Chapter 23
Roar! Nella tilted her head less when the sound from an approaching waterfall at midday echoed her ears. Callum slowed Luss, and the beast gave a low huff as if saying, Thank you.
Callum tightened his arm about her waist. “Nella, we should be growing close.”
“Aye.” She glanced over her shoulder at his features.
Any bit from mirth in their times together was gone.
Jaw set and eyes keen, he met her gaze. “Callum, ’tis near, I hear the falls.
Your instincts on following the weapons, you believe the Benefactor is preparing to arm a massive force of men-at-arms.” Nella’s words were weighed by fear. “Dare we ask for what means?”
“I believe the hundred-year war just finished in the Kingdom of Norway under King Magnus’s sire would tell the tale there.”
“You believe the Benefactor seeks the King of Scots’ throne?”
“Look at the siege of Kenilworth occurring right now regarding the English struggles in power. Aye, I think whoever is gathering weapons at a pace I have never seen is seeking just this. The very Kingdom of Scotland, at a time when peace should reign supreme.” Callum cursed something in Gaelic under his breath.
“Nella.”
“Aye?”
“The blood shed at Largs shall not be in vain.”
Was she almost unable to speak at the weight just pressed upon them by the possibility at what they were standing against?
Almost. They were Scots, fighters one and all!
Bring it, Benefactor! Her knight would fight to keep the kingdom whole!
The blood in their veins was the same as those ancestors who once fought the Romans so passionately that they had to erect Hadrian’s Wall in defense.
“Nae, it will not!” she vowed for his ears, then declared, “I believe the waterfall is just down the ridge ahead beside the forest tree line in the distance.”
He nodded. “I will set us toward the boulders over yonder.” He pointed at the pines’ edges which vanished in a downward slope so only the pointed treetops appeared in the distance like the arrow heads in Callum’s quiver.
Steering Luss into a bramble thicket, Callum murmured, “We will tie Luss here, ’twill be a sound place for our concealment.”
As Callum halted the beast, she gave one more pat with the stallion flicking his muzzle up as if giving a nod of approval about himself.
Callum threw his leg over the hindquarters.
Thump. His feet hit the ground before he reached for her.
Raising her leg, she inwardly groaned at her stiff muscles from the hard pace at making certain they arrived in a timely manner.
She set her hands onto Callum’s shoulders, and he gently encircled her waist as if he were capturing a butterfly then eased her down softly, setting her onto her soles.
He brushed her cheek gently with his fingers course from the trade of being a warrior and knight. “You remain close and shadow me, understood?”
She laid her palm over his. “Aye, we step away from this the same as we began this day – together,” she said solemnly. “I cannot lose you either, Callum, ’twill break me to consider otherwise. Understood?”
“Aye, my Nella, aye.”
Creak. Creak. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. “The wagon is approaching on the forest trail below with a four-beat walk by the charger,” she explained.
Callum kept her hand in his while they picked their way in care through the blaeberry bushes as they crouched low like the gray clouds lingering overhead.
She picked up her cloak with the skirts higher when they snagged on a sapling branch, and the scent by fallen pine needles became stronger from the treetops after a stiff gust blew their direction when they neared the cliff’s edge.
The wind’s direction was good; it would aid the words spoken below by traveling on the air up toward them.
Nella nodded to herself, while her step paused beside Callum’s as a wide meadow thrust into view beneath the hilly ridge they stood.
Callum silently tugged her toward the largest boulder among mother nature’s granite clan on the ledge.
Once they reached the boulder, Nella leaned forward.
The vista had dragonflies which darted about in tight formations like warriors of the sky practicing maneuvers while butterflies floated same as the mist billowing from the nearby falls.
Such a bonny place for so dark a purpose by those who wished to snare the crown from King Alexander.
As she leaned more over half the boulder, her stomach pressed the granite, the cold cutting though her several woolen layers like the blades which approached in the wagon below them.
Callum released her palm, retrieving an arrow into his grasp before nocking the yew bow.
Could he make a shot from this vast a distance?
She glanced at his clenched jaw then back down into the valley.
Aye, he was the finest archer she had ever seen.
Time to turn toward her strength. She tilted her skull.
“You believe they will appear as promised?” Sir Brayden asked Tomas while sitting on the wagon’s front bench.
“The missive was very detailed, this was the place chosen,” Tomas replied curtly while steadying his hands on the two steed’s reigns.
“Nella?” Callum murmured. He must have seen them conversing on the approach.
“Sir Brayden harbors worry if the Benefactor’s warriors will appear as planned,” she explained. “Tomas seems certain in a rather terse manner.” Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. “They shall appear, Callum. I hear riders approaching from the north of where we hold.”
“How many?”
One charger’s gallop. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six… Gracious! “Callum.” Her tone was etched by worry. “Forty at least.”
Callum’s knuckles blanched on the bow. “Seems a grand number of warriors for one lone wagon.” Exactly.
Her palms turned damp on the crusted boulder as they observed a warrior horde emerge beyond where Brayden and Tomas had halted the wagon dead center in the meadow’s tall grasses.
Look at Sir Brayden, his spine turned stiff as the wood bench he sat upon.
He also knew it was an oddly large gathering for a mere wagon.
“A show of strength?” Nella whispered.
“Perhaps,” Callum murmured. “Does anyone speak among them?”
Her brows furrowed. “Nae, not even a sigh, ’tis strangely silent.”
“Nella, look at the leader.”
Her eyes narrowed when a sun’s ray escaped the gray blanket overhead. The stranger’s frame was lean, tall, thick dark cloak with hood pulled high. “Hiss?”
The leader’s voice demanded in a hiss at Sir Brayden, “State your name and purpose.”
The hairs on her neck stood. “Callum, ’tis him.” She relayed Hiss’s demand. “Brayden just replied, on behalf of Captain Castellón, before Brayden pressed Hiss on whose behalf has he appeared for.”
An odd high-pitched laugh ripped through the trees, causing a pheasant flock to fly out from the heathers like they had just encountered an adder.
Raising his arm wide, Hiss shouted, “I am appearing for the one who is goin’ to make you and the entire crew of Captain Castellón wealthy!
” She remained silent as Callum tightened hearing the reply.
“Nella, he is boastful in a dangerous manner,” Callum said under his breath. “Something is amiss, Brayden knows it as well.”
“Let us commence!” Hiss ordered then glanced at his warriors. “Check all is as it should be!”
Six approached, lifting the canvas on the wagon’s rear. Nella blinked twice by the flash from the finest steel catching the sun’s glint. So many swords! More than a hundred smiths could forge! Maybe this was the cause for so many enemy warriors to protect such a bounty?
Hiss motioned toward the pair behind him. The two approached bearing leather pouches. At the last moment he raised his palm, halting them. “I have heard about Captain Castellón’s crew, yet I do not remember hearing about one such as yourself.” Oh no, he was looking at Brayden!
“No.” Tomas took lead. “He just joined the crew in Inverness when another crewman took leave for his wife. He is a solid seaman, worthy of Captain Castellón.”
“Hmph,” was Hiss’s response as he locked eyes with Tomas a long moment. Why did it seem like a silent message had just passed between the pair?
In a blink Hiss charged the wagon, drawing his blade. Brayden went for his steel, but the same moment Tomas’s dagger rose right at Brayden’s throat, halting the royal knight’s action.
Traitor! Tomas was betraying them! Callum swore under his breath.
“I am certain you are near, Lady Fawnella, as certain as you hear me. I am Sèidrich and have been waiting for you,” Hiss whispered, his eyes darting about the upper ridges. Sèidrich; that was Gaelic for ‘hissing’. How fitting. How did he know about her instinct in senses?
“Show yourself, Lady Fawnella, and do bring Sir Callum. I am certain he is with you unless you wish Sir Brayden’s throat to have a fresh opening.”
“Callum.” Nella set her hand on his upon the bow lowering the weapon. “The leader is called Sèidrich, I know not how, but he garners the knowledge regarding my instinct in senses. He is threatening us in a murmur. If we do not appear he is goin’ to slit Sir Brayden’s throat.”
“Nella.” Callum looked… panicked. He never looked panicked. She blinked twice. “I cannot protect you if we step down into that meadow.”
Her fingers tightened on his. “It is as you declared regarding Lord Kolson.” Callum raised a brow. “The Northman was taken, not harmed, for a purpose. This is the same. I sense Sèidrich has a higher want in capturing us. Thus, we are needed—"
Sir Brayden must have heard Sèidrich’s earlier words to her and sensed the conflict on the ridge as he yelled, “Sir Callum, do not bend! Keep the lady far from here!”
Callum swore under his breath as Sèidrich aimed his fist, hitting Brayden square on the jaw with such force the knight fell sideways on the bench. “The fist is first!” Sèidrich threatened, “then the blade, Sir Callum!” He raised a dagger.
Her grip tightened on her knight. “Together, Callum,” Nella pleaded. “Together we shall find a way.”
Callum swung his gaze back at the scene below as Sèidrich raised the dagger. “HALT!” Callum bellowed, then stood atop the boulder for all to see where they were. Sèidrich grinned at the find.
“Set your feet down here at once, Sir Callum!”
Callum offered Nella his hand again. “Together, my lady.” She nodded then took his hand.
Together into the unknown. Would they survive the purpose planned by the Benefactor?