The Chase by Lynsay Sands Page B

had any
     difficulty I could remove this.” She gestured to the cloth on her head. “They would know I
     was a sister then.”
    Seonaid opened her mouth to argue, but Sister Blanche shook her head. "I will not argue
     with you. I am
    going and that is final.“ ”I shall go as well,“ Helen announced, hurrying to follow the
     sister as she moved toward the door. ”Nay!“ Sister Blanche turned on her at once. ” 'Tis
     not safe for you."
    “They would not recognize me dressed in your clothes,” Helen pointed out. “In truth, I
     shall probably be safer than you yourself. Besides, Sister, you surely cannot carry the
     swords by yourself. They will have to be concealed beneath your skirts, and two would be
     too awkward for one woman.”
    The words were true, of course, and Seonaid's lips twitched with amusement as Sister
     Blanche realized it herself and gave an unhappy nod.
    Admonishing them to be quick and quiet about it, Seonaid told them where to find the
     swords and led them to the door. After pausing to listen for anyone approaching, she
     opened the door to let them out, then watched until they had turned the corner at the end
     of the hall. She had started to close the door again when a sound from the other end of
     the hall drew her eyes. 'Twas the first man she had seen, the fair-haired Scot. He had
     come around the corner at the end of the hall even as Helen and Sister Blanche disappeared
     around the other. She didn't think he had spotted the other women, but he had definitely
     seen her.
    Cursing her bad luck, Seonaid slammed the door and turned to warn Aeldra.
    Reaching the hall in question, Blake stepped into it, then paused in surprise. The hallway
     was as empty as it had been the first time he had walked down it, but a long-haired Scot
     now leaned out of the chapel door, his back to them as he peered toward the opposite end
     of the passage. Curious, Blake glanced along the hall himself and missed his opportunity
     to get a look at the fellow's face. The sudden slamming of the chapel door told him that
     his presence had been discovered.
    Cursing, Blake pulled his sword from his scabbard and charged toward the door just as
     Rolfe reached his side.
    He half expected the door of the chapel to be barred when he reached it and was surprised
     when it gave way abruptly beneath his touch. Turning the knob, he crashed into the room,
     sword at the ready, aware the other men entered behind him.
    For a moment they all stood staring blankly about, for as before, the room appeared empty.
     “Empty.” Rolfe frowned around the room. “What did you see to make you hie back here?” “A
     Scot standing in the doorway. He saw me and slammed the door.” “Hmm.” Rolfe glanced around
     again. “Well, he is not here now.”
    Blake paused by the pew nearest the door and picked up one of the two plaids that had been
     left there. “Aye. But I didn't imagine him.”
    The bishop frowned at the sight of the plaid. “Well, where did he go?”
    Blake dropped the cloth. “Could there be a secret passage in here?”
    The bishop frowned over the possibility, his gaze moving to the walls and the tapestries
     hanging there. “I do not know. Of course, 'tis possible one of the tapestries hides a
     secret passage or”
    Blake raised an eyebrow when the prelate suddenly stilled. Following his wide-eyed gaze to
     the image of the crucifixion of Christ, he stared at it curiously for a moment before he
     realized what had caught the other man's attention. The tapestries in the room all reached
     from floor to ceiling, as did the one the bishop was staring at, almost. It fell an inch
     or so short of the floor due to the way it bulged out from the wall. Beneath it, two sets
     of boots showed.
    Blake raised his sword and gestured to the other men, then moved toward the tapestry.
     Pausing a foot or so before it, he waited until the other men had arranged themselves
     around him, then