Page 2 of The Knotty Clause
Liam’s hand tightened around hers, his grip strong despite his size.
The guards erupted in another round of drunken laughter. She took a deep breath and slowly pushed the door open. The door hinges had been oiled over the past week, a drop at a time to avoid suspicion. It opened without a creak. The bitter wind sliced through her cloak, but she welcomed it as long as it kept the guards huddled around the fire barrel.
They crept between the shacks, staying in the shadows as far away from the guards as they could. Liam stayed silent at her side clutching her hand as if his life depended on it. The thought of what might happen if they were caught made her shudder and she tried to pick up the pace.
From the mine entrance, the clang of pickaxes echoed out into the night. Night shift—the worst of all possible assignments. Her heart ached as she watched the dark figures moving in and out of the shaft, their shoulders bowed under the weight of endless labor. All of them trapped by false promises and wages that never quite seemed to cover their debts.
As they reached the edge of the camp, she pulled Liam closer as she checked to make sure no one was in sight. The perimeter fence loomed over them, its metal links gleaming with frost. She’d found the weak spot several weeks ago—a section where the ground had eroded beneath the fence leaving just enough space for a small woman and a child to squeeze through.
“Remember the hole?” She crouched beside him. “You first, then me. Flat on your stomach.”
He nodded, then dropped to the ground and wiggled through the gap. Even with the extra layers of clothing, he fit easily. She had a little more trouble. The fabric of her threadbare cloak ripped as she forced her way beneath the fence, the sound shockingly loud in the still night. She held her breath, expecting a shout of discovery, but only the distant clink of tools answered.
She scrambled through, her heart pounding, but despite her panic she lingered long enough to brush away the marks they’d left and stuff some brush against the gap to conceal it.
“Which way?” Liam’s voice was barely a whisper.
She pointed to a darkened slope rising up behind the camp. “Up there.”
The path wasn’t visible from here but she placed her faith in the map and led him up the slope to where it was supposed to begin. The narrow trail was barely discernible, but it was there and she breathed a sigh of relief. The camp’s lights dimmed behind them as they picked their way through the rocks.
Moonlight silvered the landscape, casting long shadows across their path. She would have preferred more cover but at least the moonlight made it easier to see. The cold air burned her lungs, but she welcomed the bite—anything was better than the stale, choked atmosphere of the mine. Above them, the mountain peaks loomed black against the star-scattered sky.
Clouds started scudding across the moon making visibility more challenging, and she finally decided they were far enough away from camp to pull out the battered tin lantern. Her hands shook as she struck the match, but the flame caught, casting a warm circle of light around them. The narrow path ahead wound between towering rock faces, barely wide enough for them to walk single file, but it helped block some of the wind.
They trudged on. Liam never complained, even though she could read the exhaustion in his small body. She picked him up and carried him a few times but she was weak from the months of poor food and back-breaking labor and couldn’t manage for long.
The walk seemed endless—just the pool of lantern light and the endless rocks—but she was determined to get as far away from the camp as possible before daylight. The wind picked up, whipping her braid across her face, and more clouds rolled in.She estimated they’d been walking for about two hours when the first snowflakes drifted down.
It’s just a few flakes, she told herself.It will help obscure our tracks.
But the snow gradually increased until the air was filled with white. The wind howled down through the pass, driving needles of ice against her cheeks. She raised the lantern higher, but its light scattered uselessly against the wall of white, and despair crashed down over her. They needed to find shelter—fast.
She even considered returning to the camp, but they had come too far. They wouldn’t last that long. She squinted through the whiteout, searching for any break in the rock face, any overhang that might offer protection. Liam shivered against her side and she stopped long enough to wrap their blanket around him.
“Is that better?”
“Y-yes.”
He gave her a brave smile but she knew it wasn’t enough. One step at a time, she guided them forward, running her free hand along the frozen stone in case she’d missed an opening. There had to be something, somewhere they could wait out the storm.
Her legs burned with each step, her muscles screaming in protest, but she forced herself to keep moving, trying to use her body to protect her son from the wind. She gave a sob of relief when a dark slash appeared in the rock wall—a narrow crevice just wide enough for them to squeeze through. She pulled Liam inside, setting down the lantern to wrap her arms around him. The space blocked the worst of the wind, but cold still seeped through the stone at her back.
“We’ll rest here a minute.”
Despite her best efforts, her voice trembled, and she pressed her cheek against Liam’s frozen curls, knowing the lie for what it was. The crevice wouldn’t protect them from the killing cold.
His teeth chattered against her neck.
“I’m s-scared.”
“I know, baby.”
She pulled him closer, her heart breaking. What had she done, leading them out here to freeze?Better to die trying to escape, her mind argued, but she didn’t want their story to end this way.
Liam’s breathing slowed, and she knew the cold was lulling him into sleep. She jostled him gently, the fear of hypothermia pushing through the haze in her own mind.
“Stay awake, baby. Tell me a story.”