Page 79 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
“Five. I’ll deal with the archer. You get the girls.”
Alexander was suddenly moving, running at full pelt, his body bent double as he ran against the arrows that whipped past him.
Callum looked to Lydia. “Stay there. Dinnae move!” he shouted and then ran after the girls.
The sun was bright in the sky, blinding him before passing behind the church spire.
As he reached the back of the church, a dark shape lurched out from behind the wall, a sword outstretched. Callum cut furiously to his right, slicing the man’s hand off with a blood-curdling scream and stabbing him in the heart.
If ye come after me family, ye dinnae live to see a new day!
He kept running, aware that there was another man at the rear of the church in pursuit.
He could hear the clash of swords to his left where Alexander was fighting the archer, but he only had eyes for the girls as they passed out of sight over the brow of a hill.
As he reached higher ground, he turned, grabbing the knife that was sheathed against his calf and pulling it out. With an effortless motion, he threw it straight at his pursuer. The dagger flashed through the air, striking at the man’s heart with ruthless precision, and he fell to his knees with a quiet sigh.
Glancing around, there was no one else to fight, and Callum turned, running after the silhouette as the man carrying the girls reached a horse tethered to a tree branch several feet in front.
Putting on a burst of speed, he heard a shout behind him. Twisting to look at Alexander, he saw that the other man held another knife in his hand as he ran toward him.
The man-at-arms flicked the blade forward, the handle spinning as it flew toward him, and Callum caught it on the first try.
He threw it up in the air, feeling the weight of it as the lighter blade spun downward, heading for the soft ground beneath. Callum gripped the handle mid-air, drew it back, and let it fly toward the man ahead of him.
The knife sailed through the air, hitting the man in the thigh as he tried to get the girls up onto the horse. Amy was already on the horse, but Eilis was still beneath his arm. He dropped her onto the ground, hollering in pain as Eilis crawled hurriedly out of the path of his body as he collapsed to the earth.
Callum’s heart lurched as he saw the whites of the horse’s eyes as it panicked, rearing high into the air before cantering away.
Amy, who had been balanced on its back, was thrown violently through the air, landing on the tufts of grass beneath with a heart-wrenching thud.
Lydia watched as Alexander fought with the archer, the arrows stuck in the ground only feet from where her mother and Tommy were crouching.
“Stay here,” she said urgently. “I must see what has happened.”
“Lydia, no!” her mother protested. “Callum told you to stay here.”
“They took the girls, mother! I have to help them!” she said frantically and pushed her brother into her mother’s arms as she lifted her skirts and ran toward the place where she had last seen Callum.
There was a soft groan to her left as Alexander dispatched the archer swiftly and ran off in pursuit of Callum.
Lydia kept running, watching out for any other men who were waiting to attack her. As she reached the slope of a hill, there were two bodies in her path. She swallowed, never having seen a dead man before, and averted her gaze.
As she reached the top of the incline, she heard a shout ahead and watched as Callum caught a knife in midair and threw it at the girls’ assailant.
Her heart leaped into her mouth as the blade landed inches away from Eilis’s leg, and the man collapsed, throwing the little girl aside.
“Callum!” she shouted, but he did not hear her. Lydia gasped as Amy’s tiny form went hurtling back, landing on the ground beneath as the huge beast cantered away.
Lydia sprinted toward Amy, reaching for Eilis and grabbing the little girl’s hand as she fell to her knees beside her sister.
Alexander reached them too, gripping the arms of the girls’ kidnapper and dragging him away.
“Amy, Amy? Are you all right?” she breathed.
The little girl’s face was tear-stained, and she was crying pitifully. She was holding her arm as if in pain, but nothing looked as if it were broken.
“I told ye to stay where ye were!” Callum said, even as he moved his big body between Lydia and the church.
