Chapter 19
Late that afternoon, Catriona and Finnian hid in the wood outside the walls of Wilona's stolen manor house. He gazed into the keek-stane silently for many long minutes. Catriona hesitated to break his trance, but they needed to hurry. She could not tolerate the thought Wilona might, even now, be abusing Torr.
That morn at Blacktower, she and Finnian had been working on saddling Rosie and Hercules when Charlie finally arrived back from Castle Dubhuisge. No one there had seen Torr. Finnian had insisted Torr's abduction not be revealed to the clan. The chief might have wanted to rescue him and kill Wilona.
After that, it had taken several hours to ride here.
Finnian came out of his trance with a giant shiver.
"What is it? What did you see?" Cat asked.
"He's in human form."
"Is he hurt?"
"We must rescue him as soon as possible."
Why had Finnian evaded her question? Was Torr in grave danger? Her skin chilled at the thought Wilona might have already tortured him horribly.
She headed through the doorway in the wall Torr had broken through last time, but she slammed against an invisible barrier, hitting her forehead and knee. "Ouch!"
"Wheesht," Finnian hissed. "She will hear you."
"What is that? Glass?" she whispered, putting her hand out. The substance felt like ice but was utterly clear. "Is this magic?"
Finnian approached, touched the transparent barrier with his fingertips, and narrowed his eyes.
This would take all day. Why on earth did magic require so much time?
Striding away, she searched for another way in. Thick leafy vines covered the stone wall in places. After shoving the vines aside, she found a rusty but sturdy metal trellis beneath, along with woody stems as thick as her arm. She climbed the network much like a ladder. 'Twas fortunate she hadn't outgrown the climbing tendencies she'd had as a child.
"Lass, are you mad?" Finnian chastised in a loud whisper as he trotted her way. "What if you fall?"
"I'm well." She hoisted herself onto the top of the wall, scooted forward, and dropped to her feet on the other side.Ouch!That stung. But she forced herself to remain silent. She proceeded to the metal gate and unlatched it. Finnian crept through with a sigh of relief.
"Come," she whispered. "We'll see if we can enter through the same window Torr and I did last time." But she suspected the damnable witch had used magic on it too.
They stole around the side of the house, skirting piles of dried leaves.
The window was indeed still broken. Cat approached it and raised her hand to determine whether the icy, invisible barrier was over it. Nay. When she tried to stick her foot through the opening to climb through, an unseen force propelled her backward onto the ground with a jarring thud.
Forcing herself not to yell out in pain and fury, she ground her teeth and emitted a low growl. "The bitch has conjured another damnable invisible barricade." Her hip ached from the impact.
Finnian eyed her critically. "Such salty language coming from a young lady? I can tell you've been around Torr too long." Finnian neared the window, hands outstretched. He trembled. "Aye. She's placed a strong enchantment upon it."
Cat pushed herself up and knocked the dried leaves from her skirts. "There must be another way in." They could break a different window. Farther along, she picked up a rock and threw it hard toward the small wavy glass panes in a window. The stone bounced back and hit her on the shin with much force, as if someone had thrown it.
That thrice cursed hag!Clenching her teeth and hopping on one foot, Cat forced herself not to yell out in agony.
Finnian held out his hands and, with eyes closed, shuffled around the side of the manor house.
"What are you doing?" she whispered, limping forward.
Ignoring her, he stopped some distance away, then stared at a slanted place near the foundation for a long moment. Bending forward, he raked the rotten leaves and pine needles away with his hand.
What had he found? Despite the pain in her shin, she hurried to catch up and found that he'd uncovered a rusty metal latch.
"What is that?" she asked.
