“Swords!” he yelled to the three guards that were left, as he dismounted and pulled his sword from the sheath on his back. He heard the sound of his Guard’s swords also being pulled as he made his way to Craig.
“How bad are you injured?” Ethan asked as he squatted down next to Craig.
“I can fight,” Craig said. He snapped off the shaft of the arrow, which hurt like hell, “just get me up.” He extended his hand and Ethan pulled him to his feet. Craig pulled his sword as at least twelve men came out of the trees towards them.
“Stay at my back,” Ethan said to Craig as he turned to face their attackers.
The men that came out of the tree line attacked without saying a word. Ethan and Craig fought them, back to back, but they were outnumbered. Craig watched the three Guards out of the corner of his eye. They took out five of the attackers before being struck down themselves. Craig felt a sword slash the side of his thigh and lunged forward, his sword slicing through his attacker’s maille and abdomen.
Craig could hear Ethan fighting behind him and knew the older man had killed at least one of the attackers. He glanced behind him once, seeing sword wounds on both Ethan’s arm and leg. Craig knew they were both injured now, and still, five of their attackers remained. Craig killed one more, taking another sword slash to his backside before getting hit in the head. That was the last thing he remembered as everything went black.
**********
“Craig! Wake up, Craig!” someone was slapping his cheek. “Come on, wake up. I can’t get you on a horse without your help.”
Craig opened his eyes slightly, the sun was too bright, and he closed them again. His body hurt everywhere, and he groaned. He opened his eyes once more and found Ethan sitting next to him, binding wounds on his own arm and leg. There was a lot of blood all over him, and bruises everywhere on his face.
“Ethan?” Craig finally managed to say.
“Aye,” Ethan answered, although Craig could see it even hurt the older man to talk. “It’s me, and if you think I look bad, you should see yourself.”
“The rest of the men?” Craig asked, once more trying to move and stopping when intense pain shot up his arm and leg.
“Dead,” Ethan said, “as are nine of theirs. The last three ran off when their leader fell, but I’d be surprised if one of them lives to see the sunset.”
“How bad are you hurt?” Craig asked, trying to lay still, he was finding that even breathing hurt.
“Bad enough,” Ethan said, “but I think if I climb on that tree stump over there, I can still get on my horse. You’ll have to do the same.”
“I’ll try,” Craig said.
Ethan finished binding his wounds and then began to bind Craig’s. He moved slowly because of his own injuries and tried to hide the level of his pain. Ethan poured whiskey over both Craig’s leg wounds, and it was only because it hurt too bad to move that Craig didn’t punch the man from the pain. Ethan bound the wounds tightly to stop the bleeding. Craig couldn’t stop it and yelled out in pain when Ethan rolled him over onto his side.
“The wound on your arse is deep,” Ethan said, “I don’t even know how to bind it.”
“There’s no way I can sit on my horse,” Craig said as Ethan put pressure on the wound. “It feels like I cracked a rib or two, and my arm hurts like hell.”
“That son of a bitch that hit you in the head kicked you a few times once you fell. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve got a broken bone or two. I skewered him as he pulled his dirk to finish you off, and the last few ran away,” Ethan explained.
“You’ll have to go get help for me,” Craig told him. “There’s no possible way I can go with you.”
“I can’t leave you here,” Ethan insisted.
“You have too,” Craig told him. “We’ll both die if you don’t. I can’t move, let alone ride a horse. Gleann is still almost a day ride from here, but the McKinnon Keep is only an hour away. Head west, you should be able to stop there for help.”
“The McKinnon’s are allies?” Ethan asked as he struggled to get to his feet.
“Not allies, but not enemies either,” Craig answered, gasping in pain as he tried to explain. “Cory McKinnon may complain, but he’s not a bad man, and he should offer help.”
Ethan nodded and dug into the satchels attached to his horse’s saddle. He pulled out a plaid and a fur. He covered Craig with both. Then he took out a pouch filled with dried meat and a container of water and laid them next to him.
“This should last you until I get back,” Ethan said. “I still don’t feel right about leaving you here.”
“Just go,” Craig whispered, “the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll get back.”
Ethan nodded and grabbed the reins of his horse; he knew Craig was right. He struggled to stay on his feet as he walked the animal over to a fallen tree and used it to get into the horse’s saddle. Craig realized then how bad Ethan’s wounds were as he watched the old Guard tie himself into the saddle. The wound in his leg was still bleeding, even with the tight-binding around it.
As Ethan rode away Craig laid his head back down and closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain he was feeling. Ethan was well out of Craig’s sight before losing consciousness himself. Once no one was in control of the horse, the animal turned back towards the south, heading home, to Jedburgh, a six-day ride away.
**********
Craig woke with a clearer head as the sun was beginning to rise, his horse was next to him and breathing in his face. He thought back to what had happened, and he knew Ethan must not have made it to the McKinnons, or if he did they’d refused to help. He was worried about the old man who had become his friend. Craig knew then that if he was going to live, he was going to have to find a way to save himself. He grabbed the water Ethan left and took a long drink, he had no appetite but knew he needed the nourishment, so he ate what he could of the meat.
He was already laying on his side, and he gritted his teeth and endured the pain as he rolled over onto his stomach so he could push himself up onto his knees. The pain was so intense he struggled not to pass out again. He used the horse’s reins and his one good arm to pull himself up and stand. He continued to use the animal’s strength as he walked over to the log Ethan had used the day before. It seemed to take forever, but he finally found himself on top of his horse, laying across the animals back instead of sitting.
Craig knew he’d never make it to Gleann, and he wasn’t sure he’d be welcomed at the McKinnon Keep. He wondered if turning around and trying to make the four-hour ride back to Edinburgh might be possible. Finally, he made a decision and turned the animal towards his grandda’s hunting lodge, where he’d intended on stopping the night before. If he was lucky he could make it there in two hours. He knew inside the lodge he’d find wood for a fire, provisions to eat, and what he needed most, some basic healing supplies.
The McCabes would come looking for him, Craig knew that, but it would be days yet before they’d even begin to worry. He doubted they’d find him quickly. He’d talked Ethan into a trip to Edinburgh, which meant they were coming from a different direction than the one his family would expect them to take.
Craig still knew the lodge was his best chance at being found, even if it took a while. For as long as he could remember, all the McCabes had been told if trouble happened, and they either couldn’t make it to Gleann or had to leave the Keep, the hunting lodge was the place to go. He just hoped he could make it there. His family would never stop trying to find him; he just needed to survive until they did.
Chapter 2. Peigi
Peigi Farland sat on the stoop in the doorway of the nice sized hut she’d been lucky enough to stumble upon almost a sennight ago. Her only friend and faithful wolfhound, Mungo, laid next to her. She knew they couldn’t stay much longer, and worried about where she and Mungo should go next. She worried even more about how she was going to support herself once she got there. If only her half-brother wouldn’t have left the Keep, and her
half-sister wouldn’t have returned. Everything was going fine until then. Nay, that was a lie. Things in her life had never been fine because of the choices her Mither had made.
Millie Farland, Peigi’s Mither, had been a widow and only five and twenty when she met Peigi’s Da. The two collided in the tent area at a tournament as they both rushed to find seats before the joust began. Millie had always told her daughter it was love at first sight, and maybe for Millie, it was. But Peigi realized long ago, that for her Da, it was more like lust, not love. Her Da had already been married with a son and daughter at the time.
Her parents spent the next three days together, and when her Da left the tournament to return to his Keep, he’d talked Millie into joining him there, as his leman. He was the Keep’s Laird and knew of a small cottage on the edge of the village that was empty which he moved Millie into. Before he left that night, he suggested she keep their relationship quiet and avoid any interaction with his wife.
Although Millie didn’t plan it, the inevitable happened a year later, and she found herself expecting her first child. When Peigi was born, although most of the village knew what was happening, her birth was still kept a secret from her Da’s wife and her half-sister who was ten. Her brother, Gory, who was three and ten at the time, was brought to the hut by their Da to meet his new sister. Their Da explained that if anything ever happened to him, Peigi was Gory’s responsibility. Right after that, their Da told Gory he should never tell his Mither or anyone else in the castle about Peigi. Gory agreed, but he was fascinated by his new baby half-sister and accompanied his Da to the hut to visit every chance he got.
The secret of Peigi’s birth didn’t last long as word around the village spread about the Laird’s new daughter. Soon the servants knew, which meant shortly after that, so did the Laird’s wife and his daughter, Doxy. Nay, Doxy wasn’t her real name, but it was the name she always remembered her Mither using whenever she saw the girl.
Peigi didn’t understand why, until she was around nine summers, and she stumbled upon Doxy and the baker’s son rolling around in a field on a plaid, stark naked. Neither of them had seen Peigi, and she’d run home and told Millie about what she’d seen. That afternoon Millie explained many things to Peigi, including why her half-sister was nicknamed Doxy by more than half the village. Peigi had heard and been using Doxy for so long, she never thought of her sister by any other name.
Once news of the Laird’s leman and their new daughter spread to the castle, Millie was afraid they might be sent away to another Keep to avoid a scandal. That never happened. Millie had known for a long time that the Laird was well-liked by the people in the village, and his wife wasn’t. He took such good care of the villagers it seemed they didn’t really care what the Laird did, as long as he was happy. Peigi’s Da didn’t care either, and the relationship between him and Millie continued. In private he claimed Peigi as his daughter and even showed her some affection, but never in public.
Because they knew who she was, Peigi grew up used to hearing the taunts of her Da’s wife, and the half-sister who seemed to hate her. They called her Mither awful names like ‘whore’, ‘tramp’, and ‘sinner’, and they always referred to Peigi as ‘the bastard’. Peigi hated them both and made sure she avoided them whenever possible.
The only one in her family that Peigi got to know and love was her half-brother, Gory, and then only when his Mither and sister weren’t around. As she grew older, the relationship between them grew stronger, and Gory at times would even defend her. He’d punched the blacksmith’s son when he’d heard him call Peigi ‘a bastard who shouldn’t have been allowed to be born’.
That was Peigi’s life until she was eight, and the Laird’s wife passed away. Millie tried not to show it, but she was secretly thrilled and thought she would finally get to marry her dream man. But her dreams were crushed when he made excuses to avoid the act, and then finally told Millie he couldn’t marry a woman with her reputation. Peigi wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but soon her Da quit coming to visit them as often, and there was less money to buy the things they needed.
Millie passed away two years later when Peigi was ten. At the time Peigi believed it was a sickness that took her Mither’s life, but as she grew older, she realized that her Mither had died of a broken heart. Millie had never recovered from her Da’s rejection.
Although he couldn’t bring her into the castle, Peigi’s Da arranged for her to stay with another family in the village after Millie’s death, and his visits became even rarer. Peigi was hurt at first, until her half-brother began to visit with her regularly, not caring what their Da had to say about it. Peigi was surprised that even with the big age difference between them, they still grew closer.
Although they couldn’t do many things together in the village without causing gossip, Gory always made time at least once a sennight to spend a morning or afternoon with her. They’d go off into the woods where they could be alone, and they talked for hours as Gory taught her the things he felt their Da should have.
Gory took her to the loch often and taught her how to swim. He took her out hunting and showed her how to use a bow, and how to gut and skin her kills. He showed her lots of things he felt she might need to know one day, like how to build a fire, catch a fish, and use a dirk.
Peigi was six and ten when their Da finally passed away, and her half-brother became Laird and took over the Keep. That was three summers ago, and without considering what could happen, her brother insisted she move into the Keep’s castle.
If Peigi thought her half-sister hated her before, she hated her twice as much once Peigi was given the bedchamber across the hall from her own, and Gory presented her with the puppy she named Mungo. Soon Peigi was finding her new dresses ruined, trinkets her brother had given her broken, and things in her room began to disappear. Peigi kept a close eye on Mungo, afraid her sister would do something to hurt him. Peigi had never spent much time with Doxy, but within a sennight, she couldn’t stand to be around her at all. It was no wonder why the awful woman was still unmarried.
Everything seemed to settle down for a while when her half-sister went off to court. Doxy was gone for a long while, over two summers, and even her brother seemed happier. Then a missive arrived at the castle from someone in Edinburgh. Her brother came and went for months after that, meeting with the King. Peigi knew it had something to do with their sister, but nothing more.
For the last six months, her brother had rarely been home for more than a fortnight at a time, and for the last two months he hadn’t returned at all, but her sister had. Doxy walked into the Keep two days after Gory left and was ecstatic to find he was away. She quickly took charge, and for the last two months had made Peigi’s life a living nightmare.
A little more than a sennight ago her sister had met her in the Great Hall with Laird McNary, who was at least three stone and ten. Since Doxy never looked for her, she knew before anyone even spoke she wasn’t going to like what they were about to tell her.
“There she is,” Doxy had said, leading the old man over to her. “Didn’t I tell you she was a beauty?”
“Aye,” The old man said, “but is she a virgin? I’ll only take her if she’s a virgin.”
“That is no business of yours…” Peigi began to protest, until Doxy grabbed her arm, digging her nails into the skin.
“Of course she is,” Doxy answered, cutting her off. Then she turned back to Peigi and said, “you and Laird McNary will marry tomorrow at mid-day.”
“Marry?” Peigi asked.
“Aye, dear sister,” Doxy answered, then she leaned in and whispered, “and you will marry him, or I will have the guards drag you to the soldier’s quarters, with instructions for them to do whatever they wish to you.”
“Our brother…” Peigi began, only to be cut off again.’
“Is not here,” Doxy finished for her. “I am in charge here at the moment. Laird McNary just happened to stop for a visit and mentioned how lonely he is since his l
ast wife died. He’s looking for a new one. I did tell him about our family tradition of witnessing the bedding, and he agreed to it.”
“You want to witness the bedding?” Peigi barely got out, trying to figure out how to get out of this marriage until her brother returned. Gory would never allow this to happen.
“Of course,” Doxy said, then she leaned in again so only Peigi could hear, “as old as he is, you’ll probably have to work a bit harder to complete the act. It may take a while.”
“Nay,” Peigi barely got out.
“Aye,” Doxy said, squeezing harder. Peigi wouldn’t be surprised to find Doxy’s nails had broken the skin. “You need to get yourself cleaned up, sister dear. Laird McNary and I will see you at the evening meal.”
Peigi was thankful when her sister led the old man away, although the way he looked back over his shoulder and glared at her as he licked his lips made her shudder. There had to be something she could do.
That night she’d joined Doxy and Laird McNary as she’d been ordered to do. The old man seemed very nice at first, until he started trying to put his hand under her gown as they ate dinner. She kept shifting and swatting his hand away.
“I don’t know why you won’t let me have a little feel,” Laird McNary whispered in her ear. “Tomorrow I’ll have you naked in my bed, with your lips wrapped around my cock.”
“Laird McNary, please, this is not a proper conversation. We barely know each other,” Peigi said, trying to get him to leave her alone.
“You’ll learn all you need to know about me once we get to your bedchamber tomorrow. Would you like to hear what I’m going to do to you?” He asked, smiling. He had one missing front tooth, and the rest of his teeth were yellowed from age. Peigi shuddered once more.
A Perfect Match Page 2
