Torin took off running, Walsh and Anwen not far behind him.
* * *
Flora bumpedinto things as she made her way into the dark room. A quick touch here and there identified them, a chest, a chair, the edge of a bed. Her quick assessment made her realize it had been a bedchamber, not a place of torture. She felt along the bedding and pulled her hand back when she touched what she thought was a leg. Someone was in the bed. She bravely let her hand roam again and discovered it was a skeleton. Someone had been sealed in here and she could not imagine the horrific death the person must have suffered.
“Flora!”
She jumped at the sound of Henry’s shout that had gotten closer. She had to find a place to hide until her husband got to her. But why was it dark in here. There should be some light even with the gray skies outside. The shutters surely had rotted away by now. She looked up to see if she could spot the windows. She could see nothing, and it dawned on her then. The door not only had been sealed with stone but the windows as well.
So, what caused the wind to moan through the keep with this room so tightly sealed?
A chill rushed over her turning her skin to gooseflesh. What if it was a ghost, not that of the giant but of the skeleton in the bed?
Her head snapped toward the light that suddenly filtered through the slim opening she had slipped through.
“Why do you have to make things so difficult, Flora?” Henry said as he peered through the narrow opening.
She heard a stone fall.
“Wonderful, the mortar has decayed enough that several of the stones topple when given a hard shove. I will join you shortly.” Another stone fell. “I will be sure to shed tears when I tell your husband that you pushed at the stone, and you fell in the room striking your head before I could reach you.”
She could not let that happen. She had to stay strong. A weapon. Could there possibly be a weapon in the room? That would have been the kind thing to do for the person who had been left here to die, leave a weapon so he would not suffer a lingering death.
Suddenly, she heard stone after stone collapse, the light from the torch growing brighter until… a strong wind rushed from the room extinguishing the flame. Though with the room completely sealed, where it could have originated Flora could not fathom.
Curses flew from Henry’s mouth and Flora rushed to press herself back against the wall. Her fingertips brushed along a small bowl almost knocking it over. She gripped it tight, not sure how it would help, but not letting go of it. She braced herself against the wall and realized her only chance was to sneak past Henry as he ventured farther into the room and hurry out before he realized she was gone. But could she do it quietly enough for him not to hear her?
“FLORA! Torin’s roar echoed up the stairs.
“Damn!” Henry muttered. “I should have known better than to follow my idiot uncle’s scheme. Now we both die for I will not be taken alive.”
“FLORA!” Torin shouted, sounding closer.
A few moments were all she needed and when she heard Henry move, she threw the bowl. He lunged at the sound, and she remained tight against the wall as she made her way to the door. She stopped a moment hearing a gurgling sound then she spotted a weak light coming from what was left of the unsealed door and she rushed to it, screaming for her husband.
“TORIN!”
Light suddenly flashed in the room and Flora stopped where she was staring at the bed.
Henry lay atop the skeleton, his neck impaled by a bone, blood everywhere, and his eyes wide in death.
CHAPTER29
Torin took his wife in his arms as soon as he entered the room, relieved he had not been too late. His wildly beating heart began to slow as he held her tight against him, assuring himself she was safe.
“I am well, husband, worry not,” Flora reassured him. “I knew you would come once Anwen told you I was alone here. I just needed to bide my time.”
He kissed her gently, then rested his brow against hers. “I love you, Flora, and never do I want to live without you.”
“We have already settled that, Torin. We will die within a brief time of each other just as my parents… She closed her eyes thinking what Henry had done to them.
“Flora?” Torin questioned when she suddenly grew quiet, and he eased his head back to see she had shut her eyes.
She opened her eyes and smiled faintly. “I have much to tell you, but first you must see this.”
Torin released her reluctantly and stepped aside to look at what she was eager for him to see.
He was not the only one who stared in bewilderment at the bed. Walsh stood holding the torch he carried high to cast better light. Kinnell did the same, having followed when he spotted Torin and Walsh rushing to the keep.