Chapter 20
A groggy moan came back in reply to Liza’s question.
Liza stepped back and gasped as the figure in the bed rolled over. Another moan
came forth. The man’s face was puffy and both eyes had large black rings around
them. The face blinked and blinked again as the man tried to focus.
“Will?” Liza whispered and bent down. “What have they
done to you?”
Will croaked something.
“Shh, shh. We’re
here to rescue you. To take you… someplace to get better. Can you walk?”
The man nodded slowly.
“Alright then. Mary, come help me get Will out of bed.”
Mary came over the two of them slowly helped Will roll
over and stand up. Although he was shaky, he stood up on his two feet. Mary
found a coat hanging up near the bed and helped him slip into it.
“I take it you don’t have a bag?” Liza said, Will shook
his head. In the doorway Moto made frantic motions for the three to hurry up.
“Quickly, we have several flights of stairs still!” he
hissed.
The ungainly group made their way soundlessly to the
stairs and up to the third floor. They were halfway down the hall, to the door
that led up to the servants quarters, when Will suddenly stumbled. He was too
heavy for Liza and Mary and he escaped their grasp, falling loudly to the
floor. The sound echoed around the house like thunder.
“Quickly! Get him up and run!” Moto hissed. From downstairs
there came heavy footsteps and a light bounced off the ceiling in the atrium. Moto
grabbed one of Will’s arms and hefted him up to his feet with Liza’s help.
Meanwhile Mary ran down the hall to open the door to the
roof.
Shouts came from the atrium and the stairs, the sound of
running feet.
“Hurry!” Moto hissed as he all but dragged Will down the
hall. Will tried his best to walk, but he was making a mess of it.
Finally, after what seemed like hours but was only a few
seconds, the three of them came to the door where Mary was waiting.
“Mary, help Moto get him up the stairs. I am going to
take care of the door!”
“To do what?” Moto asked.
“There must be a lock or a way to bar it, even if it
only slows them down, now go!” Liza said with such force that Moto Will and
Mary did not hesitate to start the arduous climb up the steep stairway to the roof.
As Mary grabbed Will’s arms from above him, Moto pushed
him with indelicate force from behind. Mary could see past Will’s head to where
Liza was frantically working the door’s lock.
“It won’t… there’s no lock!” Liza sounded desperate.
“Hair pin!” Mary said and deftly pulled one out of his
hair, causing her black hair to cascade down. Liza looked up, beaming.
“Yes! I’ll jam it in.” Mary gently tossed it and Liza caught
the pin with grace.
It was not perfect, but she was able to jam the lock
shut.
“It won’t keep
them more than a minute”
“If that” Mary said, huffing as she finally reached the
top of the landing together with at least Will’s arms. Liza rushed up past the
three struggling and opened the door to the roof.
“Grandfather?” She yelled. “Prepare to cast off immediately!
Do not delay!’ Her voice boomed across the still night, but at this point most
of the hosue was up so it hardly mattered.
Down below the closed door rattled and shook, there was
an angry shout and then more, harder rattling.
“Now! We must hurry!” Moto grunted. Will’s body flailed
as they reached the landing and made their way out onto the roof. Mary closed
the door behind the, but again did not see a way to lock it from outside.
A few feet away the General and Thornberry were
scrambling around. The General tossed Liza a small step stool.
“It’s not enough, Will can’t climb in!” She said.
“Have Moto jump in and we’ll pull him in!”
And so Moto ran up while Mary was left to offer as much
help as she could so Will could stumble across the roof top to the waiting
sedan. With much grunting and effort they managed to tip Will into the basket.
He tumbled in and lay splayed on the floor.
Just then the door to the roof burst open and two large men
came tumbling out. Mary was still standing beside the sedan. As she began to
scramble in the sedan she felt herself being pulled in by Moto and Liza. As she
was almost in she felt a hand grab her leg. With a might kick she broke free and
heard one of the men give a large grunt.
Then there was a lurch as the sedan and balloon rose
rapidly into the sky. Mary peered over the edge for a moment and saw one of the
men holding his jaw with his hand while the other looked up into the sky. With
some relief she realized that in the dark o f night they could not see the
balloon very easily. Within seconds they were hundreds of feet up and quickly
moving away from the house.
Mary sat down on the floor of the sedan, breathing
heavily. She noticed Will was still collapsed on the floor with her.
“Well!” she said, looking at the faces of Liza, Moto, the
General and Thornberry in the faint glow of the balloon jet, “That was easy!”
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