Alice walked over and slapped her hard across the face. “I said keep quiet!”
After a few tense seconds, Alice turned away with a satisfied smirk, then she and Lorna left the cell.
The door slammed shut and the bolt slid home. For a few heavy minutes there was a deep, oppressive silence. Then Caitlin heard a sudden hissing sound and smelled burned matches and knew the fuses in the corridor had been lit. The wires trailed under the door and all along the floor of the cell, running to the barrels of gunpowder stacked around the walls. Lorna had arranged it in such a manner that they could light the fuses at the end of the corridor and not in the room, thereby giving themselves time to escape.
But Caitlin had no such chance. This was it. She had only moments. Quickly, she untied the ropes around her wrists and ankles and spat out the gag. Heart thundering, she scrambled to her feet and clambered around the room in a terror-filled frenzy, yanking the fuses from the barrels. There were so many! Tiny black wires that were all but invisible in the gloom crisscrossed the floor like veins. If she should miss just one—
She worked furiously, her fingers moving quickly and deftly as she traced each fuse to its source and snuffed it out. Sweat poured down her face and her heart thudded in her chest as she worked, every second feeling like an eternity.
Finally, when she had pulled out the last of the fuses, she collapsed to the floor, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The room was filled with the scent of sulphur and smoke and there was a thick haze in the air. Caitlin coughed and spluttered, her eyes stinging.
She crawled to the door, her hands shaking as she waited. Sure enough, sparks soon showed in the gap between the door and the floor and came racing under it, burning along the fuse that Lorna had lit outside. Caitlin stamped on it furiously, heedless of the sparks that danced around her ankles, ignoring the terror that tried to claim her. She kept on stamping long after the sparks had died, giving in to the terror that roared through her.
Only when exhaustion took her, did she allow herself to slump to the ground and lean against the wall. She’d done it. She’d stopped the explosion—for now.
But she knew it was only a matter of time before they realized their plan hadn’t worked and returned. She was under no illusions as to what would happen then.
Oh, Kai,she thought as despair washed through her.Where are you?
Chapter 22
Kai shifted uncomfortablyon the bench. The hard wood was turning his backside numb and wasn’t improving his temper any.
Talk, talk, talk. That’s all they’d been doing for the past two hours. What was there to discuss? They knew Leif Snarlsson was coming. All they had to do was decide how to arrange their forces to stop him. So why this endless debate and counter-debate?
Oskar obviously shared Kai’s disdain. The warrior was slumped in his seat, one hand curled around a cup of mead, a scowl on his face. The rest of his men were more attentive but even Conall seemed to be getting restless.
King John was the cause of it all.
The man seemed determined to understand every tiny detail of the coming battle and seemed unable to grasp the fact that they needed to evacuate the lower town when the fleet arrived. He kept asking a million questions, debating every potential strategy and worrying over unimportant minutiae.
Oskar’s patience finally snapped. He slammed his fist on the table, making everyone jump. “This is pointless,” he yelled. “Ye spend all this time discussing our defenses while Leif Snarlsson’s fleet gets closer and closer. We need to act now!”
Kai nodded in agreement but King John merely frowned at Oskar’s outburst before continuing his monologue as if nothing had happened. Kai sighed and looked around him helplessly; it was clear that unless someone intervened, this meeting was going to go on for days.
He rubbed his temples in an attempt to ward off the headache that had been growing steadily over the past few hours.
