The Bard (Highland Heroes #5) - Maeve Greyson Page 0,63
edges of the room still contained enough loose soil to extinguish the materials.
Even with all their efforts, it got more and more difficult to breathe. Both Sorcha and Jenny coughed and choked, dropping to their knees as the small cavern filled with more smoke then breathable air.
“They mean to choke us, Sorcie,” Jenny rasped, weakly scooping dirt and debris into a pile and patting out the embers.
“At least we died fighting.” Sorcha yanked the next burning rag into the pile with the others. Her blistered hands throbbed and burned, but not as badly as her lungs and her need for a good gulp of clean air.
“Sorcha!” Pounding came from the other side. “Sorcha!” Something heavy bashed against the door hard enough to shake dust loose from the rafters. “Tear it off the hinges if ye have to. Get that damned door open!”
“Please tell me ye hear that, too?” Jenny asked as she sagged over onto her side.
“Aye, sister. I hear them.” Sorcha slumped forward and lay next to Jenny. “We are saved,” she whispered amidst coughing and gasping. “Sutherland will get us out.” She patted Jenny’s hand. “All we need do is rest now. We are saved.”
She closed her eyes, just for a moment. The smoke had them stinging so. She listened harder. The voices sounded muffled now. She wondered why. But then the darkness came and swept her away, and she didn’t care anymore.
Chapter Eleven
“I want that bastard shackled to a stake and burned! Give me the chains! I’ll do it myself. Then I’ll gather the wood and set him afire for a good sampling of his own wickedness.” Sutherland charged back and forth across the length of the large sitting room. His precious Sorcha had nearly died. He wouldn’t rest until he had meted out justice with his own two hands.
The bedchamber door flew open, and Catriona rushed out. “I know there’s much to discuss here, but the healer said Sorcha needs quiet!” She fixed a fierce scowl on each of the men, then pointed at the archway leading down to the outer stairwell. Even though her voice was hushed, it vibrated with irritation. “Now, hie yerselves downstairs if the lot of ye canna plot yer revenge without roaring it from the rooftops, ye ken?”
“I willna leave her unguarded in this place ever again.” Sutherland shot Catriona’s ferocity right back at her, daring her to challenge him. His good sister could threaten and scold all she liked. Nothing mattered but Sorcha and her safety. “When my precious love is walking at my side, and we’re bound for Tor Ruadh, that’s when I’ll step foot outside this room again. Not a moment before.”
“The man has an alibi,” Alexander reminded them all quietly after Catriona threw up her hands, then stormed back inside Sorcha’s room.
“That he does,” Chieftain Greyloch said as he refilled everyone’s glasses. “In fact, he didna return from the village until well after sunset. The runner we sent to fetch the healer met him on the lane.”
“And I spoke with several folk from the surrounding shops,” Magnus added. “They all remembered seeing him. Some even drank with him at the pub. The fool thinks if he buys drinks for one and all, he’ll buy himself some allies.”
“Then the sly whoreson had to have paid someone to work his evil whilst he was gone. Surely, ye’ve heard of such treacherous tactics?” The calmness of his kin and Sorcha’s father stoked Sutherland’s rage. This was no time for calm. It was time for revenge and bloodletting.
“I canna believe no one saw anything,” Graham said, pacing alongside Sutherland. Of the four brothers, Graham and Sutherland shared the trait of little to no patience. They didn’t plan their battles. They charged into them. “None in the kitchens saw a thing out of order, nor did the lad the housekeeper took her sweet time in sending down to bring up the casks. At least, not until he smelled the smoke.”
“Thank God for that lad’s nose,” Greyloch said. “Got wind of the evil before he even went down into the tunnel and kept his wits about him to sound the alarm and fetch help.”
“Then who was in the kitchens? Who was close to the area? It had to be someone no one would notice.” The longer they talked about the disgusting mess, the more Sutherland felt the murderous bastard slipping out of his grasp. “Bring them up here one at a time. I want to talk with every servant in this damn keep.”