by Terry Spear
He wondered if Fenella felt the same way. Once she was married to Cormac, he wouldn’t have her seeing to wounded strangers on their shores. Avelina looked back in the direction Fenella had gone and he eyed the short sword sheathed at her belt.
“Surely one of the men would be better equipped to guard me.” He suspected they were all away, fighting for some clan’s cause and only a few men were left behind. They might not even know what the women were up to.
She ignored him, continuing to watch for her cousin. The next wave wetted his head, and he struggled to sit. He had to move beyond the rocks before the tide came in any further.
The wolf woofed, and she turned to see what the matter was.
Quinn’s head splintered once he’d barely lifted it off the beach, and he dropped his head back on the sand.
“We must move you.” She scrambled down the rocks to reach him, the wolf wagging his bushy tail.
He wondered who “we” was.
“Come on. You are a braw warrior, aye? You must sit up, and I’ll help you the best I can. But remember, Wolf will attack you if you do anything that makes him feel he must protect me.”
“I’m in no shape to do anything to you or him or anyone,” Quinn ground out.
“Good.” She smiled at him, then helped him to sit, but as soon as he did, he felt the blood rush from his face, and she made him sit forward so he didn’t collapse on the beach again. “Dinna you pass out on me.”
“As if I want to.”
“Then dinna.” She studied him, her warm hand on his naked back still, keeping him from collapsing again. “Can you crawl up on the rocks? I’ll aid you.”
“Aye.” He wasn’t sure he could. Not that he wouldn’t try, but every movement pained his head and he felt as though he would pass out every time he tried to do anything.
The wolf was right next to him as if he wanted to help.
Quinn grabbed the first of the rocks and began to pull himself up, the tide washing over his legs now.
“Do hurry,” she said, then stepped into the water and grabbed his plaid. She was back on the rocks again, encouraging him. “You’re almost there. Just a little bit farther.”
He knew he’d have to go a lot farther, the barnacles on the rocks indicating the water would cover them at high tide and it swept around the rocks on the other side. He’d have to get to the beach and continue until he reached the hill covered in wildflower-filled, machair grasses beyond that.
“Can you move a little faster?”
If you could carry me, he wanted to say. God’s knees, he was trying.
He finally reached the top of the rocks and must have collapsed from the sheer pain shrieking through his skull, because the next thing he remembered was the woman pulling on his uninjured arm, trying to get him to move. He opened his eyes and saw her beautiful blue—worried—eyes, looking down at him. He heard the seawater splashing halfway up the rocks, the spray covering him in droplets of briny water.
“Leave me. I’ll join you soon.” Which was a lie, but he didn’t want her to be swept out to sea. He suspected the waves were not as rough here normally, but the storm had churned them up, and he worried that she and the wolf might have difficulty making it safely to the hill.
“And let my prisoner drown? When I have so much work for you to do?”
As if he could do anything in the condition he was in. When the men returned, they’d probably kill him. Especially if they learned he had come to steal Fenella away. “Leave me.”
“Not on your life. Come on. Get up.” She tugged at him again, and the wolf, appearing to want to help, yanked at his plaid still hanging from his belt, pulling it clean away from his body.
He was fair naked; his shredded shirt, boots, and belt was all that remained.
“You are a warrior. Be a warrior. You can collapse on the hill where the tide willna take your body out to sea for the fishes to feed on. But you may no’ lay here.”
He wanted to ask her if her cousin would have taken this long to return, or if she’d had trouble along the way. Maybe found another injured man. Maybe even one of the mercenaries he hoped had died.
He finally got to his knees, and she helped him to stand. “We havena much time.” She wrapped her arm around his waist, the wolf standing on the hill with the plaid still hanging from his mouth. “We must hurry. As soon as the tide slips out, we must run across that stretch of beach to the hill. Run. Not walk, or the tide’s liable to sweep us off our feet and pull us out to sea.”
“Aye.” If his head wasn’t splintering in two, he would have swept the lass up in his arms and raced her across the receding tide. In his current condition, he would be lucky if he could walk and not collapse again.
“Now,” she said, and dragged him off the rocks and into the receding water.
He hated that he had to use her strength to get him to where they needed to go.
She tried to drag him quickly, her voice urgent. “Hurry. We are no’ going to make it.”
He was hurrying as fast as he was able, every step sending pain into his upper body and his head and arm. He suspected he’d bruised his ribs also, hoping none were fractured. He was in agony, his breathing shallow, and he could barely do anything but keep his focus on taking one step after another through the water.
“It’s coming in. Now.” She tugged at him, but no matter how much she tried to drag him, he couldn’t go any faster. His mind kept blackening. “No!” she screamed at him.
Water lapped at his neck, and he realized he’d collapsed and the water was covering his body. She was holding his head out of the water, the wave soaking her clothes, which would make it even more difficult for her to move. Her blue eyes were filled with tears, and he’d done that to her. She’d been so vigilant about saving him, she could be in harm’s way herself, and he couldn’t allow that. He mustered every bit of strength he could, and attempted to stand as the tide washed out and nearly dragged them with it. The seawater was now halfway up their legs, or higher on hers because she was shorter than him.
When she helped him to stand, she trudged through the water toward the hill, trying to keep him on his feet and moving forward. “I would carry you, lass, across the ocean itself, if I could.” He had to tell her that, to ensure she knew he wasn’t a ruffian who would let a lass perish for him, if he wasn’t suffering from so many injuries.
She looked up at him. “I believe you would.”
“I would.” He gritted his teeth against the pain stabbing his ribs and to keep his senses about him. They were getting closer. They could do this.
The tide rushed in and nearly knocked them off their feet again, only this time, somehow, he managed to keep Avelina from falling, and she clung to him, looking shocked that the roles had been reversed, but he groaned in pain as her soft body pressed against his injured ribs.
“Hurry. We must hurry.” She began tugging at him again, as if she were afraid the pain she’d inflicted on him had caused him further injury and would make him collapse again.
Truth was that he couldn’t get the image of her pressing against him out of his mind. Not a lassie who wanted to share his bed with him, but one who was trying her darnedest to rescue him, even if she was taking him as her prisoner.
To his annoyance, he had to lean on her strength again, but when the tide pulled out, he fought staying on his feet and holding her up too. He knew as petite as she was, she could easily be swept off her feet and pulled under. “Do you know how to swim?” Though even if she did, she could easily drown if she was pulled under and couldn’t get to her feet fast enough.
“Aye, but this isna a time to go swimming. Not after a violent storm has passed through here. The waves attest to that. Save your breath.” She sounded like she needed to save her own, her words labored. “Can you move no faster?”
“We are nearly there.” Halfway at least, but that was better than where they were minutes ago.
“We are no’ nearly far enough. Hurry.” She half clung to
him as the water pulled at her, half dragging him. She was having just as much trouble moving now as he was.
On the hill, Wolf sat watching them, eagerly waiting for them to join him, the plaid at his feet.
A wave slammed into him and Avelina, and both fell. They were submerged, and he quickly found Avelina, and pulled her out of the water. She was sputtering, coughing, trying to catch her breath. The water began to recede, and he managed to get to his feet and lifted her to hers. The wave had pushed them closer to the hill, but was threatening to pull them under and out to sea again. He struggled to keep moving forward, the water at his thighs and at her hips.
Another wave hit them, but this time he was able to move forward with it, dragging her with him, and he was close enough to the hill before the water receded that he managed to collapse on it, pulling her down with him. “We…made…it.” Barely. The water still bathed his legs, but his head and body were above the water. “Thank you.”
She snorted, but she couldn’t move either for a moment, and lay on top of him, her skirts covering his bare skin. Their wet bodies warmed each other. He needed Wolf to bring his plaid, so he could cover himself properly, but neither Avelina or he moved, just remained there to catch their breaths. She was shivering, and he wrapped his arms around her and tried to hold her tighter to warm her further, but his ribs hurt. He groaned a little.
“Your ribs…”
“You’re cold,” was all he could get out.
She glanced up at Wolf. “Bring the plaid, Wolf.”
The wolf came down the hill and greeted her, without the plaid. “Go fetch the plaid, Wolf.”
Wolves had a mind of their own. Quinn didn’t believe she could have trained him like she might have trained a dog to fetch.
“We’re going to have to work on that,” she said. “Wait here, Quinn. I’ll get your plaid.” She carefully moved off Quinn and headed up the hill, then grabbed the plaid and hurried back down to him. “Can you crawl up the hill? Or walk? You need to get out of the water.”
“Aye. Just let me rest a moment more.”
“Nay, you’re too cold. You must move out of the water. Get up.” She helped him to sit, and then struggled to help him to stand.
He groaned in agony. Every bit of him hurt. Though he admired her persistence.
“A cave is nearby. You can stay in that until you recover more. I’ll bring you food.”
He wanted to ask her why she was “hiding” him away from her people. He figured they would kill him if they knew he was here and why. For some reason, she wanted to keep him alive.
Somehow, he climbed the hill with her assistance, and she helped wrap his wet plaid around him. Then she again aided him until they reached a small cave. The floor was sandy and a couple of holes in the cave walls let in some light. The walls were covered in moss and moisture. At least the cave protected him from the blustery wind and rain, if they had any further storms. “I have to return home, and I’ll come back with food, a clean, dry blanket, and shirt. Yours is wet and torn, and your plaid is sopping.”
“And your clothes are wet.”
“I’m not injured like you. I’ll change clothes when I return to the keep.”
He wondered if anyone would notice that she was drenched and make her explain why.
She helped him to sit on the floor of the cave. “I’ll start a fire for you at the mouth of the cave to provide some heat and help dry your things. Wolf will stay here and pro… guard you.”
Protect, was what he was sure she was going to say.
“Thank you.”
“You willna thank me when I put you to work. I will return as soon as I can.” She started a fire, and then she ordered Wolf to stay. “Guard the prisoner.”
She started off for the keep.
To Quinn’s surprise Wolf did stay. Except he didn’t remain outside the cave guarding Quinn.
“Come here, Wolf,” Quinn said, needing the wolf’s warmth if the animal was agreeable.
Wolf loped into the cave and Quinn patted the ground next to him. “Sit.”
The wolf sat down next to him and watched out the cave entrance for his mistress. Before long, the wolf was lying next to Quinn, keeping him warmer than he would have been without the animal sharing his body heat. The fire helped to take the chill out of the air too. He still worried about Fenella and why she had never returned. He hoped she hadn’t run into trouble and that Avelina wouldn’t run into the same trouble.
She should have taken Wolf with her to protect herself! And he should have insisted! Which showed how he wasn’t thinking clearly at all, as he collapsed against the sandy ground.
3
Avelina couldn’t believe that Fenella hadn’t returned by now. Wolf was fast, but Fenella should have brought her brother’s clothes long before this, unless she’d run into trouble with one of their men. Or if she’d encountered another injured man from the ship that Quinn had been on.
She couldn’t believe how injured he was, or how he’d rescued her when she’d been pulled under the water. She was grateful that he had, but she reminded herself that she wouldn’t have been in the trouble she’d been in if it hadn’t been for trying to rescue him in the first place. She had to remember he was the enemy, unless proven otherwise, and he could cause all kinds of trouble for her people. But she hoped when he mended, he could be a help to them.
She hadn’t even asked what woman he was supposed to be taking to his brother. Was she on one of the other islands? He couldn’t have meant anyone from here.
Fenella? No. Avelina shook her head. Not her cousin. She would have known if her uncle had arranged a marriage for her cousin.
When she reached the keep, she saw three men in the inner bailey, her people standing around them, giving them water and bandaging their injuries. She frowned. More of the men from the ship?
Then she saw Fenella and hurried to join her.
“Oh, och, what happened to you?” Fenella asked, taking hold of Avelina’s hand and hurrying her into the keep. “You are sopping wet.”
“What happened to you? You were supposed to bring clothes for the man on the beach. Are those more of the men who were shipwrecked?”
“Aye, but there is something odd about them. They asked if any other men had washed up. Some of our men found them a long way from where the other was. One of my da’s guards wouldna let me leave once they began finding these men on the beach. I sent Wolf to you right away, but I didna know what else to do. I tried to send one of our lads, but they wouldna let him go either.”
Avelina hurried into her chamber and began to strip off her wet clothes.
“How is he? And where is he?”
“I had to move him from the tide water.”
“That is why you’re all wet.”
“Aye, and with great effort, I moved him to Yorun’s Cave. Wolf is guarding him. But he still needs warm, dry clothes. We took a dunking when I tried to move him. He’s badly injured. Did you mention him to his friends?”
“I didna. One of the men said to his companions that Quinn never dies and if he managed to survive the shipwreck, they had to kill him before he caused them any trouble. Did you learn what the half dead man’s name was?”
“Quinn. And he isna in any shape to protect himself from these men if they are brigands, and he isna. What did you do with his sword and sgian dubh?”
“I put them in your chamber, underneath your bed. You’re no’ giving them back to him, are you?”
“Nay.” Though Avelina should if he was going to be able to defend himself against the other men, if he was the same Quinn they spoke of. He couldn’t defend himself right away though. He would need to heal first.
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to take him healing herbs, clothes, and to bandage his wounds. But we must keep him secret from the other men until we learn the truth. Did the men say who they were?”
“They work for Cormac and they are Ivar and Griswold, but I didna hear the other man
’s name.”
“Quinn said he was supposed to fetch a bride for his brother. Surely, if his brother sent him on the mission, he must be the one in the right, and the other men—”
“In the wrong. Unless he intended to steal his brother’s bride,” Fenella said.
“Aye.” Avelina went through the bundle Fenella had gathered for her—her brother’s shirt, boots, a plaid, loaf of brown bread, cheese, and a flask of wine. “You have done well, Cousin.”
“I’m sorry I couldna get the items to you. You dinna think anyone will be angered that you have given him your brother’s clothes?”
“He can no longer wear them,” Avelina said sadly, still missing her brother who had died during the conflict last year.
“Is Quinn badly injured?”
“Aye, and cold and wet. I started a fire at the mouth of the cave where we have played before, and Wolf is guarding him.”
“Did he tell you the name of the woman he had come for?”
“Nay. I was too busy trying to get him out of the reach of the incoming tide and up the hill. I will ask when I return. But he did say the woman wished to leave her kin.”
“If her kin doesna wish it and they catch him, he will be a dead man.”
“I agree. Tell no one about him. If our men bring him to the inner bailey, these men could attempt to kill him. What if they are the ones who are in the wrong?”
“True. He is braw, is he no’?”
“Aye.” Avelina belted her sword around her waist, and stuck her sgian dubh in one boot, Quinn’s in the other. She wasn’t sure she should arm him, but after learning what she had from Fenella, she was afraid to chance him being unarmed, in case more of these men had survived the shipwreck and intended to kill him. “Once he has healed a bit, mayhap the widow Judith could take him in, and he could repair her byre and her croft. I will speak to her of it. I must get on my way and move him before anyone searching the beach thinks to look for a man in the cave nearby.”
