The Condemned Highlander by Donna Fletcher
15
Annis was a distance away before she got her horse under control and she was spitting mad, not to mention frightened half out of her wits. She turned the horse and saw Brogan fighting three men. He felled one man with his sword and knocked another down with the hilt of the sword. The man staggered to his feet and Brogan elbowed him in the jaw when he got close as he fought the other fellow off quite brilliantly with his sword.
Two more men stepped out from behind trees and Annis’s heart leapt in fear. Were there more lying in wait? She was no match for those men. They would easily overtake her, but she could not leave Brogan to fight on his own. When another man stepped out of the woods, it was no longer a decision of if she should wait.
She hurried off the horse and, fashioning part of her cloak in a sack to hold the only weapon that would serve her well, rushed to collect rocks. With the rocks weighing her down, she led her horse to a boulder that she managed to climb up on to mount the animal easily.
She grabbed the reins and was ready to join the fight when she heard the now familiar squawk of a raven. She looked up and there in the tree sat not one, but three ravens. Had the witch sent them?
Not feeling the least bit foolish, she spoke to them. “I need help if I am to find the woman the witch instructed me to find.”
The largest of the three ravens squawked again as if in response.
She nodded at the bird. “Follow me.” And they did.
“No blood. No blood. You will see no blood,” she whispered as she urged the horse into a run and gripped a rock in her hand.
She eyed the fight, seeing what man to strike first and avoiding any chance of hitting Brogan. She spotted one that kept back from the others. He waited, letting the others fight, letting Brogan grow tired so he would be able to strike when Brogan was at his weakest. She thought him a fool. Seeing how Brogan fought with tremendous strength and agility, he would outlast the less skilled men.
Annis gave a quick glance to the sky and the ravens flying overhead. Though they couldn’t hear her, somehow, she knew they would know when she ordered, “Attack all but Brogan.”
The ravens dipped as they squawked loudly, and her target turned at the perfect time. She threw the rock with all her strength, and it caught him in the head, and he went down hard. She did not look at him or the other men on the ground. She rode straight past them and once she cleared the fighting, she turned the horse around ready to attack again.
The ravens pecked at the men but avoided Brogan. They had understood her. One man was swinging his sword at a raven who was relentless in his attack. She smiled. It might be foolish to think, and laughable as well, but she thought the raven had moved him away from the others leaving him open for her to attack, and she did.
She got him in the head as well and by the time she turned the horse around once again, it was to see that Brogan had finished off the other men. She approached slowly, knowing blood had to have been spilled.
“Do not come any closer,” Brogan called out when she was still a distance away. “And we are going to have a serious talk about you obeying my orders.”
“I will not be made a widow when I am barely a wife,” she said loud enough for him to hear her.
“You forget I am the condemned lord,” he reminded as he dragged one of the men, she had knocked unconscious, to a tree.
“That does not mean you cannot be seriously injured and suffer horribly before you heal,” she argued, the thought unsettling her stomach.
“You do have a good point,” he agreed begrudgingly and dragged the other man who had suffered the same fate at her hands to the opposite side of the tree. “I need to search for the rope they brought with them, since they no doubt planned to take at least one of us captive.” And Brogan had no doubt of who that would be—Annis. The thought of what she would have suffered at their hands had him wishing he could kill the men all over again. “Call out if either of them stirs. The others have no life left in them and you definitely don’t want to look upon them.”
“As you say, husband,” she called out with a grin.
He scowled as he shook a finger at her. “We are definitely going to have that talk.”
“And I will listen to your words well,” she assured him.
“You will obey them,” he ordered with a shout and disappeared behind a tree.
Annis kept watch for any movement from all the fallen men, taking no chances. She might be smiling and teasing Brogan, but inside she was shaken over what had happened and what might have happened. She had not expected the possibility of losing Brogan, even though he insisted he could not die due to the curse, to frighten her as much as it did. The thought frightened her as much as the thought of losing either of her sisters.
Brogan emerged from behind the trees with a length of rope that he used to secure the two still unconscious men to the trees. He then dragged the bodies of the dead men into the woods.
Annis tossed the unused rocks into the woods and searched the trees for the ravens, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Did you see the ravens?” Annis asked.
“I thought I heard a raven. There was more than one?” he asked as he scooped his cloak off the ground. He gave it a shake and used part of the hem to wipe his face and hands.
“There was,” she said and smiled softly at his thoughtfulness in wiping off what blood may be on him.
“The witch sends you help on our quest,” he said, sounding unsure of his own conclusion.
“If she does, I am grateful, for the ravens helped save you from serious injury.”
He scrunched his brow in question. “Why though when she helped curse my family to begin with?”
Annis had no answer, for she questioned the same herself.
A groan had both their glances going to the tree where the men were tied. The man Annis had first knocked out with the rock was starting to come to.
Brogan went to him and kicked him in the thigh. “Open your eyes.”
The man’s eyes shot open as if just realizing what had happened and that he could not move, though he winced from the pain afterwards.
“Mercenaries or thieves?” Brogan demanded.
“A bit of both,” the man said reluctantly.
“What are you doing in this area?”
“Chieftain Cowan sent out word for men to fight in battle with him. He offered good coin for it, since it is rumored that Lord Odran will soon join the fight.”
Brogan glared at the man, disturbed by the news, since he was aware that his friend Odran wanted no more to do with battle and had chosen a life away from his clan. Not that Brogan thought it would last. Odran’s father, Lord Fergus, wanted for his son what Brogan and Rannick’s fathers wanted for their sons… wives and heirs to carry on the clan names.
Brogan’s scowl turned to such a vicious sneer that it had the man yanking his head back to bump against the tree trunk. “Come near me or that woman,” —he pointed to Annis— “and you die, and it will not be a merciful death.”
The man nodded, his eyes wide with fear, and Brogan walked away to mount his horse.
“You are going to leave me here like this, tied to the tree?” the man asked, panic in his voice.
“You are not alone. One fellow who managed to survive keeps you company on the other side of the tree. You are lucky I did not kill you when I had the chance and do not make me regret that I didn’t,” he snapped.
Anger flared in the man’s nostrils.
“If you can break free before nightfall and escape the animals that come out to hunt, heed my warning, and go back to where you came from. You do not want to fight Lord Odran and his men. He and his men are more vicious and skilled than any warrior you have ever met.”
Annis turned her horse and followed alongside Brogan, relief that it was done, sending a slight shiver through her.
“You were not hurt?” he asked as their horses ambled along.
“Nay, I was not harmed,” she confirmed.
“Good because right now I want to throttle you for not obeying me and putting yourself in danger,” he scolded.
Annis’s eyes narrowed. “You would raise a hand to me?”
He laughed. “I fear I would lose it if I did.”
“Then you but tease me?” she asked, for she would not tolerate a husband whose hand struck at will.
“What you did frightened me beyond words. My only thought was to keep you safe and away from the sight of blood. When you came charging back on your horse, I feared I would lose you and,” —he grinned— “even though you do have a few faults, I would miss them as much as I would miss you.”
His words warmed her heart. “Then you obviously understand why I returned to help you. I could never stand by when you are under attack by so many men and do nothing. I would face blood itself to see you kept safe.”
That blood would not stop her from helping him said more to him than she realized and at that moment he loved his wife even more if that was possible. But he would wait to tell her that. Instead, he teased, or was it that he wanted his words to hold the truth? “Your words tell me you love me, wife, but I knew it all along. I am just too irresistible not to love.”
She released a groaning sigh and shook her head. “You are impossible.”
“Impossibly charming,” he corrected with a stunning smile.
She shook her head again. Or was it that his words were more truthful than teasing that annoyed her?
“Admit it, my smile dazzles you,” Brogan reached out to elbow her in the arm.
She tossed an unexpected threat at him. “If we are to stay wed, it will be only me you dazzle with that smile.” And truth be told his smile did dazzle.
That she considered remaining wed to him thrilled him, but he had to tease. “Laying claim to me, are you?”
“You are my husband, and I would expect you to behave like one,” she warned.
He could not resist. “And you are my wife and I expect you to see to your duties—all of them.” He immediately regretted his words, seeing how her shoulders sagged with the weight of them. He was quick to assuage her. “I but tease.”
“Truthfully?” she asked.
He would not lie to her. “I will not deny I ache to make love to you, but I do not want our lovemaking to be a duty for you. I want it to be something we both enjoy. We both look forward to. We both find pleasure in.”
“But if we consummate our vows then our marriage is sealed. I cannot, nor will I, leave you. I respect vows too much to do that,” she said.
He loved that his wife was honest and blunt with him. “Then we make love when you are willing to seal our vows permanently.” He was surprised by what she said next.
“You woke something within me that day we shared a touch of intimacy. She looked away; the memories of his hard shaft pressed tight against her stirring her passion. “I did not know intimacy could feel so wonderful, though I believe it would only feel that way with you.” She cringed at the brief thought of another man’s hands on her. “I do not even want to think of sharing such an intimate act with another man.”
“Either do I,” he said, his anger simmering at the thought.
“I also do not like the thought of you doing that with another woman,” she admitted to her own surprise.
“You are all I want and all I need, Annis,” he said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“I honestly do not know,” he said, giving his head a scratch. “It actually puzzles me and yet it is something I cannot deny, nor do I want to. I am not at all familiar with love. I am more familiar with arranged marriages than those who wed for love. My parents made it clear from when I was young that my marriage had to benefit the clan.”
“Your parents must be disappointed then, that you are wed to a woman of little significance.”
Brogan laughed. “You are by no means a woman of little significance.”
“I certainly am no woman of worth to your clan.”
“It is your worth to me that matters and to me you are priceless.”
Tears pooled rapidly in her eyes, and she felt foolish that his endearing words could touch her heart so easily. “You tease again.”
Brogan smiled and leaned over to catch the few tears that trickled out of her eyes. “I speak the truth and your heart knows it, that is why you tear so easily at my truthful words.” He smiled. “And why your forthright nature questions it.”
“You think you know me so well?” she asked, annoyed that he did.
“I think we both have come to know each other more easily than either of us had expected, though there is lots more to learn and I do look forward to learning everything about you,” he said with a playful smile.
His mischievous smiles always felt like a tickle to her side that forced her to smile in return and not at all begrudgingly. “I look forward to the same.” She decided to tease as well. “This way I can point out your faults that need correcting.”
His soft blue eyes lit with delight, and he laughed. “You cannot think that I actually have any faults.”
“Not any faults, many faults.”
He laughed again and pressed a hand to his chest. “You wound me, wife, to think I have many faults. Name one fault of mine.”
A list went through her head, but not one slipped past her lips. Were his faults what actually charmed? She had never met anyone who could make people smile as easily as he did. He had a way of making people feel comfortable around him like an old friend they could talk with about anything. It struck her then, a thought she had had after speaking with him a few times after first meeting him.
She spoke without thinking. “Your smile prevents others from seeing your loneliness.” She struck a chord, seeing his body tense.
His smile vanished. “That is not a fault. It is survival.”
His tone warned her to leave it alone—for now.
It brought their playful banter to a quick end.
Brogan had never let anyone see past the shield he had erected through the years, yet Annis had managed to do just that. It had been a necessity to his survival, though lately with Annis at his side he had found the shield less necessary. But that did not mean he had any intentions of removing it completely. It served a purpose, and it would remain.
Annis watched the light sky turning gray, though her thoughts were not on a possible approaching storm. They were on her husband. He was right about them learning about each other, though her open and blunt nature was easy for people to see her for who she was. Not so Brogan. He had shielded himself with a stunning smile and charm, a mask of sorts so no one could actually see his pain and the loneliness that went with it. The curse had done more damage to him than he allowed anyone to see.
If she had not been so intent on her quest, she would have recognized it. Or was it that feelings for him had surfaced and robbed her of clarity? It did not matter. She would learn more about him in due time. She had to if she intended to stay wed to him.
She wanted to sigh with frustration. How many times did she need to warn herself that her quest came first, that all else had to wait?
Foolish.
What she needed to see, to admit, was that quest or not, the issue with Brogan was not going to wait. And it shouldn’t. It all was involved somehow and instead of looking at it separately she had to see it as a whole, only then would she be able to fit all the pieces together. Brogan’s voice broke through her thoughts, and she was grateful, needing a reprieve from them.
“The gray clouds grow darker. We will need to find shelter soon. There is a croft about an hour away. I have stopped there before when traveling and was given shelter.”
Annis kept her tongue from asking what kind of shelter he had been offered there and wondered if she would meet one of the many women that he had been intimate with.
