“I’m no' weeping because I’m sad.” The boy hiccupped out sobs with great shuddering hisses of breath. “I’m feckin' mad as hell. The stable’s a pigsty and from what I saw of the paddock and side-bailey beside the kitchens, 'tis no' much better. Dung and rot everywhere and we’ve only been gone a few days. ’Tis a disgrace. I’m ashamed of me clan and what they’ve allowed to come to pass.” He shuddered with anger as he made a sweeping motion toward the stalls. “Murtagh’s soul will never find rest as long as this remains.”
Catriona gritted her teeth and pulled in a deep breath. She had to remain calm and whilst she was at it, calm the boy. “Shhh now, Sawny. We dinna ken what’s been done to those within the keep. Calum may have locked them up.”Or worse.But she wouldna say it aloud. Calum may have gone on a killing spree. They couldna tell for certain until they’d made their way into the keep.
Sawny pulled back and stared at her with a hatred far surpassing his years. “I want to be the one to kill him, m’lady. I beg ye. Let me avenge Murtagh. Let me avenge my clan.”
“Ye canna kill anyone without a calm head and a well thought out plan, boy.” Alexander gave Catriona a pointed look that saidI’ll handle this.
She agreed and nodded for Alexander to take charge.
“I want to kill him slow,” Sawny growled out through clenched teeth, tears and snot running down his face. “I want him to suffer.”
Catriona couldna help herself. She pulled a square of linen from her sleeve and held it out to him. “Wipe your nose and your tears and calm yourself. If ye be bleary-eyed with anger, ye canna see well enough to kill.”
Alexander rolled his eyes and shook his head. “She’s right, boy,” he said with a huff. “Settle yourself so we can figure the best way to end the bastard.”
Sawny blew his nose and after much cursing and hiccupping, he inhaled a great gulp of air then snorted into the crumpled linen again. “Forgive me.” He waved the men closer around him then jabbed his thumb back toward the front of the stables. “I only saw two men staggering about the yard and both were heaving out what they must ha' drank last night. Smoke was coming from the kitchens so I’m thinking Cook and the scullery lads and lassies still be tending to those duties at least.”
“Could we make it to the root cellar now, ye think?” Catriona stretched to look over the rows of stalls filling the cave. It appeared no one was in the stable but themselves.
Sawny nodded. “Aye. One by one. I can go first to be certain.”
Catriona was touched by the twelve-year-old’s bravery but he’d already experienced enough in his young life to earn him the title of man. She pulled him to her and gave him a fierce hug. “Ye watch yourself, aye? I canna bear it if anything happens to ye.”
Sawny awkwardly pulled away, cheeks flaming and chin tucked to his chest. “I’ll be fine, m’lady.”
“Let’s be on with it then.” Alexander shooed the boy forward and followed close behind him. Catriona hurried to claim her place as next in line and the rest of the men fell in tow.
By the time they’d crept through the stable and reached the entrance, the outer paddock and bailey were deserted. The two men Sawny had seen were gone. One by one, they sidled their way along the walls, ducked behind barrels and wooden crates, then made a final dash across an open expanse of ground before disappearing into a small round door in the wall behind the kitchens.
The main room of the root cellar smelled of dirt, dried herbs, and the earthiness of potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Catriona ducked beneath fragrant bundles of dried rosemary, lavender, thyme, and sage as she followed Alexander and Sawny. With darting glances back at the entrance, they wound their way around the barrels and crates of Clan Neal’s winter stores.
Once they reached the back wall, it took them all to clear away the boxes and crates covering a small arched door that looked as though it had been sealed shut with a thick layer of mortar.
“'Tis sealed shut,” Alexander scowled at Sawny. “How long has it been since ye were in this set of tunnels?”
Sawny gave an impertinent roll of his eyes and retrieved an iron pry bar from the far corner. “Here. Ye see that wee hole in the base of the door? Shove this in that hole and push it to the left.”
Giving the boy a narrow-eyed glare, Alexander took the bar and did as Sawny instructed. The seemingly sealed off door held fast for a bit then swung open into the tunnel with a great grinding and falling of dust.
“Ye see?” Sawny scurried back to the front of the root cellar then hurried back toting a lantern. He balanced it on top of a barrel, drew the flint box out of its base, and lit the taper within it. He snatched the lantern up by the bale, handed it to Catriona, and waved everyone forward. “Follow the mistress, I’ll follow as soon as I make the root cellar appear as it was so no one will follow. I’ll be right behind ye.”
Catriona ducked her head and entered the tunnel, relieved to discover she could stand at her full height once inside. The outer wall of the tunnel was cold to the touch and dry but the interior wall on their right was wet with sweating rivulets of moisture. A cloying stench of mold and mildew filled the air. The floor was nothing more than dirt at first, but as they climbed, the tunnel became a stone staircase winding its way up into the castle and branching out like a system of veins just beneath the keep’s skin.
Dim recollections surfaced as she held the lantern higher. “I know this place,” she said more to herself than anyone else. Aye. She’d been here before. With Mother.She tried to remember why but could only bring back faded bits of the time gone by and it was more sensations than memory. The clammy odor of the tunnel. The chilled dampness of the air. Fear in Mother’s whispers. Her trembling hugs. Catriona forged onward, giving up on trying to remember what had happened and instead using the memory to make her way to the second floor and the hidden doorway she knew awaited in the small sitting room of the nursery.
Aye. The nanny’s room. The perfect place to plan the next step in their attack.
