Chapter 18
Elspeth threw the blanket off and leaped up from the chair.
For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming, as though this was a terrible nightmare of fire and flame that was borne of her deepest fears.
However, Abigail’s screams were real, and there was no denying the primal horror in her voice.
Elspeth felt the world crumble away as yet another terror from her past came back to haunt her.
She remembered the cries of fire that had run around Kilin, and a pit of sorrow sat in her stomach. There was only one thought in her mind.
Finlay.
She ran out of the sewing room with Abigail by her side, rushing through the castle.
She flung the doors open, her dress billowing out behind her as she cast aside all her fatigue and pain, running as swiftly as possible to make it to the stables.
As in Kilin, there was a crowd standing outside the stables.
Smoke rose in thick plumes, blanketing the fading light of the day.
The air was hot and smelled of ash. Horses whinnied and neighed, stamping their feet as they were led away from the stables.
They reared and threatened to break free of their reins, but the men holding them were steadfast and managed to calm them.
Jesp was helping them while also directing the rescue efforts.
One horse was being particularly difficult.
He went up to the animal and calmed it down, managing to stop it from bucking and reeling away.
Other people were rushing to and from the well, bringing back buckets of water to throw on the fire.
They were in such a frantic rush that plenty of the water sloshed out of the buckets before it was flung on the flames to douse them.
The flames hissed, and dark smoke rose. The fire must have spread quickly through the stable with all the hay and straw.
Elspeth listened to murmurs and whispers in the crowd.
Apparently, Jesp had been on hand to alert the castle to the fire almost as soon as the fire had taken hold, and this had prevented it from getting any further.
It was a mercy that more people hadn’t been hurt, and it seemed as though all the horses had been saved.
But Elspeth searched the crowd frantically for signs of her husband and didn’t see him.
Filled with dread, she somehow knew the truth.
“Where’s Finlay?” she asked tersely, turning to Abigail.
Elspeth knew the answer from the look on Abigail’s face.
She was looking past Abigail towards the stables.
Elspeth’s heart sank, and she rushed through the crowd, pushing her way through.
At first, people scowled and cursed until they realized who she was, and then they understood why she was there.
They parted for her, and she was soon at the front of the crowd, looking at the flames licking the building.
The ground was charred, and the stonework had ugly black stains.
It looked as though hell itself had rained down upon the stables.
The air was thick and acrid. Elspeth’s eyes stung and there was a dry, scratchy feeling at the back of her throat.
Tears glistened, although she didn’t know if they were borne of sorrow or smoke.
Her mouth hung open, and she gasped as she ran towards the stable, not caring that it was on fire.
She hadn’t been there to save her father and she was not going to let history repeat itself.
Not this time. She took loping strides towards the stable, but she was stopped by an arm that was more like a barrier.
“Ye cannae gae in there,” Ian said. His face was stern.
He smelled of smoke. She hadn’t even realized he was there, so intent had she been on getting to the stable, to the husband that was being engulfed in flame…
the father of her child that might never know the truth.
The man she had kept her love a secret from.
“I need tae,” she croaked. There were other members of the castle guard standing nearby, preventing the crowd from rushing towards the stable so as not to put them in danger or get in the way of the water being brought from the well.
“I need tae! I need tae see him! Why is he in there? Why?” She groaned, her words disappearing into an abyss of emotion.
Her knees buckled, and she was grateful for Ian’s arm around her, else she would have fallen to the ground.
She gazed into the flames—tall, dancing things that were majestic in their destructive beauty.
They were hypnotic, and she found herself entranced by them, tempted.
She almost wanted to walk towards them, to enter them and feel the incandescent, cleansing heat.
“We haed returned from hunting. He said he wanted tae stay with his stallion and groom him after a good day of riding. It’s our fault.
We shouldnae hae left him alone. Before we knew it, the flames had taken hold and spread tae quickly for us tae dae anything about it.
If it wasnae for Jesp, well, we may nae hae been able tae get the horses out. ”
“But what about Finlay? What about my husband? Who is getting him out?” Elspeth tried to break free of Ian’s grip as she said this, but the man would not let her go.
She was filled with a need to get in the stables, to be with her husband even if the worst was going to happen.
She wanted to be by his side, the way she couldn’t be with her father.
“Alan haes gone inside. There’s nae much ye can dae, lass. Ye just hae tae wait.”
But waiting was the worst thing to do. How could she wait and watch fate pull apart the fragile strands of her life?
How could she stand there as everything crumbled around her?
She had never asked for much in life. She had never had any grand ambitions or greedy desires.
All she wanted was to be happy, but it seemed as though death stalked her.
It had been the only constant companion in her life, and now it was here to collect another soul.
Was everyone she loved destined to die before their time?
Dark smoke billowed out, like an entrance to the underworld.
Water splashed against the stables as the flames died out.
Their life force ebbed, but it didn’t happen quickly enough for Elspeth.
Every moment that passed was another moment when Finlay’s life could slip away if it had not already.
She searched the shadows and the darkness for any sign of hope, but it was not something found in abundance.
Tears flowed down her cheeks, leaving pale tracks through the smoky dust that shadowed her skin.
She coughed as she breathed, but even though her eyes stung, she did not take them away from the stable.
From the darkness came a figure. He staggered out, the smoke swirling and shimmering around him.
A cloth had been wrapped around his mouth.
As soon as he was free of the smoke, he fell to his knees and gasped.
He pulled the cloth away and gulped in air.
Alan’s head hung as he let Finlay’s body fall to the ground, not having the strength to carry the laird any longer.
As soon as she saw him, there was no way that Ian was going to be able to prevent Elspeth from rushing to her husband’s side.
The air was thicker nearer the stables. Elspeth covered her mouth with her sleeve.
Ian was by her side, checking on his laird and friend.
Elspeth groaned as she saw him. His head lolled to the side.
His face was smudged with soot and dirt.
His hands were limp, and his clothes were charred.
She placed a hand against his cheek and stroked it with the outside of her fingers, brushing them against his lips.
He was a brute of a man, stronger than anyone she had ever known, but even he could not defeat fire.
She collapsed against his chest, her long hair falling across his body.
Deep inside him, there was a weak heartbeat.
She moaned his name but he did not respond. Soot crumbled from his boots.
“We need tae get him inside,” Abigail said.
She gently pulled Elspeth away. Ian and Alan, along with the help of another guard, carried the laird towards the castle.
Elspeth wept fretfully as she walked behind them, supported by Abigail.
The gathered crowd watched them walk away with pity in their hearts and uncertainty in their minds.
Who would have done this to their laird?
Those bringing the water continued in their solemn duty, but now the fire was the least of Elspeth’s problems. She was focused on her husband, so afraid that she would be prevented from saying goodbye to him just as she had been prevented from saying goodbye to her father.
She had hoped that arriving in her new home would have left all the sorrow behind her, but it seemed the opposite was true.
She prayed that he would recover, and she offered anything she had in return—even her own life.
It was a small price to pay for the man she loved.