Highland Hunger Read Online Free Page A

take away eight people who are undoubtedly weakened by what they have suffered, nor protect them as we flee the place.”
    She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. For a moment, as she regained some calm, she thought over all he had said. He was right. Two people could not rescue the others alone. Even if they could get inside the keep, defeat the guards without an alarum sent out, and free the prisoners, getting that many people out safely, including two small children, would be impossible. Una knew that would be true even if all the prisoners were in good health, and they were not.
    “I ken how to slip in and out of the keep,” she said, reluctant to leave the others at Dunmorton for any reason, even one as sensible as getting more help.
    “And do ye nay think they now ken that?”
    “I am nay sure they do. There is more than one way to get in and out unseen. The one I used was old, verra old, and I dinnae think it has been used by this laird. Mayhap his father or his grandfather, but nay him.”
    “How did ye find it?”
    “I wasnae a verra weel-behaved prisoner.” She gave him a brief, narrow-eyed glare when he grinned at her, even as her heart gave an odd little skip at the way the smile illuminated his handsome face. “Thrashing me didnae change that.” She nodded when his grin abruptly disappeared into a scowl. “I was made to scrub the filth from the walls and floors of the dungeon, clean the cages, scrub the ragged clothes and blankets we were allowed, empty the slops, and all of that.”
    “All the filthiest work.”
    “Aye, for I had revealed a need to remain as clean as I could despite the rough conditions of my imprisonment. So, one of the times I was scrubbing away I found the opening to a tunnel.”
    He served her a bowl of stew. “Were ye nay guarded as ye worked?”
    “Oh, aye, but nay closely. The men guarded the ways out. At least the ones they kenned about.”
    “Ah, and they were nay guarding that particular opening.”
    Una took one bite of stew and realized how hungry she was. It was not going to be easy to retain the good manners her mother had taught her, not while filling her empty belly and trying to tell Sir Raibeart all she knew of Dunmorton. The amusement revealed in his midnight eyes told her that he recognized her dilemma. Una decided she would just ignore that and do her best. She was too hungry and too eager to tell him everything to be concerned about embarrassing herself.
    “Nay, they ne’er came near it though I lurked round it many times,” she said between bites of stew. “I decided that they didnae ken it was there and, if they didnae, then neither did the laird.”
    Raibeart nodded as he filled his mouth with stew. It was not the tastiest stew he had ever made, but it would serve to fill her stomach and help her regain her strength. Una probably needed such food since she was not a Pureblood. Most of the Lost Ones they had found revealed a need for both Outsider food and blood, their need of the latter much less than a Pureblood’s but still there.
    “How could ye be certain it was a tunnel that would lead ye out of the dungeon?” he asked.
    “I couldnae be certain but couldnae think of what else it might be. It was verra weel hidden behind old ale kegs and one of the cages, so I kenned that I just needed one wee chance to explore it, one short time where I could slip in and out of it unseen by the guards. It took a fortnight before the guards ceased to watch me all the time. Allana was in the cage next to mine, and when we were left alone at night, she and I tried to think of ways to make certain the guards were thoroughly distracted, and for long enough, to allow me to make certain it was a tunnel I could use.”
    “What did ye decide on?”
    “Allana and Madeleine decided they would fight. They are in cages next to each other. The laird had the cages built just to hold us, and only the bairns are caged together. He doesnae want any of the rest of us