“Interesting,” he said, stepping out of the room and beckoning for her to follow. “If you’re telling the truth, that key will fit the door, correct?”
“Of course.”
“Then this way.”
He walked along the battlement, her following, the guards behind her. The group stopped by the door to the corridor inside. “Pass it here,” the man said, grabbing the key from her hand before she could protest. “Let’s see if you’re telling the truth.”
He pushed the key into the door and unlocked it, pushing it open. She found herself staggering back at the sight before her. Instead of a room or a corridor she saw the ruins of an abbey through the doorway.
Behind it the shoreline and the deep waters of a loch. They were high up above the ground. “Through you go,” the man said while she was still reeling in shock.
When she didn’t move, the guards shoved her through the door. She scrambled for balance, right on the edge of a narrow walkway at least twenty feet above the ground. By the time she righted herself the door was closed and locked.
She slammed her fists against it, hoping this was all a dream. The pain in her hands felt real enough but this couldn’t be happening. Doors went into rooms. The rooms didn’t change each time you unlocked them.
She could hear nothing through the door. Beside it was a window and she peered out, seeing that the door led to nowhere. Whatever room had been on the other side of the wall was long gone, presumably into the pile of rubble and rafters far below her.
She began to pace back and forth along the walkway, trying to stay away from the edge. How could she get down? The wall looked sheer and the ground was too far for her to jump. She leaned through the window again, looking for answers on the other side. There was no help there.
Where was she? It was a ruined abbey of some kind. Was she hallucinating? Had she banged her head on the castle’s low ceilings and passed out? Or had the car crashed on the way up to Scotland and this was some kind of coma dream? Would she know if it was?
The abbey was on an island surrounded by water. The mainland surrounded it, mountainous and desolate looking. There was no one to be seen.
No, that wasn’t true. There was someone walking across the grass in the distance, heading her way. She leaned further out to look closer. The stone was weak and began to crumble, falling away from her.
She lost her balance trying to right herself, her heels catching the edge of the walkway and sliding into the empty air.
With a scream she found herself falling, her hands catching the stone and gripping onto it for dear life. “Help!” she cried, her fingers coming loose.
Any second and she’d fall. If she survived she’d break more than a few bones if she couldn’t hold on.
“Help!” she cried again, her grip failing her. She tried to pull herself up but her arms weren’t strong enough. Stone began to crash to the earth around her, sending up plumes of dust that make her cough and splutter until she felt a sneeze building up in her nose.
She tried to hold it in but it came out nonetheless, making her head bang against the wall, the shock enough to loosen her fingers from their precarious hold on the walkway.
Then she fell.
Chapter Five
Eddard felt alive for the first time in years. When had he last run like this? His heart pounded and his lungs burned as he leaped over the top of a pile of rubble, sliding along the biggest of the stones and then half tumbling, half running down the other side.
Twisting his body, he barely slowed as he turned the corner and then she was in view. He put on a fresh burst of speed. She was about to fall. He sprinted the last few feet along the base of the wall.
She was no ghost. She was wearing the oddest clothes but she was real and she was about to lose her grip, her feet scrabbling at the wall, desperately trying to get a purchase.
He skidded to a halt underneath her, looking up as she fell with a scream. He braced himself. He saw her falling through the air, her hair wild, her arms flailing. Time stood still for the briefest of moments and she was just hanging there.
Then he blinked and in the time that took she’d landed in his arms with a thud. He fell back with her on top of him, her face inches from his own, staring into his eyes in a mixture of fear and relief.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She blinked, saying nothing, as if she wasn’t sure she was alive. He couldn’t help noticing the sparkle in her eyes, ocean blue and glittering like they were reflecting the sun out at sea. There was depth there, depth like nothing he’d ever seen before. Pain too. Why was she in pain?
“Are you hurt? Can you nae speak?”
“I’m fine,” she snapped, untangling herself from his body, getting slowly to her feet. “I thought I was dead. Am I dead?”
“It was close enough. The reaper came to visit but he didnae stay. What fool errand sent you climbing up there? Do you nae ken how dangerous it is.”
