Page 79 of When a Highlander Vows
Caitlin nodded, closing her eyes even tighter as the sound of death and pain filled the room from the outside. Lucas, her Lucas, could leave this world in seconds, and then she would be lost, floating along in a sea of emptiness. She prayed hard, and hope welled in her chest still. Love was strong, stronger than anything else, and she hoped it would keep him alive for her.
“He has found the Laird, and they clash in battle!” Sarah cried.
“Will he nae call for a duel?” Caitlin asked, desperate.
The thought of an errant sword or arrow hitting Lucas from behind made her sweat with worry. A duel would be the best hope. She’d seen him fight and kill before, even if it had been blurry. She knew of his skill.
“Aye, he is. They are making the motions.”
Caitlin could hear the booming voice of the laird, but she did not understand the words. The sounds and cries of the battledimmed, and she looked out the narrow slice of window to see Lucas and the laird on horseback, facing one another.
They jumped down and lifted their swords high. A voice yelled something else, and then she saw Lucas take the first swing, and the sound echoed back to the castle and threw her shaking heart.
40
Lucas was already hurt, but he did not let it take away his focus. Riding in, he’d been hit by a sword which gashed him in the leg, and he could feel blood trickling down, dripping into the grass. But he would not let Jack Webster see his weakness.
They circled each other like animals just having been let out of their cages and exploring their new and dangerous world.
“Surely ye cannae believe that I will give ye this land, this castle,” Lucas mocked, gritting his teeth against the pain.
But his sword was still light in his hand.
“Nay, I will take it from ye, once I kill ye just as I ought to have killed yer father.”
“He was far too skilled a fighter,” Lucas said, deciding on his best move.
“Aye, but I kenned it would be simpler to take it from his son. Too bad ye are nearly always in residence, and me men needed time to create a plan.”
“Ye have waited long enough, I see,” Lucas said before he made the first move, lunging toward the older man, hoping to catch him off guard. “Me faither has been dead for years.”
But Jack was far lighter on his feet than Lucas expected, blocking the blow, and ducking to get in a hit of his own. They switched sides, now both breathing hard, and Lucas had a flash of fear that he could lose this duel, now that he was injured. The gash was sending up hot lines of pain up his leg. But he had time, and he had to use whatever strength he had left to fight.
He did not think about the dying men around him or the fact that many from the village had already been lost in that brief battle as he’d ridden in. He thought about the beautiful future he was about to have with Caitlin. How he’d just found happiness in her golden gaze and how he’d found redemption in the circle of her arms.
How in God’s name I thought I would wait to ask her to marry me I daenae ken.
He tried again, lunging for Jack’s throat, but the older man swept out of his way, laughing.
“Here, I’ve heard tales of yer skill in battle. The demon-faced Highlander with scars on his back and a grimace enough to put the fear of God in any man who wished to fight him. The menye killed that night. When we came upon their bodies, it made a thread of fear weave through all me men.”
Jack jumped out of the way of another one of Lucas’ strikes, this time, hitting against Lucas’ sword and kicking him back. Lucas stumbled, grimacing over the pain in his leg, but he held strong.
“They’re still dead, whether ye believe what rumors have been said of me or nae. I was insulted that ye would only send two men.”
“Ha!” Jack said, “And now we fight just ye and me. We can return tae open battle, Laird, if ye wish, if ye find this below yer station.”
Jack moved back, holding his arms out, gesturing to his waiting men, to Lucas’ waiting men, but Lucas shook his head. He took the chance to rush forward to the cocky man, this time, getting a swing in that nicked the older man’s shoulder.
A groan was the response, and before Lucas could add another swing to the wound, he felt the cold metal against his skin, slicing along his arm, long and deep.
He cursed, and for a moment, the sight of Caitlin flashed before his eyes. The way he’d first seen her in her house, bathing in the light of the morning. How’d he come upon her stroking Percy in her arms, talking to him as if he was a gentle creature. The way he’d seen her touch Searbas gently, smilingly, the large, angry beast practically preening under her touch.
Caitlin was his future, and he was not going to lose it to an old man desperate for power, clinging to it, as if it was his lifeblood. Jack looked gleeful as Lucas’ world swam before him, and he struggled to stand a bit, as blood seeped from his wound.
“Too easy I think,” Jack said, whispering at his ear before he stepped back, pulling his sword high.
Not only Caitlin’s mind flashed before his eyes as Lucas thought about death, how easy it would come to him now. He’d thought about it for many years. He had no one besides Nan, really, and Archie, and there had been nothing to live for. He’d always expected a darkness to come and claim him one day, and so death would come as a blessing, to save him from becoming a tyrant like his father had been.
