The Wild Baron (Baron 1)

“Yes,” Susannah said. “It’s really quite clear now. Oh dear, I can’t reach the latch.”

Rohan grabbed her and pulled her against him. “It’s all right, love. We’ll get out of here. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried.” She pulled away and smiled up at him. “You’ve got dirt all over your face.”

“You can see me that clearly?”

“Oh, yes, and Phillip, your hair looks gray from all the dirt. Now, Rohan, go stand directly in front of the wall of skulls. Then reach in your arm as far as you can and press it to the wall. You will find a small latch. Pull it toward you.”

He stared down at her. He could barely make out the outline of her head. “What are you talking about? You’re ill, aren’t you?”

“No, do it, please. I want to leave this horrible place.”

“But I don’t understand—” Phillip began.

It was then that Rohan realized there was something different about her. There was a soft nimbus around her. He shook his head. No, that couldn’t be right. But why could they see? She was smiling at him, utterly calm, her expression serene. He had never seen her look more beautiful.

He said very slowly, so scared it shook him to his very being, “You can see everything clearly, can’t you?”

“Yes. Don’t worry. Go pull the latch toward you, Rohan. It’s been used only once, many hundred years ago, but it still works. It’s very smooth, so you won’t cut yourself.”

She knew, he thought. She saw the latch. He walked toward the wall of skulls. Slowly he felt his way to the edge and forced his arm through. He felt nothing but the powdery dryness of the wall, dusting his probing hand. He felt nothing more. Yet he knew she wasn’t wrong. He pressed deeper, a skull against his face now.

Suddenly he felt a small knob. His fingers closed around it. He slowly pulled it toward him.

“You have something, Rohan? You found it?” Phillip was crowding behind him. There was utter disbelief in his voice. “No, you couldn’t have found anything. There isn’t any way that Susannah could know anything, is there?”

“Quickly,” Susannah shouted, “jump back!”

Neither man questioned her. Just as they stumbled backward, there was a loud creaking sound, then a massive crash, bones slamming and grinding into each other, smashing against the floor below.

“My God, what is happening?” Phillip said, lurching back toward the wall of skulls. He reached out his hand. “The skulls are gone. My God, there seems to have been some sort of trapdoor beneath all those skeletons. When you pulled the knob, Rohan, it opened the door and all the skeletons fell through. But to where?”

Susannah said calmly from behind them, “Just to the floor beneath, not more than five feet down. Now, push the knob back, Rohan, quickly, quickly.”

He did. The open doors pulled back up. They stared into a black hole. “What is this?” he asked slowly. “What has happened?”

“There’s an escape door at the back of the opening. All of us will fit, don’t worry. Quickly, we must leave this place.”

Rohan turned around to face her. He saw her clearly, as if she were standing in a pool of light. He felt something calm fill him, felt the panic of the unknown recede. He knew in that moment that all of them would survive this. He knew that whatever had happened to Susannah would probably fade, but the part of it that had shown the strength in her, the inherent goodness, would never be gone. He accepted it, and was immensely grateful. He grinned at her. “Come, madam, let’s get out of this place.” He lifted her up into the opening. He and Phillip were right behind her. The space was nearly high enough so that they didn’t have to bend. Rohan looked back into the passageway. There was a dim, eerie light, but it was blacker than a pit deep within the opening where all the skeletons had lain for so very long.

“Ah, here it is,” she said. “Stand back just a bit, Rohan. Yes, that’s good.” In the next instant, a narrow, low door swung inward. Beyond was another passageway. “Don’t worry,” Susannah called over her shoulder. “This one opens onto the edge of the river. Everyone believes it to be a simple cave that goes in only about fifteen feet.”

Suddenly there was clear, fresh air on their faces. They all breathed in deeply.

“Here,” Susannah said. “Help me move these rocks and branches. They’re only partially hiding the opening.”

It was still dark, the moon high in the sky, when the three of them stood by the river, winded, filthy, and very relieved.

Rohan pulled Susannah down beside him. Phillip sat cross-legged next to her. He cleared his throat after a moment, cleared it again, then said slowly, his voice a croak, “I do not understand what happened, Susannah. You knew what to do; you saw everything. I don’t understand.”

Rohan had pulled her against his chest, folding her in his arms. She said, “I don’t either, not really. It’s just that everything was suddenly so very clear.” She shrugged. “It’s difficult to explain. But I simply saw everything and I knew that we would survive. There was simply no doubt in my mind.”

Rohan said, “I know what Phillip is feeling. It bothers anyone when he can’t logically explain something. If he can’t feel it or touch it or understand it.”

She merely leaned over and kissed his dirty cheek. “I know, but we can’t sit here much longer. We must find Tibolt. I don’t really want to, but I know that we must. We must get the vessel from him. He can’t keep it.”

Phillip said, “He left us to die in that passage, Rohan. I’m very sorry.”