Before anyone could react, the guards who had lined the walls suddenly surged forward, surrounding Cailean and the others where they stood.
"Father, please," Sorcha pleaded in a high-pitched tone, but she was ignored as her voice drowned out in theshinkof many swords being drawn around them.
Murtagh turned his back. "Seize him. I'll be in me quarters," he said carelessly, then disappeared into a side door behind his seat.
The guards descended, and Maeve reached for her dagger as chaos erupted around them. Cailean pushed her back, sending her stumbling into Fergus, just as a sword swipe narrowly missed where she was standing.
"Go!" Cailean yelled. "Go!"
"No!" Maeve shrieked, adrenaline shooting through her as she witnessed the horrifying tableau unfolding before her. She tried to run forward as the soldiers surrounded Cailean, murderous intent emanating from them, but Fergus held her back. "No, no!"
Even as she fought against him, Fergus's grip tightened. "Maeve. Maeve, we need tae run. Now!" he urged. "While they're distracted. Come on."
"They'll kill him!" Maeve cried out, still trying to get away. She couldn't even see Cailean now, lost as he was in a sea of guards.
"They willnae!" Darren countered sharply. "Whatever they want him for, they need him alive. We must get the others and get out of here."
"We need all of our strength if we're tae have any hope of rescuin' him. Come on." Fergus pulled her, and Maeve at last went limp, allowing him to pull her away, even though it felt like she was leaving her heart behind.
As they escaped through the door that they'd entered, pushing past guards who were too intent on Cailean to pay them any attention, Maeve caught one last glimpse of her love being overwhelmed by attacking soldiers. Her gaze flicked up, and the last thing she saw before the door slammed shut was Sorcha's pale face, watching with horror as it all unfolded.
Then she, Darren, and Fergus were alone in the hallway.
There was a brief moment of silence. Fergus still held Maeve, and she allowed it—no longer as restraint, but as support. She felt a deep weakness within her bones, a sheerwrongnessatleaving Cailean behind, even though she knew it was their only choice.
"What now?" Fergus asked.
"We dinnae have long," Darren said grimly. "The guards…they'll notice we're gone and come after us soon enough."
"We go tae me rooms and get Tailfeather. I willnae leave without it," Maeve insisted. "I need me sword tae fight."
"I'll go," Darren told her. "I'll gather all our weapons and regroup with ye outside the walls. Ye and Fergus go back and get the others. Get them out, and meet me in the forest."
The two cousins exchanged nods, and reluctantly, Maeve agreed. She watched as Darren jogged off, a tightness in her stomach as he left, praying that she would see him again. Behind the door, she could still hear the angry sounds of swords and fighting, and she desperately longed to return to Cailean's side.
But she was to be a queen, a leader. That was what Cailean wanted from her. And if that was to be her role, then she had a job to do. She shook off Fergus's grip, then looked up at him.
"Thank ye," she said. "Now come on. We need tae get tae the others before it's too late."
"Aye," Fergus said.
Without another word, the two of them began hurrying down the corridor in the direction of the room where they and the others had been waiting before. She hoped that nobody had wandered off, and hoped they were not too late. And all the while that she run, she felt the looming shadows extending behind them, following so close that they could barely breathe.
Murtagh McKenzie. The False King. Cailean was consumed by the shadows now, and Maeve had to find the light before it was too late.
8
Maeve and Fergus managed to gather the others and mobilize them fairly quickly, but not quickly enough. As they were hurrying out of the entrance to the castle, they heard shouts, and soon guards were hurrying after them.
"What happened?" Deirdre demanded. "Where is Cailean?"
"Do we stay and fight?" Dirk asked uneasily as they burst out into the cold light of day. "Do we go back for him?"
"No. Run!" Maeve commanded, a tightness in her chest from the rush of trying to escape and from the agony of being separated from Cailean while he was in danger. "Just run!"
Nobody questioned her orders, and the ten of them kept running. They could hear the shouts behind them that indicated their enemies were drawing closer. Maeve's heart was in her throat, but she did not stop, did not look back, only focusing on the tree line before them. She wished they'd had time to retrieve their horses, but there was no hope of that now. All that was left was the chance to run.
They reached the treeline after what felt like an eternity and scattered into the forest, each of them finding a place to hide. Maeve scrambled up a tree, ignoring the way the branchesscratched at her skin and made her bleed, knowing that higher ground would give her some protection.
