Medieval Highlands 01 - Highland Vengeance (56 page)

*

Bao saw the man’s intent and relaxed. There was nowhere in the wood the man could hide—Bao knew every inch of the forest after abiding there so many moons. Besides, he could tell Maryn’s mare was giving the man trouble and that she was getting winded. Bao’s own steed was trained for endurance and would outlast the mare, if he did not catch up to the man beforehand.

Seeing Derek and five other warriors riding toward him, he turned to meet them. He halted in front of Derek. “We’ve found Lady MacLaurin; I know naught of her condition. The man who seized her has just ridden her mare into the forest. You and your men must surround the wood in case my hunt goes awry. He must not escape our justice.” Then, turning his steed back toward the wood, Bao spurred it into a fast gallop, racing toward the break in the trees the man had gone through.

*

Daniel skimmed his hand over Maryn’s belly for the third time, praying he’d feel movement this time, but there was none. ‘Twas early yet, he told himself, there was still a chance the babe had not been harmed.

“Maryn my love, can you hear me, love?” he murmured against her brow. It had been a quarter hour since he’d discovered her and she had yet to rouse from her sleep. Well he knew the dangers of this: the longer she remained in this state, the more likely ‘twould be that she never would wake from it. He must get her back to the keep, for there he could try to revive her with tinctures, tend her wounds with salves.

But how? Not on the horse. He’d have to carry her. And no doubt he’d see some of his scouts on the way. They could lift her into his arms once he was mounted. Aye, ‘twas a good plan.

With as much care as he was able, he picked her up and strode out of the ruin toward the keep, his steed following several paces behind.

*

The forest gave Clyde more obstacles to overcome as he spurred Fia into a gallop. He jumped her over fallen tree trunks and ran her between closely clumped trees. When she balked over his demands, he whipped her with the green, slender tree branch he’d taken precious moments to cut and strip of foliage. Looking behind him, he laughed with glee. He’d lost the warrior in the glen.

*

Bao walked his mount along the trail the villain was leaving, not wanting to announce too early his presence. He dimly heard the harsh
whacking
sounds the whip was making on the mare’s hide, followed by an angry neigh. The man spewed out several loud curses and Bao was glad the mare was giving him trouble. Deciding the chase had gone on long enough, Bao spurred his horse to catch up to his prey.

*

Maryn Donald’s mare stubbornly refused to go another step, no matter how harsh Clyde’s beating became. “You
will
do as I say!” He flayed her again three more times until bloody welts formed on her hide, but still she would not move. He saw fury in her eyes as she screamed at him and bucked hard. He kept his grip on her, however, kicking her in the ribs with his heels. In the next second, she was up on her hind legs, flailing her front hooves and tossing her head. Clyde’s grip slipped and he fell from her back.

She lunged at him then, taking a bite out of his shoulder. As he screamed in agony, she took his neck between her strong jaws and slung him around, causing his spine to crack. “Arrrghh!” he yelled, thrashing his arms. When she finally released him, tossing him to the ground, Clyde was too disoriented to do more than throw his arms over his head and curl into a fetal position as she trampled him with her front hooves.

*

Bao heard the commotion and raced to reach the mare, thinking the man was killing her. He pulled sharply on his reins when he came upon the grisly scene. The mare was blowing hard, her reins dangling and a wild look in her eyes. She was standing next to the crumpled, bloody mass of bone and flesh that had been her tormenter. The man’s head was crushed. Red and grey foaming brain tissue oozed from its opening and into the long dark hair splayed on the ground around it. His face was no more, now only a bloody stew of cartilage, skin, bone and hair. His limbs were broken and twisted into unnatural positions and his chest cavity was caved in.

A just end, Bao thought.

Speaking to the mare in soothingly low tones, he slowly edged his mount toward her, worried he’d frighten her into a run if he moved too quickly. “Here, my beauty, let me take your reins and we’ll go home. You’ll get a good rub down and a big bucket of oats for your valor this day.” Bao took another look at the dead man as he passed. “Maryn will be pleased with your handiwork, as well, I trow.”

The mare calmed a bit when she heard her mistress’s name and Bao was then able to get hold of her reins. His stallion bumped into her injured side and she neighed, trying hard to jerk free, but Bao somehow managed to retain his grip on the leather straps.

Hearing the cry of a vulture, he looked up. ‘Twas perched high in the pine above him and he knew its intent. That, too, seemed just to him. Tho’ he assumed Daniel would want the man’s body retrieved and done away with properly. But for now, he’d let the bird enjoy its feast.

In the distance, the bells of sext sounded, tripping through the window of their bedchamber and Daniel roused from his doze at the side of their bed, his eyes immediately going to his too still, too quiet, deeply slumbering wife. The tincture he’d given her upon their arrival home—dribbled down her throat and forced to swallow—had seemed to help, giving color to her cheeks, but she’d not made a sound nor lifted a lid in the two hours since.

A scratch came on the door and Daniel called out an assent to enter.

“She still sleeps, then?” his grandmother asked, coming up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Aye.” He turned his gaze up to hers. “I cannot lose her, Grandmother. What if I lose her?”
And our babe.
He swallowed convulsively.

“’Twill not come to that.”

“From this day forward, not another stranger will pass through these portals. I’ve given this decree to Derek and now I give it to you as well. I mean it, grandmother. Not one tinker, journeyman, or traveling player will enter here
ever again.
”

“But Daniel, my dear—”

“Nay!” He swung his gaze back to his wife and settled his palm over her small, chilled hand. “If she dies, ‘twill be my punishment for not keeping her safe, as I should have. But I’ve learned my lesson.”

“’Tis foolish talk I’m hearing! You are not to blame for this, how can you think such?”

Between clenched teeth, he said, “I should have thought of the possibility that the marshal might return to exact revenge.”

“Daniel! You cannot blame yourself for this. Why, if anyone should have thought of the possibility of the marshal returning to reap revenge, ‘tis I, for I knew the man lo’ these many years.”

“Aye, but I am Maryn’s husband; I am the laird of this keep. ‘Tis my first priority as such to keep my wife, my family, and all on the holding safe from harm. Grandmother, he stayed on this land and spied on us
in our home
, without my knowledge.”

“Aye, but you’d never met the man—how is this your fault? He tricked us all. His looks were much changed—no one recognized him, not even the stablemen who had worked with him day after day and were here for the festivities.”

“I have failed in my most important duty.”

“Drivel! You are not the sole person responsible that the marshal was not discovered before he could perpetrate his evil plot! And, you are not the sole person responsible for your wife’s, or anyone else’s safety! For, ‘tis impossible for you to be at our sides each hour of the day and night in order to protect us from harm. Do you not see that?” She gave his shoulder a shake. “If only your grandfather were here to tell you just that.”

He snorted. “Aye, my grandfather. Who died a vile death while I whistled a merry tune and dallied by the banks of the loch.”

His grandmother sighed, then she leaned down and kissed him on his temple. “’Tis not your fault,” she said, giving his shoulder a squeeze before she turned away and quietly left the room.

*

A whisper of gentle fingers touched Daniel on the cheek a few hours later and he jerked awake, his heart pounding. “Maryn?”

“Could I have a drink of water?”

Her eyes looked groggy, but she had color in her cheeks. “Praise be to God. You’re awake!” He sat next to her and helped her prop herself up by wrapping his arm around her back and then tipped the metal cup to her lips. “Not too much. Small sips, all right?”

She nodded and did as he instructed. After a moment she pushed his hand away and said, “My thanks.” Tho’ her lids blinked over her eyes in slow sweeps, she seemed lucid, which brought another wave of relief crashing through Daniel.

“Do you remember what happened to you Maryn?”

She looked confused. “Nay.” Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her stomach. “Is it the babe? Is the babe all right?”

“I do not know, but there is hope, for your body has not purged the babe and that is a good sign. You were kidnapped by the horse marshal. He beat you severely.”

She sucked in a breath. “Aye. I remember some of it now: He told me my father was hurt and took me to an old ruin. He was drinking and raging. He tied me up. But…but that’s all I remember.”

He placed his hand over hers. “We found you before he killed you, but the babe has yet to move. You’ve been in a stunned slumber for nigh on four hours now.”

“Oh God, Daniel. What if I lose our bairn?”

“Shhh, love, do not fret so. Mayhap the babe sleeps. Let us not borrow trouble.”

She gasped and he tensed, his hand lifting automatically toward her belly, but it halted in midair when a beatific smile came over her countenance. She grabbed his hand and placed it on her abdomen. “Our babe lives!”

Daniel felt the fluttering movement under his palm and grinned. “Praise be.”

*

In the next instant, Maryn slumped back on her pillow, feeling her heart crack with the burden of her guilt. “I was reckless with my babe’s life. I should never have been out on that road unescorted. I see that now. And what is more, I should never have gone with him. I should have gone directly to the keep to get aid.”

Her husband sighed and rubbed his eyelid. “He’d never have allowed it. For the man was intent on his purpose. And you were not reckless, only stubborn in your belief that you were right and I was wrong.”

Maryn shrugged and turned her head away from him, her gaze fixed ahead but her sight turned inward to the awful images of the morn. “He said he’d killed a maid, Daniel. I think ‘twas that red-haired lass we saw with the players when they first arrived. Remember?”

“Aye,” Daniel said, his tone grim. “My men found her grave when they were searching for you. I’ve sent a man to track down the players and find out whether she has family that must be informed of her death. I should know within a few days.”

Maryn nodded. “How did I survive?”

Daniel pressed the base of his palms against his eyes. “By mere chance, naught more. If I hadn’t gone looking for you the moment I got back, you would be dead in that ruin now.” He rolled onto his back and stared up at the dark expanse of canopy. Between clenched teeth, he said, “But this I swear: No one,
no one,
will get that close to you again.” He turned his gaze on her. “’Tis my fault. I am to blame, but I have put measures into place that will keep you safe forevermore.”

A heavy dread pressed on her chest. “Measures? What mean you?”

“You’ll list for me each day where you will be and at what time. You will never again be without escort, even within this keep. And neither will our bairns. And, no longer will we abide strangers in our midst.”

“So we are to be your prisoners?”

“Nay, ‘tis not a prison I make, but a fortress against evil.”

*

Daniel met Bao at the stables later that day. “Did my men dispose of the body as I requested?”

“Aye, what was left of it,” Bao answered with a wry look. “The vultures had devoured most of the carcass by the time we arrived. And they were not too pleased that we were taking the remainder from them. I seriously feared for my life at one point when hundreds of them swooped down around our heads and tried to tear us apart with those long talons of theirs.”

Daniel grinned. His brother clearly had a knack for amplifying the truth. With a wide-eyed, feigned look of awe on his face, he said dryly, “Aye, I do wonder how you ever survived it.”

Bao laughed and shook his head at the good-natured ribbing.

Daniel walked over to Fia’s stall then and patted her neck. She nickered and nuzzled his hair. “That’s a good lass,” he said with a smile. She was much calmer now than she’d been when she’d first arrived. He’d prepared a poultice for her abraded hide, and he was pleased to see the stableman had put it on properly. “I’m still amazed by the tale you gave me,” he said to Bao. “She actually pummeled the man to shreds? She clearly has a temper much like my wife’s.”

“Aye. Do not ever cross her or you’ll be vulture victuals in no time.”

“Cross who? Fia or my wife?”

Bao roared. “Both, I’d wager.”

Daniel chuckled and nodded his head. Sobering, he stroked Fia’s forelock a moment. “The babe lives.”

“That is very good to hear, brother.” Bao walked over to him and grasped his shoulder, giving it a rough shake.