Loving a Fearless Duchess: A Historical Regency Romance Book(59)

Old Robbie shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s bad. We’ll see what the healer says.”

Edward choked, “What happened?”

Old Robbie told Edward about how and where he found her. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Old Robbie’s eyes were wet.

The healer, Cara, burst in carrying two large bags of her potions. She asked who knew what happened, and Old Robbie told her what he knew.

Cecilia wailed then buried her head in Penelope’s neck when she heard. The healer rubbed her back.

“Everyone but Lady Balfour out. Get Penelope’s maid, tell the kitchen to boil water and bring empty basins as well as basins full of hot water. Tell her maid to bring fabric we can cut into strips. Now out with you. That means you too, Lord Balfour. No men.”

He nodded. “I’ll be on a chair outside the door. I’ll get anything you need.”

*****

Old Robbie put up his arm and turned. He was only able to stop his horse because he was going so slowly while he searched.

“Hold up, hold up,” he yelled.

He got down from his horse and tied him to a low branch close by.

The other three in his search party did the same. They all leaned over the ledge. Some gasped while others groaned. No one was silent. “We need to find a way to get down there now,” Old Robbie said.

The cliff dropped off twenty feet and didn’t have a gently rolling slope in sight. Even the boulders that sat grouped and gradually cascading from the top weren’t of any use.

The men looked side-to-side thinking the cliff would even out around the bend.

“We need to follow this cliff to the sides to see if it gets any easier to traverse,” Old Robbie said.

“You’re right,” Jamie said. “Two us to the left, two to the right. Let’s find a way.”

They walked until they could walk no longer. A wall of boulders stood in their way.

“What about a rope? Jamie asked as they walked at a brisk pace back to where old Robbie was inspecting the other end of the cliff.

“Does anyone have one in their saddlebag? I don’t,” Will said.

They caught up with old Robbie and Ned on the other end, inspecting a dangerous drop onto boulders that would lower someone down deep, smooth steps. Possible? But then they would have to manoeuvre up them again with an unconscious or dead girl, climbing those same boulders.

“A rope?” Jamie asked old Robbie, watching the man look at the boulders from every angle.

Old Robbie didn’t look up. “Ned, go to my saddlebag and get me the rope.”

He turned to Jamie and Will, shaking his head. “The rope won’t be long enough. We might need to go back for a longer one.”

“She’s already been down there too long.”

Jamie looked up into the sky. “I want to be the one to wring his neck. I want to watch the life drain from his eyes as I squeeze tighter.”

Ned came back and handed the rope to old Robbie. He wrapped an end part around his hand and then threw the other end over the cliff. The four men leaned over.

Jamie said, “It’ll work.” The others nodded. The rope was short of the ground but by only five feet.

Old Robbie turned around. “I need something to strap her onto my back.”

They all went through their saddlebags but came up with nothing.

Jamie sighed then took off his belt and his plaid, handing them to Old Robbie. The others did the same.

Old Robbie looked around. “Just what we need, three naked clansmen pulling a rope. I’ll take yours Jamie, and give me one more belt then get dressed.”

Old Robbie made a sling out of Jamie’s plaid and tucked the two extra belts in his own. The three men held the rope, and Old Robbie backed down the cliff of rocks just above Penelope’s body.

He hopped down to the ground and rushed to Penelope to check for a pulse. He had to check three times before he found it; her pulse was so weak.

“She’s alive,” he yelled. The others remained subdued. Old Robbie had started moving her to carry her on his back, and when he picked her up, the men saw puddles of blood.

Jamie whispered, “If she were here all night, there would be nothing left to her when the wolves were through.”

Old Robbie could hear what Jamie said. Sound bounced off the rocks without being distorted. As he belted Penelope in, he thought, Hell, they wouldn’t even have to wait until after dark.

Old Robbie had to balance Penelope on his back so that she didn’t flip to the left or the right and take him with her. He had to tie part of Jamie’s plaid around his waist and anchor her before he could begin.

Unconscious people are dead weight, he decided. He knew she didn’t weigh nearly as much as it felt like she did.

The climb was slow. Grabbing rope, uphill, with one hundred pounds on your back is hard. More than once, he looked at the palms of his hands to see strips of blood with fragments of rope sticking out.

“I’m up far enough you can pull on the rope, not just anchor it. Help me along.”

Ned, Jamie, and Will started stepping backwards as they pulled.

“Slow down, slow down,” Old Robbie said. They stopped, and Old Robbie told them to pull, just slower.

Jamie saw Old Robbie’s head coming up over the cliff. “Keep holding. I’m going to see if I can help him over the edge.”