You are a Chastaine. No matter what else you may become, first and foremost, you will always be a Chastaine.
Her father’s reminder drifted to her on the wings of a beautiful memory. Her mother’s laughter echoed through the caves. She had always laughed when her husband spoke proudly of the family name. Remarked on the irony of a simple farmer’s surname becoming the most revered in all of Leaudor.
According to Isabella’s father, that made it all the more special and all the more reason to be proud. She would carry on that pride. And the dream of a young farmer to make a difference in his country.
Raising her head, she wiped the tears from her cheeks and stared resolutely ahead. “We must return,” she said, scrambling from her seat on the cave floor.
Merrick stood beside her, a look of gentle concern creasing his face. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said firmly. And for the first time since her parents’ deaths, she believed it. Folding the letter slowly in her hands, she held it briefly to her heart then tucked it into her pants.
She followed him to the tunnel they had come from and they retraced their steps to the rope bridge. This time she took the bridge with slow measured steps, not allowing herself the paralyzing fear from before.
Unsure of how much time remained before high tide, she increased her pace to the moon room. With only a moment’s hesitation, she plunged into the dark, tight crawl space of the tunnel to the main sun room.
Nearly exhausted, she stumbled back into the well lit cavern where they had begun. Merrick crawled out after her and they strode quickly across to the passage that led out to the water.
Her knees scraped and her palms raw, she crawled down the last remaining tunnel. Suddenly she stopped short, causing Merrick to bump into her. He uttered a muffled curse.
“Shhhh!” she hissed.
She held her breath, praying her mind was playing tricks on her. But no, there it was again.Voices.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Simon swore again. “Come on,” he said urgently, backing rapidly back down the tunnel. They scrambled out of the tunnel and into the sun room, getting quickly to their feet.
His mind working rapidly, he began extinguishing the torches that ringed the carving of the sun.
“What are you doing?” Isabella asked, hurrying to keep up with him.
He continued on, not pausing while he explained. “If we darken the room, all they will see are the two lit passages. Hopefully they will overlook the one we take long enough for us to get a head start.”
She helped him douse the remaining torches then they rushed for the entrance to the tunnel. An eternity later, they burst into the moon room and ran straight for the tunnel leading to the bridges.
His mind raced even faster than they moved. Formulating, discarding, hashing out the possibilities. He didn’t even know if there were any. All that was certain was that they could not leave the same way they came.
When they stumbled out onto the ledge in front of the bridges, he caught her arm and halted her. “Is there another way out of the final chamber? Did your father ever mention anything?”
Her eyes glowed in the torchlight, a mixture of fear and concentration in their depths. “I don’t know,” she said in a tortured voice.
“Then be thinking of a way we can fight off an unknown number of assailants,” he muttered, taking her arm and pulling her toward the bridge.
He took out across the bridge, praying they could make it a third time after Isabella’s brush with disaster. Though he moved with as much speed as he could, it seemed it took him forever to get across the swaying bridge. When he stepped off the last plank, he held up the torch and motioned her across.
She moved rapidly, but he could see the stark terror on her face. “Just a little farther,” he whispered, though he doubted she could hear him.
When finally she leaped from the bridge to land beside him, she reached down and retrieved her dagger from her boot. In a swift motion, she sliced through the ropes sending the end of the bridge crashing to the other side. She replaced her dagger and stared him in the eye. “Now you better pray we find another way out.”
Sweat slid down his back, and for the first time in years, fear rolled through him, nearly paralyzing him in the process. What if they were unable to discover an alternate way out? Not only would he fail miserably in his duty, but his and Isabella’s lives would be forfeit. It seemed he was forever failing those closest to him. Would he let Isabella down as well?
Not wanting to dwell on that possibility, he focused on remembering the order of the passageways in front of him. Left, right then right again.
Finally they burst into the final chamber, and he immediately began searching. Each crevice, every nook, hoping against hope there was another passageway. Isabella worked at the opposite end, running her hands over the rock, moving stones aside.
He glanced up at the torches that ringed the stone slab the glass cases had set on. For how long he stared he didn’t know, but suddenly it struck him. The flames flickered and swayed. They didn’t merely dance with the motion of an undisturbed fire.
“Isabella, come here,” he said excitedly.
