Isadora wasn’t going to respond but thought better of it. If he didn’t think she was awake, he might try to take advantage of that and touch her somehow. She wanted to make sure whoever it was knew she was conscious. Injured or not, she’d fight back.
“Aye,” she said. “What do ye want?”
She could hear movement in the darkness. “Can ye sit up? Ye dunna want tae lie on this floor if ye can help it because the rats will get ye.”
Isadora grunted. “I’m bound,” she said. “I canna sit up. Where are the women I was brought here with?”
“We’re here, Isadora.” Off in a corner of the darkness, a woman spoke with a quivering voice. “We’re in the cell next tae ye. Are ye badly hurt, lass?”
Isadora recognized Aggie’s mother. “I dunna think so,” she said as she tried to roll onto her back. “Nothing that time willna cure.”
Beside her, she heard movement again and suddenly, big hands were lifting her into an upright position. Isadora grunted in pain as the man propped her against the side of the cell. She was sitting at such an angle that she could now see around her a bit, as the light from the vault doorway was filtering in.
Next to her, a man with long, white hair and a dirty, white beard was looking at her with concern.
“What happened tae ye?” he asked.
Isadora shifted her body around a little, trying to get comfortable. “We were foraging and the Lindsay captured us,” she said. Then, she eyed the man. “Why are ye here?”
He looked at her in the darkness for quite some time before answering. “I knew I’d seen ye before, but I wasna certain,” he said, ignoring her question. “Yer hair.”
“What about my hair?”
“Ye’re Cam’s lass.”
That brought a measure of shock to Isadora. “How would ye…?” She stopped herself, peering at him closely in the darkness. “Whoare ye?”
“My name is Nikolaus.”
It took Isadora a moment to process the name. Then, her eyes widened as she realized that she recognized the features beneath the beard. It was the old man she’d seen in the vale on that morning so long ago, the one her brothers has captured. He looked markedly different, but there was no mistaking that face.
He and his grandson shared similar features.
“Cam’s grandfather!”
He nodded faintly. “Aye,” he said. “And ye’re the lass from the vale.”
Isadora nodded eagerly. “I am,” she said. “Sweet Jesus… ye’realive?”
Nikolaus looked at her, imploringly. “Do ye know anything of my lad?” he asked. “The last I saw of him, I sent him off tae Brechin. I did it so he couldna meet ye again. That’s where he was going, ye know. Tae meet ye. But I sent him tae Brechin.”
Isadora could see the pain in his face as he spoke, but she realized he knew nothing about Cam after the burning of Netherton and she hastened to reassure him.
“I know of him,” she said quickly. “He’s well. Ye needn’t worry. But he couldna find ye after Netherton burned and he thinks ye’re dead!”
Nikolaus leaned back against the dirt wall behind him, staggered with her words. “He’s well?” he repeated, dazed. “My lad is well?”
Isadora nodded. “He’s very well,” she said. “But did ye hear me? He thinks ye’re dead. He thinks…”
She couldn’t even finish. There was so much more to tell the old man, about Cam and his vengeance for Nikolaus’ death, and how he’d spent months at the Ludus Caledonia learning to fight because of it. So very much to tell him. But from the look on his face, she was fairly certain now was not the time. He didn’t look as if he could take much more news than what he’d already been told. Therefore, she changed the focus.
“How did ye come here?” she asked. “Cam thought ye were dead, but ye’re here? In Kirkburn’s vaults?”
Nikolaus nodded before closing his eyes, tightly. A single tear trickled from his left eye. “He’s alive,” he whispered, ignoring her questions. “I dinna dare tae hope. I thought they would surely kill him.”
“Who would kill him?”
He looked at her, then. “Drostan Lindsay,” he said. “After they put me in the vault, I was certain they might do the same tae him, or worse.”
