"Don't worry, my sweet. I won't let you burn to death. I'm going to rescue you." Holme rolled her up in the large, sooty canvas he'd brought. "You will be safe with me outside. You can thank me later." Grinning, he took the fire poker and, as quietly as he could, broke out the narrow window so the fire would have plenty of air. Through the hole in the wavy glass, he could see a couple of servants below in the bailey.
He dragged Kristina, bound up in the canvas, toward the door, then he turned to Scroggie. "Let's head to the laird's chamber. Make sure the corridor is clear."
"Aye." Scroggie stuck his head out the door, looked both ways, then motioned.
Holme held the candle's flame against the bed covers. After waiting a moment to make certain the covers caught afire, Holme picked up Kristina and tossed her over his shoulder.
They hastened down the corridor to the empty laird's chamber. Scroggie opened the door, waited for Holme to enter, then closed it again.
Holme laid Kristina down on the floor for a moment, where she kicked and squirmed about, thumping the floor. "Hold her down and keep her quiet."
Scroggie grabbed her legs and forced her to be still, while Holme opened the door of the secret panel behind the firewood box. He took the candle from Scroggie and tossed it onto the laird's bed.
"Make certain the fire is well caught. When you enter the passage, close the secret panel door behind you," Holme whispered. They would be long gone before anyone discovered the fire.
***
Panicking and near suffocating with the gag in her mouth and rolled up in a thick, stinking oiled canvas, Kristina attempted to draw in breath. Oh, dear God! How had Red Holme gotten inside the castle walls?
She had not recognized him at first. When he'd barged into her chamber, he'd looked like the grim reaper in that black cloak, his face covered in soot.
Holme picked her up, flipped her across his shoulder, further knocking the breath from her, and descended steps.
What had he done to Colin? Had he truly been captured by Holme? Please God, let him be all right.
"Help!" she yelled, or attempted to, until her throat was raw, but the sound could not carry far, muffled as it was. She focused on breathing in as much air as possible and combating the lightheadedness. What little air she inhaled smelled dank and mildewed, like a cellar.
Where the devil was he taking her?
Holme turned, bumping her head against a stone wall. The canvas provided very little padding, and a dull pain throbbed through her skull. Ow! Bastard! She wished she could knock him on the head with another rock.
"Scroggie?" he growled low. "Where the hell is he?"
A long moment of silence followed.
Holme strode forward and called his accomplice's name again.
"Coming." The voice was distant, then closer. "I couldn't get the damned door closed."
"Forget it. Is the fire burning?"
"Aye. The whole bed was ablaze." Scroggie chuckled.
"Good."
They were burning Colin's home! Sobs near choked her. She'd wondered what he'd meant earlier about not letting her burn to death.
Please, God, help Colin, Anna, and all the others to escape the flames! She prayed they wouldn't waste time searching for her in the fire.
After walking briskly for what seemed like several hundred yards, Holme placed her roughly on the ground. "Help me open the gate."
Rusty iron screeched.
"Shh. Put some oil on it," Holme grumbled.
After a few moments, she again heard scraping metal, but 'twas much quieter this time.
He dragged her a few feet, then hoisted her again and flung her across his shoulder. "Let's hurry to the river. 'Tis dawn." He trotted with her down a slope, jarring her painfully against the solid bone and muscle of his shoulder.
She was surprised to hear they were already outside the castle walls. She'd heard them say they were going to the laird's chamber. They must have used a secret passage.
Able to see naught but the faintest hint of dawn light through the thick material enshrouding her, she heard water flowing. Holme placed her on something hard that rocked this way and that. A boat, she realized, as the men climbed aboard, their boots clunking against the bottom. Once the boat was untied, it tottered and swayed, making her dizzy as it floated downstream.
Good heavens, how would anyone find her?
***
Colin strode across the bailey at dawn. Because of his conversation with Kristina, he'd gotten little sleep last night and wanted to ride out in search of Holme now. Of course, he would have to wait until the men broke their fast. But he needed to check the armory to see how many arrows they had.
"Fire!" a servant in the bailey yelled and pointed.
Startled, Colin glanced upward in disbelief at the smoke escaping the bedchamber window on the second floor. "Saints!" That was Kristina's chamber. "Nay!" he roared.
Icy fear piercing his gut, he raced up the steps to the great hall, finding many men asleep on the floor. "The second floor is on fire! Bring buckets of water!" He ran up the turnpike steps and along the corridor. "Fire! Everyone out!" he yelled in an effort to wake all his guests at once.
Holding his breath, he shoved open the chamber door to find the room in flames. "Kristina?" Terrified she might already be dead, he hunched low and hurried into the room. "Kristina!" He coughed against the smoke burning his lungs. The bed was completely in flames but he did not see any signs of a person on the bed or in the room.
Where had she gone?
"Kristina! Where are you?" This room contained no side dressing room. He searched but couldn't find her or her remains, thank God. She must have left before the fire started. Upon exiting the room, he encountered some of his men with large buckets of water.
"Have any of you seen Lady Kristina?"
They shook their heads, rushed into the room and dumped water onto the fire.
"Where is Kristina?" Anna yelled, trying to scramble past him and into the room. He grabbed her by the upper arms and dragged her away from the smoke billowing into the corridor. "She's not in there! I searched."
"Are you sure?" she cried.
Neacal arrived and pulled her farther back. "What's happening? Where's Kristina? How did the fire start?"
"We don't know."
Bryce ran along the corridor. "The laird's chamber is on fire!"
"What the hell? No one was sleeping in there." Thank God, his mother refused to sleep in the room since his father had become ill and passed. "Make certain my mother is out of here," he told Ethan, who'd just emerged from the stairwell.
"I'll get her now." He turned and hastened away.
"Can you make sure all the women are out, including the servants?" he asked Neacal.
"Of course."
"Find Kristina!" Anna yelled back, tears in her eyes, as Neacal rushed her down the stairs.
"I will," Colin called. He had to. He couldn't lose her again, especially now that she'd changed her mind about marrying him. Even if he couldn't trust her to never break his heart again, he still loved her more than life itself.
At the moment, he had to banish all emotion from his mind and think logically. For two rooms so far apart to be ablaze, the fires must have been started intentionally.
He passed Rusty and Warton. "Check all the rooms to make sure everyone is out of here," Colin ordered. "Upstairs, too. Get the guards and servants organized to pass buckets of water up here to drench the smoldering wood. I have to find Lady Kristina."
"Aye!"
Who would've started both fires? As Colin ran to catch up with Bryce in the laird's chamber, a man's face popped into his mind. "Red Holme," he growled. Of course! That bastard was the only person he could think of who wanted to kill as many Camerons as possible, while at the same time capturing Kristina for his own twisted purposes. Did he have a man on the inside, or was he here in the castle, himself?
Bending low to duck beneath the smoke, Colin entered the laird's chamber. "Kristina,
are you in here?"
His father's bed was all that was on fire thus far. Bryce picked up the large woven rug from the floor and beat it repeatedly against the burning mattress, putting out all the flames.
The smoke was so thick, Colin could hardly see. Holding his breath, he checked the side dressing room. He yelled Kristina's name again, but she was not in this room, either, of course. Why would she be? Still, he glanced around, searching for any trace of her.
"I wager Red Holme set the fires!" Colin told Bryce. "Wanting to burn down Rhodie because he can never have it, while hoping we'd all perish in the fire. And then he abducted Kristina. He has a perverse fascination with her."
"How the hell did he get in here?" Bryce opened the window. "The guards have been vigilant."
"'Haps he paid one of the servants or guards to do his dirty work for him." Coughing against the acrid smoke, Colin stuck his head into the corridor to draw a breath of fresher air. "Have the men bring buckets of water in here and pour it on the smoking mattress! Then take it outside," he yelled to two guards nearby, and they dashed away.
Going back into the chamber, Colin found Bryce peering beneath the bed. Colin glanced aside, noticing the chimney sweeps' brush lying on the floor near the fireplace. Why was it still here? The steward had told him he'd hired chimney sweeps and that they'd cleaned the chimney in this room earlier. Stranger still, the built-in wooden box used to stack firewood beside the fireplace was pulled away from the rest of the wall. He frowned and yanked at it. The box, attached to a wooden panel, swung open on concealed hinges and revealed a small wooden door ajar behind it. He opened it and found narrow steps leading down. He had never seen this before.
"What the devil? Bryce!"
"Aye."
"There's a hidden door. Did you know it was here? Maybe they took Kristina out this way!"
Bryce cursed. "I didn't know about it. I'll go get a lantern." He hastened from the room.
"Hurry!" Colin descended several steps, as far as he could see, but 'twas pitch-black below. As he took out his dirk, a blinding thought occurred to him. "The chimney sweep!" He cursed. That had to be it.
Bryce returned in record time, holding a small lantern aloft.
"One of the chimney sweeps is Holme!" Colin took the lantern and followed the stairs down into the darkness.
"How do you know?"
"I'm guessing. Their brush was lying by the fireplace. I haven't gotten a look at either of them. Did you notice if one has red hair and a bushy beard?"
"They were both clean shaven. One is big and burly, while the other man is shorter and has a limp. They're always covered in soot and wearing cowls."
"Damnation! That's it. Holme shaved his beard to disguise himself." Descending the damp steps, Colin breathed the mold-scented air, his lungs still burning from the smoke. "These steps go deep beneath the castle."
"No doubt intended as an escape route for the laird if the castle was under siege."
"Aye. Holme grew up here. He would know of this hidden stairwell. He must have kidnapped Kristina and brought her out this way."
"If we hurry, we can catch up to him."
Once the steps ended, Colin hurried along the low, narrow tunnel, dodging the debris, for several hundred yards. Bryce followed closely behind him. Dawn light filtered in at the end, and the small iron gate was open. Damnation! How could they not have known this was here?
They crawled through the opening and emerged onto a bush-covered hill near the wood. He couldn't even see the castle from here. Gorse bushes, brambles and other vegetation, which had hidden the gate, had recently been cut away and dragged aside, along with large stones. A light layer of snow now covered them. Holme and his men had clearly worked hard on this. Whoresons, the lot of them.
A new pathway of broken ferns and disturbed snow led downhill. Colin sprinted along the trail, which ended at the river.
Muddy boot imprints smudged the snow on the riverbank. "God's teeth! Holme has put her on a boat and taken her downstream. The falls!" When Colin visualized Kristina in a boat going over the high waterfall and crashing on the rocks below, he felt as if the life force drained from his body, leaving him colder than the icy air surrounding him.
"Holme should know how dangerous the falls are, since he grew up here," Bryce said. "If he'd wanted her dead, he would've already killed her. Clearly, he wants her alive."
Thank God his brother was the voice of reason.
"Aye." Colin breathed a bit easier. "Let's hope. If he does, he'll drag the boat ashore upstream of it and take her overland. Let's go get the horses."
The two sprinted back toward the castle, where a bit of smoke still escaped skyward. He prayed the fires had been put out.
Ralston ran to meet them. "Did you find Kristina?"
"Not yet. We believe Red Holme took her downriver. We need horses."
"I'll go with you. After Anna told me what happened, I searched part of the castle and some of the outbuildings. No sign of her."
"I thank you for the help."
"You don't have to thank me. She's my sister. Red Holme must be stopped."
"Aye." Saints! Colin couldn't believe the steward had welcomed Red Holme into the castle. When he'd told Colin he'd hired a couple of chimney sweeps during his absence, he hadn't thought anything of it. They used their services at least once per year.
By the time Colin, Bryce and Ralston reached the open portcullis, the stable lads had led all the horses beyond the walls because of the fire and smoke. The agitated horses snorted and laid their ears back. Thankfully, some of them were already saddled.
"The fires are out." Cyrus MacKenzie strode toward them. "Did you find Lady Kristina?"
"Nay. But we know Holme has taken her down the river. We're riding to intercept them."
"We'll come with you." Cyrus turned and yelled, "Fraser! Bring all the men and the horses."
"I appreciate your help in extinguishing the fires," Colin told him.
"'Twas not such a hard job once everyone cooperated with the buckets of water."
Within ten minutes, Colin, Bryce, Ralston and fifteen MacKenzies, including Cyrus and Fraser, rode along the river, their horses galloping. He'd asked Shamus to inform Neacal and Anna were they were heading.
Colin prayed Holme knew about the waterfall and got Kristina to safety before they reached the dangerous area of the river. Still, he would not be able to breathe easily until he laid eyes on Kristina and knew she was unhurt.
He now regretted many of the things he'd said to her the night before. She'd left the room in tears after she'd told him she loved him. How could he be so daft as to let her walk away? He wanted to kick his own arse. She had apologized for all the pain she'd caused him. It had been difficult for him to forgive her, but if he'd known this was going to happen, he would've forgiven her a lot sooner.
If he'd gone to her room and spent the night with her, Holme would've never gotten his paws on her this morn. She would've never been in danger. This was his fault, just as everything else was.
When they reached the area of the river just before the falls, his mood plummeted further, for no boat waited on shore. If they had disembarked here, where was the boat?
Colin dismounted, along with several of the other men. A sinking feeling settled into his gut. His legs felt leaden, for he feared what he would see.
Fraser ran to the cliff's edge where the water plunged over the falls in a loud roar. He turned back toward them, his face ashen. "There's a boat smashed on the rocks below!" he yelled.
Chapter Nineteen
Fear for Kristina's life driving him forward, Colin dashed to the edge of the ravine where the waterfall plummeted downward. A small brown wooden boat lay splintered on the giant rocks. "God's blood!" His stomach aching with dread, Colin clambered and slid down the snowy embankment, his friends following.
"Kristina!" He waded into the icy water up to his thighs, his eyes scanning the rocky area for any sign of her. He saw nothing, no broken bodies,
no clothing. But she could be underneath the water or already washed downstream.
Dear God, nay!
Even though the river wasn't in spate, a hard rain had fallen a few nights ago, and the water roared where it crashed onto the rocks. The rushing current would be strong enough to wash away any sign of her in minutes. He stared downstream, unsure whether to go farther southwest and look for her there or search here. Hell, he couldn't even think. Fear for her life had him near paralyzed.
Two of the MacKenzie clansmen shouted from the cliff above them on the opposite side of the river. They waved and yelled but Colin could not understand their words amid the thunderous waterfall. They motioned for them to come. Had they found Kristina?
Please, God, let her be all right.
Colin and the rest of the men climbed the bank.
"We found sign of horses in the wood," one man shouted, then pointed to a copse of trees about thirty yards away.
"Thank God." Colin leapt into his saddle. The others followed suit and they all carefully rode across the river at a wide, shallow point.
Once they were away from the noisy falls, 'twas easier to hear the MacKenzie clansman.
"First, we noticed the disturbed weeds and grass beside the river, then we followed the footprints through the snow to the wood, where we found tracks of four or five horses and piles of dung."
On horseback, they dashed toward the wood. After drawing up abruptly, Colin leapt off the horse.
'Twas true, the black dirt and leaves were kicked up. The men had tried to cover the horse dung with leaves and pine needles, but it hadn't worked. They must have been in a hurry. "Looks like the horses were held here for a few hours," Colin said.
Cyrus nodded.
"The horses ate here." Ralston pointed at the short-cropped grass at the edge of the wood where the snow had been nosed aside.
"Do you think 'twas Holme's men?" Cyrus asked.
"Aye. Let's follow them." Colin mounted again.
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