Shona stilled. The words had just slipped out—words that would betray her. Well, it was too late to care, and others still needed her help. Angus most of all. The clan needed him. And something in his voice made her ask, “How are ye, Angus, truly? Can ye work yer way free?”
“Nay, I’m lying in a trench, and there’s a beam over most of it, holding me down. I’m lucky, I guess. If it had fallen a little to the right, it would have smashed my head toporritch. As it is, one end is propped up enough to give me a bit of breathing room.”
“Can ye see around ye at all?”
“A wee bit.”
“Can the beam fall beside ye to free ye? Will anything else fall on ye if it moves?”
He’d have to tell the rescuers the same thing. She’d heard them moving around. Some even seemed to be coming closer. He took a breath, as if gathering strength to speak louder. That would be good. They might hear him, too.
“There’s a clear space to my left. If the beam had fallen two or three feet in that direction, I wouldna been trapped at all. I dinna think anything around it will fall on me when the men get here to move it.”
“That’s good, then. Is the clear space closer to me or away?”
“Away from ye…”
She could hear the question in his voice. He probably wondered why she wanted to know so much. She reached out to where she heard Angus’s voice and gave a gentle push.
“What the hell?”
“Did it move?”
“Aye. Someone must have rocked the beam. Who’s there? Brodric!” His voice cracked as he called out to his friend.
Did he fear they’d drop a killing weight onto him? “Dinna fash. I’m going to try to free ye.”
“Ye arewhat?”
“I need ye to tell me everything ye see and feel. I canna see where ye are, and I dinna wish to harm ye.”
“Shona…”
She gave another slight push and heard Angus yelp. “It rocked. The beam rocked! Who’s there?”
Tensing, shepushedwith all her might. The pain in her head spiked, and she nearly retched. She released the beam, felt it drop, and heard Angus gasp and swear. “What happened?”
“…Rolled on…me…heavy…”
Panicked, Shona reached out,lifted, thenpushedthe beam away. She heard a thump and a crash as it rolled into other debris. The pain in her head exploded into bright shards, and she grabbed her skull with both hands.
“Angus!”
“Safe…I’m unharmed. It’s off me. Here!” he shouted, his voice sounding strangled, though he said he could breathe. “Shona and I are under here. Ye are close!”
He still thought searchers had moved it. Shona sucked in air and willed her head to stop pounding, her stomach to stop churning. In the last few minutes, the nearby voices had gotten louder. While Shona had been freeing Angus, someone else had been located, but the searchers weren’t saying enough for her to be able to help them. Not that she could do anything after moving the beam off Angus. She tasted bile in the back of her throat. Not yet.
In moments, she heard Angus moving. Sloshing sounds told her his situation may have been more dire than he’d admitted. “Ye’re verra wet.”
“Aye, but at least I willna meet the same fate as my brother, drownin’ in a shallow pool. No’ yet, anyway.” She could hear him crawling toward her, muttering and pushing debris out of his way. Then his hand landed on her arm and a sense of calm strength stole over her.
“So dark…”
“Aye. Here, let me get these rocks off yer legs. Are ye hurt? Is anything broken?”
“How…” Shona realized she’d been so focused on what was going on around her, she hadn’t even noticed her legs were pinned.
“Can ye wiggle yer toes, lass?”
