Taran nodded, blinking rapidly to clear his own eyes.
“So, let’s boil it down,” Noah began. “The moonless night—our only chance to save Emily—is tomorrow night. And all we have to do to succeed is avoid being evicted at dawn, rescue Skye from an unknown prison, find a viable portal and get everyone there in time, most of all Emily, all while remaining undiscovered.”
“Is that all?” Finn grinned, attempting to lighten the dark mood. “Not to worry,” he winked. “It’s just as likely to happen as the circumstances that brought us all to this strange world in the first place.”
“A day?” Keir looked at them as if they’d lost their senses. “You don’t have a day. You have mere hours left. When you’re not in this room when they come to get you at dawn, The Keeper will have you hunted down. And I doubt he’ll reward your disobedience with mere eviction.” He turned to Taran. “And what of your wife and your children? You can’t take them on the search for Skye, so you’ll be leaving them behind, alone and vulnerable to face what is coming.”
“’Tis the verra difficulty I’ve been puzzling over,” Taran mumbled.
“You all need to understand it’s possible we may not find Skye in time.” Keir pressed. “From everything I’ve heard, the cells down there are part of a huge, ancient maze. What has to be done, what you’re planning on doing, may not come together in time.” He looked around the group. “Or…at all.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Noah let Keir’s warning settle around him. It hung over all of them like a weapon, with the possibility of being just as deadly. If Skye truly was being held in the deep cells and the rumors about them were true, they were facing a maze with mere hours, not days, to find Skye. And who knew what other obstacles they’d encounter.
But for him, there was only one path forward.
He looked at Emily. Her breathing came in shallow whispers now, each one a fragile thread tethering her to a world that seemed determined to release her. Brody sat beside her, his small hand lying over hers in a show of protection, his jaw set in a way that made him look years older than five.
“We can’t all go.” Noah looked directly at Taran. “Mother and the children cannot be left here in this chamber, waiting like lambs for The Keeper’s guards to come for them at dawn.”
“Ye read my thoughts, lad. We willnae abandonanyof our family this day!”
There was no question Noah would give his life for his mother and siblings. And no question he’d gladly lay it down to save Skye. He prayed again he wouldn’t be forced to make an impossible choice between them. “Keir, you said when TheKeeper’s men come at dawn and find this room empty, they’ll tear the fortress apart looking for us. So mother and the children must be moved somewhere they won’t be discovered.” Desperation clogged his chest. “The Citadel is enormous. There must be somewhere. Can you think of such a place?”
“We dinnae ken this fortress well enough,” Taran stepped closer to Keir. “’Tis naught in this life I value more than my family. I’m forced tae place them in yer hands. Do ye ken the weight of what I’m sayin’?”
Keir nodded, the burden of Taran’s words clearly reflected in his face as he scrubbed a hand across his jaw. Minutes passed as he shook his head, obviously discarding one thought after another.
“I recall a storage alcove off an abandoned servant’s kitchen in the lower section,” he finally said. “It hasn’t been used in years. Too small and too far from the main kitchens to be worth the trouble. But it’s near the storage tunnels and that collapsing passage Noah found.”
He glanced at Noah, then back at Taran. “If we move them now, under cover of darkness, there’s a fair chance we won’t be seen. If we are, I’ll claim I’m letting them prepare food and medical supplies for your morning departure, on The Keeper’s orders. No one will question that.”
Noah and Taran nodded as one.
“You must go with them,” Noah stressed to Taran as a plan began to take shape despite the fear clawing at his insides. “Keir will need help to move Emily. And you need to learn the route and the layout of the kitchen.” He gave him a look meant to convey the urgency he felt. “And most of all, you must learn where the collapsing tunnel is. If any of us are…disabled…or even get separated later, you’ll need to know the way. You still have the stretcher you used to bring Emily here?”
At his father’s nod toward the corner of the chamber, Noah pressed on. “Good. While you and Keir take them to safety, Finn and I will gather torches and be ready to leave for the deep cells when you return.”
The silence stretched between them, heavy with all the things neither could say. Taran finally dipped his chin in agreement.
“Ye best get on with it,” Finn warned from his post near the door. “Every minute we spend discussing a plan is a minute lost from actin’ on it, a minute less to find the lassie and a minute closer to this whole Citadel coming down on our heads. Dawn isn’t that far away!”
His words drove through all of them like the cold blade of reality Finn obviously intended.
Noah went to Paige, her face drawn tight with exhaustion and worry, and pulled her into an embrace. She gripped him so fiercely he felt the tremor running through her small frame.
“Bring Skye back,” Paige whispered against his shoulder. “Bringeveryoneback.”
“I will.” He eased back, giving her a smile of assurance he didn’t quite feel.
Her violet eyes glistened in the candlelight, but she refused to let the tears fall. That was his mother. Always stronger than she had any right to be. “Keep the children close. Stay hidden. We’ll come for you.”
Brody appeared at his side, small arms wrapping around Noah as far as he could reach. “Be careful, Noah.”
He ruffled the boy’s hair, his throat too tight for words, then moved to Emily’s bedside. Her skin seemed nearly translucent now, the veins at her temples visible beneath flesh that seemed to grow thinner by the hour. He pressed his lips to her cheek and lingered there, breathing in the fading scent of the lavender oil Paige had smoothed across her brow.
“I love you, little one,” he murmured. “Be strong for me. I’m coming back for you. I swear it.”
