Chapter 19
The whistle of a sword cutting through the air was the only hint they got that something was wrong before one, two, three Grant men fell dead on the grass.
Nobody had noticed the shadow sneaking up and dispatching two men with knives, but they noticed when Noah swung his sword and cut down the third.
The camp froze, and Elin’s heart lifted as she saw Keir, expression burning with fury, dart toward his next target.
He’d come. For the first time in her life, someone had come back.
Chaos erupted as the remaining Cameron and Grant men tried to fight back.
Keir was too fast and Noah too accurate with his blows to be killed quickly, but though they were able to kill or incapacitate the first wave that approached, it was obvious to Elin that two men could not hold off thirty forever.
“Cut me loose!” Graeme urged her. “Let me join them!”
“Ye’re mad!” Elin gasped. “Ye’re dyin’. Ye cannae fight!”
Graeme stared at her, more serious than she had ever seen them. “I die here or I die there, Elin. Let it be for somethin’ useful. Let it be for what’s right, eh?”
She hesitated for only a second, then nodded. Reaching for the abandoned weapons belt of one of the soldiers, she withdrew a sharp dagger and sliced away Graeme’s bonds. He struggled to stand, and once he did he staggered, but when Elin tried to help him, he gently but firmly brushed her off.
“Be careful,” she warned, even though the advice sounded silly when death was flying all around them.
He winked. “No promises. Stay alive.”
Then he was gone, disappeared into the battle.
Elin clutched her knife and screamed as a soldier approached her with his sword raised.
She jerked out the knife, slashing out to protect herself.
It was ineffective, but it startled him enough that he stumbled back, falling and hitting his head hard.
He didn’t get back up again. Elin stared at him for a moment, then took a breath.
There was no running now. It was time to remember what Graeme and Keir had taught her. It was time to defend herself.
It was time to fight.
The battle raged around her, and Elin did what she could, twisting and avoiding swings, stabbing out with her knife and avoiding deadly blows.
She kept herself to the sidelines, knowing that stealth was her ally, but also knowing it was impossible on this open plane to disappear entirely.
Men died, horses screamed, and the world dissolved into nothing but destruction.
From where she was, Elin could see all of them.
She saw Graeme and Noah back to back, supporting each other as they fought off an impossible number of soldiers.
She saw Keir, taking on two men at once, his brow furrowed in concentration.
And she saw Eamon storming over to Keir from behind, his sword raised.
“Keir! Behind ye! Keir!” she shrieked, but her voice was lost in the sound of the battle. The sword swung down and Elin screamed.
Then Eamon screamed too, dropping his sword. An arrow protruded from his shoulder. Elin followed its trajectory in shock and saw Nightwind racing into the battle, Theon at the reins, Briana holding a bow in both hands.
Hope surged through her.
The Broken Blades were reunited at last.
Theon jumped down from the horse’s back and ran to his little brother’s side.
There was no time for a reunion, but it caught Elin’s breath to see the way the two of them instantly fell into synchronization.
They fought together with fierce certainty, each an extension of the other, and Elin wondered if this was why the alliance had so feared the strength of the MacKenzie clan.
Enemy after enemy fell to them, and Noah and Graeme seemed to surge with renewed energy at the sight.
Iain Cameron, who had until now waited on horseback to the side, had his eyes fixed upon Briana.
Elin saw the moment his face changed, and she started to run.
She knew she’d never reach Keir and Theon in time, and she knew that she couldn’t save them even if she did, but she ran faster than she ever had in her life, crying out their names over and over.
The men Theon was battling parted as the horse bearing Iain approached, and Iain raised his sword, ready to cut him down.
“Stop!”
Iain only barely managed to pull back his sword in time as Briana appeared, throwing herself between him and Theon. “Move,” he ordered crisply. “Now.”
Elin reached them, panting, but stood a little back from the scene, unsure what to do. The fighting around them had stilled entirely, like the whole world was holding its breath and waiting to see what happened next.
“I willnae. If ye want tae kill Theon, ye have tae kill me as well,” Briana said. She stood in front of her husband, her arms outstretched, staring at her brother. “He’s me husband, Iain. Me husband and… and the father of me unborn bairn.”
Silence greeted the announcement.
Iain’s expression paled in shock, but Elin felt a wash of warmth from head to toe.
A child.
A child born from the daughter of the alliance and a son of the clan betrayed.
A child created from love.
This was why they had fled—because they had something they had to protect, no matter the cost. And it was also why they returned when the rest of their family needed them the most.
“A bairn?” Iain asked.
“Yer niece or nephew,” Briana said. “Iain, please. Ye werenae always like this, nae deep down. Why must it continue this way? Let’s leave the crimes of our fathers in the past where they belong and work toward a new future. Together.”
It was the briefest hesitation, but something shifted in the way that Iain stood. Before he could respond, though, a Grant man shouted.
“Enough of this!” the man roared and ran forward, ready to cut Briana down.
Iain’s sword moved so quickly it reminded Elin of the flashes of lightning from the storm. He killed the Grant man without an ounce of regret or any change to his expression. “Stay away from her,” he warned the living quietly.
Deranged laughter sounded from nearby, and Elin yelped as someone grabbed her arm. Eamon dragged her forward to where Keir stood, and Eamon threw her down between them. None of the other soldiers moved.
“Did ye enjoy me pet, bastard?” Eamon spat.
His eyes were wild. “Did she show ye the tricks I taught her like a good lass? Well, I dinnae like sharin’ me toys.
Look at her. Ye’ve spoiled her. I’ll take her back with me, but I dinnae appreciate damaged goods, especially ones touched by dirty blood like ye. ”
Elin scrambled back, but Eamon didn’t even seem to notice. She moved until she was beside Theon and Briana, and Theon put a hand on her shoulder.
Eamon was still ranting. “I’ll give her tae me men tae share around between them. Or perhaps I’ll send her tae service the fishermen down at the dock tae bring some coin in. Maybe I’ll even give her tae me father. He always did enjoy breaking in young, fertile lassies like her. What—”
Keir let out a roar and flew forward, weapon in hand and death in his eyes.
Noah appeared from the crowd and joined him, and they fought hard against Eamon’s crazed swings, his fury seeming to fill him with burning power.
But Keir’s anger fueled him too, and as Noah ducked one of Eamon’s punishing blows, Keir’s sword pierced right between his ribs.
Elin watched the surprise on Eamon Grant’s face as he died.
His body crumpled, and she waited to feel sorrow, or shock, or regret. But all that flowed through her blood was an overwhelming relief. She sagged, leaning against Theon and Briana for support.
Noah and Keir exchanged looks, then Keir stepped forward to stand over Eamon’s body. The Camerons and Grants alike stood silent, staring.
“I am Keir MacKenzie, second-born son of the laird yer masters betrayed,” he announced.
“Bastard or not, I stand for me clan. I stand for me brother. I fight for me people. Go, now, and tell every traitorous laird between here and the borders that the MacKenzies are coming to reclaim what was stolen from us. And we willnae allow anyone tae stand in our way.”
Iain made a small sound. Elin turned to look at him, fearing the worst, but he was simply staring at his sister. Then, with a grimace, he declared, “Retreat! All of ye. Grants, return tae yer homestead. Camerons—with me.”
Then, slowly, incredibly, the two groups of men retreated, following Iain until they disappeared over the hills.
Elin turned to look at the others, but her joy was short-lived.
Graeme’s eyes fluttered closed and he collapsed, skin grey, blood seeping from his wounds. He looked no different from the corpses around them.
She screamed.