Mist Warrior (21 page)

“
You also know I cannot run with my lame knee. They would find us in no time.
”
He embraced her again and kissed her cheek.
“
God speed, Catriona, my heart goes with you.
”

owen="just
Catriona removed the cross Branan had given her and pressed it into his hand.
“
For luck, Papa.
”

He smiled as his hand closed over it.

A servant handed her a cloak while her mother and father said a tearful goodbye. Catriona took her mother's hand and they hurried to the back gate.

Shouts echoed at the front gate as riders bearing torches arrived. Her mother slid to a halt.
“
Catriona....
”

“
Come, M
other, we must do as father says.
”

Her mother shook her head stubbornly, tears streaking her face.
“
You know I cannot leave him.
”
Quickly
,
she kissed Catriona's cheek and tore her hand away.

“
Mother!
”

“
Go now! If the worst happens, find Gavin!
”

“
How?
”
she screamed.
“
I know not where Gavin has gone!
”

Mother shook her head.
“
He will return. Be safe
,
my beloved daughter.
”
She turned and ran back to the manor house.

Tears streaming down her cheeks Catriona ran for the forest. She wanted to go back
,
but
did not wish to defy her father
.

Finding a sheltered spot from which she could see the manor house, Catriona watched and waited. Strickland's men entered the small courtyard. Her father and mother greeted them. She saw them exchange a few words suddenly the captain backhanded her father, sending him into the dirt. Her mother struggled to help him to hmonelp himis feet. Catriona stared, transfixed in terror, as the men
-
at
-
arms forced her mother and father with all of the servants into the manor house. They locked the doors with a heavy chain and boarded up windows that were large enough to crawl through.

Then she watched them set the house ablaze.....

****

Confused and worried, Branan held Catriona close as she sobbed against him. She kept trying to speak
,
but he could not understand her words. He could only hold her and try to calm her.

“
What's wrong?
”
Gavin asked as he hurried toward them.

“
I dinna ken,
”
Branan said tightly.
“
Courcy provoked her.
”

She took a deep shuddering breath.
“
I saw it...
,
”
she gasped, still sobbing.
“
Blessed Mary help me, I saw what they did.
”

Gavin gently pushed a lock of hair from her face.
“
Saw what?
”

Her sobs abruptly increased.

“
Easy, my bonnie lass,
”
Brendan whispered.
“
What did ye see?
”

She continued to cry
,
but brokenly told them of her nightmare and the horror she had witnessed.
“
I ran back to the house and grabbed an iron bar from the smithy. I tried to pry the boards off the windows. I heard their screams. I heard mother as she burned.
”

“
St s"Garamoweet Jesu,
”
Gavin whispered, staring at Branan in horror.

“
The smell, sweet Mary, I'll never forget that smell....
”

Branan's soul shriveled against the agony of learning what his foster-parents had suffered.

“
But...but the men spotted me. I didn't want to leave them. I screamed for father. He kept shouting at me to run...to get away. I didn't want to...but I abandoned them when I was the only one who could save them. I left them to die!
”

“
Nay,
”
Gavin said forcefully, his voice thick with unshed tears.
“
You didn't have a choice Catriona, you had to run. You did all you could, you were braver than anyone, you tried to free them.
”

“
I kept trying to go back to help them...but the men chased me. Just when I thought they lost my trial, I would try to return to the house and they found me again.
”

Branan blinked in shock.
“
That's why ye dinna lose yer pursuers in the forest...ye were only trying to go back.
”

She nodded.

“
And Courcy's words,
”
Branan continued.
“
He mocked ye for being pursued
,
when all ye wanted to do was to help yer parents.
”

Another nod.

Fury clawed at Branan and he wanted nothing more than to strangle Courcy. The stupid sod! How could the man do this to her?

“
Catriona
”
he whispered, holding her so tightly it was a wonder he didn't squeeze the breath from her.
“
'Tis all right, lass.
”
He took a deep breath and simply stood with Catriona, trying to offer her a ondoffer hbit of solace and allowing her cry all she needed.

Branan wasn't sure how long he stood
,
but finally Catriona's sob's turned to
hiccupping
gasps. One of the women approached with a cup of tea.
“
This will help calm her,
”
the stout matron said.

Catriona managed to drink the tea then Branan took her inside, placing her on her bed. He gently stroked the hair from her face. Her sobs eased
,
but she kept her eyes squeezed closed and tears continued to flow.

“
M'lords,
”
the woman said.
“
If ye wish, I will settle her in bed.
”

Branan nodded.
“
'Twill be all right, Catriona,
”
he said.

She squeezed his hand
,
but otherwise didn't respond.

With a sigh, Branan left the shelter with Gavin.
“
Now, I understand.
”

“
What?
”
Gavin asked.

He quickly explained Catriona's refusal to end the betrothal.
“
And mayhap with what she witnessed
,
she needs to find justice with Strickland as well. Right now, I am the only one who can accomplish that.
”

Gavin nodded mutely.

Anger and helplessness surged through Branan. Strickland had destroyed so much. Now, Courcy only prodded Catriona into the breakdown.
His arms felt empty and he only wanted to return to Catriona, to hold her close again.
He turned on his heel and stalked away.

The rage in his heart turned blacker as he walked and it tangled with the deep need coiling ut eed coithrough him. For a moment, Branan squeezed his eyes shut in confusion. Never had simply being near a woman provoked him so. He had known lust; he had experienced passion and pleasure.

Branan was a man who savored experience; sensations reminded him he was alive, not lost in the void where his soul constantly seemed to remain. A dim memory of his mother's stories hinted there was more. She constantly spoke of the love the legendary knight possessed for his beautiful maiden and she returned it with devotion. As a lad, Branan marveled at the fact the two had found love, unlike the popular tale of Arthur. Now he knew the knight was his father, that would make the maiden his mother.

Yet as he grew older, Branan had been unable to find that love. He feared the part of him that could love had died a long time ago, beaten out of him by Strickland's fists.

Vengeance was a cold bed-fellow. Abruptly
,
he snorted to himself. As cold as some of the women he had known.

Surely there had to be something more.

Now there was Catriona. Wild, willful Catriona. She was not meek or unassuming. She was rarely quiet. She was strong
,
but also soul-wounded and vulnerable. She needed him and turned to him for shelter...for comfort. Just thinking of her sent the blood thundering through his body.

But he could not have her.

“
Blood, fire and damnation,
”
he snarled
, continuing
his rapid pace.

He had lost Catriona to Courcy all because of Strickland. First his own parents and now his much loved foster-parents. How many lives would Strickland destroy to torment him?

Branan's rage burned brighter and with a savage growl
,
he lifted his claymore and cleaved through a branch blocking his path. The action ignited his blood and he stepped forward, hacking through another branch.

For a moment
,
he heard the screams of his mother suffering another beating at Strickland's hand. The sounds mixed with the memory of Catriona's sobs. He relieved the stench that had assailed him when he f
ound
the smoldering ashes of his beloved foster-family.

The smell,
Catriona had said.
Sweet Mary, I'll never forget that smell.

Neither would he.

Mourning

Branan's worry over Catriona increased. Since the night Courcy provoked her, she seemed to become more withdrawn. His gaze automatically searched for her. Within moments he spotted her. She stared at nothing, appearing as if she would dissolve into a storm of tears at any moment. Branan was not sure what to do.