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Keir did not know, and that thought sent icy cold shivers down his back. “Have ye seen nothing? Nothing suspicious?”
His grandmother looked at him a bit indulgently. “No one can get in here, lad. Your father posted guards.”
Keir huffed out a deep breath. “Well, he got onto the island, and we also didna think that possible, did we?” He raked a hand through his hair. “Be careful,” he told his grandmother and Mrs. Murray. “And dunna let her out of yer sight.”
The two women nodded, the expression upon their faces determined, and a part of Keir felt bad for anyone who would try to get past them.
With Eoghan by his side, Keir rushed back downstairs, his mind racing. “What now?” he thought out loud, meeting his friend’s gaze.
Eoghan looked utterly shaken. “I dunna know.” Pale and frantic, he paced, his hands clenching and unclenching as he went.
Keir grasped his friend’s shoulder. “Stay here and guard Katherine. Keep yer eye out and send word to Duncan the moment ye see anything suspicious.”
Eoghan nodded. “And ye?”
“I have to go find Sarah,” Keir replied, an apologetic expression upon his face. “I canna allow her to be out there by herself. After all, we dunna know if Blackmore is involved.” He made to turn around when he spotted Magnus, Hamish and Finn rushing back into the hall. “Magnus!” Keir called out, then hastened toward his brother. “Any news?”
His younger brother shook his head. “We searched toward the north but found nothing. No tracks or ships ashore. Father said that riders were sent to the villages farther south.” He paused, nodding toward their father striding into the hall in that moment. “They havena returned yet.”
Keir exhaled a breath of relief at the news. It truly appeared no one had come ashore, but if that was the case, where were the girls? What had happened? “Will ye stay here and help Eoghan keep an eye on everything?” He looked from his brother to his friends. “Taking the girls might’ve been a distraction. We canna be certain at the moment.”
Magnus nodded solemnly, as did Hamish and Finn. “Go. We’ll stay here.”
“Thank ye.” He made to hurry out of the great hall when he spotted his mother. “Have ye seen Sarah?” he called as he hastened over. “Grandmother said she joined the search.”
His mother nodded. “She was here. I sent her out with a group going toward the cliffs.”
Without another word, Keir took the torch out of his mother’s hand and then darted off. He almost flew down the steps toward the courtyard, then flung himself into Scout’s saddle. The gelding seemed to sense his agitation, prancing eagerly and then charging off the moment Keir gave him free rein.
The farther they moved from the castle, the darker the night became, wrapping around them and hiding everything else from sight. Keir cursed under his breath, wondering why these situations always arose after the sun had set. Of course, he knew the answer to that question, and yet it did not annoy him any less.
Guiding Scout toward the cliff face, Keir tensed when he spotted the light of a single torch shining up ahead. He leaned forward, and Scout instantly quickened his pace. With his gaze fixed upon the small light, Keir frowned, wondering why it did not move.Is it Sarah?
Keir jumped to the ground when they approached the tall rock outcropping that barred his view of the sea. A thicket of brambles grew at its base, and Keir remembered that this was where Sarah had found the little pup. Yet right now, the place looked empty, the only sign that someone had been here, the lone torch, thrust into the ground, its flame flickering in the wind.
Frowning, Keir strode closer, his gaze sweeping over the thicket and the rock, always circling back to the torch. Had Sarah come here? But why had she left the torch behind? And where could she have gone?
“Sarah!” Keir called into the night as he moved along the base of the rock, peering into the thicket. Yet everything was pitch black, the light from his torch illuminating very little. Keir could not banish the thought that someone had come upon Sarah here. Why else would she have left behind the torch? Had it fallen to the ground in a struggle?
As a lad, Keir had played up here with his brothers and Eoghan. He knew this place well, and although they had tried countless times, they had never found a way down to the water from up here. The thicket was impenetrable, and the rock outcropping solid. Yet had Sarah gone? If she had ventured back down the way she had come, would they have run into one another?
Keir ran an agitated hand through his hair, contemplating what to do. He could not shake the feeling that by leaving, he would be leaving Sarah behind. Something deep down told him she had been here. That this was her torch.If only I knew where she went.
Cursing under his breath, Keir spun around and remounted Scout. There was no point in lingering. Perhaps he ought to head back down to the harbor and board the ship. Duncan could take them around the island, and they could search from the water. At the very least, it was better than standing here waiting.
Chapter Fifty
THE LEGEND OF THE SERPENT
Sarah felt battered and bruised as she crawled along on her hands and knees. Try as she might, she saw nothing, the rock walls around her shielding her from any light. The air inside the tunnel was cold, as was the rock beneath her hands. Her whole body felt chilled, and she continuously worried that she might bang her head on something she could not see. Yet there was no going back.
Only forward.
“Loki?” Sarah called into the darkness. She could no longer see his glowing eyes as he moved silently ahead of her, like a ghost not of this world.
Indeed, the moment she had first seen his eyes glowing in the dark, her heart had almost stopped. It had taken her a few minutes to recover from the shock before she had thought clearly again, utterly surprised to find Loki here upon the cliff. Yet all questions had remained unanswered.Of course!Still, the look upon Loki’s face had been insistent, and so Sarah had followed him into the thicket, leaving her torch behind, afraid to set the dry branches on fire.
It had been a tight fit, nearly impossible, and Sarah felt scratches all over her face. Yet she had continued on, and eventually the ground sloped down and then changed from dirt to rock. It had grown even darker then, all light from above cut off by a solid rock wall. Was this where the girls had gone? Sarah continued to wonder, her thoughts torn back and forth between Birchwell kidnapping them and them simply getting lost. Indeed, she could not imagine Birchwell to have been here. How would he have known about the tunnel?
