The Renegade's Heart (24 page)

These looked to be guests arriving. Noble,
but the cut of their garb and the quality of their horses. It was a
small party and one poorly defended.

A lady alone with three attendants: a
man-at-arms, a woman and a mere boy.

Gavin caught his breath. He gave the whistle
that he and Hamish used to find each other in the forest, and heard
the other squire whistle in reply. Gavin hunkered low to watch the
party proceed.

Hamish fell into the undergrowth beside him.
Gavin whispered of his plan to aid their lord, and Hamish’s eyes
widened. He shook his head, and Gavin let him see his disgust. He
seized his dagger and pulled it from the scabbard. He gave Hamish
one last look, daring him to remain hidden when there was a task to
be done. Hamish grimaced and drew his own blade.

Gavin grinned. His heart pounded. He eased
closer to the road, watching the lady and her maid pass. Hamish
seized his arm and held up four fingers, shaking his head. Gavin
brushed off these concerns. Lord Murdoch had escaped an entire
village! He pointed to Hamish and then the squire, then indicated
himself and the man-at-arms. He held up two fingers, excited beyond
belief at what they would do, then counted down to one. When he
thrust his fist into the air, the boys erupted on to the road
together.

“Halt!” Gavin cried and the party did exactly
thus. “Halt and surrender your valuables.” He leapt at the
man-at-arms, then everything happened very fast.

* * *

When Murdoch arrived at their camp, he could
not decide whether to awaken Stewart, for that man slept deeply. He
winced at the tightness in his chest, telling himself not to be
surprised by the Elphine Queen’s inevitable appearance. He was
tired to his very bones, and indeed, the forest seemed dim around
him.

Where were the boys? Perhaps they checked the
traps for meat. Murdoch brushed down Zephyr, finding the task more
exhausting than it should have been. He could feel his heart
struggling to beat, as if the Elphine Queen clenched it in her fist
and squeezed. He brought water to the horse, stumbling as he
carried it from the river. He wondered again at their location,
even as Stewart snored more loudly. Doubtless they made some
mischief or other.

“Rhys!” a lady screamed and Murdoch nearly
dropped the bucket.

Stewart awakened abruptly, his gaze locking
with Murdoch’s as the sounds of swordplay carried from the
direction of the road.

Murdoch suddenly had a very good idea what
mischief the boys had found.

He seized his sword and ran through the
undergrowth, Stewart fast behind him. The pair of them burst on to
the road to find a robbery in progress, Gavin and Hamish battling
with a small party of nobles. There were four in the party
altogether: a noblewoman, a maid, a squire and a man-at-arms.

Before their own eyes, the man-at-arms leapt
from his saddle to place himself between Gavin and the noblewoman.
He dashed Gavin’s knife from his hand and sent it flying across the
road. “I shall teach you to rob a lady,” that fighting man said and
Gavin stood as if struck to stone.

Hamish meanwhile wrestled with a squire, the
other boy halfway out of the saddle but hanging on as the horse
panicked. The boy kicked Hamish and his grip faltered. He rallied,
though, and pulled the boy from the saddle, the two of them
struggling on the road.

“God in heaven,” Stewart muttered behind
Murdoch. “Here is a matter gone awry.”

“No! Halt this madness!” Murdoch roared and
the two leapt into the fray.

The man-at-arms dove at Gavin with a bellow,
but Stewart bounded forward to fight with him. Their swords clashed
overhead as Gavin ducked, the pair of men fighting heavily, back
and forth across the road. The noblewoman shouted at the maid,
commanding the girl to come to her side.

She seemed to be in charge of her party and
Murdoch guessed that she alone could command her man to halt. Her
steed pranced in agitation but Murdoch seized the reins, holding
fast. “Who is Rhys?” he demanded of her and the lady smiled.

“My lord husband. He shall slaughter the lot
of you and rightly so.” She glanced down the road, her expression
triumphant.

Murdoch spun to look down the road and saw a
horse charging out of the shadows toward him, a man bent forward in
the saddle. He rode with fury and Murdoch realized that the lady
was not undefended.

“Tell your man to halt his fight,” Murdoch
said and the lady tugged at the horse’s reins. His fingers were so
icy that he could not hold fast and the reins slid from his
grip

“I will surrender naught to bandits,” she
retorted, then touched her heels to her horse’s side. The beast
began to canter toward Kinfairlie, but the lady looked back at her
maid. “Come along, Bronwen!”

The maid could not pursue her mistress,
though, because Gavin had seized her stirrup. He was trying to pull
himself into the saddle behind her. She fought against him but the
boy was determined.

“Ride, Madeline!” the approaching knight
bellowed with rage. “
Ride!
”

The lady spared a glance to Murdoch, then
gave her horse her heels in truth. Murdoch leapt and snatched at
the stirrup, but the horse bolted at her command. It was clear the
horses knew each other well, for the two with empty saddles
galloped immediately after the lady’s own steed.

The maid was obviously inspired by her lady’s
bravery. She kicked Gavin and when he fell back with a grunt, she
gave her horse her heels, as well.

The arriving warrior leapt from his saddle as
he drew close to Murdoch. He landed like a rock upon Murdoch,
bearing him to the ground. The knight was armored and solidly
muscled, as well, the force of impact stealing Murdoch’s breath
away. The warrior’s destrier continued to race onward, following
the lady and the other horses.

Indeed, Murdoch heard the lady call to the
beast. He battled the knight, managing to get to his feet, only to
be punched hard in the stomach. Murdoch doubled over in pain,
wishing that he, too, wore his armor for this fight. He glanced up
at the anger in the knight’s eyes and knew the man would kill him
without hesitation.

“How dare you accost my wife?” the knight
muttered through his teeth, his accent so thick that it took
Murdoch a moment to understand him.

“I did not accost her. It was an
error...”

“Indeed it was.”

Murdoch swung at the knight and managed to
punch him in the nose. The knight roared as blood spurted, then
kicked Murdoch square in the crotch.

Murdoch fell to his knees, dizzy at the pain.
He heard the Elphine Queen laugh in the distance. Did she care
whether she claimed him dead or alive?

The knight clutched a fistful of his hair and
tipped his head up so that their gazes met. Murdoch had time to see
the furious glint of the knight’s eyes before he too was punched in
the nose. The knight flung him backward and Murdoch felt the warm
trickle of blood on his face even as he landed on his back in the
undergrowth.

The knight turned away and Murdoch heard
Hamish squeak in terror.

But a moment later the boy’s footsteps could
be heard as he raced through the forest. If Murdoch’s ears did not
deceive him, Gavin was directly behind him. Stewart gave a roar and
the man-at-arms shouted in pain. Murdoch rose to his feet to see
the man-at-arms on his knees, his face white and his shoulder
bleeding.

He passed out and fell bonelessly to the
ground.

The knight abandoned Murdoch and shouted with
anger. He lunged toward Stewart and their blades clashed.

“Vermin,” the knight spat as he fought, his
anger undiminished. “Thieves and brigands are as vermin and should
be slaughtered as such.”

Murdoch moved quietly behind the knight,
inching toward his fallen sword. He managed to retrieve it without
either man apparently noticing his movement. His hands shook, but
he laid claim to the blade and held it before himself with both
hands. Murdoch crept up behind the knight, knowing that Stewart was
watching his approach. The knight and Stewart fought back and
forth, their blades ringing through the forest.

Murdoch lifted his own blade and made to
strike.

But he was shocked by the knight’s sudden
move. That knight spun to face Murdoch, his heavy blade swinging in
an arc intended to slice Murdoch across the gut. Clearly, he too,
had been listening to Murdoch’s approach. Murdoch had a heartbeat
to realize he could not move quickly enough to save himself and to
see the knight’s grin of satisfaction.

Then a woman shouted from behind him. “Rhys!
No!”

The knight froze, his blade only a
finger-span from Murdoch. “Isabella?” he said, his confusion
complete.

In truth, the two men had that confusion in
common.

* * *

Murdoch spun to find Isabella galloping
toward him, her hair flowing behind her and her eyes snapping with
anger. “What madness is this, that you would assault my own kin?”
she demanded of Murdoch. She pointed after the departed party. “My
own sister! She has only just had a child, and you attack her on
the road to her family home!”

“You
know
this brigand?” the knight
demanded. The tip of his blade touched the ground in his
astonishment.

Murdoch and Isabella both ignored him.

“This was not for you to witness!” Murdoch
informed the lady, finding himself furious that she should discover
him in this act. It was bad enough that he was compelled to act
against his own conscience. To be called to task for it by Isabella
– no, to be interrupted in the midst of it by Isabella, to be
saved
by Isabella – was too much.

“Yet you would do it all the same!”
Isabella’s eyes flashed and her horse pranced around Murdoch. “You
promised me that you would cease thieving this very morning. Is
your pledge worth so little that you cannot hold it for a single
day?”

“I did not attack them...”

“I beg to differ with your view of the
situation,” Rhys interjected.

“The boys acted of their own volition,”
Murdoch explained. “I had to intervene to ensure that no one was
injured.”

To his astonishment, this argument was not
contested. Instead, Isabella leaned down from the saddle, her lips
parting in horror. “God in heaven, what has she done to you?”

Murdoch took a step back. “Who do you
mean?”

“That dark queen in the forest,” Isabella
said and Murdoch was horrified in his turn. Isabella had seen the
Elphine Queen? Had the Elphine Queen seen Isabella? What price
would be demanded for that?

Was Isabella imperiled because of him?

“This is what she has done to you.” The lady
surveyed him while he struggled to find a response and he feared
she missed no detail. “It is more than the marks upon your flesh.
Your eyes become dark as well.” Her lips parted in horror. “She
means to make you one of them!”

Murdoch felt as if his wits were addled, and
his thoughts moved more slowly than was customary. Even his speech
was slowed as that pervasive chill claimed his body. “How could you
see her?” he whispered.

“I drank tea of wild thyme,” Isabella
explained, her manner dismissive. “Every detail hinted at the
presence of the Fae and that potion gives one the power to see
them. I can see them now. I saw
her
, and I can see what she
has done to you in truth.” Her expression was filled with a dismay
that tore at his innards. “Murdoch! Why did you not tell me!”

Murdoch could not think of what to say.

“Isabella! How well do you know this rogue?”
the knight demanded from behind him. Murdoch glanced back,
realizing too late how much had been overheard.

“Of greater import, how well do you know my
wife’s sister?” The knight glared at Murdoch, then shook a finger.
“If you have laid a hand upon the lady, even if you have not stolen
her innocence, I shall be glad to see you gutted and left to die.”
He raised his blade and swung it anew.

Murdoch lifted his own sword, knowing he
moved too late. The chill impeded him, made his grip faulty and
slowed his reactions. He watched the blade swing toward him once
again and knew he would taste its bite.

Isabella cried a protest. “Rhys, no!”

But before the knight could land his blow,
Stewart stepped up behind him and struck the back of his head hard
with the hilt of his sword.

The knight staggered in place for a moment,
then his eyes rolled up and he crumpled on the ground.

“Murdoch!” Isabella declared with horror, her
horse stamping. “This is unacceptable! Your man has assaulted my
sister’s husband!”

“What was I to do?” Stewart demanded. “Let
him cut down my lord?”

“You could have left them pass safely through
the forest,” the lady fumed, her eyes flashing.

“I told you, it was the boys...”

“They are your boys all the same, and they
have learned this feat from you.”

“She speaks the truth in that,” Stewart
muttered, then smiled at Isabella. “Look upon the bright side. He
is not truly injured. Slightly bruised, and his pride perhaps more
damaged than that.”

“You should not have witnessed this,” Murdoch
said to Isabella.

“And you would have twice been cut down,” she
retorted, a fact he could not dispute.

“You should not have ridden out alone so late
in the day,” Murdoch said instead.

“But I had no choice.” She smiled. “I know
where the relic is, Murdoch. My brother does not have it, but I
know where it is. You can claim it and return it to your
brother.”

Murdoch was amazed and found new strength in
this news. His quest could be close to completion – thanks to the
curiosity of his Isabella. “You have found it?” He snatched for the
reins of the horse, but Isabella made the beast retreat. “Tell me
where it is!”