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“I intend to do this until I push it out the other side,” he informed the man evenly. “ ’Twould be much easier on you to answer a few simple questions.”

The pain was growing excruciating. The soldier tried to twist away but Michael would not hear of it. “Never!” the man yelled.

William continued to push, having opened up a substantial wound that was growing bigger by the moment. Blood was gushing everywhere. A moaned escaped the man’s lips until he bore all that he could.

“Aye, I know the keep.” he blurted finally.

William immediately withdrew his sword and the man grabbed his bloodied neck. “That’s better,” William said. “Tell me where the dungeons are.”

“There is an entrance just inside of the keep entry,” the Scot gasped.

William glanced up at the burning structure. That portion of the keep had already burned, with smoke rising like dancing snakes into the early dawn sky. He wondered if everyone in the dungeons hadn’t already burned to death or died of breathing the smoke.

Motioning Michael to release the man, the knights took off at a gallop, racing for the hastily bridged moat. Dismounting, they clumsily climbed the ladders, for balancing in armor was no easy feat, and entered the nearly deserted bailey.

“God, this place smells worse than Northwood’s moat,” Michael commented as they made their way through bodies and debris.

“This whole damn place reeks of feces,” Roan agreed. “Even the smoke smells of it.”

The front doors were gone, burned to ashes. Swords drawn, William led the way in and was immediately aware of a huge yawning doorway to his left, with giant broad stone steps leading down into the darkness.

“Damn,” he muttered, peering down the well. “Strange place to keep dungeons. Someone fetch a torch.”

Deinwald found pieces of wood that still held a flame on them and they cautiously descended into the bowels of the castle.

The first landing was far below, leading in two directions. The smell of smoke was extremely heavy, but it was bearable. William split his men.

“Deinwald, Roan, to me,” he said. “Kieran, you take Michael and Marc and search that way. Yell if you find anything.”

They went their separate ways, keeping alert as the corridor narrowed, and warped doors soon became apparent.

“Break in the door,” William ordered his men when they came upon the first one.

They continued to break down every door in succession, sometimes finding prisoners, who they then released, and sometimes found nothing more than rotting corpses. The dungeons were quite vast and they descended into two more levels in their search.

It was a depressing maze, and William suddenly remembered how worried Jordan had been during their journey to Northwood about being thrown in the Tower. Hell, if all Scot dungeons were like this shit-hole, then no wonder she was afraid of being locked up to die. He didn’t even like being in here, and he was a mere visitor. He grimly pondered what shape Jordan’s relatives would be in when, and if, they found them.

Finally, they came to a door that was bolted twice. Deinwald and Roan struggled with the bolts, forcing William to throw his own tremendous strength to their aide, and eventually the bolts jolted free.

“Damn, who in the hell have they got locked in here?” Deinwald muttered.

“Probably just a relative,” Roan replied. “Grandmother got too sassy so they had to punish her.”

Deinwald actually grinned as the three of them struggled to open the door. It was black as night inside and William stuck his torch in.

“Grandmother?” he called into the darkness, bringing laughter from his men.

There was a pause.

“What in the bloody hell are ye talking about, man?” said a tired, angry voice.

William held the torch lower. There were three men, all filthy and coated with slime, glaring back at him from where they sat on wet straw. He recognized one of them in the form of Cord Scott.

“Matthew Scott and sons, I presume?” William asked.

The older man scowled at him. “Who wants to know?”

“ ’Tis The Wolf, Da,” said Cord, glancing up at William with a weak smile. “I know the man. He’s Jordi’s husband’s captain. Remember?”