Half the print was visible. The other half seemed to disappear into the very wall.
“Bowen! Teague!” he barked. “Over here!”
A moment later, the others surrounded him and he pointed down.
“Where is she?” Brodie snarled, for the first time giving voice to the fact he believed all that Graeme had said.
“What is beyond this wall?” Graeme demanded.
Patrick shook his head, panic evident in his voice. “I have no idea. I swear it. I know not of anything beyond this wall.”
Graeme dropped to his knees and began running his fingers along the seams of the stones. He pushed inward with his uninjured shoulder, but the wall would not budge.
Bowen dropped to his knees just a bit farther down the wall and began pushing on the various stones himself. When he was the length of six stones from Graeme, the wall suddenly pushed inward, sending Graeme tumbling forward.
Graeme scrambled to his feet, swinging the torch in all directions as he gained his bearings. ’Twas a small room. He swung around in a complete circle and nearly danced the torchlight right past her.
A gasp went up. He wasn’t the only one to have seen the still body lying on the floor. He yanked the torch back and rushed forward, his heart screaming denial the entire way.
Behind him, there was a mad scramble and then more light. The entire chamber lit up and Graeme could see the chains and manacles that circled Eveline’s wrists and ankles.
He let out an enraged howl that echoed and bounced off the stone walls. He tossed the torch back to one of his brothers and then dropped to his knees, gathering Eveline in his arms. He rocked back and forth, kissing her hair, her brow, her cheeks. Her skin was so very cold and she was so very still.
Her father knelt down beside Graeme, staring in horror at his daughter, so lifeless in Graeme’s arms.
“I did not know!” Patrick babbled. “I swear it on my very life, I did not know!”
Enraged, Bowen slammed the older man against the wall. “Where are the keys to the manacles?”
But Graeme ignored them all. He pushed back Eveline’s hair and with trembling fingers, felt for a pulse against the side of her neck.
“Is she …” Tavis broke off, unable to complete the sentence.
“She’s alive!” Graeme said in a rush of relief. But even as he exclaimed it, he took in the bruises on her face, and rage blew through him like the fires of hell.
The chains were attached to the wall of the chamber with old hinges he doubted were that strong anymore. It would have been enough to restrain a lass, but not a warrior who was so filled with rage that he could have thrown a horse to free his wife.
He handed Eveline to her father. “Hold her and shield her.”
Then he stood, reached for the chains, and with a bellow of rage, yanked the top hinge, which held the two chains attached to the manacles at her wrists, free from the wall. Before he could move to the one at her feet, Aiden gripped the chain and tore the hinge from the wall, freeing her so they could at least take her from the dungeon to remove the manacles.
Tavis was holding his daughter tightly to his chest and weeping softly into her hair. Graeme reached down for her, refusing to allow another to carry her from her prison. He would tend to her himself. No other would touch her.
Patrick was completely white with fear. He babbled a stream of nonsense and begging. His son was to blame. He had no knowledge of the plot.
Graeme shoved by him in disgust.
When Graeme reached the rope leading to the upper chamber, he stopped. He could not climb up while holding Eveline and neither could he make the climb with her over his shoulder.
Brodie pushed forward, Aiden on his heels.
“Give her to Father and you climb up,” Brodie said to Graeme. “Aiden and I will form a human ladder and hand her up to you. ’Tis something we’ve done since we were lads. We’ll not drop her, I swear it.”
Graeme nodded, handing Eveline swiftly into her father’s care. He shot up the rope, fear and anger lending him the strength of ten men. When he reached the top, he called down, and he saw Aiden climb atop Brodie’s shoulders, balancing himself. Graeme stuck his head down through the opening, extending himself as far as he could without plummeting downward, but there was no way he’d be able to reach Eveline even if Aiden could bear her over his head.
“Bowen, climb up,” Graeme ordered.
A moment later, his brother ascended the rope and Teague quickly scrambled up after him. Graeme lay down on his stomach and inched his way over the edge.
“Hold onto my legs,” he directed. “You’ll have to pull me and Eveline back up when I’ve gained hold of her.”
Carefully, his brothers holding his ankles, Graeme was lowered, and when he was almost able to touch Aiden’s extended hands, Aiden called down for his father to lift Eveline up.
Helped by the other men, Tavis put Eveline into Aiden’s arms, and then he raised her as high as he could while perched on Brodie’s shoulders. Twice he nearly fell, but was able to successfully gain his balance without dropping her.
Finally, Graeme slipped his hands underneath Eveline’s arms and then yelled back for his brothers to pull him up.
He scraped painfully over the rough floor and his injured shoulder protested the rough treatment, but he ignored all pain and discomfort. He had Eveline back in his arms. She was alive, though he didn’t know the extent of her injuries or what had been done to her while she was in captivity.
He waited for the others to make the climb up only because he could not do what must be done while still holding Eveline.
They walked up the stairs to the first level of the keep in silence, Graeme holding Eveline tightly to his chest the entire way. When he reached the top, he turned, and when her father and her brothers cleared the top step, Graeme held Eveline out to Tavis.