Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Katherine dug her heels into the muddy ground as the men dragged her deeper into the trees. With her teeth gritted and her hands balled into fists, she did everything in her power to make the journey more difficult. They hadn’t gotten far, and she was fairly certain it was because of her efforts.
“Pick yer feet up as ye walk,” the man holding onto her ropes hissed.
“I am,” she retorted, somehow sounding far more indignant than scared. “Ye are walkin’ much too fast for a lady in a gown to keep up.”
“Is that so, lass?” the man to her left asked. “Perhaps ye’d prefer if we changed yer position.”
Without waiting for her response, he kicked the back of her legs, hard. She had absolutely no hope of staying upright, her arms being yanked one way, her feet being held in place by another set of binds. As she fell, she managed to turn her body, so she landed on her back.
“Would yer efforts have been worth it if ye drowned me in the mud?” she snapped, wincing at the sensation of being pulled over the ground.
Twigs and leaves caught in her hair, and her back was soaked through.
She tried to fight, but the rope around her wrists was digging into her skin.
Her shoulders felt as if they were going to be pulled out of their sockets.
Even trying to kick her feet did nothing as the rope would just be yanked tighter.
“If we must get rid of ye here, we will,” the man who tripped her said, looking down at her with a disgusting snarl on his face.
His teeth looked as if they were dead, his gums nearly black. She’d never seen a person look like these three. She didn’t understand how a human’s body could look like that and still work.
“Ye could have gotten rid of me when ye saw me,” she said, thrashing against the ground but doing nothing but splashing in the mud. “Yet ye decided to tie me up and abduct me.”
“Ye’re assumin’ ye’re the person we’d like to get to,” he replied, snarling down at her, a sickening smile spreading across his face.
“Ye’re nothin’ more than bait, lassie. We heard that Laird MacDougal had finally taken another wife, and imagine our surprise when we heard that he was even havin’ a ceilidh to celebrate ye. ”
“It is quite rude to arrive at a party that ye werenae invited to,” Katherine spat, lacking a proper response.
“Careful,” he warned, the corners of his mouth twitching downward and making his smirk look absolutely demented. “Ye are nae anythin’ more than bait. Yer purpose is gettin’ the Laird here. We will keep ye alive until he comes to get ye.”
Katherine barked out a bitter laugh. “Then ye will be waitin’ for quite a long time. He is nae comin’ for me.”
“He wouldnae have thrown ye a ceilidh and invited nearly everyone in the land to come and see ye if he didnae care for ye,” the man countered, indicating for the others to go faster. “And after that lad sent our message, I ken we willnae be waitin’ long.”
“And what if he comes to catch ye in the woods then?” Katherine replied, unsure of what compelled her to keep speaking. It felt much better than just lying there and accepting her fate. “Are ye nae worried about the guards he will bring?”
“Yer sharp tongue will be the death of ye if ye daenae learn to watch it,” the man warned, his tone stripped of everything but the threatening energy.
“Perhaps we should simply cut it out,” the man dragging her suggested. “It would save all of us a great bit of trouble.”
“Ye ken,” the first said, looking at the way the sunlight glinted off of his knife, “ye may have a point. Especially if we will be waitin’ for Laird MacDougal as the lass has suggested we will. That would save the three of us and the rest of the crew a massive headache.”
Katherine bit down on her tongue, her entire body beginning to shake. She kept her gaze fixed squarely on the man’s face, though. She wouldn’t allow herself to be intimidated. Or at least, she wouldn’t allow them to see just how frightened she was.
The men all laughed, loudly and raucously. The sound echoed off the trees, and several birds flew from their hiding spots in the branches above. Even they seemed to sense the evil unfolding below.
Thunk.
The dull sound echoed through the glen, and the menacing laughter suddenly stopped. Buried in the trunk of a nearby tree was a dagger. For a long moment, no one spoke.
Slowly, Katherine lifted her head, following the direction that the weapon had come from. Just at the edge of the trees, a horse standing behind him and stomping its hooves in the mud, was Liam.
Saints, he came.
* * *
Liam pulled out his sword, charging forward in the moment of stillness he had earned. There were three of them, and he knew that the odds weren’t in his favor. His plan was haphazard, thrown together as he blazed through the trees, but he knew one thing for sure.
He would gladly die before he let anyone hurt Katherine.
His first strike landed upon one of their right shoulders. The injured man screamed, a guttural cry that echoed through the area. It wasn’t incapacitating, though, and he reached for his own weapon.
“Nay,” Liam cried, expertly parrying the man’s wild swing.
Before the man was able to attack again, Liam knocked the sword from his hand. Then, before the man could even attempt to regain control, Liam’s sword found its home in the man’s ribs.
“Ye bastard,” the second man growled, surging forward. “Ye willnae get her back. We will make ye hurt in the same way yer family did to us.”
“Daenae test me,” Liam replied, ducking and barely dodging the sharp edge of the man’s weapon.
As he lifted his own sword, slicing through the air with the intent to kill, his eyes flitted to the man dragging Katherine’s body away. She was bound, but she was struggling. It seemed that she was unwilling to go quietly. He expected nothing less.
“Ye will let her go,” Liam growled, boxing the other man in with a series of quick strikes. “It is over. Me army is circlin’ every inch of this land, and ye cannae escape.”
“Ye sound quite sure of yerself,” the man he was fighting spat. Over his shoulder, he yelled, “Pick her up. Get her out of here now.”
“Ye will die here,” Liam said, his voice ice cold as he swung again.
His sword connected to the man’s neck, the blade digging in so deep that Liam was certain he’d hit bone. Blood spurted forth when he pulled it away, and the man collapsed into a heap. Then, he turned on the man who was wrestling Katherine to her feet.
As Liam took off toward the two of them, Katherine managed to get her teeth on the man’s arm. With her eyes closed, she bit down, latching onto him. He grunted, his grip loosening as he tried to shake her off. It wasn’t until he fully let go that Katherine released him.
“I’ve got ye,” Liam said, grabbing onto Katherine and pulling her as far away from the man as he could. As quickly as he could, he cut the ropes that were binding her ankles. “Run. Now.”
Then, without turning to look and ensure she was following his order, Liam attacked. This man was quicker than the other two and had already recovered from her teeth digging into his flesh. Just as Liam’s sword came down, the man pulled his own blade out.
Steel crashed against steel. The vibrations of the impact ran up Liam’s arms through his palms. Tightening his grip, he pushed forward, forcing the man to take several steps back.
“This ends here,” Liam snarled, taking another swing at the man.
His enemy seemed to be prepared. Their blades collided again, this time with enough force to knock both of them loose from their grips. Instead of trying to correct his hold, Liam dropped the hilt, his hand going for his dagger that was strapped to his hip.
Without giving his opponent a chance to strike again, Liam drove the blunt end of his knife into the man’s wrist. It was enough to knock the weapon away. Then, ruthlessly, he tore forward.
His knee connected with the man’s groin as he stabbed the blade into the man’s shoulder.
When he fell to the ground, the dagger came loose, and blood oozed from the wound, soaking his doublet.
Liam was on him in an instant, kneeling against his chest and bringing the knife down directly into his heart.
For a moment, the only sound in the glen was the gurgle of life leaving the man’s body and Liam’s heavy breathing. Then, there was thrashing and a choked-off scream. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as Liam rose and turned around to locate the disturbance.
Nay. This is nae the end.