Highland Island (Book 6)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Moira was jittering next to her, the fluttering of her hands an annoyance in the corner of Isla's vision. The torch she had moved earlier was still flickering in it sconce by the door. The key entered the lock with a solid metallic thunk.

Her whisper was whip sharp. "Moira, you need to calm yourself now. If Murray or Uncle Artair see you there is no chance at all that we are leaving this dungeon alive."

"You really think that is going to help calm me down. Telling me there is a chance I am going to die." The harsh retort had Isla throwing her a lethal look.

"I have had to do this all evening, you have to possibly see someone for a few minutes and you have been telling me it will be fine all evening." The hostility tipping over into her voice, the pressure of the situation breaking through.

"Just open the door, we need to see if Gilbarta has come through for us, or if this entire night is going down the well." Moira motioned towards the door, the shadows dancing across the wall from her gestations.

The lock clicked as she turned the key. The slight creak in the door was loud as it echoed in the stone passage way. Deep breaths as she tried to centre herself, the large birds which had decided to take flight in her stomach were becoming rather uncomfortable. A hiss at her ear had her jumping over the threshold. "Well, you weren't moving by yourself, just thought I would help you out." The words were strong but the tone weakened by the end. Petering off into a barely audible whisper.

Reaching out she pulled Moira into the room with her. The glare she received could have set cold coals afire. "What? You weren't moving by yourself." The retort held heat of its own, Isla letting all of the frustration come out at her friend.

"How about we call a truce until after we are out of this trouble?" Moira glanced around, her brow furrowing and edging closer to Isla as she spoke. "Does it not send a shiver down your spine just to be in this space? Buried under the Keep, deep in the rock, where the screams can't leave?"

Isla looked around, shaking her head before Moira had even finished. "I just don't see it like that. It is just another room in the Keep. The only reticence I have here is what we have planned to do." Her tone tempered not to travel further than to Moira. The door across from them was still solidly closed, however, that meant nothing for what was happening on the other side. She looked over at Moira once more, she had folded in on herself, as if she were hearing the echoes of people long gone.

"The mead is not here. I can only hope that he has taken it with him." Needing to move, she hefted the tray from her side and headed to clear the table.

"Oh, either that or Murray left with it." Moira came to help, only to pause at the glare Isla shot her.

"You really want to jest about that?" Raising an eyebrow, she let Moira's own words settle on her, as the dawning realisation plastered itself across her face.

"Nay," Moira lent further in towards Isla. "How do we know if it had actually worked?"

Isla flitted a glance at the closed door, shrugging a little, "I have no idea. I only know that Gilbarta told me to collect the mead from you, and that she had calculated the dosage correctly. The rest depends on them drinking it." She stood straight, her tray dropping to the table top. "I've been so worried about being caught, I haven't thought about what would happen if they didn't drink the mead after I left it with them."

Walking over to the door, she took a deep breath, using all of her last confidence she reached out and knocked on the solid wood before her. Her heartbeat seemed to stutter under the tension which coursed through her.