Real Vampires: Glory and the Pirates by Bartlett, Gerry (red white royal blue TXT) 📕

purpose. “It’s a nasty job, I’ll not try it. Even with the moat much cleaner now, there’s things there I want no part of.”

I agreed. “What about under the castle? Is there a dungeon?” I didn’t like to think about it, but I was sure most castles had them. This one certainly should. The entire purpose for the Guardian of the Coast was to catch or kill those pirates. Any captured would be put behind bars until they could be transported to Edinburgh for trial. Once there, I didn’t doubt their fate.

“Aye. There is a dungeon. The local lads speak of it. Lord Ralph caught a few of the pirates during one of their raids and they were locked in cells down there with the rats and the spiders.” Colin shuddered. “It’s no place for you, Mistress Gloriana.”

“I want to see it. It seems the perfect place for a hidden passageway. It might go under the moat.” I was excited. I liked to solve puzzles and this certainly was one. I couldn’t imagine being content to hide in a castle with the drawbridge up. What if we were surrounded? If the mortals ran out of food and water? The people who had built this place, who’d lived here before, had to have prepared for that possibility. The castle was hundreds of years old and had endured enough battles that I was sure someone had planned for escape when under siege.

“You want the key to the dungeon?” Holly was up to her elbows in flour, working bread dough when we arrived in the kitchen. “It’s a nasty place, mistress.”

“We are making sure no one can invade us that way. Do you know of secret passages into the castle?” I couldn’t believe my stomach could still rumble at the smell of lemon tarts, cooling on the table. How long would I have to live before I stopped craving my favorite foods? I smiled and shook my head when Holly offered me some with a cup of tea.

“No passages that I know of. The key is on a hook nigh the door there. Down the stairs past the larder. Anyone trying to sneak in would have to have a key of their own, now wouldn’t they?” Holly kept kneading her dough and frowned, obviously thinking. “Guess it’s possible. Things go missing here from time to time. No one admits to taking the odd bit and I figure its pack rats or someone truly in need.” She sighed. “Happens there was an extra set of keys once.”

“Well, we are on a mission to find out what’s down there. Wish us luck.”

“You’ll need it.” She slapped her dough. “Pirates. We’re praying for Lord Campbell to rout them once and for all.”

I followed Colin, who held a torch, down steep steps carved into stone. The further down we went, the colder and damper it got. I’d certainly never come down here before. He stopped at a door and unlocked it with a sturdy iron key.

“I heard Holly was the one who took food to the guards and to the prisoners in the cells.” Colin handed me the torch when the door stuck. The door was heavy and banded with iron. “She said Lord Ralph would order her to give the prisoners only a thin gruel. Nasty stuff.” Colin grunted as the door finally opened with a loud squeal of rusty hinges. “He wanted them to suffer while they were here. They didn’t stay long before they were taken on to Edinburgh and the prison there.”

Colin glanced back at me. “Some say the Guardian before Lord Ralph liked to torture any he caught. Just to hear them scream.” He shuddered. “My da says there are men like that. I hope we don’t see a room with the instruments they used on the poor sods.”

I rested a hand on his arm. He was a decent lad, growing into manhood. I’d picked well for a guide. “I’ve known such men. Thank the gods Lord Ralph only half-starved them.”

“I guess it was only right that they be treated poorly. They had made the people here in the castle and villages suffer for years.” Colin nodded.

I just handed him the torch again and followed him down more steps. We were far under the castle now and it was so damp that water ran in rivulets down the walls. I had picked up a shawl from Maggie before I started this search and was glad of it.

“Once the pirates got to Edinburgh, there was a quick trial then they was hung. No one spared a bit of pity for them. Bastards.” Colin stopped in front of a row of empty cells. A rat ran out of one of them right in front of him. Colin swiped at it with the torch. “Here we are. What now, mistress?”

“We look for some way to leave, a doorway or hidden passage. It could be loose stones or rotted wood hiding the way out.” I tried to ignore the squeals of more rats and the scritch scratch of their claws on the stones. Pushing past my fears, I walked down the passageway, trailing my hand along the uneven wall. When my nails caught on one stone, I stopped.

“Bring the torch, Colin, I think I found something.”

I dug at the stone, pushing then pulling to see if there was a way to move it and make an opening. A bird flew out of the darkness, startling me. There was a turning in the path and I took it. Oh, no! Spiderwebs caught in my hair and I flailed my arms. I hate spiders and shrieked before I could stop myself, stumbling and falling against the slimy wall.

“Mistress! Are you all right?” Colin brought the torch closer. “Look! The wall moved. You found it!” He handed me the torch and pushed the stone with both hands.

To my amazement it slid inward, showing us a narrow passage. I tried to calm my stuttering heart. Dragging bits of spiderweb from