Finn went after the dog, stepping through thick gorse and slipping on moss-covered rocks. If the dog was chasing a damned rabbit, Finn was losing precious time—not to mention risking falling into a bog himself—but he had to take the chance that the dog had picked up Margaret or Ella’s scent.
Surely, Margaret could not have gone more than a few feet before realizing she’d gone off the trail. He raised the lantern and peered through the rain but saw nothing that could give her shelter and entice her to come this way with darkness falling and the storm growing worse.
Annoyed with himself for letting the dog divert him, he turned around.
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The sea had reached Margaret’s perch on the highest part of the rocky floor and lapped around her as she lay curled on her side. But Margaret felt at peace. She was not cold anymore. She had ceased to feel her body some time ago.
As she felt herself drifting away, she saw Finn holding her sweet Ella on his lap. That made her heart glad—until she saw that Ella was weeping and Finn’s face was etched with grief. When she tried to reach for them, she floated farther and farther away…
Maggie! Maggie!In her dream, she heard Finn calling to her. His voice was far away. She wanted to get up and look for him, but her body was so very heavy…
And she could not hear him anymore.
CHAPTER 31
“Damn it!” Finn nearly fell when he tripped over the damned dog. He thought the dog had not meant to do it, but then the wee thing growled and clamped its teeth on the back of Finn’s boot.
“All right,” he said, turning around. “I’ll follow ye a bit farther.”
When the dog ran ahead, nose to the ground, excitement grew in Finn’s chest. Perhaps the dog had found Margaret’s scent after all.
Luckily, the dog sat and waited for him in front of a giant crevice that split the ground, or Finn might have not seen it in time and fallen into the dark chasm. If Margaret did come this way, she would have to walk around this crevice in one direction or the other.
“Which way did she go? Show me!” he said, but the dog just jumped up and down barking.
Finn’s blood ran cold when the thought struck him that Margaret could have fallen down there. Leaning forward, he held the lantern over the edge, but the light did not reach the bottom.
“Margaret!” he called, even while he prayed she was not down there but safe at Lachlan’s cottage. “Maggie! Maggie!”
He lay flat on his belly and held the lantern as low as he could reach. On a scrub growing out of the rock several feet below him, a torn piece of cloth fluttered in the wind. He squeezed his eyes shut.Mother, Mary of God, please help me. My Maggie is down there.
He would not let himself think she was dead. She was hurt, and he needed to get to her.
“Maggie,” he shouted again. “I’m coming down for ye!”
He retrieved his rope fromCeò’s saddle and, holding his lantern up, squinted into the driving rain, searching for a bolder or tree to tie it to. There was nothing nearby but clumps of brush.
“Ceò,” he said, rubbing his horse’s neck. “This will not be easy, but we need to save her.”
After he tied one end of the rope toCeò’s saddle, Finn hooked the lantern’s handle over his arm so that his hands were free to hold the rope. Then he stepped backward over the edge and started down, letting the rope slide through his hands as he walked his feet down the rock wall.
“Steady, steady,” he called out toCeò.
His foot slipped on the wet rock and he slammed against the wall, jerking the rope. If his horse had bolted and ripped the rope from his hands, Finn would have fallen straight to the bottom—with no rope—butCeòbarely shifted under the strain.
Finn wiped the rain from his eyes and continued down. When he was halfway down, he heard the sound of water sloshing against the rock walls.
God’s blood, this was a sea cave.
He scrambled the rest of the way down until he was just above the water. Holding the lantern high, he searched the dark surface, calling her name. He knew no one could survive long in this watery dungeon, but he could not give up. He tied the lantern to the rope and dropped into freezing seawater up to his chest.
On the far side of the cavern, he caught a glimpse of hair the color of moonlight floating on the water. His heart pounded in his ears as he splashed through the water to reach her.
He found her curled up on a ledge that was so close to being submerged that her hair and the skirt of her gown floated in the water. Praying hard, he gently lifted her in his arms and felt for a pulse.
Praise God, she was alive!