Page 62 of A Forbidden Night with a Scot
His horse’s hooves thundered against the ground as they moved down the path and Samuel had his hands curled tightly around the reins, fighting the dizziness and the nausea. The cold air that whipped his face helped only slightly with his condition, keeping him awake and alert but doing nothing to lessen he pain in his head. There was nothing he could do but endure it, thinking about the moment he would see Alicia again; the moment the two of them would be reunited.
Had he been in a better state, Samuel would have noticed the signs of a trap in his path, but as it were, the four men who jumped out of the trees to surround him surprised him, and all he could do was hold onto his horse as it reared, frightened by their sudden appearance. As much as he tried, though, he couldn’t help but slip off the saddle, landing on his back on the ground as his horse fled to a safe distance and stopped farther down the road.
His hand reached for the sword at his waist, pulling it out of its sheathe. He took a moment to assess the situation: four men, soldiers by the look of them, all of them advancing towards him at the same time.
He had beaten worse odds in the past, but never injured as he was now. It wasn’t just his head that ached; his shoulder had yet to heal, the wounded flesh protesting with each movement he made.
As one of the men reached him first, Samuel raised his sword and parried his blow, their blades meeting with a deafening clang. The other three quickly closed in around him, and he swiftly dodged another hit, then another.
But he knew he stood no chance. The only comfort was the fact that those men didn’t seem to want him dead—only subdued. They never went for a killing blow.
When the next attack came, it was from the man who had snuck up behind him. A familiar dull pain exploded in Samuel’s head, radiating out from the back of his head where the man had struck him with the handle of a knife. For a moment, Samuel swayed, resisting the pain and the darkness, but no matter how much he fought it, he could not keep his eyes open.
By the time his body hit the ground, he was already unconscious.
Rushing pairs of hooves echoed around Alicia as she and her family silently rode down the path. Alarmed, she looked over her shoulder along with her sisters and her father, the three of them surely thinking the same thing she was: that they were under attack.
She heard her father unsheathe his sword, the blade scraping against the scabbard. She, too, reached for the small blade she always carried with her when travelling, just in case. If they forced the horses to a gallop, would they manage to escape? Whoever was coming was fast, hurtling down the path, and Alicia’s heart hammered in her chest at the thought that perhaps they had no chance of escape.
Could brigands be this fast? Could it be someone else?
As the party crested the small hill behind them, Alicia instantly recognized their leader. It was Nerian, along with a few soldiers, all of them looking frazzled and riding with abandon, only coming to a halt when they reached Alicia and her family.
“Nerian,” her father said, moving to the front of their small group, brows stitched into a frown. “What is it?”
“Samuel,” Nerian said breathlessly, as though he had been running instead of riding. “I was told he came after ye. Where is he?”
Alicia didn’t even have the chance to feel any joy at the knowledge that Samuel had run after her, reluctant to let her go. She was flooded with fear instead, remembering the state he was in after her father’s attack. Nerian and his men had come from the castle, so they should have encountered Samuel if he was following the same path, she thought. The fact that they hadn’t come across him could only mean that for some reason, he hadn’t been there.
“We didnae see him at all,” said Emmeline, joining their father at the front of the group. “Did ye nae see him? Perhaps he stopped tae rest.”
“He wouldnae stop,” Alicia said under her breath. No one heard her, of course, but she knew he wouldn’t rest until he had reached her, even if he wasn’t feeling well. Samuel was a stubborn man. Even injured, he would have kept going.
It could only mean that something had happened to him. Could it be that he was so unwell he simply couldn’t go on? Could he have gotten confused while searching for her and veered off the path, getting lost? After all, he was in no state to travel.
Or could it be that he had been attacked?
“We would have seen him,” Nerian said. He was pale, Alicia noticed, his forehead covered in a thin sheen of sweat. “We searched everywhere fer him. He isnae here.”
When Alicia turned to look at her father, curious to see his reaction, she found him just as pale, as though the blood hadbeen drained from his face. Despite everything, all the anger and the hatred he felt for Samuel now, he was still concerned, and that was a small comfort to Alicia. It meant he still cared, despite it all.
“Will ye help us find him?” Nerian asked hesitantly, as though he didn’t think her father would agree.
There was no hesitation when he spoke, though, nodding as he joined the other party. “O’ course,” he said. “Send one o’ yer guards back with the lasses an’ the rest o’ us will look fer him.”
“Nay!” Alicia was quick to say, joining them too. “I wish tae come with ye. I wish tae help.”
Instantly, she was met by her father’s stern look, his eyes boring a hole right through her. “Ye will dae nae such thing. Ye will go back tae the castle an’ wait without causin’ any trouble.”
Her father should have known by then, Alicia thought, that if there was one thing in which she was an expert, it was causing trouble, and if he didn’t want her doing such a thing, then he should simply agree to let her join them.
“If ye send me back, I will simply go out an’ search fer him on me own,” she said defiantly, eyes narrowing as she stared at him.
Her father stared right back, and for several moments neither of them backed down. Alicia wanted him to know she was serious.Either way, she would make sure she went out to look for him, and there was nothing that could stop her.
“Fine,” her father said in the end, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “Fine, but ye will stay with me the entire time. Dae ye understand? If ye stray fer even a moment, I will personally take ye back tae the castle.”
Alicia nodded immediately, not daring to argue. If her father wanted to keep an eye on her, then she was fine with it. She had no plans of straying too far from him. All she wanted was to be there and make sure Samuel would be found.
