Duncan stared at her. “There’s a third cave down there? We only knew about two. How did you find a third one?”
“Boredom is a strong motivator. The tunnel leading to it was pretty much blocked off by a boulder in the second cave. I couldn’t budge it, but I managed to squeeze behind it. The third cave is the biggest one and it was empty. But then I wasn’t focused on finding Eleanor’s dowry at the time. Finish your sandwich and let’s climb down and take a look around.”
PIPER’S ARMS WERE ACHING AS she wedged her fingers in between two rocks and searched for the next foothold. She could do this. She wasn’t a scared eight-year-old anymore.
“To your left,” Duncan called from below her.
In true white knight style, he’d pointed out the narrow rock ledge about one hundred feet below them, and then he’d insisted on going first and she’d let him. She was betting he’d already reached it. He’d been halfway there when she’d swung her legs over the edge. But she didn’t dare look down to check his progress.
“A little more to the left,” Duncan called.
Her shoe found the opening, then slid out. The sudden shift in her weight had her fingers gripping the rocks and her heart leaping up to lodge in her throat.
“You’ve almost got it,” Duncan called.
What was the matter with her? This wasn’t any different from climbing to the ground from her balcony. Except there weren’t any vines and it wasn’t soft ground that she would land on if she slipped.
“Don’t worry. The ledge is directly below you now. If you slip, you won’t fall far.”
Good to know. If he was telling the truth. She glanced up at how far she’d come and realized that it would take as much effort to go back up as continue.
And wasn’t that exactly what Macbeth had realized during his famous dagger speech?
“Shakespeare always comes back to haunt you,” she muttered.
“What?” Duncan called up.
“Nothing.” This had actually been easier when she was eight. And with that depressing realization came a surge of determination.
Muscles straining, she jabbed her toe into the crevice and lowered herself another foot.
“Directly below you, there’s a flat rock you can step on,” Duncan called.
The instant her foot connected with the narrow ledge, she heard a rumble above her. Pebbles and small rocks clattered down. The first one hit her knuckles so sharply that she nearly lost her grip. Another bounced off her shoulder, and as she glanced up, a third grazed the side of her head. She had to blink dust out of her eyes, but for a moment, she thought she saw a figure on the cliff above. By the time she blinked again, Duncan was at her side, his arm around her waist, his voice murmuring. “On three, we’re going to jump. The ledge is just below us. Ready?”
She managed a nod as more dust and stones rained on them.
“One … two … three.”
The drop was short, the landing hard. Then he pushed her into the low-ceilinged cave, using his body to block the debris still rattling down.
“You all right?” he asked as the noise subsided. His arms were wrapped tightly around her and her back was against stones. For a moment, she simply held on. She’d move as soon as her heart stopped pounding. Just one more minute.
She made herself breathe. In. Out. “I’m fine.” Other than feeling like Chicken Little, she was. Still, she clung for one more moment, trying not to think of what might have happened if he hadn’t climbed up to get her. “I have to admit that white knights come in handy.”
But it would be very dangerous to depend on one too much. She met his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I saw someone on the top of the cliff.”
“Me, too.” Then he put a hand over her mouth and for a moment they both listened hard. The shower of rocks and pebbles had stopped. All she could hear in the silence was the call of a gull.
Duncan whispered, “Stay here.”
Then he rose and moved to the mouth of the cave. The moment he stepped out onto the ledge, she rose to her feet, but he stepped back in before she could reach him.
“There’s no one up there now, but if we go out on that ledge or try to climb up, we could be sitting ducks. I figured we’d have more time before someone tracked us here.” He pulled out his cell, and then swore under his breath. “No signal.”
“Well, as I see it, we have two alternatives. We can take our chances surviving more rock slides and climb down to the beach. Not my favorite plan. Or we can go ahead with our original idea,” she said. “We did come here to search the cave and look for Eleanor’s dowry. And since we risked life and limb to get this far, I say we forge ahead.”
Duncan gave it some thought. The woman had guts and she was giving voice to his own instincts were telling him. “Whoever we saw up on the top of the cliff may decide to follow us.”
“And run the risk of revealing himself or even getting caught?”
“Point taken.” He pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and handed it to her. “You lead the way.”
“This may be a tight squeeze for you. We’re both bigger than we used to be.”
“I’ll manage.”
Piper switched on the light and swept it over the walls. The area they stood in was roughly five feet deep, perhaps seven wide. The tunnel they entered offered even less space, and while she could walk upright, Duncan had to hunch over.
“Just a warning,” she said. “If I see anything that moves, I’m screaming.”
Duncan chuckled. “But you won’t be running away.”
“Correct.” She stopped dead in her tracks when the tunnel widened into the second cave. “This is different.”
Over her shoulder, Duncan saw the large boulder and the rocks of various sizes that now partially filled the space. Beyond the pile up of debris was an opening that appeared to be another tunnel.
“Look.” She stepped to the side and ran her flashlight over everything so that Duncan could see. “That big boulder was blocking the tunnel to the third cave the last time I was in here.”
“It’s been almost two decades,” Duncan said. “Plenty of time for things to shift around. You still game to lead the way?”
“Absolutely.” She placed a hand against the wall to brace herself as she negotiated the fallen rocks toward the other tunnel.
Duncan had to hunch down when the ceiling abruptly lowered, and before long, the tunnel began to slope upward. In his mind, he tried to picture where they were headed in terms of the land above them. Just when he’d decided they were walking roughly in the direction of the castle, the tunnel took a sharp turn to the left, then widened abruptly into a larger room that allowed him to fully stand for the first time.
“Here’s the third cave,” she announced as she moved the flashlight slowly around the space.
He spotted the small pile of rocks at the same instant that she froze the beam of light on it. The pile lay near a good-size boulder that had shifted and evidently tumbled loose from the arch of yet another tunnel directly across from the one they’d stepped out of.
“I never saw that tunnel before,” she said. “It must have been completely blocked.”
“Alba found the leather pouch containing the earring in a pile of rocks that had tumbled loose when lightning struck the stone arch,” Duncan said, urging her forward. They both dropped to their knees and began sorting through the pile near the side of the boulder. Then they began to work on the stones that were loose at the sides of the newly opened tunnel.