“Locked up, too, I’d guess.”
When Chloe struggled to stand, Evie grasped her by her arm and helped her to her feet. She peered out through the cell door into the shadowy hallway, worry on her face. The same worry Evie, herself, felt.
“If they have Brianna, then that means they have the stone, too,” Chloe said.
Evie nodded. “I have no doubt you’re right about that.”
“What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here?”
When they were imprisoned in the MacDonald stronghold, Chloe had used her piece of the keystone and their combined blood magic to knock a hole in the back wall of the cell to get them out. Evie doubted there were secret passageways behind these MacLeod dungeons.
“I don’t know,” Evie said.
Her only glimmer of hope was that Roslyn had somehow managed to stay hidden and out of MacDonald hands. If she did, and she was brave enough, maybe she would find a way to the dungeons to let them out.
Beyond that, she had no idea what their plan should be. Once they were out, how would they rescue Brianna and get the keystone back?
“We’ll find a way to get it back,” Chloe said, sounding more sure than Evie felt.
She nodded, trying to remain positive.
But the situation seemed hopeless.
She turned back to the door and stared at it, as though doing so would present the answer.
“Now that they have the whole keystone, they can try to use it against us,” Chloe said.
“Our blood is what makes it work.” At least, she hoped that was the case. “They have to keep us alive if they want to use it.”
Outside their cell, she heard a faint clink of a key. Chloe’s gaze swiveled to the door as they both stared at it, waiting,holding their breath for the enemy to show himself. The lock to their door clicked and moments later it swung open.
But it was not the enemy standing on the other side of the threshold.
“Roslyn!” Evie breathed.
“Come, lassies.” She waved frantically for them to step out of the cell while she checked the hallway.
They both hurried through the door.
“I dinnae ken what happened in the great hall, but there is no’ much left of the room,” the woman said.
“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.
“I mean there was a flash of light and a bang and then nothing. The room is in ruins. All of ye were unconscious when I found ye. I tried to wake ye but MacDonald’s men came. So I hid again and waited as they rounded ye up and brought ye down here. They tied up Brianna. They want to make her use the keystone.”
It was worse than Evie had feared. “We have to find a way back to her. We have to get her out of there.”
“How did you get the keys?” Chloe asked.
“I took them off the sleeping guard. Here.” She pressed the keys into Evie’s hand. “The lads are just there.” She pointed to a cell at the other end of the dungeon.
“Where are the MacDonalds?” Evie asked.
“They’re camped outside the castle walls, scheming, debating what to do with the two of ye,” she said, her voice tight with worry. A shadow of fear flickered across her face before she swallowed hard. “They intend to keep the other lass. They need her, they think. They want to kill the lads.”
The words trembled into the air, heavy with dread, her eyes searching for some kind of reassurance, some promise that they still had a chance.
“Get to safety, Roslyn,” Evie said. “You’ve done more than enough.”
