Silent Vows (32 page)
Oh, yes, her powers were back, and the sweet seduction of that power poured in her veins. She sneered from the eaves of the yard, bellowing orders to the remaining men who prepared for battle. As much as she would love to end the lives of every 280
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MacCoinnich by her very own hands, her premonitions told her of defeat if she insisted on it today.
Today she would weaken their numbers, those who survived would return to their precious Keep and their women, and she would follow. There she would take her revenge on the family, one at a time, sucking the power and life out of them all.
The falcon Grainna had seen earlier caught her gaze. Its eyes watched her every move. She lifted her hand bringing with it fire.
****
“Are what, Simon. What are they doing?”
Aunt Tara’s frantic question reminded him of how vulnerable they all felt so far away. He thought of his Aunt and her unborn child. Of the responsibility of relaying what happened before his eyes inside the falcon. “They are… kicking butt.”
He heard his mother laugh.
“Duncan, eew.”
“What?” the women cried.
“He sliced through the first guy.”
Simon glanced toward Fin, his sword clashed with that of another man, quickly pushing him from his horse. Behind him, another took aim with a crossbow. Simon’s heart leapt in his chest. He wanted to call a warning but knew his cry wouldn’t be heard above the storm that Ian had called.
“What’s happening?” Auntie Tara’s voice grew frantic. “Tell me, Simon, I don’t want to ask Duncan.
I’m afraid of distracting him.”
Below him, Duncan’s hand went to the air and a ball of flame caught the man with the crossbow and threw him into a fiery death.
Another man came behind Duncan, who met his foe with his sword. Simon didn’t have time to relay 281
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what happened.
“Oh, God!” Tara cried.
They all looked up. Tara’s face was covered in sweat, her eyes were wide and her breath hitched.
She doubled over, grasped her belly and they all fell to the floor.
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Lizzy, with the help of Cian, moved Tara to the bed. Simon stared wide-eyed while another wave of spasms took over Tara’s body.
“How long have you been in labor?” Lizzy pushed back the covers on the bed and placed several pillows to support her sisters back.
“I don’t know. I’ve had a backache for the last few days.”
Lora shooed the boys from the room, who were happy to leave. Myra and her mother helped Tara out of her dress, while Amber went to fetch one of the maids to bring more pillows and water.
“This can’t be happening now,” Tara protested.
“How are we going to help them?” Her eyes were wide with panic.
“Worrying now will do you no good.” Myra grasped her mother’s hand when she spoke. Her quick and forceful squeeze told her she worried, too.
“Duncan promised me he would be here for our child’s birth.”
“And if he could, he would.” Lizzy passed a concerned look to Lora when Tara’s abdomen clenched in yet another contraction. This one less than ten minutes from the last.
****
Catherine Bybee
wall of Grainna’s fortress.
“They’ve been cut off.”
“Grainna?” Todd asked.
“Could be.”
Todd thought of their options, sheathed his sword, and reached for his gun. “I’ll go in first, bullets should slow them down. Cover me.”
Ian eyed him. Todd knew he wasn’t used to taking orders.
With a nod, Ian conceded.
They inched their way to the edge of the courtyard. Half a dozen armored men gathered.
Todd placed his fingers in the air and silently counted down from three.
He came in low, taking careful aim and fired off two rounds before the enemy realized they were under attack.
Ian sent a ball of fire at a man fleeing the yard.
Horses reared with the noise of the gun, and in a panic pulled free of their tethers and bolted.
Several men in the yard fled along with the animals. One larger and more skilled than the others pulled his sword, charged at Ian, and caught him from behind.
A warning from Todd kept the blade from making a deadly strike. Ian tumbled to the ground and rounded on his heels. The man lunged on him fast and hard, knocked him to the ground again.
Ian hit the earth dazed. Todd saw the man lift his sword, prepared to plunge it home. Todd put two bullets in him before he could.
Ian moved out of the way of the falling body, kicked his way to his feet. Back to back, Ian and Todd circled the yard.
Two more stood with swords at the ready. Todd took aim, the gun jammed. His enemy sneered and advanced. Todd had no time to reach for his back up weapon. Sword in hand, he prayed Finlay’s torture 284
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over the last months would keep him alive.
Behind him, Ian clashed blades with his attacker. Todd listened to the fight, but kept his eyes on the man in front of him. His eyes glossed over, and his look turned fierce.
The first time his sword met that of his opponent, Todd knew he was in a fight for his life.
Not that he didn’t before now, only this man thrusting his blade, pulling back and heaving again, didn’t show any sign of letting up. Keeping his stance, Todd pushed against his foe, matching his attack and wearing him down.
Unlike Fin, he couldn’t predict his enemy’s movements. The enemy lunged twice, then brought his sword down from above his head, clashing his blade into Todd’s. The sword’s weight started to pull at his shoulder. His strength started to fade. A deep burning ache began low in his back, working its way to his shoulders.
He thought of Myra, ducked his opponents blow, circled around, and dodged a direct hit.
Behind him, Ian’s grunts and his attacker’s filled the yard. From the gut-wrenching sound, Todd knew someone was mortally wounded. He refused to look and see who went down. Lucky for him, his foe’s eyes glanced behind him. Todd took the opportunity and thrust his blade through the man’s chest.
Surprise filled the man’s expression before his eyes went blank. Fearing Ian lay dying behind him, Todd swiveled and peered into his father-in-law’s smiling face. His opponent lay dead at his feet.
****
Behind him, Fin crossed swords between the 285
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horses. The screeching cry of the falcon above caught his attention. His enemy attacked.
Fin took a blade in the shoulder. Blood spouted.
Rage bubbled over, and the ground rumbled with Fin’s fury.
The horse of the man fighting Fin reared and tossed the rider to the ground. Fin jumped from his mount and dove upon his enemy with deadly force.
Duncan and Fin watched as the remaining opponents fled for their lives.
“Look,” Fin pointed to the sky. The falcon circled. “Can you hear Tara?”
Fear crept up Duncan’s spine. “Nay, nothing.
Simon no longer appears to be controlling the falcon.”
“What do you think happened?”
Duncan’s jaw set tight. He couldn’t be sure. He simply knew he needed to return to the Keep as if the devil himself was at his heels.
Their father and Todd met them at the crumbling gates. Their enemies lay dead or running over the hills. Only chickens and piles of burning hay remained.
Side by side, they went to find the witch.
****
“Let them,” she said with confidence. She gathered her skirt and walked up the crumbling stairway to the highest peak.
“We have no way of getting past them up here,”
Steel warned.
She ignored his words and continued. Once out in the open, exposed to the sky, Grainna forced the clouds to part and the sun to shine down on her.
Fin, Duncan, Todd and Ian’s eyes all stared up to see her.
Her black dress cast a dark shadow upon them.
Did they tremble with fear? She attempted to probe 286
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into their minds, but couldn’t break through their guards. Her hair whipped wildly around her body when she started to laugh.
Officer Blakely shifted his feet, but didn’t look away. He would be the easiest to remove from their numbers.
“You think you have won,” she called above the biting wind.
“When the world is rid of you, then we have won,” Duncan yelled back. With both hands, he pushed a three-foot ball of flame up and in her direction.
Fool
. She batted the flames away as if they were nothing more than a fly. The ball of fire fell on the building where she stood. Her laugh crackled over the burning home.
Grainna twisted her fingers, expecting them all to fall without air in their lungs.
Blakely grasped for his throat, but instead of struggling for air his hand reached into his pocket where he removed an amulet burning with a rich amber light. He took a full deep breath before he sent a cocky smile focused her way.
Fin, Duncan and even Ian all clutched or reached for an object that glowed.
Grainna’s smile fell, her teeth ground together in frustration.
With a screech, she reached deep into the pit of her black heart and pulled out her dark power. She thrust her hands in the air, willing them all to drop to their knees.
The cocky smile upon Fin’s face urged her on.
Blakely glanced around, and Grainna focused all her strength on him.
Duncan smiled, and Ian braced his legs. Fin shut his eyes as the ground began to shake.
The earth quaked when Fin opened his hands, and the walls supporting Grainna started to 287
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collapse.
“Hold on,” he told the family. His warning could barely be heard above the roar of the falling stones from the building where Grainna and Steel stood.
“Holy Shit!” Blakely exclaimed.
Steel pulled her back from the wall, and kept her from plunging to earth. “Now what?” Steel asked.
Grainna glared at her enemies standing smug in her transient defeat. “This is not over,” she warned.
Steel’s anxious gaze searched around them. He covered his head when the bricks continued to fall.
Grainna clasped a deadly grip on Michael’s throat and turned him toward her.
His eyes widened with panic when she stared into his questioning face. He struggled against her, but her strength kept him in place.
I’m immortal
, he cried in his head.
“Do you really think I’d share that gift with you?” Grainna taunted him.
The light in his eyes started to fade as she kept air from reaching his lungs.
“You’re nothing more than a fool.” Grainna’s nails dug into the flesh of his neck. She pressed her lips over his to take his last breath. His body buckled beside hers, and with his death, his essence filled her, giving her his knowledge, every skill, and all his power.
Above, the falcon screeched. Instead of filling the bird’s head and bending it to her will, she stretched her arms.
The dress she wore floated to the ground as her features morphed. Black as a crow, with the strength and speed of the falcon, she changed from human to hawk.
She took to the air calling in triumph. Below her, the awestruck expressions of the MacCoinnichs and Blakely filled her black soul with pride.
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“God’s blood,” she heard Ian exclaim before she flew away.
****
Liz hid her smirk when the maid turned red at Tara’s words. “Not much longer, Tara.”
“Not. Without. Duncan!”
“You’ve been at this for too long.”
Myra knelt at the foot of the bed along with her mother. The infant’s head started to crown.
“You need to push,” Lora instructed.
“No!” Tara screamed hysterically. Her head shifted from side to side on the pillows in protest.
“Dammit, Tara!” Liz cursed in her face. “Push!”
“The baby has to come, you can’t wait for Duncan.”
“Lora,” Tara said between pants. “Can you hear them?”
Lora shook her head. Tara’s labor had gone long into the night and the whole of the following day.
The sun was already starting to set again.
With Tara’s distraction, they weren’t able to connect to the men. “They were nearly three days away, even if they turned back the moment we lost touch they wouldn’t make it in time. You have to push.”
Another pain wrapped around her, tearing a scream from of her lungs. “Dammit, Duncan, get your ass home!” She breathed through her next contraction.
Thirty long, hard minutes passed before Tara gave in and started to push. Myra held her shoulders and offered encouraging words.
Tara’s hand clutched Lizzy’s as she strained with the effort to bring her child into the world.
A loud crash sounded from the main hall, its echo vibrated every wall of the Keep. Lora shot 289
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Amber a telling look to find out what caused the noise.
“Okay, Tara, this is it. Push.”
The next contraction arrived hard. Everyone held their breath while they watched.
Tara forced her remaining strength into the contraction.
Myra sprung to her feet when the door flung open and Duncan rushed in the room. His face switched from concern to awe at what he saw before him. His wife’s eyes caught his for a second before Tara took a breath and pushed their child into the world.
For as long as Myra would live, she wouldn’t forget the expression that passed over her brother’s face when his son was born and the infant’s cries filled the room.
The maid hurried to hand Lora a blanket.
Tara flopped back on the bed, trying to catch her breath.