The Highlander's Lady (26 page)

Today would not end the way the battle at Foulis had. Today would be different.

Had to be different.

Swallowing back her tears of fear, she sent up a prayer to God. Something she hadn’t done in a while, odd enough since praying had been nearly an hourly thing for her at Foulis.

“Please, God, please dinna let the Ross win. Dinna let Daniel be hurt.” She repeated ever
y
prayer she’d ever learned with Father Holden. Promised all manners of things, including that she’d give herself over to the church if he would only see Daniel to safety.

Outside the window
,
battle cries and shouts of pain filled the air and seeped through the gaps of the fur covering. Myra wanted to pull back that covering, to see what was happening, but if she did so… She may see something she didn’t want to see. Oh, God…

Her heart beat so fast she feared it would stop all together. Her hands trembled as she ran them over her perfect coiffure. She’d made sure to look the part when she’d entered the Bruce’s great hall. Little good it did now that they were under attack.
She couldn’t help feeling that somehow this attack was
her fault.
If only she’d gotten here sooner, or if only she’d convinced her brother to fortify Foulis, they could have contained Ross there.

And yet there had been no other choice
in the situation she was given
. She had to warn the Bruce about Ross. If she hadn’t then he would have walked into certain death.

The lesser of two evils was a battle—here where the Bruce might have the upper hand.

Pacing the room, Myra contemplated what she could do to help. She couldn’t just wait in here for news of doom and gloom. There had to be something she could do. With no
walls to hide behind, she’d have to use her skills to appear invisible even out in the open.

Decision made, Myra walked with steady steps toward the door. She pulled off the bar and opened it—only to be faced by two burly-looking warriors. She recognized them immediately from the great hall. Problem was, she didn’t feel at all safe. The hair on the back of her neck rose and alarm bells rang with ear-piercing clarity inside her ears. More enemies within the Bruce’s camp.

“Well, lass. I see ye were expecting us. We didna even have to knock.”

Myra slammed the door, but one of the bastards put his foot in the way at the last minute and the heavy wood bounced back hitting her square in the face.
She stumbled backward, pain from the hit and dizziness taking over her mind.

“Stay…stay back,” she muttered, her lips feeling fuzzy and numb.
Blood trickled from her nose onto her lips.

They laughed, but she didn’t let that discourage her.
She’d not be a victim. Never. No one could make her. She’d not live the life her mother had.
Myra pulled her dirk from its strap at her hip an
d
prepared to defend herself
. H
istory
was about to
repeat itself in all its hideous glory.
Fear made her throat close, her screams silent.

Her feet would not cooperate with her as she desperately tried to gain her footing. But walking backward while waving a weapon and seeing double did not make for good balance. Why hadn’t she listened to Daniel? Heeded his warnings to stay within the safety of their chamber?

It didn’t matter. These men would have figured out a way in. They would have told her that Daniel was hurt, anything to get her to open the door. The men advanced on her.
Stomach flipping and vision blurred, she cut through the air with her dagger hoping to scare them back.
Serious in their pursuit of her, they wasted no time in disarming her of her
weapon. How it happened she wasn’t even sure. One moment she was waving it front of her, shouting obscenities as she tried to slice through their reaching hands—the next her dirk clattered to the floor
. Before she knew what happened, she was bound tight.
The rope they used was thin and bit painfully into her wrists and ankles. The shorter of the men shoved a putrid rag into her mouth, tying a bind around her head to keep the gag in place. The other man hoisted her onto his shoulder.

“Good night, princess,” Shorty said.

Myra shook her head desperately, trying to talk but only gagging on the rag as Shorty raised his hand and the brunt of a hard object crashed against her skull.

Myra woke to the feel of someone stroking a cool cloth on her forehead. She blinked open her eyes to see Julianna
and an unfamiliar room
.

“Traitor!”
Myra shouted, shoving at the cloth and trying to scramble away without success.

“Shh… Dinna alert them that ye are awake.” Julianna held two fingers to Myra’s lips.

Confusion struck along with the pain in
her
head from her injuries.
“What?”

Julianna shook her head. “I am n
o
traitor. I offered myself in exchange for ye.
They did not agree and took us both.
Ye
,
the Ross wants for dead, I on the other hand have a lot more to offer him.”

Myra swallowed hard, her throat dry. “Ye tried to save me?”

“Aye. Ye saved Robert
.
‘
T
was only fitting that I should save the one who saved him.”

Myra was so confused. “Ye are not a traitor?”

Julianna laughed bitterly. “I am the Bruce’s biggest supporter.”

“I’m sorry.”

Julianna shook her head. “Dinna apologize. In fact, dinna say anything. The longer they think ye’re asleep the better.”

Myra did as Julianna instructed even though she desperately wanted to speak.
Her injuries overtook her once more and she fell into unconsciousness.
She woke some time later, her stomach growling and a headache th
at
rivaled the worst of pains searing through her forehead.

“Good, ye’re awake…” Julianna got up and glanced out of what looked like a
flap
of sorts, at least the bright light made it seem so.

“Where are we?”

“The Ross camp. They didna take my
pin away.” She pulled a dagger-
like object from her hair and smiled widely. “I cut the tent. Ye must run. Can ye get up?”

Myra shook her head slowly, then tried to lift herself.
Her arms and legs gave out and she landed, face in the dirt.
After several tries she was finally able to stand.
The world around her spun and she sank back to her
knees before she
fell on her face
again
.

“Well, this willna do,” Julianna said sternly. “Ye must get up. Ye must escape and get word back to Robert. He needs to know that Alisdair and Colin are with the Ross’ camp. He needs to know that I’m here.”

“Ye are not coming with me?” Myra tried once more to stand, this time with her eyes closed, to ward off her dizziness.

“Nay, I canna. They will come right after us. If ‘tis only ye, I can convince them ye’re worth nothing to them. If ‘tis only me that escapes, they will simply kill ye and then come after me.” Julianna shrugged and stuck the pin back in her hair. “Besides, I could kill the brutes outside the tent if there were not another score ready to take their place.”

Myra opened her eyes. Blinked several times. The pain in her head was bad and she could feel that it was swollen where th
e door had hit her in the face. Her nose didn’t feel broken even if it had bled. And thank goodness,
she was no longer dizzy.

Julianna shoved a sharp object in her hand. “I broke the mug of ale they gave us. Use this piece as a weapon if ye need it.”

Myra nodded. “Why are ye doing this?”

“I told ye.
’Twas
only fitting that I should save the one that saved Robert, Scotland’s future king.”

“I canna ever repay ye.”

Julianna tilted her head, a vibrant smile filling her face, odd in this place. “Nay, my lady, ye already have.”

“Aye, I saved the Bruce, but—“

Julianna shook her head and waved her hand in the air. “Aye, there’s that, but there is also the rescuing.”

She wasn’t making any sense and Myra didn’t feel like she had her wits about her enough quite yet to figure the woman out.

“Send Ronan my regards.” Julianna gripped Myra’s shoulders and thrust her through the cut in the tent. “Godspeed!”

Myra stilled, her body tense as she listened for the sound of footsteps. Their tent was
almost to the edge of the woods, lined up with a half dozen others. There was no one in sight. She’d been able to escape Foulis. This would be just as easy. Suppressing a shiver, Myra willed her limbs to work the way she needed in order to get out of this alive.

One foot in front of the other, she crept the two dozen feet to the edge of the wood, turning to brush away each footprint in the
newly fallen
snow with her hands so no one would know to follow. Every step was excruciating.
She counted her breaths, her heartbeat, the only thing she could concentrate on without going mad with fear.

The moment her feet hit the forest floor, Myra took off at a run,
expecting
to hear the sounds of someone alerting of her escape. Waiting for the arrow of a scout who saw her running away. But there was none of that. Only the long, treacherous road to freedom.

Chapter Twenty-Four

T
he battle was a hard-fought, blood-thirsty affair that left Daniel in need of Myra. Only her warm touch could soothe his soul. The Ross men rushed headlong into killing anyone in their path and it had taken much to subdue them—and many lives. But
they’d been defeated and Eilean Donan and its inhabitants reigned supreme.
The wounded were taken into the castle where healers began the ministrations and those able to walk went about seeing to the dead.
Daniel himself had dug three or four graves, he couldn’t remember now.

Ronan, Wallace and the Bruce, like Daniel
,
left with only a few cuts and bruises, testament to their own vicious skills. The Earl of Ross, coward that he was, did not show his face. Daniel found it odd that the man would orchestrate an attack but not take part. Ross may be a weasel, but he didn’t shy from fighting. Nay, there was something else afoot.

Daniel climbed the stairs, intent on locking himself in his chamber with Myra until they were forced to come out, which he hoped wasn’t at least until morning.

The chamber door was ajar.
Alarm ricocheted through Daniel, landing in the pit of his gut. Myra would not have left the safety of the barred door… Not when there was a battle. Not when he’d ordered her to stay put.

Damn… He’d ordered her to. That meant she would directly defy him. Daniel pushed the door open, just to make sure she wasn’t in attendance, but what greeted him left a cold knot of fear in his belly. The room was in disarray.
A chair overturned, the water basin spilled, the rug in tangles.
A struggle happened here.
Now it all made sense.

This was why Ross hadn’t joined in the battle. He’d another agenda. The
fight was merely a distraction. Mayhap she’d gotten away… Mayhap she was somewhere else in the
castle. Daniel rushed from the room, intent on finding her. He searched every room twice and circled the inner bailey three times. Atop the battlements he let out a roar that made the dogs howl.

In that singular moment of anguish, Daniel realized why his heart felt as though it had been ripped from his chest—he loved her. A feeling he’d thought never to have. She was everything he wanted in a wife,
but
he’d never thought to feel more for her than he already had before.
Except,
he did. He loved her so much he felt it in every inch of his bones. Myra was his other half, the completion of his soul.

Yet…s
he was gone.

A soul-wrenching
cry split the air
, coming from the direction of the castle. The chilling sound set
Myra
’s nerves on edge—more so than they already were. She
knew
at once that it was Daniel. He must have only now
found her missing. But she wasn’t! She was here, just inside the forest, huddled beneath a holly bush that scraped the skin along her arms. Col
d, without a cloak, she shivered. T
wirling the gold and
onyx Munro ring on the leather thong about her neck, she prayed
that it had some connection to her brother, father, mother, that from beyond the grave they’d watch over her.

Leaving this
spot was not an option. Too many of the
Ross men had already passed
by
, the
ir
boots leaving deep tracks in the snow. From
covering her tracks
, her palms stung, her fingers had long since gone numb from cold. If only she had Daniel’s gloves now.

There was nothing for it. This little hiding spot was hers for now.
She’d have to wait until dark to move. Hopefully by then she wouldn’t have frozen in place
. Myra had yet to tell Daniel how much she loved hi
m. Even if he didn’t realize he
returned her feelings, she’d make him see that he did. No man howled so painfully who didn’t lose the one he loved.

Her soul howled right back.

Daniel would not listen to reason. He had Demon saddled and left Eilean Donan
’s newly repaired gates. He was not more
than
twenty yards from the gate when a thundering from behind made him turn.

His men.

Leo pulled up alongside him.
The bastard would try to pull him back. Rage filled Daniel and he prepared to rip Leo a new arsehole.

“Ye weren’t going to find your lady without
u
s were ye? Too many Ross men left untouched by our blades. We need our laird and lady alive.”

The rest of the men concurred, fists pumped in the air and the word, “Aye!” shouted from their lips.

Daniel’s chest swelled.
They weren’t here to persuade him from his task?
This was what he’d been waiting for all along. His men, finally on his side—for good.

“Let us not waste another moment then.” Daniel turned back toward the woods that lay ahead.
His gut told him that was the right direction. The bloody Ross clan had been camped in there, most likely they still were.
Somewhere out in this cold was his wife, and he aimed to get her back, killing anyone who stood in his way.

The men thundered down the road, their horses’ nearly flying their feet so rarely touched the ground.
Daniel raised his hand for them to halt outside the forest. In the dead of winter, the only sounds were an occasional screech of an owl or the scurrying steps of a foraging animal. No insects, no birds. The horses huffed their breaths, snorting as they waited for their masters to push them forward.

“Form a line. We’ll enter the forest thusly.” Daniel scanned the dark, seeing more shadows that anything else. Dusk would be upon them soon and his search for Myra would be made ever more difficult, but he refused to give up.

The men formed a line and Daniel signaled for them to step into the forest. They did so slowly, stopping every couple of yards to listen. Silence reigned here.

“The Ross camp was to the left,” Daniel said, trying to recall where exactly his men had passed it before.

Leo nodded. “They may have moved now though, if they’ve taken Lady Myra.”

A sound coming from the right had the hair on Daniel’s arms
rising
in alarm. He held up his hand for them all to stop. There it was again. A scuffling, and…a curse.

“Myra?” Daniel called out.

Silence.

He dismounted from Demon and handed his reigns to Leo. “Stay here, I could have sworn I heard something.”

Leo nodded his understanding. Daniel took careful steps in the direction from which he
was sure
he’d heard his pretty little wife’s muffled curse.

“Damn thorns.” Definitely a woman’s voice, and a familiar, comforting voice. ‘Twas Myra.

“Myra!” he called out again, this time his call was answered with a gasp.

“Daniel?”

He would have missed her if he didn’t look down. Myra crawled from beneath a holly bush, the frown on her face enough to ignite said bush into flames.

“Och, thank God!” he knelt in the snow and pulled her into his embrace.

Myra swung her arms around his neck and clung to him.

“Ye’re freezing,” Daniel said into her hair, taking in the familiar scent.

“Aye.”

“Come, I will warm ye.” He lifted her into his arms and ran
effortlessly
back toward his horse, refusing to let her go. “I thought ye were lost to me.”

“Nay, never, I would have found my way back.
I was just on my way to ye now.
”

“Ye should never have been taken. I should have stayed with ye, protected ye. I’ve failed.” He put her on top of her horse and prepared to climb, but Myra stopped him with her tiny boot upon his chest.
She shivered uncontrollably, her lips blue.

“Ye’ve not failed, Daniel. Ye have a duty to Scotland. ‘Tis my fault.” She glanced away for a moment
, teeth chattering
. “I wanted to help ye. I opened the door and there they stood.”

“Who?”

She gasped, her angry-red hands coming to her mouth. “I almost forgot. Two men that were loyal to the Bruce—or so he thought.”

Daniel climbed up behind her and wrapped his plaid around her. He took her hands between his and rubbed furiously in an attempt to warm them. “What men?” he asked.

“Colin and
Alisdair.”

“Damn.” He turned his horse back toward Eilean Donan, his men following. “They’ve already made it back to
our
camp.”

“Then the Bruce is once more in danger.”

They reached the castle moments later to find both Colin and Alisdair in the courtyard, flat on their bellies and trussed up like pigs. Wallace gr
inned, his foot on Colin’s back as a light snow fell on their heads.

“How did ye get her out of the camp?” snarled Colin.

“I wasn’t in the camp
,
ye horse’s arse
.
I escaped.”

Daniel grinned widely at his wife’s tongue. Many of the men snickered. He rode his horse right up to the stairs of the keep and dismounted, pulling Myra into his arms.

“Seems all is well here, Wallace,” he shouted.

“For the moment
. We’ve scouts looking for Ross. Ronan’s gone out with them.”

Daniel nodded.

“Oh!” Myra shouted
through her chattering teeth
, and
clambered
to get down, but Daniel held her tight. “I forgot! They have Julianna!”

Wallace’s face fell and Daniel’s stomach flipped.

“She saved me.”

He’d never have believed it if it didn’t come from Myra herself.

“
Mo creach
!” Wallace cursed and kicked Colin in the ribs. “Ronan is going to murder Ross when he finds out…
The Bruce will be verra displeased.
”

Daniel
nodded grimly. He’d
had a feeling about the same thing. “Ronan will find her,” he said with confidence.
“I think he’s…taken with her.”