Page 59 of The Mad Highlander
“Oy! What’s going on out there?” someone shouted from behind the door.
“Open up,” Cayden said quickly. “We have one to toss in.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Open the door,” Cayden said in as commanding a voice as he could.
“That door doesn’t open without Captain Finn’s say so,” the guard behind the door stated.
“Aye, and I suppose ye want me to go and wake him? I’m nae doin’ that with his temper. Do ye remember how angry he was earlier?”
Brodgar smiled at Cayden, but his eyes showed his nervousness.
“Aye, I remember. Who do ye have out there so late at night.”
“Caught him wanderin’ the castle, but he willnae talk. I dinnae ken what to make of him, but a night locked up before the Captain talks to him in the mornin’ might be just the thing.”
There was silence from behind the door.
“Och, I’ll wake him, but ye are the one who deals with him, all right?” Cayden asked. He looked to Fergus, the man who wouldhave been tasked with picking any locks, before the play took a sidestep.
There was a clicking sound from the other side of the door. The door swung outward to reveal a solitary guard.
“I dinnae want?—”
The guard realized his mistake far too late as four men rushed through the door and took him down. A third body thudded to the ground.
“Search him and check for any other guards,” Cayden said quietly.
Cayden and Brodgar picked up the two guards who had been manning the door and pulled them inside the door, which was closed but not locked. It took thirty seconds for two of the men to search the dungeon and the third to search the guard’s body. There were no other guards, and the guard who had initially been behind the door only had the set of keys that were in his hands.
“Let me out. I’m beggin’ ye, sir. Let me out of here, and I’ll help ye with whatever ye need.”
Cayden looked to the first of the locked doors. The plan was to only rescue one lad from the dungeons. He couldn’t let the rest of them out—it was too risky.
The enemy of me enemy is me friend. Aye, that may be true, but it will only make it more difficult to get out of here.
Cayden felt a burning sensation in his chest at the thought of leaving the other prisoners at the mercy of Murdoch. He could placate himself with the thought they were criminals or evil men, but that wouldn’t be true of all of them. The best he could do was ignore the man.
A shadowy face appeared in the small, barred space in the oak door. “Please, sir. Please let me out of here.”
Cayden looked the man in the eye, silently communicating his regret.
“Please,” the prisoner hissed.
Cayden turned away from the man, hating himself for doing so. Smuggling one man out was no mean feat. Extracting an entire dungeon-full was stupidity. Getting in had come with some problems, but it had been easier than expected. Getting out would present its own problems.
“Find him,” Cayden ordered to his men. He joined them going door to door and looking into the cells.
“Over here,” Fergus called through his teeth.
Cayden quickly joined him and looked into the cell to see an emaciated man lying on the bed with his eyes closed. He lookedthe right age, and there was a faint resemblance to Iris and Tristan, but it was hard to tell in the darkness and with how gaunt the man looked.
“Open it,” Cayden ordered.
One of the men brought the keys, and it took a while to find the right one. The door swung open with a creak, but the young man on the bed did not wake.
Cayden entered alone and went to the bed. He laid a hand on the lad’s shoulder, shaking him gently.
