To Tempt Highland Fate (The Clan MacCoinnach #2)

Prologue

Drust Mac Coinnach was growing desperate.

He had been without food or water for what seemed like days, though he couldn’t be certain.

And the wound in his side that he couldn’t even see in the inky darkness throbbed and burned so much that he feared he would eventually pass out.

If not from the pain (he was a warrior, after all) then from the steady loss of his lifeblood.

But not now…not yet. For now, he was still alive and standing, and so he would keep walking.

The underground tunnels that he felt his way through seemed to go on forever, and he knew that it would be by a miracle alone that he eventually found his way out.

Especially since he knew he was slowly bleeding to death.

Though he kept a wadded piece of cloth torn from his shirt pressed to the wound, it was long since soaked through, his fingers wet and sticky, and the coppery smell of blood strong in his nose.

But still he kept moving, his instinct for survival strong, and his warrior’s body strong as well.

A lesser man would have been dead by now.

Still, there was only so much lifeblood a body could lose before even a warrior’s strength was not enough.

His hand scraping against the damp stone, he felt the tunnel begin to curve to the left, and he followed, stumbling, his breath shallow, his heart beginning to beat unevenly.

He recalled that a man bleeding to death will begin to gasp for air, as his veins grew empty. He was close, then.

It seemed the floor was rising, as if he was moving uphill, and he struggled to stay upright just a little longer.

Aye, he was definitely climbing now, and up ahead there was a light, dim at first, then growing brighter as he came closer.

It was so dazzling, after days in the darkness, that it hurt his eyes.

A light. Either he had finally found a way out, or he was dying.

At the moment, he had no idea which, but either was fine with him.

With the last of his strength, he moved towards the light, walking, then crawling, then dragging himself over the dirt.

Then he collapsed to the ground and the world went dark.