Page 135 of Edge of Yesterday

Why hadn’t he seen it before? Cailean took half a dozen steps to the tapestry and whipped back the fabric. Julianna gasped and they all stared at a tiny niche carved in the stone wall.

“Look,” Julianna cried. She reached into the niche and flipped a small lever. The moment her fingers touched the well-oiled switch, a section of wall popped open. A burst of damp, musty air rushed past them and stirred the parchments on the nearby shelf.

“That will be his lair.” Lennox pushed the released door wider, then leaned in to peer down the steep and narrow stairs that disappeared into gloom.

“Let’s find out.” Cailean looked at Julianna. “Move more than an inch from us and I’ll lock you in our bedchambers.”

“I am not a fool,” she said, though Cailean could see he’d pricked her pride. Dammit, he was a lousy medieval husband. “Let us go and put this behind us,” she said.

Each of them took a candle and Cailean led the way down the steps with Julianna following and Lennox at the rear. At the bottom, they entered a large, low-ceilinged circular area made wholly of stone, cold, damp, and old. Like the sewer system, clusters of rock pillars supported the ceiling. Cailean’s gut clenched. For the first time in his life, he was glad he carried a weapon. He didn’t like being in tunnels with Julianna. If they happened upon more than four men looking for trouble, things could go bad very quickly.

Cailean began walking. He marveled at the smooth stone walls. Of course, the medieval tunnels he’d seen were ancient, and most were in disrepair. The manpower required to build such a labyrinth must have been immense. Their flickering candlelight illuminated a few feet of floor and wall and nothing more distant. He stopped at sight of a Y that yawned into darkness. They stared. Nothing about either opening indicated which choice would prove the best.

“Good God,” Lennox muttered.

Cailean glanced left, then right. “Which way do we go?”

“Left,” Julianna said.

He looked at her. “Why?’

She shrugged and started forward. “Why no’?”

They walked five minutes and Cailean was sure the tunnel was veering left. They came to another Y.

“To the right,” she said, and they began walking.

Minutes later, they again stood before another Y-shaped fork.

Julianna looked at Cailean. “To the right?”

Cailean exchanged a look with Lennox, who shrugged, then said, “Why not?”

They walked no more than two minutes when voices reached them from the darkness ahead.

They halted.

“Back,” Lennox hissed.

They whirled and retraced their footsteps. At the Y, they paused and Cailean strained to listen.

A few muffled words drifted toward them.

“Get her out of here.” Lennox ordered.

“Lennox,” Julianna began.

Lennox cut her off, “Cailean, ye have my leave to beat her if she resists.”

She shot him a dagger-filled look, but didn’t resist when Cailean grasped her elbow, turned right and drew her along the passage.

Lennox angled left with a heavy step that could have woken the dead. Cailean rushed Julianna to the next turn and headed right. Moments later, they came to another Y and he cursed. The place was a damned maze. They had encountered only two intersections. They should have reached the steep set of stairs leading to the scriptorium. But nothing. Frowning, he turned right, went a dozen paces, then halted at the sight of dim light illuminating a bend up ahead. Cailean drew his sword and urged Julianna behind him, then crept forward. They followed the curve and found themselves in a large cavern. Twenty feet away, water lapped the edge of the rock floor.

“Sweet Jesu,” Julianna breathed in unison with his, “Bloody hell.”

Generous light lit the cavern. At the far end, a waterfall was visible beyond an arch of stone.

Bootfalls echoed down the corridor they’d traversed.