The Condemned Highlander by Donna Fletcher

28

Brogan drew his weapon and saw all the men there do the same. His eyes skirted the area for a place to hide his wife, but there was no time. Vicious roars split the air as men came out of the woods. Fear ripped through his stomach, knowing blood would flow soon and Annis would faint and could easily be dragged away from him.

“Do not faint,” he ordered his wife before he turned his sword on a man charging at them.

Annis watched in horror as swords clashed and men fell. It was obvious they were after her, but with Brogan and Troy flanking her they were keeping the men from reaching her. She did her best to avoid any sight of blood, keeping her glance from settling on anything but the striking swords.

Several mercenaries suddenly descended on Brogan and Troy, and they fought bravely, but there were too many of them. Annis thought quickly and ignoring her own safety, she whipped off her cloak, flung it near the fire so the wool would catch and as the flames devoured it, she flung it at two mercenaries that bared down on her husband. The fire did as she hoped it would do, it caught their plaids and set them ablaze.

The men around them hurried to get away so the flames wouldn’t catch them. Two were not successful and screams filled the air along with the stench of burning flesh.

The fighting continued and Annis did her best to keep herself safe between her husband and Troy so no one could reach her. Then what she feared might happen did. A man fell in front of her, blood covering his chest.

Her head began to spin, and her arm was suddenly yanked.

“Fight it,” her husband ordered, and his hand fell off her arm.

She was about to when suddenly something rammed not only into her but her husband and Troy as well. She fell, her face landing on the bloody chest of the dead man. There was no fighting the faint that rushed over her and forced her into total darkness.

Brogan scrambled to his feet having been hit by a force of several men, their intentions obvious and the strategy successful—to separate him from his wife.

Two men charged at him with swords before he could reach his wife draped over a dead man, her face buried in the blood on his chest. He had little time to save her, and Troy would be of no help, fighting off the other men.

He swung his sword with speed and accuracy, but more men came and when he finally maneuvered enough to catch a glance of his wife, it was to see her being carted off over the shoulder of one of the mercenaries.

Brogan let out a horrific roar that stilled the mercenaries for a moment and gave him time to finish off the two in front of him. He didn’t waste a minute; he took off after his wife. He tracked the heavy footsteps and roared again when he came to a spot where horses had waited and now were gone.

He would never catch them without a horse. He turned and ran back to find the fighting had ended. Of course, it would. They got what they came for. Dead and wounded lay scattered about, those foes who survived running off.

Brogan ran to Troy. “I need a horse.”

“You cannot go alone. Skelly will have men waiting in the woods to capture you and you will be no good to your wife once captured,” Troy said. “We need to see how many men are able enough to join us.”

Anger raced like a fiery liquid through him, setting him ablaze. He had to get to his wife before it was too late, before they took her far enough away from him that it would take days or weeks, or more to find her. By then she would have suffered endless pain and humiliation. But he also knew Troy was right. He could not do this alone. He wished his friends Odran and Rannick were here. He could trust them to help him save Annis. But they weren’t and he had no choice but to trust Troy.

“We have little time,” Brogan reminded him.

“Then we better hurry.”

Brogan rounded up his men to find he had lost two and one was too injured to fight, but not too injured to return to the village and gather more men. He was glad Troy had lost only one man and though a couple were left injured, they wrapped their wounds tight and were ready to join in the hunt.

“While Skelly is no fool, he thinks highly of himself,” Troy said as he and Brogan mounted their horses. “Your capture would be a prize to him that he might not be able to resist.”

That news brought some relief and a quick plan to Brogan. “You think he will wait somewhere for his men to bring me to him?”

“It is a possibility and I know what you think to do to save time,” Troy said. “You want to be captured and taken to your wife without them knowing we follow. The only problem with that is you don’t know if they will harm you, since they believe you cannot die.”

“It is a chance I am willing to take,” Brogan said.

“And what if they harm you so badly, you are useless to your wife?”

“Then you will give me your word that you will see her kept safe,” Brogan said. “Though, if you say Skelly thinks highly of himself then I suspect he will be the one who wants to deliver endless pain on me. Either way, as long as my wife is safe, I care not.”

“Your love is strong for her.”

“Always, and she knows I will come for her. So, let us not waste another moment.”

* * *

Splinters of lighttried to pierce Annis’s eyes and she cringed, not from that, but from the pain in her arms and shoulders. Where was she? What happened?

A slap to her face that shot her head to the side had her eyes shooting open and everything rushed back to her. She almost gasped at the sight of the man on a horse in front of her. Scars marred his face, and a large scar ran a path through a swath of hair on the one side of his head. He wore no cloak against the chill, exposing his lean body heavy with muscle. But it was his eyes that truly frightened, dark and empty, pure evil.

It took her a moment to realize that rope bound her wrists and she hung from a branch of a tree, her feet dangling a good distance off the ground.

Annis didn’t need to guess who the man was, and she held her chin high. “Brogan will rescue me and kill you.”

Skelly laughed. “That he will attempt to rescue you is something I count on. But he will fail, and I will make certain his wounds keep him from doing anything but watch in torment as I have my way with you. Then he will watch again as I cut out your tongue and sell you on the foreign market.”

If she was going to lose her tongue, she would make sure to have her say beforehand. “You are an idiot if you believe that.” Another slap to her face flung her head to the side. When she regained her senses, she laughed. “Only a coward strikes a woman who cannot strike back.” A solid punch to her arm had her swinging and she cringed at the pull in her arms, though her mouth would not remain silent. “That proves you are even more of a coward.”

“We will see how brave your mouth is when I have my way with you,” Skelly threatened.

Annis laughed. “So, your only way to get pleasure is to force a woman—another sign of a coward and a man with a wee shaft.”

That got her a punch to the stomach since several of the men laughed. The pain radiated through her entire body, and she silently warned herself to hold her tongue. But, of course, she did not pay heed to her own warning.

As soon as she caught her breath, she said, “And that punch only proves you have the tiniest of shafts.”

Strong laughter erupted this time and Skelly turned swiftly on his horse to cower the men with a vicious snarl.

“Now I know why he wants you dead,” Skelly said when he turned back to face her.

“Who wants me dead?” Annis asked, anxious to learn the culprit’s identity.

Skelly grinned. “The one who will bring an end to the cursed lords.”

Annis pondered his response. Why would he say bring an end to the cursed lords and not bring an end to the curse?

He laughed and sent her swinging again, the pain tearing through her arms and shoulders. Brogan would come for her of that she had no doubt, but she feared what her rescue might cost him.

Annis was brought to a sudden stop, Skelly holding tight to her legs. Her stomach roiled badly, and she could feel all color drain from her face.

“Nothing more to say?” Skelly asked with a laugh.

Annis leaned her head forward struggling to speak and Skelly stretched up on his horse to hear what she would say. She smiled and let her roiling stomach loose right in his face.

Skelly spit and sputtered and grabbed the end of his plaid to wipe at his face with disgust and anger.

“Did no one warn you about my wife’s mouth?”

Skelly turned a savage look on Brogan being led into the clearing by a group of men, his wrists secured with rope and several bruises marring his face.

“You may suffer her untamed mouth, but I will not,” Skelly all but raged and turned, his hand raised to deliver a vicious blow to Annis.

“TOUCH MY WIFE AND I PROMISE YOU THAT YOU WILL SUFFER A LINGERING AND GODAWFUL PAINFUL DEATH!”

Her husband’s powerful roar sent a shiver through Annis and surprisingly stopped Skelly from striking her.

Skelly turned a laugh on Brogan. “It will not be me who suffers as you watch what I do to your wife.” He wiped at his face again. “Cut her down. We leave since the fool does not realize he walked right into my plan, and I am well aware that his men follow behind him.”

A man climbed on the branch and cut the rope as Skelly waited beneath to catch Annis and grab her to drape over the front of him on the horse.

“Get him on a horse. We need to move fast,” Skelly ordered, and his men hurried to see it done.

Brogan worried that Troy might be too far behind, though he worried more about his wife. Fury had raced through him, and he had wanted to charge at Skelly when he saw Annis hanging by her wrists from the branch of a tree, though seeing her vomit in Skelly’s face appeased him some but concern for retaliation had him worrying again. Then there were the bruises on her face. He definitely was going to make Skelly suffer—endlessly.

He had allowed the idiots who captured him to rough him up a bit and they were so pleased with themselves that they never bothered to look for any other weapons but the sword he had carried. He figured his hands would be tied once caught, so he had tucked a small dagger in his waistband, the blade pointing up. He was paid little heed while they rode, which gave him enough time to cut at the rope that bound his wrists.

Troy had alerted him to a signal he would give when they were nearby, and he listened praying it would come soon. He wanted this done and his wife back safely in his arms.

The signal came just as he sliced the last of the rope, though made it appear as if it was still intact. He kept his eye on Skelly in the lead. He would speed off once the attack came, no doubt his plan from the beginning. He would leave his men behind and get the coin for himself. Skelly had made one mistake. He had misjudged Brogan’s love for his wife and his tenacity to see her safe. Brogan would be right on Skelly’s tail and when he got his hands on the man, he intended to see him suffer unmercifully.

The attack came with speed and surprise, Troy and Brogan’s men descending on them with fierce roars and swinging swords. And just as Brogan suspected, Skelly took off with Annis. He stopped briefly to grab a sword from Troy before following after the mercenary.

Brogan kept on his tail, urging his horse faster and moving closer and closer to him. Skelly suddenly veered into a dense part of the woods making it difficult to keep sight of him and to follow. He lost Skelly for only a moment, though it seemed longer, then came upon him again and Brogan’s heart slammed against his chest—Annis was no longer with him.

“ANNIS! ANNIS!” he shouted and when she did not answer his stomach knotted and fear raced up to choke him. He called out again. “ANNIS! ANNIS!”

That she did not answer meant either she was unable to, or she was dead.

Brogan brought his horse to an abrupt halt, his only thought to find his wife. There would be time to chase after Skelly.

“I always wanted to see if you could really die,” Skelly shouted after stopping and turning his horse around. “Let’s find out!” His legs dug into the sides of his horse to speed toward Brogan.

Brogan didn’t want to spare the time to fight the man. His only worry was for his wife, but he had no choice and while he would have loved to have made the man linger in pain, he had no time. Skelly would suffer a swift death.

Brogan raised his sword ready to meet the man head on when an arrow struck Skelly in the neck, sending him flying off his horse. Not sure if he was under attack, he dropped off his horse and took cover. He had to find Annis.

“Lord Brogan!”

Brogan was never so relieved to hear a familiar voice and he hurried out from behind the tree. “Rudd, what are you doing here?”

“I did not wait when the message came from the man you sent. I gathered a group of men and hurried after you and Lady Annis. When we came upon the injured men, they told us who you went after, and we followed.”

“Did you see where Skelly left Annis?” Brogan asked anxiously.

Rudd shook his head. “I never saw Lady Annis.”

“We need to search,” Brogan commanded.

“I will get more men to help,” Rudd said.

“There’s no time for that. They will catch up soon enough. We search now,” Brogan ordered.

They barely began to search when Troy and others appeared, and they all spread out.

Brogan’s heart pounded in his chest. He couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t. He tried to reason with himself as he searched. She couldn’t be far. Unless Skelly handed her over to someone else and that thought sent his heart plummeting.

He tried to retrace the route to the spot where he had lost Skelly, but the area revealed no sign of his wife. He wanted to roar with rage to the heavens. With so many searching the area how could she not be found?

Someone doesn’t want her found.

The sudden thought sent a dread through Brogan. Was someone here responsible for what had happened? Was someone here working with the mercenaries? Who could he trust?

He had to find Annis. He couldn’t trust anyone else finding her. They could mean her harm.

Brogan could hear the crunch of leaves beneath the endless boots of those that searched, and it made him take a different course and listen for a single tread of boots… the one who knew where his wife could be found. The one leading away from the others.

He had realized that if his wife was able that she would have called out to him, which meant she had somehow been silenced, left helpless, and that thought tore at his heart. He tread the woods lightly, listening, waiting for that step that would… he heard it.

Not a soft tread but an anxious one and he followed it. He kept his footfalls light, not so the footfalls he followed. They remained anxious and rushed an indication that he had little time to see to his task before discovered.

The footfalls stopped suddenly, not so Brogan, he followed the soft echo of the leaves and turned at a large boulder to see his wife lying unconscious on the ground and standing over her with a dagger tight in his hand, stood…

“RUDD!”

The man he had thought a friend glared at him. “She must die if the plan is to succeed.”

Brogan was too far away to stop him from harming Annis. He had to get closer. “What plan?”

“A wise one and one that is needed to save many,” Rudd said, confident in his belief.

“Who has decided that?” Brogan asked, advancing slowly.

“The one who leads us,” Rudd boasted.

“And who is that?”

“You will learn in time,” Rudd assured him and pointed the dagger at Annis. “If Skelly had done what had been agreed to, I would not be left with this distasteful task. I do like Lady Annis, but she must die.”

“Why?’ Brogan asked, a few more steps and he’d be close enough to lunge at Rudd.

“She has interfered with the plan. She must die.”

“If you kill her, I will kill you,” Brogan warned.

“I am counting on it, for I will surrender no information to you.”

Brogan went to take another step.

“Stay where you are. I know what you do, and I will not let you stop me from my mission. The mercenary may have failed but I won’t. There is too much at stake. The plan will know victory and it will reverberate through the Highlands for years to come.”

Brogan had to keep him talking. “You fired the arrow that killed Skelly?”

“The fool was supposed to kill her in front of me so I could confirm her death, then he would get his coin after his man failed to kill her on the witch’s land. I had made it so easy for him providing him with what plans I knew. It infuriated me to learn he had changed my orders. But then it was never his intention to follow them. His only interest was you. He wanted what you had… eternal life.” Rudd shook his head. “He thought ripping your heart out of your chest he would have it for himself.” He shook his head again. “I had no choice but to kill him.”

This curse had not only caused many to suffer, but it had also turned sane men insane. And there was no dealing with a madman, a thought that raced fear through Brogan. There would be no talking Rudd out of his task. He would see it done… he would kill Annis.

“Her death is a worthy one,” Rudd said. “You will see the wisdom of it.”

Rudd raised the dagger ready to drop and plunge it into Annis.

The ravens came from out of nowhere, dropping from the sky to jab Rudd with their beaks.

Brogan rushed at Rudd to reach the man and with one good blow to his jaw knocked him out cold. He would not escape an easy death, not before he got more information out of him.

He dropped down beside his wife, her body lifeless. He feared the worse and placed a hand to her face. It was warm and her chest rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm. She was alive and he intended to see she stay that way.