The Highlander's Curse (24 page)

His
foot twitched, and I scrambled backward, gaping up at him. Holy jeez, his foot
twitched again! My gaze shot upward, and I saw the slightest movement of his
fingers at his neck.

And
then a short, shallow breath.

Oh
my God.

“Cailen!”
I cried. He was alive. My God, I had to get him down!

I bent
and plucked the sghian dubh from my stocking and glanced up at the rope he was
dangling from, following it down to where it was tied around a pillar. I sawed
at the gigantic rope, each section fraying and popping as I cut as frantically
as I could.

“Hold
on, baby. I’ll get you down.” More cutting, more cutting. The final strands
broke free.

Cailen
crashed to the ground, falling into the bloodstained hay. I was by his side in
a second, doing my best to pull the rope away from his throat. He wheezed,
desperately dragging in bigger breaths as he gripped the rope, also trying to
loosen its hold.

I slid
the knife between the rope and his neck, carefully sawing at the noose. “Hold
on, Cailen. Please…just hold on, baby. Hold on.”

Finally
the rope broke and the two halves fell away from him. He rolled, coughing hard
as his hands clamped around his neck.

“No,
no, don’t get up. You can’t get up. God, you’re alive. I didn’t think…I thought
you were…But you’re…You’re alive!” I was laughing and crying. Every emotion
washed through me at once.

“I’m so
sorry,” he breathed. “Shouldn’ae left…Love ye.”

Did
he just say what I think he did?

I bent
down and pressed kiss after kiss all over his face, not caring that my tears
were all over him. He’d said he loved me. He was alive. I could have kissed him
forever, and would have if it weren’t for the fact that we could be killed at
any second. I flicked my gaze around the barn, searching for anything I could
use to help him. There was no way we were getting out of here undetected, and
my Highlander was in too bad of shape to get out under his own steam.

Two
voices reached me from outside the barn. The door was still closed, but it
might not be for long. The men were talking to each other, and they were
getting louder.

We’d
run out of time.

I
looked down into Cailen’s eyes and ran my fingers through his hair. “This might
hurt, but I don’t know what else to do.” I stood and gripped his hands, pulling
on him as hard as I could as I backtracked into the corner where the sheep lay.
The hay in that corner was the thickest, and as I dragged him toward it, the
three sheep stood and scampered away, voicing their irritation at me.

“
Shhhhhut
up
,” I hissed. I bent and scooped up clumps of hay and tossed them over
him. “Be as quiet as you can,” I whispered. “I’ll figure something out. Just be
as quiet as you can.”

I left
him there, forcing my feet to take step after step toward the barn door. The
voices were even closer now, and I had no way of knowing if the men planned to
come inside. There was metal hanging from the wall, and I hurried to it,
yanking it to the ground. I’d seen these in movies and TV shows my dad watched.

It was
a trap.

Now,
how to arm it?

It took
me longer than I’d expected to figure it out, but eventually, I’d wrenched the
trap wide open, narrowly missing getting caught in it myself. Tip-toeing with
the trap in hand, I set it just in front of the barn door, and gently scattered
hay on top so it wouldn’t be seen. The men stopped talking and I shuffled over
to the wall, gripping a shovel as I waited.

I had
barely enough time to come up with a plan as I studied the animals and tools
inside. The door creaked open, and a man’s shadow fell across the ground. I
tightened my hold on the wooden handle, taking a silent breath.

“
What?
”
he gaped. “Where did—
AGH
!”

The
trap slammed shut with a metallic
clink
, and I leapt into action,
slamming the barn door shut and shoving the metal bar into place that would hopefully
lock it. I gripped the shovel in both hands and swung, feeling the hit
reverberate up the handle and through my arms. The man went down, but he wasn’t
unconscious like I’d hoped. Face red, he reached out for me as a painful groan
escaped him. I jumped back, but he caught my dress and took me to the ground. I
struggled against him as he growled unintelligibly at me. He was on top now,
and a hard fist slammed into my side. Tears blurred my eyes, and my arms
automatically went down as my entire body contracted in pain. I continued to
fight him, as useless as it was. I’d lost my shovel when he’d taken me down. I
had nothing to inflict damage on him…

Except
Conall’s sghian dubh.

The
asshole was still stuck in the trap, and I shoved my foot down, repeatedly
kicking the trap as the man hollered in pain. He rolled off of me and I reached
down, feeling for the knife. It wasn’t there. It wasn’t there! I’d used it to
free Cailen.

I
panicked, searching around me. The blade was lying in the hay, maybe three feet
from where I was. I brought my knee up again, shoving it into his side before I
scrambled backward. My hand wrapped around the hilt, but the guy slammed his
fist against my shin and dragged me back under him. There were more growled
words I couldn’t understand, and more voices coming from the other side of the barn
door as fists pounded on the wood. The shaking of the door drew my attention
and I glanced at it for a split second to make sure others weren’t coming in.

I
regretted looking away from the guy on top of me, because he landed a punch on
my cheek. My head fell back into the hay, and I stared up at the rafters above,
feeling a whole lot of pain throb through half my face.

“I
dinna care if Donnan wants ye. Ye’re gonna pay, wench.”

I
wanted to cry. In a ball. Preferably in the hay next to my Highlander. But I
couldn’t allow myself to give in. Cailen needed me. If I gave up, that could
mean his life—or both of ours. Tightening my fist around the hilt of the dagger
that still lay in my hand, I threw as much weight into it as I could, and
stabbed the asshole in the side.

He
yelled again, but his weight was still firmly planted on me. I couldn’t get
free. The scent of smoke hit my nose, and I peered over, gasping as the walls
of the barn had started going up in flames. The animals were all rushing around
now, probably as terrified as I was of burning to death.

I
fought harder, desperate to get away. That only pissed the Scot off more
though, and one of his hands wrapped around my neck, pinning me to the ground
as his other hand went to the knife in his side. My hands went to the one
around my neck and pushed as hard as I could for air.

No! I
hadn’t stopped breathing this time! For Cailen, I’d forced myself to keep
breathing. I’d promised Cameron I would keep breathing. And now this bastard
was taking it away from me.

I
kicked and rolled, trying anything to loosen his hold. He yanked the blade from
his side and turned his maddened gaze on me. Flipping the knife around in his
hand, he shoved the blade toward me, pressing it just above my breastbone.
Panic overtook me as my mind blanked. I’d failed Cailen, and I’d failed his
family. For the first time in my life, I wished that I would just pass out.

I didn’t
want to be awake just to die.

****

I held the Scot’s gaze as
the blade pressed into my skin. I pushed on his wrists with all my might,
trying one last-ditch effort to save my life. The knife bit in harder and I
managed a single squeak through my crushed throat. I couldn’t feel much now,
other than the pressure at my neck, and the feel of my tears trickling into my
hair. I wasn’t strong enough. I was a failure. It was no wonder Cailen had
walked away from me.

The guy
murmured something in in Gaelic, his tone sounded angry with a hint of
finality. This was it. I was about to die.

Thwak.

I
blinked as he was thrown off of me, his body clearing mine enough that I was
able to scramble to my feet and gape at Cailen, who stood with the shovel in
hand. Or half the shovel, anyway. It’d broken on impact.

“Ye…all
right?” he wheezed, barely able to force the words out as he pressed a hand to
his neck. It was barely discernible over the loud
whoosh
of flames all
around us.

I
nodded, breathing heavily. “You?”

He sort
of nodded with a shrug.

“We
have to get out of here.” The smoke was thick enough that Cailen wasn’t clear,
even with as close as he was standing to me. My eyes teared as heat waves
brushed past me and entered my lungs. The entire barn looked like it was moving
from the waves, and it made me dizzy. “Get down to the ground, it’ll make it easier
to breathe.” I dropped to my hands and knees, regretting moving so fast as my
side throbbed.

Cailen got
down too, only much slower.

“Our
only way out is through that door, but Donnan’s men are behind it.”

My
Highlander’s gaze met mine, and I focused on his eyes, ignoring the swelling.
His entire face wasn’t black and blue, but a lot of it was.

“I was
going to get you on a horse and get us out of here. Not sure that’ll work now
with the fire.”

He
coughed and winced. “Why?”

I
guessed we could still escape on horseback, and opening the barn door would
mean every animal in here could make it outside. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”

Cailen
swallowed hard and pointed to the smaller horse, which was running around in
circles, chuffing and shaking her head side to side. “Can ye get on her? I’ll…open
the door and ye can ride through.”

“What
about you?”

“I’ll
get on that one.”

“After
I’ve already ridden out? No way.” I shook my head. “We only have the element of
surprise once. And if anyone is getting out of here, it’s you.”

He
glared at me.

“You’re
in worse shape than I am. You’re getting on that bigger horse and I’ll open the
door.”

“I’ll
no’ leave ye.”

I didn’t
want him to leave me either, but I refused to ride out of here without him. “Do
you think you can pick me up on your way out?” We really didn’t have time to be
arguing about this. If we waited much longer, we weren’t getting out at all.
Cailen gave me a strange look that I couldn’t read, so I scooted closer to him.
“If I open the door and you start riding toward it, could you pick me up and
throw me on there with you?”

He
nodded, but didn’t look happy about the idea.

“Then
we can maybe both get out of here before they realize what’s happening. Here,
we’ve got to get you on that horse.”

I
pushed to my feet, trying not to wince at the pain in my side. We both
scrambled over to the bigger horse that was freaking out just as much as the
other one, and Cailen worked to calm it down. It finally slowed long enough
that he was able to crawl on top with the help of a chair.

I didn’t
say anything before I darted for the door, coughing from all the smoke I
inhaled. I pushed up on the metal bar and pulled the door open, whirling around
as Cailen’s horse charged toward me. My Scot offered me a hand and I was pulled
up with him, latching on from behind as we burst our way out of the barn.

The
first thing that hit me was the fresh air. The second, was that there were a
lot more Scots than before, and they battled each other with swords, guns, and
daggers. Some even had shields. I looked around in amazement as our horse
charged through the fray.

“What’s
going on?” I asked, gripping Cailen around the stomach and doing my best to
keep on top of the horse’s back. “These guys weren’t all here before.”

“‘Tis
ma clan.” He coughed.

Our
horse slowed, and my gaze landed on two men, just as one of fell lifeless into
the grass.

“Cailen,”
Conall breathed, his eyes bugging at the sight of his son. “Elizabeth. Och,
Lord, I’m glad yer well.” He pointed in the direction I’d come from, and said, “Go
that way. Others stayed behind tae aid the injured.”

“Others?”
I gaped.

“Aye,
our clansmen followed us here. Good thing, too. More o’ MacDougall’s men came
up behind us.”

“Where’s
Cameron?”

“He
should be caring for the injured.”

Cailen’s
gaze flicked around. “Everyone here isn’ae from our clan.” His voice was
gritty, and he’d spoken slowly.

“The
MacLeans heard what Donnan’s men did on their land. They’ve come tae right a
wrong done against ‘em. Now
go
.”

“I’m
nae goin’.”

“Cailen,”
I warned. “I don’t think you should be talking.” Just hearing it reminded me of
him hanging from the rafters.

Conall
shifted his sword from one hand to the other. “If ye’ll no’ go for yerself,
then go for her. ‘Tis nae place for a lass.”

My
Highlander shook his head in irritation. “Take care, faither.” He steered the
horse. I held tight as each step nearly jarred me off its back, closing my eyes
and trying to block out the gruesome images of battle.