Chapter 12
"Stay behind me," Eoin commanded, placing himself more firmly between Breana and the approaching soldiers. The king's men had spread out and were now coming at them from four different angles, their deadly blades glinting in the moonlight. "And when ye can, run. Grab one of the horses if ye can."
Breana grabbed an arrow with her shaking hand and nocked it in her bow. "Dinnae be a fool. If ye're fightin', I'm fightin' alongside ye."
"Breana—"
"Look, the lassie has a bow," one of the guards taunted. "Och, I love it when they're fiery. Where do ye think he found a feisty bed warmer like this? Perhaps it's part of their play?"
"I'll find a way tae tame her," another grinned. "Ye ever been bedded by a real man, lass? Dinnae ye worry, I'll teach ye how tae give pleasure in ways this weak little traitor has never dreamed of. Maybe if ye do well, I'll even keep ye alive."
Eoin snarled and started forward, but another of the guards intercepted him, slashing down with a powerful blow that Eoin only just managed to roll out of the way of.
All four of the soldiers laughed darkly, a terrible sound that made Breana's stomach flip and bile rise in her throat.
Eoin kicked out hard, causing the soldier who had attacked him to stumble, and hurried out of reach of the sword.
"Protective!" one of their attackers taunted. "Does he think she loves him? Ye're a worm and a traitor, Darach. The king will hang yer head as a trophy while yer whore dances naked for his men. When we're done with ye, she'll show her love on her back or on her belly, wherever we please."
Eoin launched himself at the one who had spoken, his sword slamming forward, and a ringing clash sounded throughout the dark night as the soldier parried the blow.
Then the fight began in earnest.
All four soldiers turned on Eoin, swarming him with overwhelming power.
Breana screamed as Eoin briefly disappeared from her view, and she raised her bow, firing.
Her first shot went completely wide, but she fought with everything she had, firing over and over again, ignoring the pain in her hand from the string or the shake in her limbs.
Two of the men turned from the attack on Eoin, hurrying toward her. Breana fought against her instinct to drop the bow and run, knowing that if she did, Eoin would be lost. She needed to keep distracting them.
Someone cried out in pain, and in the chaos, she couldn't tell if it was Eoin or one of the attackers. She yelled too, defiance and fear all mingling into something like a roar, and raised her bow, took aim, and fired again.
This time, she struck true.
Her arrow shot right through the eye of one of the two soldiers approaching her, and he went down, his body twitching. In seconds, he was still.
All of the remaining living men stopped for just a moment, staring at the downed body.
Then Eoin, the quickest to recover, stabbed out with his sword, wounding one of those closest to him in the side.
The two men turned back on him with enraged roars, baring down on him with all of their power.
Breana tried to load her bow again, but the third man was now sprinting toward her, too close to hit with her weapon.
She reached for her belt, trying to draw out the knife she carried for close combat, but it was hopeless.
The soldier tackled her, grabbing her wrist and thrusting her to the ground.
She screamed and fought, but then blinding pain shot through her head as the back of it connected with a rock.
Immediately, the world went bright and there was nothing but dizziness and pain, her stomach churning with nausea as the agony pulsed through her skull.
Darkness threatened the ends of her vision. Dazed, confused, and alone, she could only lay there, knowing that she had failed.
Eoin shouted when he saw Breana fall, a renewed rage taking over his body as he adjusted his stance.
He was doing well at keeping the two attacking him at bay, but he was tiring quickly, and he knew that he couldn't keep it up forever.
His concern for himself vanished when he saw that Breana was now laying still and not moving, and the fury and fear pulsing through him gave him the strength to slash out and connect with the stomach of one of the two soldiers attacking him just as the third man turned back to join the fray.
The soldier he had stabbed screamed and swung his sword wildly, but Eoin ducked the blow, dodging to avoid a simultaneous attack from the second man.
He kicked at the stabbed man's stomach, withdrawing his sword and sending the injured body staggering backward.
The soldier collapsed, clutching his stomach as the life pulsed out of him.
Eoin didn't have time to feel disgust or regret. The third man had now joined the attack, and with two soldiers still attacking, Eoin was running out of options. He pressed forward, parrying whatever attacks he could, dodging the rest, using his whole body to keep the soldiers threatening him away.
A burning slice made his cheek feel like it was aflame, and he raised his hand to feel blood running down his face.
One of the soldiers had managed to get a hit in, and the other was rearing back to finish him off.
Eoin hit out with his elbow, catching one man in the chest and winding him, spinning out of the way of the other's attack.
The man he had elbowed stumbled, and Eoin pressed the attack, swinging the hilt of his sword against the man's arm and hearing the crunch of broken bone.
The soldier howled and dropped his sword, and Eoin picked up the dropped weapon and threw it as far away as he could.
It was still in sight, but too far now for either of the still-standing soldiers to reach it without turning their back.
A slice between his shoulder blades made Eoin howl in pain, and he spun to see the other soldier inches away from driving his sword through Eoin's back.
He grunted, ignoring the pain, and brought his attention around, beating away the next attack.
He engaged in a fierce clash with the man with the remaining sword, every slice and hack ebbing his strength away, but he would not give up.
He needed to get back to Breana. He needed to make sure that she was all right.
"If she's alive," the attacker panted, "I will show her pain like she's never kent. Let that be yer last thought, Darach."
Eoin did not take the bait. He knew the soldier wanted him to surge forward in a rage, but he hung back, dodging to the side instead, then sliced out with his own weapon. With one, quick thrust to the man's chest, it was over, and the soldier dropped to the ground.
Panting, exhausted, Eoin spun to deal with the now-unarmed man, his sword raised.
He brought it down without mercy—there was no space left to let any of these monsters live, not while Breana was in danger.
It was a clean kill, slicing through the man like butter, and the fourth and final of the soldiers crumpled, falling forward against Eoin's chest before falling dead at his feet.
Only in the aftermath did Eoin feel the pain shooting through his chest. Only in the silence did he look down and see the knife protruding from between his ribs, right above his heart. In that breathless moment, he turned his wild eyes to Breana, and saw her stirring.
A small smile crossed his face. The blood blossomed from his wound, coloring his shirt a deep red. And he collapsed to the ground, the world going dark.
Breana crawled across the ground, ignoring the pulsing pain in her head, ignoring the disgust she felt as she passed the now-dead soldiers, her only focus getting to Eoin.
She scrambled to him, crying out as if the agony were her own when she saw the blood staining his shirt and the knife stuck in his chest. She knelt at his side, touching his face, calling his name out over and over, not sure what else she could do.
Eoin groaned, opening his eyes. His face was pale, but his gaze was as clear as ever as he locked on her face. "Ye're alive."
"I just hurt me head. Oh, Eoin. Tell me how tae help ye.
Ye must ken how tae deal with these injuries, tell me what I have tae do.
" She desperately tried to remember the little she'd learned from the healers at Bruce Castle.
All she knew was that she shouldn't remove the knife, no matter how much it seemed like the right thing to do.
It was the only thing that was preventing the bleeding from getting worse.
Eoin coughed, and the movement obviously shot pain through his entire body. He forced a smile through his wince. "There, now. We always kent it might end this way." He winced. "Dinnae fret. Ye can still manage tae do what we need tae."
"What?" she demanded. "What are ye sayin'?"
"Ye cannae stay around here. More men might come, and ye could be in danger.
Take the horses and go. We cannae be too far now.
Keep travelin' north, and ye'll be at the convent in no time.
" Eoin smiled weakly, raising a hand to gently touch her cheek.
She felt the dampness of blood on his fingertips, but she did not pull away. "Be safe, Breana. Make it home."
"We'll both make it home," Breana insisted. "Come. I can get ye tae the horse. I ken how tae lead them both—we'll make it tae the convent together. I just need yer help tae get ye that far."
"Dinnae worry so much. I already got what I wanted from me life, more than a man like me could have ever dreamed of.
" He twitched, grimacing slightly, and closed his eyes, though he opened them again a moment later.
"Ye asked me… ye asked me what I'd want tae do if there was no war. If we were free."
"Aye. Aye, and if ye let me save ye, we'll find a way for ye tae do it," Breana told him desperately. "Eoin, please…"
"All I ever wanted tae do since the day I met ye was tae kiss ye, Breana. Tae show ye even slightly how much ye've captivated me heart, me soul, me mind." His breathing was more shallow now, and his voice less strong. "Ye gave that tae me. Thank ye."
Breana's heart felt like it was shattering into tiny pieces in her chest. The shards that remained were more painful than the wound on her head, more overwhelming than any damage that the world could ever inflict upon her.
"That wasnae a dream, nae really," she told him.
She leaned down and pressed her lips against his forehead.
"It was just a moment, Eoin, just one moment in a lifetime of a million of them.
That's what ye should dream of. A life full of happiness.
True peace that lasts. That's what ye deserve—and ye're goin' tae help me ensure that ye get it. "
Eoin's eyes were starting to grow distant, but they seemed to focus more on her words.
He weakly nodded, and allowed her to tie a strip of cloth ripped from her own dress around his chest, careful not to disturb the knife as she did.
It would not help much, but at least it might keep some of the blood in while they moved.
He grunted in pain when she pulled him to his feet, leaning him heavily on her shoulder, but he did not protest. His feet dragged a little as she pulled him toward the horses, and it took a lot of effort, pushing and pulling, and thankfully a very well-trained horse to settle him over the saddle.
Panting and exhausted herself, she quickly gathered the essentials and added them to her pack, then set both packs on the other horse, tying the reins together in the way she'd been taught to lead both horses while only riding one.
Tired and sweating, not wanting to look back at the dead bodies behind her or to think of the part she had played in creating them, she clambered onto the horse behind Eoin.
He let out a small sound as she mounted the horse, but it seemed that he was quickly losing his consciousness.
Fretting, she knew she had to keep him awake, but did not know how to focus.
North. They had to go north. Glancing at the night sky and finding the bright star that was the only guide she could have at the moment, she whispered, "Hold on, Eoin.
" She wrapped one arm tightly around him, careful not to damage him more as she held him safely in place, and took the reins in another.
The horses moved in tandem, turning in the correct direction with only a little urging. They set off into the night, traveling north out of the valley and toward the northern forest in the far distance.
Breana was no fool. She knew that she had very little chance of reaching the convent, and even less chance of keeping Eoin alive until she got there. She knew that it was almost hopeless.
But if there was a chance, any chance at all, she would take it.
"Hold on, Eoin," she told him. "Hold on. I'll keep ye safe. I swear it."