Box Set - Knights of Passion (7 Novels)
Page 60
“Then we’ll die together, Coira. God’s eyes, dinna be so afeard and do as I say already. Take the horse and ride east along the Scottish border toward Northumberland. I heard Aidan’s friends say they were goin’ te stop at the MacKeefe’s other dwelling, Hermitage Castle. Ye’ll be safe with them.”
“But I dinna ken where it is.”
“Jest stay on our side o’ the border and head east and ye should be safe. Ask any Scot ye see, and they’ll tell ye where te find Hermitage Castle. Get yerself there te safety, and ask fer Ian and Onyx. They are Aidan’s friends and they will help ye. Now go!” She pushed her sister, and with one last fearful look backwards, Coira then turned and ran toward the woods.
Effie prayed she’d make it to safety. She turned and headed back to the moat, and dove in where she’d seen Aidan fall. She swam through the wretched water that was dirtied from garbage and dead things she couldn’t identify, and then she saw his plaid floating atop the water. When she made her way to him, he was face down. Grabbing him and turning him over, the wound in his shoulder was evident. Looking closer, she realized the arrow had passed right through him. He also had a gash on his head from hitting a rock when he fell.
“Och, Aidan, please dinna be deid,” she said, pulling his body to the shore. She was out of breath by the time she dragged him out of the water, and could see the guards heading quickly toward them. His eyes were closed and she didn’t even know if he was alive. With no idea how to help him, she felt like she was too late.
She couldn’t live without him. She needed him and wanted him and never should have deceived him in the first place, and none of this would have ever happened.
“Nay, ye canna die,” she cried, throwing herself atop his chest. Then she reached out and touched his lips with hers for one last kiss.
AIDAN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Aidan was having that dream again. The dream about Effie, his angel. This time she was kissing him, and she had tears in her eyes. And when she pulled away and turned around he saw the English guards again, but this time something was different. Aye, he now realized what it was. Now, she didn’t have a tail.
“Aidan, get up, we have to go,” he heard her cry out. Although he felt as if he wanted to just lie there and sleep and not move at all, he heard the terror in her voice, and it caused his eyes to open.
“Effie?”
She turned back, looking down at him, and a smile lit up her face. “Ye’re alive!” she said, reaching over and hugging him. He wrapped his arms around her, and it felt good. So damned good that he never wanted to let her go. Then his blissful moment was cut short as he heard the wretched voice of Lord Ralston.
“Well, you won’t be alive for long if I have anything to do with it.”
Aidan looked up to see Lord Ralston and his guards surrounding them with their swords drawn.
They pulled Effie off of him, dragging her to her feet. Aidan reached out for her, but it was too late, they had her. Wincing in pain from the arrow that had gone straight through his shoulder, he was bleeding profusely and already felt light-headed.
The guards pulled him to a standing position, and he felt like he weighed twice as much with his wet woolen plaid weighing him down. He knew now that even if they did manage to escape again, they’d never be able to outrun them with him in this condition.
“We can’t find the other one,” said one of the guards.
“Dinna worry aboot her,” said Tasgall, coming to join them. “She is weak and with fever and will be deid by mornin’. Let’s go for the stone and get it back before the king’s arrival.”
“Lord Ralston?” asked the guard. “Should we split our forces and half of us go after the girl?”
“Don’t bother,” he said. “We’ll have the stone before she can tell anyone a thing. Go get the wagon and a dozen soldiers, as the Highlander is going to take us to the stone right now.”
“I willna,” Aidan said, then heard the cry of Effie. He turned to see a guard holding his dagger to her throat.
“If the Scot refuses once more,” said Lord Ralston, “slit the girl’s throat.”
“Nay!” Aidan cried out, not wanting anything to happen to Effie. “I’ll bring ye te the stone, jest dinna hurt her.”
“Tie them both up and put them in the wagon,” said Lord Ralston. “And bind up the Scot’s wound as I don’t want him leaving a bloody trail for anyone who may come looking for him. Be sure this time to check the Scot for any hidden weapons, as I’ll not have him escaping again.”
The guards tied Aidan’s and Effie’s hands behind them, and Aidan’s wound was wrapped haphazardly by a soldier. Then they started pushing them roughly toward the castle.
“Leave her here,” said Aidan. “She disna ken where I hid the stone. She is innocent.”
“Hah!” spat Lord Ralston. “She is far from innocent, I assure you. After all, she was the one who led us directly to you and the stone in the first place. I can’t trust that you won’t try to escape, so we’re taking her along for assurance. You lead us to the wrong place, or try to fight us or get free, and your little lassie there will be dead before you know it.”
“Nay, dinna harm her. I’ll take ye te the stone,” Aidan told him. “I’ll do whate’er ye want, just dinna do anythin’ te hurt Effie.”
* * *
Effie sat in the back of the cart as it jolted over the rough road, heading in the direction that Aidan had told them to go. Both of them had their hands and feet tied, and Aidan lie in the wagon with his eyes closed. She could see him wince in pain every time the wagon hit a bump or rock in the road.
She scooted over to him, using her knee to try to get Aidan’s head on her lap. “Put yer head on me lap, Aidan, and it willna hurt as much when we hit a bump.”
His eyes opened slowly and he looked at her. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but by his expression, she could see that although he just divulged information to get to the hidden stone to save her life, he still hadn’t forgiven her. She needed to do something to regain his trust and also to help not only save his life, but save the stone from getting into the hands of the English.
“Please, Aidan. I want te help ye.”
“Then why didna ye jest stay away from me te begin with? Thet woulda been the most help ye coulda given me.”
She managed to get him to lift his head slightly, and she quickly slipped her legs under him, cradling his head.
“I’m sorry I wasna honest with ye from the start,” she said. “I was scared for me sister’s life and I wasna thinkin’ clearly.”
“Thet’s fer sure,” he said, letting out a breath and closing his eyes again. “And I wasna thinkin’ clearly either, or I ne’er woulda told ye aboot the stone and brought ye back te the MacKeefe camp in the first place.”
“I’m glad ye did,” she said, feeling the tears in her eyes. “Ye have shown me a kindness and made me feel special. Nobody has e’er done thet fer me. I will cherish fore’er the time we’ve spent together.” She reached down and pressed a kiss against his forehead and realized his head was very hot and that a fever was starting to set in. If she didn’t think of something soon to help him, he would be dead.
“Sleep now, and save yer strength,” she told him, wondering what she could possibly do.
* * *
Aidan awoke with a jolt as he was pulled by his feet from the wagon and thrown onto the ground. His body hit the hard earth and he barely managed to keep his head from hitting against a rock as well.
“Arrrrgh,” he cried out, feeling the wound on his shoulder opening even wider.
“Leave him alone!” Effie struggled to get out of the wagon, but couldn’t, with her feet tied together.
“Set up camp for the night,” Lord Ralston ordered his men. “In the meantime, I’m going to get the Scot to tell us exactly where he hid the stone.” He pulled out his dagger and went over to Effie. He cut the ropes binding her feet, then dragged her over to Aidan and threw her down on the ground nex
t to him. “This better not be a wild chase you’re leading us on, or you’ll be sorry.” He held the dagger to Effie’s throat once again. “Now tell me where the stone is, and I want to know exactly.”
Aidan saw the fear in Effie’s eyes, and although he wanted to lie and tell them it was somewhere back in the Highlands, he knew he needed to tell the truth. He felt the fever overtaking him. With his wound getting worse, he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d live. If they actually had the stone, they might spare Effie’s life.
If he’d not been wounded, they might have half a chance to escape. But with the shape he was in, he knew he’d never be able to fight all the Englishmen and survive.
“Jest let her go, and I’ll tell ye e’erythin’ ye want te ken,” he said, trying to make a deal.
“You’re in no position for bargaining, MacKeefe. Now tell us, or I’ll start by severing one of her fingers, and don’t think for a moment that I won’t.” He grabbed her hand and held it out, and Effie struggled against him.
“Dinna tell him, Aidan. Protect the stone, dinna worry aboot me,” she said bravely.
“If ye hurt or kill her, then I’ll ne’er tell ye,” said Aidan.
“Then you can just watch as I kill her a little at a time.” He traced the edge of his blade in Effie’s palm, drawing blood. She screamed out, and it was more than Aidan could watch.
“All right,” he said. “Jest leave her alone and I’ll tell ye.”
“I’m waiting, MacKeefe,” he ground out, holding out Effie’s hand to make sure that Aidan saw the blood.
Aidan hated himself for doing this, but he had to tell them the truth in order to have any chance of Effie surviving. “It’s buried at the crook where the River Annan and the Evan Waters meet,” he said, already feeling his betrayal to Scotland like a heavy weight on his shoulders.
“Good,” said Lord Ralston, letting go of Effie’s hand. She pulled it away from him quickly, holding it against her clothes.
“That’s halfway to Glasgow,” said one of the guards.
“At least it’s not halfway to the Highlands,” Lord Ralston answered back.
“Shall we kill them now?” asked the guard. “After all, we know the location so we no longer need them.”
“Nay.” Lord Ralston wiped the blood from his dagger on his tunic and replaced it in his weaponbelt. “I need them alive for leverage in case we meet any Scots along the way. Besides, I’m not exactly sure the Highlander is telling the truth. But if we get there and don’t find the stone, I will kill the girl, I swear. Now untie the girl’s hands so she can take care of the Highlander’s wounds. I won’t have him dying on me before I have the stone in my possession. Watch her, as I won’t have her doing anything to help him escape.”
“Aye,” said the guard, cutting the ropes around Effie’s wrists. She dove to the ground and cradled Aidan’s head in her arms.
“Aidan, ye didna really tell them where ye hid the stone, did ye?” she said softly so only he could hear.
“I had to. I didna have a choice, lassie,” he said, feeling like the biggest failure and also the biggest traitor Scotland ever had. “I did it so they wouldna hurt ye. But if they take the stone back te England, I swear I will kill meself rather than te live with what I’ve jest done te Scotland. I willna live as a traitor te me country. No’ e’er.”
AIDAN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Effie had cleaned and rewrapped Aidan’s wound, and even convinced the guards to untie his feet and tie his hands in front of him, so it wouldn’t pull so badly on his shoulder. She could see he needed stitching, and she was afraid he’d lost so much blood that he would soon be unconscious. She’d bathed his forehead and chest all night long, hoping the fever would break. He’d had ale to sip on, but she wished it was mountain magic for his pain. Still, he looked no better.
It was morning when Aidan’s eyes flickered open, and Effie bent over to kiss him on the cheek.
“Effie, me angel,” he whispered, and his voice was so soft that she could barely hear him. “I will ne’er ferget ye.”
“Ye sound as if ye’re sayin’ guidbye,” she said.
“I am. I’m goin’ te try te catch them off-guard and kill them all, afore they find the stone.”
“Ye are mad,” she whispered back. “Ye canna do it, ye can barely talk let alone stand.” She felt his forehead, but he still had a fever. His wound looked bad, and she feared for his life. “Ye will be killed, Aidan, please dinna do it.”
“I would die fer me country, sweetheart. Thet’s somethin’ ye need te remember. Now ye need te escape afore anythin’ happens te ye. I’m goin’ te tell ye exactly where the stone is, in case I dinna make it to the river. When they go te look fer the stone, ye need te make yer move. Ye canna stay with these English bastards, becooz they will kill ye.”
“I willna leave without ye, Aidan.”
“Then ye will die at me side,” he said. “Now listen closely. The stone is in the water right at the base of a large Rowan tree. Try to sneak me a dagger and some weapons. I’m goin’ te need them te fight off these bastards.”
“What are you talking about?” A guard pulled Effie to her feet.
“Nothin,” she said quickly.
“Get up and get back to the wagon. As soon as everyone awakes and we break the fast, we’re going for the stone. With any luck, we’ll make it there by sundown.”
Effie knew now she needed to get away from here and do something to try to help Aidan. If she could escape, she may have half a chance to find some Scots along the way who would be willing to help her. Mayhap they could also save Aidan from doing something that would end up taking his life.
But in order to escape, she knew she needed a horse. She spied the horses tied up down at the water’s edge, and figured this might be her only chance. Daylight was just starting to break, and most the guards were still sleeping around the fire. And Lord Ralston was out of view, inside his tent. She knew this was risky, but she had to try. If she were going to do anything to help Aidan, it would have to be right now. She looked back to him lying on the ground, and wanted to tell him what she planned to do, but couldn’t. His eyes were closed again, and she couldn’t even give him a signal.
“I need to go wash the blood off of me in the creek from tending his wound,” she told the guard.
“Fine,” he said, “but I’m coming with you.”
She looked back one more time to make sure no one was watching, and headed toward the creek with the guard dragging her by the shoulder of her clothes. He held his sword in the other hand as a reminder to her not to try anything. Once there, he pushed her down to her knees and she pretended to be cleaning herself in the water.
The guard went to a tree, turning his back on her to piss, and she looked up, spotting his sword leaning against a rock behind him. She quickly got to her feet and walked quietly to get it. Then she picked up the sword in two hands and lifted it above her head and rushed toward him. He turned just as she plunged the sword downward, and it embedded itself into his chest. His wide eyes looked up to her in surprise and he fell backwards onto the ground – dead.
Effie’s whole body shook at what she’d just done. She’d killed a man, and now she knew she had to escape or they’d kill her in return. She placed her foot on the man’s chest and pulled the blade from his body and threw it to the ground. Then she took hold of his feet and dragged him into the water. The flow of the stream took his body, sending him floating away. Mayhap she’d be able to get away with this after all.
But all hopes were dashed when she turned around and bumped directly into Tasgall.
AIDAN
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Tasgall!” She felt her world crashing down around her.
“What were ye thinkin’, lass?”
“I . . . I had no choice. He tried to attack me.”
“I saw the whole thing. His back was turned te ye. Ye killed him in cold blood.”
“And I’d do it again,” she retor
ted, rushing forward and picking up the sword from the ground, gripping it tightly in her hands. She raised it and pointed it at him. “I’ll kill ye next if ye try te stop me from leavin’, Tasgall, I swear I will.”
The man just looked at her and chuckled. “I’m sure ye would,” he said. “So much spirit in ye, jest like yer mathair.”
“Dinna try to stop me,” she said, untying a horse from a tree with one hand, keeping the sword pointed at him, the weight of it so heavy that the tip of it was lowering.
“I wouldna dream o’ it,” he said. “But mayhap ye should take a weapon ye can handle instead. There is a bow and arrows tied on the horse ye are stealin’, as I jest readied it meself. Take thet instead.”
“What kind o’ trick is this?” she asked him. “I ken ye are up te somethin’.”
“I was goin’ te make an escape meself this mornin’, but ye beat me to it.”
“Thet makes no sense. Ye are one o’ them.”
“Effie, I admit I did what I had to in order te survive when the English attacked our camp. I made the mistake o’ befriendin’ some o’ them and I accidentally told them aboot ye being one o’ the original MacDuffs, and all aboot yer mathair and grandmathair.”
“Ye bastard! ’Tis yer fault then that the whole gypsy clan is deid and also thet the English are aboot te steal the Stone o’ Destiny.”
“Nay, the fact they found the stone is yer fault, lassie, tho I dinna feel guid aboot what I did either.”
“Thet’s no’ true. Ye were helpin’ them all along.”
“If ye didna notice, I was also helpin’ ye and Coira. If it wasna fer me interferrin’, ye’d both be defiled, and yer precious Highlander as well as the Scottish lassie I saw at the camp would be deid.”
She thought about this. He had seemed to step in more than once and sway the English from doing exactly what he just said. He’d told them not to waste time killing Aidan, nor did he say a word about seeing Kyla. Still, she didn’t trust him.
“If ye werena helpin’ the English then ye woulda done somethin’ te help me and Aidan escape by now. Instead, ye were only tryin’ te save yer own neck.”