Chapter 12 #2
He turned to look at Emily and knew she was slowly, silently fading away, and they were helpless to change that. When he shifted his gaze to his mother, she looked back at him with that same understanding, both of them acknowledging the wordless truth to one another.
Noah paced the width of the chamber, his mind nearly numb with the torturous thoughts of what might have happened to Skye and what would surely happen to Emily. All while he did nothing but wear the leather off the soles of his boots.
The moonless night was less than a day away now.
Its arrival was both too soon and too late.
Too soon to find the tunnel and too late to save Emily.
Once evicted, they’d be somewhere in the valley below, far from any chance of finding a portal.
And Emily? He could only pray she’d still be with them.
And what if she wasn’t? The thought was like a physical blow to his gut. And it had an equal impact on his muddled brain.
Yes! What if?
How would that change the demands regarding their eviction?
With dawn only hours away, he joined Finn and his father who, like Noah, had plotted and discarded plan after unworkable plan to change the course of events.
He hurriedly whispered his idea and saw it take hold in their eyes.
“’Tis a bold and brash idea, lad,” Taran responded, “and surely doomed tae fail, but ‘tis the only one I ken might give us the edge we need.” He approached Paige, still sitting beside Emily’s bed monitoring every breath, and put his hand on her shoulder to summon her a short distance away.
“What is it?” Eyes wary, she followed him to where Noah and Finn waited.
“Noah hae suggested a ruse that might help us overcome the guards.” He glanced at Emily. “Praise God that we still hae the child wi’ us. But I need ye tae pretend otherwise. I need ye tae wail and howl as if she wasnae.”
At Paige’s puzzled look, Taran continued. “Ye must make it so believable the guards will unlock the door. ’Tis a slim chance, but ’tis the only one we have. Can ye do it?”
Paige glanced back at Emily and nodded. “The fear of losing her has taken such deep root in my mind I feel as if I’ve lived it a thousand times already. But I’ll have to explain it to her and hope she can understand what I’m saying. I don’t want to frighten her with my sudden wailing.”
Taran kissed her cheek. “We’ll give ye a moment while we get intae place.”
Noah watched his mother lean close to his sister’s ear and whisper something, but there was no response from Emily. Just the same slow, labored breathing he’d heard all night that felt so distant, as if she’d already left them.
Please, God, let this work. Help us save her.
Once the three of them were positioned on both sides of the door, Taran nodded at Paige and she erupted with a shriek that both startled him and sent chills up his spine.
Even though he’d been prepared for it, the sound of her grief filled his soul and flooded his eyes with the sting of tears.
As her wailing continued, he realized her grief was real.
She’d kept it bottled up since Emily became ill, and it had grown in pace with her inability to do anything about it.
Taran let it build, nodding his encouragement to Paige, even adding his own agonized cry before pounding on the door.
“Ye must help us! I fear we’ve lost the child.
I beg ye,” he cried with a broken voice, “see for yerself. Please, ye must delay our departure. We need time tae…” he stopped for another heartbroken pause, “…tae tend tae the child’s final needs. ”
Noah heard a stirring beyond the door and the muttered sounds of a discussion among the guards.
“Please,” he added his own plea. “We can’t abandon my sister without…” he faded off with another desperate cry of grief before continuing. “If you’ll just come see her and verify for yourselves what is needed now?”
More whispered discussion, and then finally, thankfully, the scrape of a key inserted into the lock.
There were four guards and only the three of them. Excellent odds in any other situation. But they had no weapons and they couldn’t count on who might be lingering around the corners and turns of the passageways. They would have to be quick and silent so no alarm would be raised.
Noah exchanged glances with his father and Finn as they braced for the door to open. When it did, Noah grasped the edge and flung it wide as Finn dived through the opening, going in low, fast and silent before the startled guards had time to raise their weapons.
Just as quickly, Noah and Taran bowled the other men to the ground.
Finn had his man unconscious on the floor and another on the ground by the time Noah and Taran had subdued theirs.
Though they’d managed to still any outcries from the guards, the noise of the scuffle sounded like trumpets to Noah in the narrow corridor.
“We’ll drag them to my chamber, bind and gag them so they can’t raise an alarm if they wake,” he whispered, collecting their swords. “And they shouldn’t mind if we borrow these while they nap.”
“Quickly and quietly,” Taran whispered, kneeling to hoist his sizable opponent over his shoulder. “We cannae ken who might’ve overheard the fracas.”
“Aye,” Finn agreed, hoisting one of the guards over a shoulder and gathering the other by the back of his leather jerkin to drag him along before looking over at Noah. “Can you manage yer man and the swords too, laddie?”
“I can,” he replied, heaving the last guard to his shoulder, balanced with one hand while he clutched the swords by their hilts in the other. “This way,” he stated, leading them toward his chamber.
“What now?” Finn gave Noah an expectant look after making sure his two guards were securely restrained and could not cry out, even if they awakened. “Your idea worked thus far, but I didn’t hear your plan for what comes next?”
“’Tis still tae find and rescue Skye, is it no’?” Taran asked. “Though ’tis clear the danger and the odds against us have increased significantly while our timeline diminishes.” He glanced at Noah. “What say ye? After all, ’tis yer woman we’re attemptin’ tae save.”
“She’s not my…” Noah paused, realizing how much he wanted her to be.
He didn’t just care about her—worry about her. He loved her!
Why hadn’t he told her?
He had to find her. Tell her. Learn if she felt the same.
Leaving without her was unthinkable. But he understood asking her to go with him meant giving up everything she knew and loved to be with a man who had nothing to offer beyond his love and desire for a future with her.
“I can’t leave without knowing she’s safe,” he began.
“And if she chooses to stay, or go with us. Her chamber is in the south wing. I suppose it’s logical to start there, though getting there may prove difficult.
We don’t know what or who we’ll encounter, but there’s no question there’ll be some resistance.
And because of that…” he looked at his father, “you need to go back to mother and Emily. If things don’t go well, someone needs to be there to protect them.
If we don’t make it back, they can’t be left alone and vulnerable to The Keeper’s whims.”
“Aye,” Finn added. “I agree with the laddie. Your family’s safety and future are why we’re here in the first place. And it’s you Paige will need if things don’t work out as we hope.”
Noah watched the conflict play out across his father’s face, and the agony of it pierced his heart. “It’s the only way,” Noah urged.
Taran’s sigh of defeat came from the depths of his soul as he fought the moisture gathering in his eyes. “Tae leave the two of ye tae tackle this alone is more than I can bear.”
“But you’ll do it for your family,” Finn argued. “Just as I would for mine.”
The reminder that Finn’s time-travel experience had torn him from his own family deepened the ache in Noah’s chest and made protecting his own even more crucial.
“Aye. Of course I’ll do it,” Taran conceded. “But it doesnae make abandoning the two of ye any easier.”
“You helped give us the fighting chance we needed. Mother did her part too. Thank her for me.”
“Nae,” Taran shook his head. “Ye can thank her yerself when ye return with Skye, safe and sound.”
After another check of the guards’ restraints, Noah locked his door and the three of them hurried to Emily’s chamber, fearful of being caught before they even got started.
As they approached her door, they heard voices inside. A woman and a man.
Taran was ready to burst inside when Noah stopped him. “Wait. Listen. See if we can tell who’s in there.”
That’s Paige’s voice,” Taran whispered, pressing his ear to the door. “But I dinnae ken who the male is.”
Both Taran and Finn were drawing their swords when Noah realized who it was. “I do.” He listened a minute longer to make sure no one else was inside. “It’s Keir!”
He pushed through the door and all but stormed the man. “Where’s Skye? Has something happened to her? I searched for her and you for hours! Why have you left her? Is she safe? Is—”
“Enough.” Keir’s brows came together in a scowl. “I came here to ask you the same thing. I’ve searched everywhere and decided—hoped—you might be hiding her here.”
While Finn remained at the door to stand watch, Taran went to Paige’s side where Brody stood firm beside her, fists clenched and chin jutted with what five-year-old menace he could muster to protect his mother from the stranger.
“It’s true,” Paige offered. “That’s what he’s been asking.”
“She’s not in her chamber then?” Noah felt his hopes regarding Skye’s safety fade. “Where have you looked? When did you last see her?”