Chapter Six
They backed into a small hole in the wall, hoping that it would be dark enough to hide them from whoever’s coming down the stairs. Aaron stood and held onto Bethan’s shoulder as she stood in front of him, his heartbeat racing and his hands trembling.
“Down ‘ere, you piece o’ scum!” Came a taunting voice of a guard descending the stairs, dragging a second man with him, “‘Ere you are, a nice little cell for you right ‘ere!” He thrust the man through the door of a cell at the other side of the dungeon and slammed it behind him.
The guard had brought a lit torch with him to help him see the way down to the dungeons and as he was walking back towards the door he came very near to where Aaron and Bethan were hiding. Suddenly, the heat of the flame came very close to Bethan’s long, waving hair and she was forced to move out of the way, the guard seeing this out of the corner of his eye.
“Hey!” He span around and grabbed the girl by her wrist, pulling her away from her hiding place, “Why, it’s a little girlie tryin’ to sneak round my dungeons!”
Aaron tried to call after Bethan but she put her only free hand over his mouth to keep him quiet before the guard had dragged her away from him.
“So, what do you think you’re doin’ down ‘ere, missy?” The guard growled, spitting in her face.
“I, I, I was just-” The guard slapped her cheek with all his strength and she fell to the ground.
“How dare you sneak into this castle?” He shouted at her, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her to her feet. “Wait ‘till Linchester ‘ears ‘bout this!”
The guard dragged Bethan out of the room and towards the staircase as she signalled back to Aaron to leave her. He heard her whimpering as the guard forced her up the stairs.
Aaron ran out of the dungeons and after the guard and his friend. He raced up the staircase, jumping three steps at a time and not caring each time that he trips and has to pick himself up again. He reached the window that Bethan and he entered to castle but ran straight past it and carried on climbing the stairs.
When he reached the top of the stairs that he was climbing, Aaron found himself looking down a long, deserted corridor. Where had the guard taken Bethan? Desperately looking around, he began to sprint down the corridor and search for any clue as to where she’d been taken. There wasn’t any chance at all that he was going to leave her like he left his parents; he had spent to long regretting her decision and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.
Listening into every room he passed, Aaron failed to hear any voices or sounds that might tell him where Bethan was – it was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth.
Suddenly, as he passed a nearby doorway, Aaron heard the unmistakable sound a man’s temper. He crept towards the door and began to listen, hoping that this would be the clue to tell him where his friend was.
“I don’t care what the government says,” the man was saying, “I want them executed as soon as I can!”
“I understand, my lord,” came the whimpering voice of a second man, “But if you were to go ahead with Mr and Mrs Black’s executions without an authorised witness, then–“
Aaron held his breath. The man that he could hear arguing was almost certainly the vicious Lord Linchester and he was becoming even more eager for his parents to be killed. Despite knowing how he needed to find Bethan and not get distracted, he could help but wonder why it was so important to Linchester for a simple farmer and his wife to be executed?
“But these people are going to ruin me!” Linchester raged, “Don’t you understand how important it is that I see them swing as soon as I can, Simpkins??”
“I don’t understand what all the hurry is about, my Lord,” replied a confused Simpkins.
Aaron heard Linchester sigh and then sit himself in a chair, “Because they know.” He whispered.
“I don’t understand,” Simpkins repeated stupidly, “What do they know, my Lord?”
Linchester’s impatience grew, “They know who I am, you idiot,” he snapped, “They know that I’m a bleeding fraud!”
Aaron heard Simpkins gasp and only just managed to restrain himself from doing the same - Linchester was a fraud, a liar and a cheat. How dare he attempt to murder his parents just because they found out the truth? How dare he arrest two innocent, caring and law-binding people just to stop them from talking? Rage filled his body from head to toe and he felt more determined than ever to rescue his parents.
“How could two peasants have discovered that?” Simpkins asked, “I thought that only you and I knew about your true past!”
“Well, that isn’t quite so true,” confessed Linchester, “You see, before I managed to get myself some power, I used to work on a farm in Godwick.
“I worked alongside Andrew Black but due to the fact that we were both highly competitive and feisty, we hated each other.” Linchester told him, “Back then, I was known as Timothy Smith and looked a lot different because I had much longer hair and a beard.
“However, when I came to power, I changed my name to Linchester and hoped that no-one would ever know who I really was.” He continued, “And no-one did, until I was parading the town and Black recognised me.”
“Do you think that Black told anyone else what he knew, my Lord?” Simpkins questioned.
“I assumed that he would tell his wife, that’s why I took her too,” Linchester answered, “But I think we arrested them before they could tell anybody else.”
“We’ll have to hope that nobody else does find out, then, my Lord.” Simpkins said, “Do you think that anybody else does?”
“Apart from you, me and my diary?” Linchester replied, “I should hope not.”
“That’s very good then, my lord.” Simpkins mumbled, “But if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and ensure that all guards are maintaining their positions.”
“Very well then, Simpkins,” Linchester watched as his servant walked to the doorway, “But remember, if anyone else does find out, you will be the first person that I decide to blame and believe me, your death won’t be pretty.”
Simpkins laughed nervously and walked out of the door, forcing Aaron to hide behind a pillar that stood by the doorway. The small, elderly looking man shuffled down the corridor and then out of sight.
Suddenly, and without warning, Linchester walked out of the room as well, too ignorant and distracted to notice the boy who was slightly out of his hiding place.
Seeing his chance, Aaron sneaked into the now deserted room where he had heard the two men talking and began to search a very elegant wooden table that stood in the centre of the room. Within barely a minute of searching, he had been able to find what he had been looking for and hold it in his hands.
Aaron turned the pages of Linchester’s beautiful diary carefully and slowly. He recognised the markings of ‘dear diary’ on each page (though he could barely read) and decided that he would have longer to search through it later; all he had to do know was grab the diary and get out.
He ran to a nearby window and found that, to his surprise, it was only a very small drop when he looked down and he would easily be able to jump out without hurting himself. He turned around for one last glance at the room to check that the cost was definitely clear and noticed something sparkling out of the corner of his eye.
A dazzling antique diamond necklace was hung from an elegant stand in the corner of the room. It caught every ray of sunshine and reflected it back throughout the room, a thousand times brighter and a thousand times more beautiful. Aaron thought with a jolt of the reason that Bethan had come with him to this castle; the reason that she had spent all those hours training Aaron up to help her and the reason that she had spent so many years breaking in here and searching for it: all she wanted was that necklace.
Holding the jewel gently in his palm, he unhooked the necklace from the stand that stood in the corner of the room and looked at the prize that he held in his hand: this necklace was more beautiful than anything he had seen in his whole life.
All of a sudden, warning voices sounded from the corridor and Aaron knew that he had to hide. Trembling, he looked around the room, desperate for a suitable place. Not convinced that it was going to work but knowing that he had no other option, he hid himself behind the satin curtains that hung across the window – just as figures appeared at the doorway.
