had risen, bringing Boreas along to keep the dog from waking Catriona. When the kitten darted through the doorway and down the stairs, he had left the door ajar so that it would not scratch to get back in.
The two men had not talked until they began sloshing through water. Even then, the woods gave them cover, so Fin doubted that anyone saw them.
The night was still, though, quieter than usual.
“Ye can usually hear the roar o’ the water running out on such a still night,” Aodán had said then. “How fast will it rise, sir?”
“Depends on the weather,” Fin said, looking up to see that clouds hid most of the stars. “No one here will drown for some time, though.” He hoped that no one at all would drown. But the plain fact was that the steep bowl formed by the hills, plus its single outflowing burn, and many tributaries, meant that the water would rise to whatever height the Comyns had built the dam. And Aodán had said it was high.
Also, they had no boat. When the men being relieved ashore had not returned in it, Aodán had worried enough to swim over and look for them. Avoiding the landing area, he had scouted the west shoreline to see what he could see before swimming back to wake Fin. The Comyns had struck and struck hard.
But Fin meant to have the last word.
“Sir? There be summat I should ha’ told ye afore,” Aodán muttered.
“What?”
“The lad, Tadhg. He were wakeful, sir, and I let him go wi’ the boat.”
“We’ll find them all,” Fin said. “When you go in, wake what men you have in the castle and secure it. I’m going to swim across and see what I can see.”
“Do I wake the grand lairds, too?”
Knowing that Rothesay and Alex would each then insist on taking charge, Fin said, “Let them sleep. If you need anyone, wake the Mackintosh first.”
“Aye, well, wi’ the gate closed, the place should be impregnable to all but the rising water. But I do wish we had a boat. If they’ve destroyed it…”
Not wanting to think about that, Fin had sent Aodán back and devised his own plan. His night vision was excellent, and he knew that when he was in the water he would see enough to know where he was. In any light, one could tell the difference between water and land, but finding a place from which to swim was less certain.
Not only was the water higher, but he had always swum the longer way to the loch’s east shore. So he did not know the west shoreline well enough to be sure of the best route to reach it from the island. He would have to feel his way in without splashing about, and the water, he knew, would be icy cold.
His intent was to see exactly what the Comyns had done and to judge how hard it might be to undo it. He and Aodán had collected a few things that he could carry with him and that might or might not be of help.
A cold nose touched his hand, and he saw that Boreas had not returned with Aodán. Patting the dog’s head, he murmured, “You’ll have to stay here, lad.”
He would swim quietly, and most of the enemy would be asleep. But they would have guards at the dam and with the prisoners. Doubtless, they had others to watch the castle and loch, too, as well as they could in the increasing blackness.
Even so, all of their watchers would get sleepy.
“I thought you must be out here.”
Catriona’s quiet voice preceded her as she came up behind him. She was all but invisible when he turned, and he had not heard her approach. The truth was that even now, he could feel her presence more easily than he could discern her shape.
“What the devil are you doing out here?” he demanded, realizing that Boreas might have tried to warn him that she was coming.
“The kitten woke me. It was all wet. Why is the water so high?”
“The Comyns have dammed the outflow. They also captured both sets of guards at the change of watch, and they kept the only remaining boat, too.”
“Then you will need help,” she murmured. “Whatever you mean to do, you should have someone with you. And since you did not keep Aodán…”
She left the sentence hanging in the air.
“I am going alone because one person can keep silent more easily than two,” he said.