Marsaili bit her lip but nodded again. “Come. We must make haste. I overheard Findlay and Lord MacLeod talking, and they have Graham MacLeod chained in the cave. If we dunnae release him, he will soon be drowned.”
Isobel shuddered at the thought of drowning. She had so many questions, but now was not the time, except she had to know one thing for certain—or at least as certain as she could be that Marsaili spoke the truth. “The MacLeods are Father’s enemies?” Isobel probed.
“Aye,” Marsaili replied, her mouth quirking as if there were more to say, which Isobel dearly wanted to hear. “I vow I will tell ye all and speak only truth, but we must make haste or Graham will die, and be Father’s enemy or nae, Graham saved my life. He is naemyenemy.”
Isobel hesitated, caught between her loyalty to her father and her heart, which told her it was wrong to let a man die when he had risked his life to save another.
“I need yer help, Isobel,” Marsaili begged. “I kinnae swim, and the cave may well be flooded when we get there.”
Isobel sighed deeply. She could not let Graham MacLeod die, even if he was her father’s enemy. “I will help ye, but once we free him, ye will take me to Father.”
“Nay,” Marsaili answered, her gaze steely. “I will tell ye where Father is, but I will nae take ye to him.”
Isobel nodded, knowing she had to accept what she was given for now. “Perchance later ye will tell me why ye dunnae wish to go to Father,” she whispered as she followed Marsaili.
Marsaili whispered back, “I will tell ye many truths, though I dunnae believe ye will wish to hear them, and I suspect ye’ll refuse to believe them.”
They exited the tower into the freezing night and driving rain, and then, following Marsaili’s lead, Isobel crouched low to the ground with her back pressed to the stone wall as they crept around the tower. When they had circled half its width and faced the side of the courtyard that led to the water, Marsaili paused. She motioned into the darkness. “The cave is below us.”
Isobel rubbed the water from her eyes and squinted in the direction that Marsaili was pointing. She saw nothing but blackness. “Down where?”
“Shh!” Marsaili hissed. “If they catch us, ye’ll go back to the tower and Findlay may well decide I’m nae worth keeping alive.” Marsaili pointed toward the fortress wall and the watchtowers that lined it. “The guards will nae be bothering to watch the courtyard wall that faces the water. They’ll be looking toward the side by the woods and searching for signs of Graham’s men going to rescue him. Come.” She took Isobel’s hand. “We’ll scale the wall and make our way to the cave.”
Isobel nodded. Silently they climbed the wall and then peered into the dark below as lightning flashed and lit the water. Her breath caught in her throat, and her stomach tightened as she realized Marsaili’s plan involved the woman jumping into the water. “Ye said ye kinnae swim,” she moaned.
“I kinnae. That’s why ye must help me. I need ye to get me to land and then get to the cave and free Graham. Can ye do it?”
Isobel had no notion if she could, but she also knew she had no choice. “Aye,” she replied with grim determination.
Marsaili nodded. “Push off hard with yer feet when I give the signal. And Isobel, please dunnae let go of my hand. I’m deathly fearful of water.”
“I’ll nae release ye until ye are safe,” Isobel assured Marsaili.
Marsaili took a deep breath and then said, “Now!”
Together, they pushed off and dropped into the frigid waters below.
Chapter Three
The freezing temperatures made Graham slow.Too slow,he worried as he hefted his feet up toward the ropes once more. Water splashed down into his eyes and came just above his mouth as his legs finally, mercifully, wrapped around the rope. He could no longer make the bird calls, and he decided with a vague sense of detachment that he had about five more breaths until he’d be completely submerged and then maybe to the count of one hundred before he drowned.
With most of his weight now off his wrists, he could finally work his fingers to free himself, but they did not want to cooperate. The blood had not been flowing well for quite a while, and his fingers stung as he bent them as best he could.
His wrists had been tied together above his head, which was good. His right fingers grazed the rope around his right hand and touched the tie. Digging his nails into the rope, he gritted his teeth and clawed at the knot. Threads burrowed under his nail beds, but he could feel them tearing. When the rope went slack around his right wrist, relieved laughter gripped him. He quickly realized his mistake as water covered his nose and filled his lungs.
He immediately began counting as he worked on the rope that was secured around his left wrist.
Ten. Tug. Twenty. Scrape. Forty. Yank. Sixty. Lungs burning.
He slipped a finger under the loose rope as his lungs and chest tightened. Just one more tug and—The rope released as hands touched his chest, his back, his arms. His brother had come! Graham kicked upward toward the surface, only to realize there wasn’t a surface. The water had reached the top of the cave.
Cameron pulled at him, and Graham blindly followed. His limbs felt as if he were dragging them through thick mud, but he swam forward, guided by his brother. Graham broke the surface to blinding lightning, pelting rain, and glorious air. He gulped greedily, blinking the water out of his eyes as best he could, and when the lightning slashed across the sky again and he turned his head, his lips parted in shock as he stared into the exquisite, worried gaze of Isobel Campbell. He frowned, thinking for a moment that his mind was mistaken, so he reached out and pressed his fingers to her mouth.
Her lips were cold but her breath hot as she spoke. It washed over his fingers, making them tingle and making him very aware of just how real she was. This woman was his enemy, and now, it seemed, she was his unlikely savior, too.
“We must get to land!” she shouted over the storm. She shoved her wet hair off her forehead and pointed to her right. He nodded. Taking a firm grip on his hand once more, she pulled him along as she kicked with her legs and used her one free arm to swim.
He followed her lead as he scanned the land and the water for more Campbells or his uncle. He half expected them to appear at any minute, but when they reached the embankment and no one waited there to kill him, he crawled out of the icy water behind Isobel and came immediately to his knees and then his feet. The sudden motion sent all his blood rushing to his head, and his body swayed for a moment.
