Shades of Doon (37 page)
The trembling stilled, and I sprinted to the entrance of the cave, gripping the bars, but the quake had collapsed part of the entrance. I shook the gate with all my strength. It wouldn’t budge. Another rumble vibrated rocks the size of my fist loose from the ceiling. I had to get out before the entire castle landed on me! Running in a stumble, I scooped up my sword, grabbed a burning torch from its bracket, and headed into the narrow passage that would — hopefully — lead me back to the stairs.
The world shivered, and I slammed into the close tunnel walls like a Ping-Pong ball. A rock smacked into my shoulder, sending me tripping into an intersecting corridor. But which way? Coughing on dust, I turned in a circle and tried to recall the way we’d come. A faint chalk mark on the far wall caught the light. Jamie’s old trail! I rushed toward it, thanking the Protector for my big, strong boyfriend’s fear of getting lost.
I reached the next intersection just as a hard shudder brought me to my knees, pebbles cascading down all around me. Tucking into a tight ball, I covered my head and waited for the tremor to stop. When I opened my eyes, the passage Jamie had marked was blocked with an avalanche of stone.
No!
With no other choice, I regained my feet and barreled in
the other direction. I ran as fast as I could through the shaking earth. Were those footsteps behind me or just falling debris? Tunnel after tunnel, I ran, the sound of my labored breath echoing in my ears. A hard shake and I fell sideways as part of the ceiling collapsed, the displaced air almost snuffing out my torch.
I cupped the tiny flame and blew it back into life, but a pattern of sound — footfalls, not rocks — had me moving again. The witch must have sent Gideon down here to find me once she discovered I’d escaped the hole. Even though the old guard knew the catacombs better than anyone, I couldn’t let him find me.
Could not
let him drag me back to Addie to make the impossible choice.
The earth stilled and the footsteps grew louder. I thought I heard my name, but I couldn’t be sure over the thudding of my heart. I pushed myself to move faster.
“Vee!” Fingers grazed my shoulder.
I dropped the torch and spun around, swinging my sword in a wide arc. Metal hit metal and the impact knocked the weapon out of my hands.
A light-haired giant pulled me into his arms.
“Fergus!” I collapsed against him, my knees going weak with relief.
After returning his hug, I peered around my friend’s wide shoulders to find the anxious faces of several guardsmen.
But no smirking prince. “Jamie?”
Stepping out of Fergus’s embrace, I met his eyes. The earth rumbled beneath us.
He glanced up, and the moisture collecting on his blond lashes splashed onto his cheeks.
“Where’s Jamie?” I whispered.
Slowly, my friend shook his head. “He did no’ make it, lass.”
“What do you mean?” Blood rushed into my ears, dulling my senses.
“When the witch found ye missin’, she flew inta a rage and forced Jamie to the gallows.” He swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, but we couldna get to him in time. I . . . I saw him from the castle window. I saw him . . . drop.” A great wrenching sound escaped his throat. “I’m so verra sorry.”
“I . . .” I blinked up at Fergus as the world fell away, leaving a gaping void beneath me.
Jamie could
not
be gone. It wasn’t possible. My brave knight. The boy who made me laugh one moment and kissed me until I couldn’t breathe the next.
That
boy was invincible.
My friend’s crumpled face wavered through the tears pooling in my eyes, and I had the overpowering urge to comfort him. “I’m s-sure . . .” My voice broke and I took a step back, lifted my chin and tried again. “I’m sure you did your best — ” A sob choked off my words but I swallowed it ruthlessly. “Thank you . . . for . . . for trying to . . . to save him.”
Fergus moaned, and I gave his arm a pat. The ground swayed, and I stumbled as if my bones were made of rubber and somehow ended up on the floor. The nothingness closing in around me, I fought to focus on the guardsmen who were looking to me for direction. But only one thought looped through my brain — there had to be some mistake, Jamie MacCrae was my Calling and I was
his
.
Then, a light pushed against the numbing blackness. Swiping at my cheeks, I reached into my pocket and clutched the ribbons he’d given me. “We’re getting married.”
“I’m sorry?” Fergus knelt beside me.
“We’re getting married,” I repeated louder as I pulled the ribbons out. The rich colors blurred through the prism of my tears. “We’re getting married within a fortnight.”
I looked up into Fergus’s face with expectation and lifted the evidence for him to see. The proof that Jamie couldn’t possibly be . . . gone.
Fergus’ moist blue eyes met mine, and his lips pressed tight as he shook his head. “Nay, lass.”
How could he know? He didn’t understand. I shot to my feet and shoved the rainbow-hued strands into his face. “He promised me. Jamie promised me that
nothing
would stop us!”
“Vee.” Fergus’s enormous fingers closed around my hands, and he tugged them to his heart, his watery gaze shining with conviction. “Jamie’d do anythin’ to keep that promise . . . if he could. He loved ye more than life.”
The bottom dropped out of my soul, and I pulled my hands back, stroking Jamie’s last gift to me. He’d
loved
me more than his own life. Past tense. His words in the throne room echoed in my head . . .
Verranica, one of us will live to fight another day, and that must be you.
He’d known how this would end.
T
he ground rumbled again, shaking so mightily that the wooden wheels of our wagon collapsed. As we bounced to a halt, the road before us split open like something from a big-budget action movie. “Is Doon trying to stop us?” I asked, doing my best to project over the noise of the earthquake.
“Nay,” Fiona yelled in response. “’Tis likely one of the witch’s spells preventing us from leaving.”
Duncan dismounted from the driver’s seat in one graceful leap just as the quake stopped. If the massive catastrophe rattled him, he covered it up well. Signaling the other drivers to halt, he barked, “The bridge is through yonder trees. We go from here on foot. Make haste. There’s no time to lose.”
Duncan helped Fiona down from the wagon before assisting me. From the way he touched me and the impassive expression in his eyes, I could have been any random villager. I hoped it was a momentary hiccup brought on by the direness of the situation. I couldn’t believe that he’d bear a grudge against me
because of what Vee commanded. But I was too tired and disoriented to sort through things with the ground pitching and tearing beneath us.
Without making eye contact, he barked, “Get the Crew out of the wagon!” Then he turned to the next cart driven by Mario Rosetti. Sofia, Gabriella, and Mrs. Rosetti rode with him while the Rosetti boys flanked them on horseback. “We need to get everyone across that field to the Brig o’ Doon. Spread the word.” Giancarlo, who had been entrusted with Duncan’s horse, Mabel, galloped toward the rear to tell the others.
As Sofia and Gabriella scrambled to the ground alongside their brothers, I turned to the kids in the back of our wagon. Half of them were already out. Lachlan scooted to the edge and handed me Blaz’s leash.
Vee’s dog whined as I took him in my arms. His long legs dangling, I struggled to hold onto him as the poor thing trembled like a baby. Lachlan jumped from the wagon as another vibration shook the world. The boy fell onto his butt, looking vaguely appalled at the ground revolting beneath him. Blaz squirmed in my arms, desperate to get to Lachlan, who was still trying to get to his feet. Grabbing the boy’s hand, I hoisted him up and handed him the dog’s leash. But another quake caused us to stumble apart mid-handoff. Blaz tumbled with a yelp and then took off running toward the castle.
“I’ll get him,” Lachlan yelled as he ran after the pup.
“Wait!” I demanded.
I started to go after him when Mario stopped me. “Nay,
signorina
. You must open the portal on the bridge.
Addesso!
Now!” He pointed toward the field. Little fissures crisscrossed the space that stood between us and the Brig o’ Doon.
I looked between the field and Lachlan’s retreating form,
unsure what to do until Sofia Rosetti filled my vision. “Go to the bridge. I’ll get Lachlan.” She turned to her father. “Get Kenna to the bridge, Papà.”
Sofia took off after the boy as Mario began to tow me across the uneven ground. Behind us I could hear Duncan urging the people to run for the bridge. As more and more Doonians stepped into the field, nature reacted in total rebellion.
The emerald ring on my finger blazed green and the earth fell away, turning crevasses into canyons. I concentrated on my feet and maneuvering over the terrain in giant boots.
As the shaking calmed, I looked back over my shoulder, trying to locate Duncan. From the back of the mass of people I noticed Lachlan, flanked by Sofia and Gabby and towing Blaz. To their right, the red glow of Vee’s ring surrounded Duncan as he mounted Mabel.
Horse and rider galloped across the field like something from a Sleepy Hollow tale. At the rate they were traveling, they would make it to the portal before me. I turned my attention toward the bridge, intending to force myself to go faster, when the soil crumbled beneath me. Time stopped as my body dropped into a newly formed ravine.
Belatedly, I realized that Mario still gripped my hand. He fell to the grass trying to keep his grip while I dangled over the crack in the earth. From below, the acrid smell of sulfur stung my eyes and nose. I blinked up at Mario . . . and Eòran. Mutton Chops leaned into the crevasse, helping Mario pull me up.
As I scrambled for solid ground, Eòran hoisted me to my feet. Before I could catch my breath, Duncan and Mabel approached, slowing as Eòran hefted me in the air. Duncan grabbed my arm, and with Mutton Chop’s help, I swung onto the horse’s back.
Once I was firmly behind Duncan and clutching on for dear
life, he resumed his charge. Behind us, the ground continued to crack. Doonians screamed as they or their loved ones tumbled into the abyss. Some of us would not survive. Even as the truth of that hit me, the light of my ring and the one Duncan wore on the tip of his pinky began to unite, merging from red and green to brilliant white.
As we cleared the final copse of trees and the Brig o’ Doon came into full view, the riverbank gave way. Mabel reared back as she scrambled for solid footing. By the time I cried out, Duncan had regained control of his steed. With a clicking noise, he rerouted Mabel into the field, arcing in a wide circle. After a moment’s pause he grunted, “Hold fast, Mackenna.”
Before I could question why, we were galloping straight for the fissure. With a mighty bellow from her rider, Mabel leapt the newly formed ravine and skidded to a halt at the mouth of the Brig o’ Doon.
I was still panting for breath as Duncan twisted in his seat, lifted me off the horse, and dismounted all in one fluid motion. With a frown of regret, he raised his hand to swat his beloved horse’s rump. Worried that he was about to send the poor beast to fend for herself, I stepped between them, capturing his hand before he could strike.
“Let’s take Mabel with us.”
Duncan blinked at me like I was speaking pig Latin. “Can we do that?”
“We can try.” When he nodded in agreement, I took the horse’s reins and handed them to him. Taking his free hand, the one wearing Vee’s ring, in my own, I said, “Let’s get the portal open.”
From our side in Doon the arch ended in a ruin halfway across. But as we stepped onto the cobbled stones, the light of our rings poured across the bridge, making it whole. The
Robert Burns memorial and the rooftops of modern-day Alloway appeared in the background.
Without warning, Duncan smacked Mabel’s rump, causing her to bolt across the bridge and safely into the present. At my startled noise, he favored me with one of his heart-stopping, lopsided grins. “Dinna worry. She’ll no’ stray far. She’s safe. We made it.”
The relief that lit Duncan’s face was short lived as another mighty tremor shook the ground. “Hurry, Doonians,” he urged.
I glanced in the direction of the field to see the people of Doon making their way across. With Eòran’s gestures, those closest to the bridge were spanning the chasm with a large fallen tree. Once it was firmly in place, Mutton Chops scurried across and others began to follow. Mid-field, I spotted Sofia with Lachlan and Blaz. They were flanked by the other Rosettis and Analisa helping the injured to pick their way toward us.
Eòran stepped onto the bridge and then stopped to urge others across. As the first of my adopted countrymen crossed the bridge, a distant rumbling began. Like an invisible tidal wave, the trees of the forest began to collapse. Closer, the patch of earth that had been wasted by the limbus fell into giant sink holes. I watched helplessly as Mr. Dinwiddie, the boot maker, and another merchant who’d been crossing the ravine stumbled from the log and tumbled into the chasm below.
Duncan’s free hand captured my face. “Focus, woman!”
The dark intensity in Duncan’s gaze riveted me to him as he said, “Give me your ring.”
“What! Why?”
Without the slightest trace of emotion he replied, “Once we get the people across, I’ll hold the bridge for you to follow.” He
didn’t need to explain that he had no intention of coming with me; I could read it clearly in his flat eyes. To lessen the blow, he murmured, “I willna leave my brother to die.”
Clenching my finger over my ring lest he try and wrench it from my finger, I stared at him, letting my outrage fuel my resolve. “And I won’t let you go on a suicide mission.”
“’Tis no’ your decision to make.”
The light coming from the rings on our intertwined hands had begun to spurt like a flashlight running out of power as the latest tremor intensified. The quake, which had to be at least an eleven on the Richter scale, continued to menace the ancient bridge. Behind my prince, a chunk of the wall crumbled away as Fiona and another group of Doonians stumbled past.