Chapter Twenty-Six
Kirkburn Castle
Something was broken.
Isadora knew that because she could hardly breathe. Somehow, in her fight against two Lindsay warriors and then the barbarian known as The Beast, she’d cracked something in her chest.
Everything hurt.
It had been a battle all the way back to Kirkburn Castle and the only reason they’d managed to subdue her eventually was because they’d wrapped a rope around her entire body and tied both her wrists and her ankles until she couldn’t move.
Someone put a gag in her mouth, some disgusting piece of cloth, but she’d spit it out and tried to bite the next man who attempted to gag her.
After that, they had stayed away from her mouth.
Now, exhausted and in pain, Isadora was lying on the floor of the vault in Kirkburn Castle where they’d dumped her when they’d returned.
It smelled like rot and piss down here, and she knew there was someone in the vault with her because she could hear him breathing.
It was so dark that she couldn’t see anyone, but she knew there was someone else there.
Someone in the darkness.
She didn’t know how long she lay there, silent and unmoving, before a man’s voice finally filled the void.
“Can ye hear me, lass?” he asked softly.
Isadora wasn’t going to respond but thought better of it. If he didn’t think she was awake, he might try to take advantage of that and touch her somehow. She wanted to make sure whoever it was knew she was conscious. Injured or not, she’d fight back.
“Aye,” she said. “What do ye want?”
She could hear movement in the darkness. “Can ye sit up? Ye dunna want tae lie on this floor if ye can help it because the rats will get ye.”
Isadora grunted. “I’m bound,” she said. “I canna sit up. Where are the women I was brought here with?”
“We’re here, Isadora.” Off in a corner of the darkness, a woman spoke with a quivering voice. “We’re in the cell next tae ye. Are ye badly hurt, lass?”
Isadora recognized Aggie’s mother. “I dunna think so,” she said as she tried to roll onto her back. “Nothing that time willna cure.”
Beside her, she heard movement again and suddenly, big hands were lifting her into an upright position.
Isadora grunted in pain as the man propped her against the side of the cell.
She was sitting at such an angle that she could now see around her a bit, as the light from the vault doorway was filtering in.
Next to her, a man with long, white hair and a dirty, white beard was looking at her with concern.
“What happened tae ye?” he asked.
Isadora shifted her body around a little, trying to get comfortable. “We were foraging and the Lindsay captured us,” she said. Then, she eyed the man. “Why are ye here?”
He looked at her in the darkness for quite some time before answering. “I knew I’d seen ye before, but I wasna certain,” he said, ignoring her question. “Yer hair.”
“What about my hair?”
“Ye’re Cam’s lass.”
That brought a measure of shock to Isadora. “How would ye…?” She stopped herself, peering at him closely in the darkness. “Who are ye?”
“My name is Nikolaus.”
It took Isadora a moment to process the name.
Then, her eyes widened as she realized that she recognized the features beneath the beard.
It was the old man she’d seen in the vale on that morning so long ago, the one her brothers has captured.
He looked markedly different, but there was no mistaking that face.
He and his grandson shared similar features.
“Cam’s grandfather!”
He nodded faintly. “Aye,” he said. “And ye’re the lass from the vale.”
Isadora nodded eagerly. “I am,” she said. “Sweet Jesus… ye’re alive?”
Nikolaus looked at her, imploringly. “Do ye know anything of my lad?” he asked. “The last I saw of him, I sent him off tae Brechin. I did it so he couldna meet ye again. That’s where he was going, ye know. Tae meet ye. But I sent him tae Brechin.”
Isadora could see the pain in his face as he spoke, but she realized he knew nothing about Cam after the burning of Netherton and she hastened to reassure him.
“I know of him,” she said quickly. “He’s well. Ye needn’t worry. But he couldna find ye after Netherton burned and he thinks ye’re dead!”
Nikolaus leaned back against the dirt wall behind him, staggered with her words. “He’s well?” he repeated, dazed. “My lad is well?”
Isadora nodded. “He’s very well,” she said. “But did ye hear me? He thinks ye’re dead. He thinks…”
She couldn’t even finish. There was so much more to tell the old man, about Cam and his vengeance for Nikolaus’ death, and how he’d spent months at the Ludus Caledonia learning to fight because of it.
So very much to tell him. But from the look on his face, she was fairly certain now was not the time.
He didn’t look as if he could take much more news than what he’d already been told. Therefore, she changed the focus.
“How did ye come here?” she asked. “Cam thought ye were dead, but ye’re here? In Kirkburn’s vaults?”
Nikolaus nodded before closing his eyes, tightly. A single tear trickled from his left eye. “He’s alive,” he whispered, ignoring her questions. “I dinna dare tae hope. I thought they would surely kill him.”
“Who would kill him?”
He looked at her, then. “Drostan Lindsay,” he said. “After they put me in the vault, I was certain they might do the same tae him, or worse.”
He wasn’t making much sense, but Isadora wasn’t surprised. If the man had been caged up in Kirkburn’s vaults for all of these months, his mind probably wasn’t what it should be. Darkness and no hope would have broken down even the strongest man. She tried to be gentle.
“Tell me what happened tae ye,” she said. “Did the Lindsay capture ye somehow? Why would they do such a thing?”
“Because I saw them,” Nikolaus said quietly. “I saw them burn Netherton. I was a witness. Drostan ordered me killed, but Ternan dinna obey him.”
“I’ve met Ternan. Who is he?”
“Drostan’s commander.”
Isadora nodded in understanding. “So Ternan put ye in the vault instead of killing ye?”
“Aye,” Nikolaus said, sounding weak and weary. “I’ve known Ternan for a long time. He’s not like his cousin. He put me in the vault the night Netherton burned and I’ve been here ever since. But I never stopped worrying of my lad. Tae hear he’s alive… Ye canna imagine the joy it gives me.”
Isadora was starting to feel a great deal of sorrow for the old man, but she was still quite stunned by all of this. The most predominant thought on her mind was that Cam had to know his grandfather was alive and well.
But he also had to know who was behind the man’s disappearance.
It was a shocking story Nikolaus told, having witnessed the destruction of Netherton firsthand by none other than the Lindsay.
Isadora and her clan already knew that, but to have an eyewitness…
Nikolaus was almost as important to them as he was to Cam.
He could prove everything the Lindsay had done.
That made it a priority to take the old man with her when she escaped.
And she would escape.
“Listen tae me,” she said quietly. “I’m going tae get us out of here. I dunna know how, but I will, I swear it. There hasna been a cage yet than can hold me.”
Nikolaus had a smile on his cracked lips. “Cam said ye were different,” he said. “He said ye were brave and true.”
“I am both,” she said confidently. “I willna leave ye here tae rot. I’ll get ye out. But if Cam knew ye were here, he’d tear this place down stone by stone.”
Nikolaus’ smile faded. “Ye mustn’t tell him,” he said. “He’ll only get himself killed.”
Isadora thought of her proud, strong Cam, the man who had defeated even the most terrible of warriors at the Ludus Caledonia. But she didn’t want to tell Nikolaus now, fearful it would be too much for him to handle. His grandson had changed a great deal since Nikolaus had last seen him.
“I’ll get ye out of here, have no fear,” she said. “We’ll go find Cam together.”
Nikolaus studied her for a moment. “Are ye still meeting him in the vale, then?”
She shook her head. “He lives in Auchnacree, with me and my family,” she said. “He’s made peace with the Keith. He’ll tell ye himself when next ye see him.”
“Are ye married?”
A smile tugged at her lips. “I hope we’ll be, soon. I love yer grandson, Nikolaus Netherton. I’ve loved him from the start. I promise I’ll do my very best tae make him a good wife.”
Nikolaus cocked his head as she spoke. “I believe ye,” he said. “Ye look, and ye sound, like someone I once knew, a lass from Clan Keith. I’ve always known the lasses from the clan tae be strong and true women, so I believe ye.”
“Oh? Who was the lass?”
He waved her off. “It was long ago. So long that it seems like another lifetime ago.”
He didn’t seem to want to tell her and she didn’t push. “I would like tae hope that the lasses from our clan, generations back, are all strong and true,” she said. “I… I’m just so glad ye’re alive. Ye have no idea how yer death destroyed Cam. It changed him. He became—”
She was cut off when the main door to the vault suddenly lurched open, producing men. Both Isadora and Nikolaus froze, watching and waiting to see why the men had made an appearance.
They soon found out.
The door to the cell holding Isadora and Nikolaus was unlocked and yanked open, the iron grate sticking against the floor, and four men entered, all of them going for Isadora.
Being that she was already injured, she didn’t fight back as much as she could have.
In fact, she didn’t fight back at all, but her grunts of pain could be heard as they carried her from the vault and shut the door.
Once again plunged into darkness, Nikolaus found himself saying a prayer for the safety of the red-haired lass from Clan Keith.
*
They took Isadora to a great hall that smelled like dog shite. She was fairly certain it was around her or she was lying in it, which was a disgusting thought, but she couldn’t look around enough to see.
So, she simply lay there.