“This isnae right,” he muttered to himself as he looked around the room. He spied the glass he drank from the night before on the windowsill and walked toward it. As he reached the glass, a sight beyond caught his gaze.
In the road far below the lofted position he was in, there was a dark black carriage escaping quickly across the road, being pulled by four horses. He only had a view of its roof; therefore, it was impossible to see inside, but he didn’t recognize the coach. That’s when his eyes looked to the place behind the carriage.
By the door to the castle was Lennox. She was banging on the door with both fists, her face a picture of panic.
What has happened?
Then his thoughts aligned. If he had slept so long, then Laura should already be at the castle.
Why did I sleep so long? I never sleep that long…
He picked up the glass and sniffed from it. It smelled as peculiar as it had tasted the night before. Not wanting to believe his suspicion, he ran back to the table and found the jug of whisky from which Dearg had poured the whisky. He sniffed that too, and it held the same strange smell.
Nay, it cannae be…
He thought back to the night before when Dearg had offered the toast. He had thought Dearg had drunk the whisky too, but the more he considered the idea, he realized he had never actually seen Dearg sip from his own glass. Dearg had turned away when Erskine had drunk, offering only a view of his back.
This is nae possible. I couldnae have been drugged!
Yet he sniffed the jug again, and with his mind still a little foggy, he could not deny it.
“I was drugged.” As he said the words aloud, he hurried back to the window, looking down at Lennox, who was now being let into the castle, escorted by some guard.
Erskine moved to the door of the room, desperate to leave, but as his hand took hold of the door, he found it locked in place.
“Nay…nay,” he didn’t want to accept it. He heaved backward again, but the door was firmly locked. He dropped to his knees and peered through the keyhole. It was dark, showing the key was still in place on the other side.
Erskine felt his anger surge as he jumped to his feet, driving his shoulder against the door. It was strong oak, barely moving as it bounced within its frame. He tried a few more times, but all that he was accomplishing were bruises to his arm and shoulder. He stepped back and tried a new tactic, determined to get out of that door come what may.
He kept one foot planted into the ground and drove the other into the door, just beside the lock. The wood splintered around the lock instantly. With a second kick, this one even stronger than the last, the wood fractured completely, and the door broke open, allowing Erskine to stumble through the gap and sprint through the corridor.
I have to find Laura.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Faither! Dearg!” Erskine bellowed the words as he ran through the corridors, but he saw neither of them. So, he ran back to the ground floor, knowing there was someone there who clearly had some idea of what was happening.
At the bottom of the stone staircase, he found Lennox being escorted by a guard.
“Lennox?” he said as he jumped down the last few steps. “What is happenin’?”
“It’s Laura!” she cried, hearing that name shook him for a moment.
“Ye ken who she is?”
“Of course, I ken!” she spoke quickly. “She’s gone.”
“What do ye mean gone?” Erskine decided to deal with the point of how Lennox knew who Laura was later.
“She’s just been taken,” her face was a perfect picture of shock.
“Taken? What do ye mean taken?” he said, shaking his head, not wanting to believe it. “By who?”
“I daenae ken,” she was panicking, her arms outstretched. That’s when he noticed the blood on her forehead.
“Lennox, ye’re bleeding’,” he pointed to her head then gestured to the guard beside her, who scrambled to find some spare cloth. Erskine placed it to her head, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Am I?” She frowned at the idea. “It doesnae matter. Laura was just forced into that carriage.”
