NINE #2
A kill-shot opened up, but instead of piercing the man closest to him, he lacerated an arm, wounding but not killing. While his attention was diverted, the other two opponents raised their weapons and closed in on him from opposite sides.
She screamed his name and ran forward, as if she could make it to him. Time stilled as she watched helplessly the raised blades come down.
His ears may not have picked up on her voice, but others did. Samson’s ears flicked and he kicked, bucking like a wild animal. The movement threw off one knife-bearer just enough to make him miss his mark. Howling like a fiend when Samson stepped hard onto his foot, he dropped his weapon.
Without anything to preclude his attention, the officer used his full strength to strike blows with the last-standing soldier.
Before Maggie could reach them, the officer struck the musket from the soldier’s hands.
The expression on the defenseless soldier’s face was one that said he expected to die in that moment.
But, instead of the final strike of the sword, the officer turned his wrist and brought the handle of the blade down onto his skull. He fell to the ground.
The victorious officer patted the horse’s neck and steered around to enter a new confrontation. She was so close she could see the sweat dripping from his face, evidence of the stamina he’d exerted. Her blood pulsed wildly.
“HENRY!”
Samson’s head once again jerked to the familiar voice, whipping his rider around. Henry’s face filled with confusion as his eyes rapidly jumped from person to person, desperately seeking to match the face. They came to rest of her, just as she stepped free from the fray.
“Maggie?” He croaked out. Throwing the reins, he leapt off Samson’s back and walked almost dream-like to her.
She prepared to be lifted in a crushing embrace, as the emotions of the moment got the best of them. But he stopped short, as if he’d run into a wall.
His eyes were filled with horror as they took her in. “Is it really you? How…?” He did not sound certain. Terror was behind the words, as if he couldn’t believe it wasn’t a trick of his sight or mind. Beads of sweat rolled from his temples and his face was pale.
After all of the obstacles she’d faced getting there, the miles she’d come, and remembering her disguise, she couldn’t blame him.
Mud was caked on her face, leaving the only feature of her eyes uncovered.
Reaching up, she yanked her cap off, letting her hair cascade down below her shoulders.
She watched the realization come to him and his knees shook.
They failed to hold him up and he sank to the ground completely overcome.
Maggie dove down to him, grabbing his hands.
The battle roaring around them was temporarily forgotten.
“I found you. I found you.” The words came out in a wobbly mess, but it was all she could muster.
His large hands grabbed her face, and his thumbs smeared away some of the mud while his eyes were firmly locked onto hers. Tears filled his eyes as he looked at her, still unable to speak. He drank in the sight of her like a person seeking water in the desert.
A single tear fell from his lashes, and it was the undoing of Maggie.
She collapsed into his chest, clinging to him and weeping.
His large arms wrapped around her, pulling her to him as if he could press them into one being.
They folded easily over her small frame, entirely entrapping her.
Cocooned in the security and warmth of his embrace, Maggie was sure this was what heaven felt like.
She hadn’t realized that through her tears she kept repeating, “I found you, I found you,” over and over until his arms released her and he said huskily, “I will never leave you again.”
His eyes dropped to her mouth, and she knew what he wanted. But she also knew his promise not to touch her kept him from doing so.
Without a second thought, she gripped the back of his neck and pulled him to her.
An electric shock swept through her when their lips met.
His lips were gentle on hers, almost as if he couldn’t believe that she’d done that.
But when she curled her fingers in his hair, he kissed her back thoroughly and passionately.
Guns blazed, cannons fired, and men battled around them, but the world could’ve stopped for all they knew, lost in each other.
Suddenly feeling a gruff nuzzle on her cheek, both split apart and opened their eyes. Samson’s reins dangled from his neck as he bent to where they knelt on the ground, nuzzling Maggie.
She chuckled, reaching up to him. “I missed you, too, boy.”
The interaction was enough to bring Henry to his senses. “Oh, God.” Rising, he pulled Maggie to her feet. “We have to get you out of here.”
The battle had moved a few paces forward as the confederacy began to pull back, leaving them near the outer perimeter.
Clicking his teeth at Samson, Henry swung himself up into the saddle and reached down for Maggie.
She seated herself behind him, wrapping her arms around his midsection for support.
Scarcely five minutes had passed since their reunion, and here he was, determined to get her to safety.
Her mind began to clear as he guided Samson away from the violence, and suddenly she recalled Levi and Abigail.
“Henry, it isn’t the time, but I need to tell you. The reason I had to come—”
Before she could utter the rest, the world in an instant tilted sideways, moving in slow-motion as she watched the ground come closer and closer on their left side.
Samson’s neck extended to the right as he tried to beat gravity.
Clots of dirt floated in the air above them, slowly trickling down.
She had but a fraction of a millisecond to turn her body to cover his.
Then the light went out, disappearing behind the wing of a bird.