Sound of the Heart by Genevieve Graham Read Free Book Online Page A

idea,” Dougal said. “But they’ll have to think o’ somethin’. We’re only takin’ up space as it is. Maybe they’ll decide they’ve had enough an’ simply let us go, aye?” He grinned and the boy snorted. “No, no, I reckon not.”
    “They wouldna just . . . kill us, would they?”
    Dougal shrugged weakly. “I suppose it depends on who’s in charge at the time. But no. I’d no’ think they’d do that. Too many of us. They’d run out o’ shot, most like.”
    Aidan shuddered. “I’ll no’ be here for that,” he said quietly.
    “No? An’ why not? Have ye other plans?”
    Dougal had expected Aidan to laugh, or at least to react with surprise, but he didn’t. Instead, the boy studied Dougal’s expression closely, as if trying to read his mind.
    Dougal frowned. “What is it?”
    Aidan took a deep breath, then made his decision. “Joseph an’ I, we’ve found a way out,” he whispered.
    For a moment, Dougal simply stared, mouth hanging slightly open. Then he found his voice, but kept it low. “There’s a way out?”
    “Aye, but I wasna sure ye’d be fit for it. Ye must be fairly wee to manage it.”
    A thumping in Dougal’s chest began, a sensation he had almost forgotten. Could it be hope? “Oh, dinna fash, lad. I can make myself small enough,” he assured Aidan.
    Aidan glanced toward John, who napped beside them. John seemed wearier these days, and had torn one sleeve from his tunic to wrap around the sore on his foot, which was getting worse. “And him?”
    “Aye, he can, too. What is it, then?”
    The blue of Aidan’s gaze on his was intense, as if he tried to read the truth behind Dougal’s lips. “It’s secret.”
    “I’ll no’ tell a soul but John, aye? Ye ken it’ll go no farther.”
    Very slowly, Aidan nodded. “When we go outdoors in the mornin’, everyone walks, aye?”
    Dougal nodded in encouragement. He pictured the prisoners, forced on their daily march, pacing around the area like the walking dead, gaunt and unaware.
    “No one does much but walk,” Aidan said softly, rolling his eyes as if he couldn’t believe the stupidity of them all. “Walkin’ an’ sometimes talkin’, but mostly just walkin’. Like there’s nothin’ else they could be doin’. Well, Joseph an’ I have been busy. We’ve no desire to live our lives out here. We found a spot, aye? A place in the wall that hasna fared so well as of late.” Aidan held out his hands, palms down. His fingers were cut and stained with old blood, the nails shredded. He looked at Dougal. “Ye see my hands?”
    “Aye, so?”
    Aidan’s grin was deliciously wicked, curled up on one side. “We’ve broke a hole through that wall.”
    Impossible. The wall loomed in Dougal’s memory, a thick, solid fortification of stone and mortar that wrapped around the entire yard. He’d seen no possible opening. Dougal narrowed his eyes, regarding the boy skeptically. “Go on, lad. Dinna stop there, for God’s sake.”
    “We’ve been at it for weeks, Joseph an’ I. We pick at the rocks every day, then put them back in place so no one would be the wiser. Now we’re just about done, an’ we’re goin’ home.”
    Dougal was rarely at a loss for words, but this young lad held him mute. Dare he hope?
    “Two, maybe three more days an’ we’ll be ready,” Aidan was saying. “The guards dinna pay us much mind because we’re wee, but you two lads are difficult to miss, aye? We’ll have to be careful.”
    Dougal frowned. “Why wait for us then, lad? If ye an’ Joseph can get away on yer own, ye’ll be better off. You show me the spot an’ in a week John an’ I can catch ye up.”
    But Aidan shook his head. “Ye canna wait that long,” he said. “The guards are talkin’. There’s a Captain Eyre on his way, an’ talk is he’s charged wi’ the keepin’ of us. No one’s sayin’ more, but somethin’ will change soon, I reckon. I fear we mus’ go afore he arrives.”
    That seemed sound enough reason