It was almost as if I was descending in slow motion. I steeled myself for the inevitable crunch when I crashed into the scree at the bottom of the rock face. Then suddenly I was jerked upward and tipped upside down. I swung dizzily in my harness with the sky beneath my feet and the ground twirling above me. I didn’t know how I’d been saved from certain death, but I presumed the rope must have snagged itself on some outcropping. In which case it could give way again any second. I continued to twirl, upside down. I tried, ineffectually, to right myself, but I was scared of putting any sudden pressure on the rope.

So I hung there, swaying in the breeze, just praying that Siegfried had the sense to find the easy route down and go for help. If not, I wasn’t sure how long I could hang here. I could already feel the blood rushing to my head and singing in my ears. I was going to pass out if I stayed in this position much longer. Wind whistled past me, swinging me around. Clouds were rushing in, already blotting out the higher peaks. Soon I’d be hidden from sight.

“Help,” I yelled into nowhere. “Somebody come and help me.”

The singing in my head had become a roaring. Spots were dancing in front of my eyes. Gradually the world slipped away.

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

A mountainside near Castle Rannoch
August 19

When I opened my eyes two pale beings hovered over me, looking down at me with concern. For a moment I wondered whether this was heaven and that angels were actually blond. Then I noticed that one of them had fish lips and the other said, “She’s coming round, thank God.” I realized that one face belonged to Siegfried, the other to Hugo Beasley-Bottome.

“Where am I?” I asked. “Did I fall?”

“You, old fruit, are the luckiest girl in Scotland, I’d say,” Hugo said. “I heard yelling and went to investigate, and there was the prince here, gesturing like a madman at the cliff. Then I noticed that you were dangling in midair. The bally rope was caught on a small tree that was jutting out from the rock. It was dashed impossible to get at you, you know.”

“Then how did you get at me?” I tried to sit up. The world swung around alarmingly and I lay back again.

“Your cousin Lachan arrived to join us. He climbed up and attached a second rope, which was held by a piton, then with him bracing, we were able to break the branch that held you and lower you down. Dashed tricky maneuver, I can tell you.”

“Thank you, very much,” I said. “I don’t know where you got the ropes from, Siegfried, but they must have been old. We should have tested them first.”