Andrew's POV

Andrew rushed forward to the front of the line so he could help the children climb up the ladder.

The guilt about killing three men weighed heavily in his chest, but he'd done it so they could escape. He didn't have a choice.

He started to hoist a little girl up the ladder. Most of the children scrambled up the ladder without any help at all, but this girl started crying when she got to the ladder.

"I'll help you." Andrew said to her.

The girl only cried harder and shrank away from him.

Anne came forward and knelt to her level. "I'll go with you. You don't have to be afraid."

"I-I can't."

"What if I carry her on my back?" Andrew suggested to Anne.

"That might work."

They helped the rest of the children while the little girl clung to Anne's dress.

Finally she was the last one left. Anne knelt I front of her.

"I'm going to put you on Andrew's back. Is that okay?"

She nodded.

Andrew knelt on the floor as Anne lifted the girl. "Hold on to him."

Her hands clutched his shoulders. Andrew stood and started to climb the ladder. When they reached the top, he pulled them out and turned to see if Anne needed any help, but she was already climbing out of the hole before he could offer.

"Which way is Dawnridge?" Anne asked him, holding a child's hand on either side of her. The sight almost made him groan. How were they going to get all these children to Dawnridge without a wagon or horses and with a madman chasing them?

"It's that way," Andrew said.

All of them turned in the direction he pointed to and started walking down the hill, he and Anne in the back of the line.

"Fifty-two children," he whispered to Anne. "How are we going to escape Arthur?"

"Maybe we should turn around and take them home. There's no safer place than their own homes with their fathers. But I'm not sure we could sneak them past the guards at the gate."

"Do you think we could boost them through the opening in the wall?"

"Maybe."

Andrew thought about how they could possibly get that many children quietly and safely through the wall. "No, it's too dangerous. Arthur's guards would definitely notice us before we could even get the first kid home."

"Maybe we could get to a nearby village where the people don't know Arthur. We could hide the children there while we travel to Dawnridge and to your father."

"How do we hide fifty-two children?"

"We'll find a way." There was bravery and a little doubt in her expression.

"We will find a way. I won't let anything happen to the children and you."

She smiled at him. "You don't sound like duke's son I've heard so much about."

He winced. "What did you hear?"

"Only a little drinking and breaking women's hearts. That kind of thing, you know?"

Guilt formed in Andrew's chest again. "It's true. I drank too much and was not the son my mother and father raised me to be, but I never broke a woman's heart."

"No women?"

"Nope."

She nodded.

"Why did you stay?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you leave and get away from Arthur?"

"I couldn't leave my mother behind."

"You could have married Charles. He would've protected you and your mother."

"Charles? We've been friends since we were kids, nothing more. Besides he's thinking about asking someone to marry him."

He felt relief coursing through him at the news.

They were nearing the road, but since it was midnight, they were likely to not encounter anyone. As they walked, he imagined what Arthur would do when he discovered they all escaped.

"What's the closest village?" Andrew asked Anne.

"The closest village is Greendale. It's maybe five miles away."

"We should be able to make it there before morning then."

"Children walk slower than we do."

"We could carry the younger ones and let the children rest when we have to. We will make it."

"Hopefully."

The girl who he carried on his back up the ladder was walking slower than the rest of the group. When she was near him, he picked her up. Looking in her eyes, he reminded her of his little sister Christina. She was seventeen now, but she was still a little girl in his mind.

"What's your name?"

"Hailey," she whispered. She was holding herself away from him.

"Do you want me to put you down?"

Hailey looked away. The she whispered, "Yes."

Andrew put her back down. He was being stupid again. Of course she wouldn't want a scary looking man picking her up, especially after what she'd been through. He should have asked her first.

"She just doesn't know you yet." Anne gave him a small smile.

As fast as the group was walking, he wasn't sure they would make it to Greendale by the morning. 

After a couple of minutes, a child fell. He got up slowly. Another girl started crying, and another started asking where her mother was.

This wan't good.

"Let's take a rest," Anne said. "We'll lie down in the grass and take a nap."

Anne's POV

"Watch where you're stepping!" Anne said, as she nearly stepped into animal manure. 

After all the children found a place to sit or lie down, Anne looked at Andrew. Her mind wandered to what he said earlier, admitting the drinking and that he hadn't been the best son but saying there hadn't been any woman. Did she believe him? If he was going to admit all the other things, why not admit that too? 

Her eyes started closing.

She forced her eyes open and gave her head a little shake. She had to stay awake.

Andrew sat down next to her and whispered, "Got to sleep. I'll keep watch. In a hour or two, we will continue walking."

"I shouldn't."

"Yes you should. There's no point in both of us stay awake."

"Fine, but next time we stop, you sleep and I'll stay awake."

"Of course." He winked at her.

She lay down on the grass. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, she would just close her eyes.

"Anne?" Andrew's voice drifted in her dream.

Anne opened her eyes to see him kneeling besides her.

"We need to get everyone up and keep moving."

"Okay."

She and Andrew woke the children with Jack and Rose's help. When they finally had all of the back on the road, they moved as fast as a snail. Some of the children looked like they were sleepwalking.

One little boy walked with his head practically resting on his own shoulder. When he came to a stop, Andrew knelt in front of him and said something in his ear. Then, Andrew picked the boy up, and the boy's head rested on Andrew's shoulder.

The rest of the children trudged along,  but how long would they last?