be burned to death was powerful bond. A stronger bond, anyway, than the oath of fealty to the one doing the burning.

Well, I'll find out soon enough if I'm right about that.

Letting others rush past her, she stopped half-way down the corridor, in front of the dungeon that held her two noble prisoners. Unlocking the door, she stepped inside.

"What the do you want?" A voice growled from the corner. Looking over, Ayla saw that Sir Blasius huddled on a blanket there. "And what's that infernal noise, all that stomping and clanking? It's the middle of the night, and some people are trying to sleep!"

"The noise you hear is your soldiers running out of the dungeon," she told him. "They have been freed."

Sir Gregor, who had been slumped in another corner, sat up bolt-upright. A child who had rested on his crossed legs nearly toppled off. Sir Blasius, however, wasn't nearly as impressed by the news. To him, it didn't even seem to merit waking up all the way.