Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
With her eyes fixed on the higher terrain ahead, Brianna ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She’d never been so scared in her life, not even during the days she’d spent at sea after the accident as a child—at least then, she hadn’t known she was alone, and had been oblivious to the real dangers that lurked. Today was different. She’d had to face Aidan, the man she loved, for quite possibly the last time and just…go. He’d given her the tools and guidance to ensure she reached safety, but still, she was doing this alone. She wondered if this was history just repeating itself. If maybe she was jinxed, or cursed, and her fate was to keep reliving the trauma of losing the people who mattered most, over and over again. No, Brianna told herself. She would not end up alone, her marriage of true and enduring love a mere memory to last her the rest of her days. Aidan had shown her how to believe in her power. He’d instilled her with love, with hope, and with confidence, and set her free to live. He’d made sure she had a fighting chance, and there was no way that he wouldn’t fight, too. This time had to be different. And he would return, he had to.
Looking around, Brianna knew she needed to keep moving. Stuck on a stretch of grassy meadow, not far from their camp, she longed for cover, but the tree line was still in the distance. She thought she heard someone behind her, and nearly jumped out of her skin, but kept going, hand hovering over where her dagger was sheathed. When she turned and scanned the area, however, she saw no one. That was the one small advantage of being out in the open, she decided. If she was vulnerable to being spotted, so was her enemy. She couldn’t be sure if there were more of them, or if they would even pursue her if there were. It was only now that she had the chance to wonder if the attack had been a random ambush, or if the men were after Aidan specifically. Looking back one last time before going on, she picked up her pace. The sooner she could put herself at a higher elevation and more cover, the better.
Just as she made it inside the tree line, Brianna thought she heard another sound, like the rustle she’d heard before. Instinctively, she reached for her dagger, but again, when she turned she saw nothing but the meadow stretching behind her. Deciding she was just imagining things, Brianna took a moment—and a much-needed deep breath—trying to shake off the heebie-jeebies. With her frazzled nerves quieting back down, she focused back on her goal: Seagrave. According to Aidan, she had a five, maybe six-hour hike ahead of her. She wasn’t going to win any medals for speed, but she could go steady all the way. Nothing like a dose of clarity to keep her motivated. And tucked back into where the brush was growing thicker at the base of the small copse of trees, she was somewhat hidden now, too. Feeling ready to keep going, Brianna turned—right into a man who was standing there, silently looming behind her.
She screamed, then stood frozen as he leered down at her. Taking advantage of her stunned fear, the man grabbed her wrist, jamming it hard against his knee. She cried out again as her dagger fell and pain radiated up her arm. Smiling, he wrenched her shoulder, dragging her in close. She felt her quiver smash up against a tree and knew her arrows had fallen to the ground. The sudden clarity of her defenselessness—one of her daggers and arrows both out of reach—brought her back to the present and she even started kicking and clawing anywhere she could, but by then, the man had gotten the upper hand.
He sneered at her, then said, “Oh, keep fighting, lass, we like that.”
Brianna shivered. She knew exactly what he meant, what he wanted, and knew she had to get away now . She needed to regain control. Breagha—think, girl! Her grandfather’s voice rang in her head, and it was all she needed for her lessons to come back to her again. She let her body go completely limp, becoming dead weight, then dropped to the ground. He was still standing right over her, but it gave her the seconds she needed. The man grumbled, and she thought she heard him make a nasty comment before he reached for her. But she was ready this time, having grasped her other dagger from the scabbard around her calf, which the man hadn’t seen, hidden in the folds of her cloak.
Her attacker wasn’t nearly as large as Aidan, but even so, she doubted a strike, from this angle would be fatal. She had this one chance to incapacitate him and cause as much damage as she could, and when he lifted her, she wrapped both hands around its hilt, then, using all of her strength, she jabbed upward, striking him right in the gut. He yelled out, and with her hands still in a death grip, her face set, teeth grinding, Brianna wrenched it as hard as she could, then pushed him back, trying to pull the dagger free. He gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief, and grabbed at her hands as he fell, taking her with him. She screamed, wrenching herself and the dagger from his grasp then scrambled backward across the brush.
She watched for a moment as he tried to stand, roaring with rage. Realizing that she’d done less damage than she’d hoped, Brianna stood rooted to her spot, terror struck for another second before snapping out of it enough to get her limbs to move, then turned onto her knees, righting herself. As she stood, she reached down to scoop up some of the fallen arrows but dropped the dagger in the process. In her attempt to retrieve it, she stumbled twice before finally leaving it behind to run for higher ground.
It wasn’t until she’d made it further up the hill, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the man, that she realized her mistake—and just how grave her situation was. The trees here were more spread out, providing less cover. She searched frantically for a better spot, and when she found none, she turned to look behind her for a split second. Heart pounding, she clocked that the man wasn’t far behind her now and that he wasn’t alone. She whipped back around and kept going. Brianna knew what she had to do, but when she looked down at her hands, she realized she’d only managed to gather one arrow amongst a few large twigs.
Someday, you may only have one.