Page 67 of The Highlander's Virgin Nun
But he could see how much these girls had been betrayed. Their fear was not ebbing.
He would need to try harder.
“Me wife is from this Abbey. I found her in these woods—she was tryin’ to escape. Her name is Rosaline.”
At that, the girls looked at one another, their eyes filled with tears.
“Ye ken her?”
“We didnae really ken her,” the one who had been hit squeaked. “They kept us separated, mostly, so that we couldnae conspire against them. We were only together because they needed two for dinner preparations. They like it made fast. But we saw her in passin’. We heard of her. Is she all right?”
“Aye. I am goin’ to take ye to safety in the mornin’. Tonight, we’ll stay in a camp nearby, where ye will be safe. We will get ye some furs and food.”
The girls nodded, holding each other close for reassurance, and he turned to walk them back to the camp.
The four of them made their way through the forest in the pitch black. They had to move slowly, as the girls were frail and sore. Jayden and Caelan kept an eye out for anything that might trip them up and lifted them over any fallen trees or rocks, not wanting them to waste their energy.
“What was that?” Jayden asked suddenly, his head jerking to the side farthest away from the Abbey.
Caelan had not heard a thing, but he did not dare ask. Instead, he stopped breathing, silencing everything he could in order to hear what he could not.
Breathing.
It was deep, with a grunt behind it—masculine. It was not his own, and he had trained Jayden to hold his breath when listening, so it was not his either. Then, he heard movement. Not a step, but a rebalancing of weight, enough to shift the ground beneath it. His head turned in the direction of the noise, and he could just about make out two spots of light in the pitch black.
Eyes.
“Get down!” Jayden yelled.
Caelan quickly ducked, pushed the girls’ heads down, and hauled them behind the nearest tree. Jayden drew his sword and knife, a weapon in each hand, as three men emerged from the trees ahead and charged towards them, their blades drawn. At the same time, arrows flew overhead, coming from attackers beyond, unseen.
Jayden quickly dodged the first man’s swing and slashed his shins deep enough to cripple him, but not deep enough to make him bleed out. He was thinking smart. He was keeping his cool and sticking to the plan. They were going to keep these men alive.
Caelan grabbed a rock and threw it behind him. He could tell from the angle of the arrows that the archers were too far away to see them properly in the dark. They had no idea where they were shooting.
The arrows arced higher as the rock landed ten feet away, missing their heads entirely.
“Stay put,” he instructed the girls quietly as he snuck out from behind the tree and stepped up to Jayden’s right.
The second man charged with more conviction, aiming calculated, well-paced jabs at Jayden. The man-at-arms was good. He dodged every swing, but he was not fast enough to retaliate.
Caelan came in low from the side, completely unseen, with only the small dagger in his sock. He punched the man in the head, unable to find a spot to stab that would not bleed out, and knocked him out clean.
As the third man lunged at them, two swords in hand, Caelan and Jayden exchanged a glance in the split second they had and nodded to each other. As the man swung his swords, they raised their arms as if to hit back. But at the last moment, they ducked under both swords, grabbed the man by the legs, and tossed him backward. His head hit the ground with a thud, knocking him out.
Quickly, Caelan flattened himself to the ground and bellowed, “We have all three of them trapped! If ye were better fighters, they’d have sent ye first! Surrender and retreat, or we’ll slay ye here! We only need a few of ye alive!”
They waited with bated breath to see if the archers would heed their threat. As the last arrow dropped to the ground, and not another followed, it seemed they did.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Jayden took the girls back to the camp, and Caelan kept watch over the attackers until he returned. Jayden brought back with him four of their strongest men, and with two men hauling each assassin, they dragged them back to the camp.
The assassins stirred a little on their journey. One of them came to, but he soon gave up his struggle as he realized his hands and feet were tied.
Once they were back in the camp, Jayden tied them to the trees and began his interrogation. When he got no answers, he threatened torture. Water over a rag, nails pulled with knives—he tried everything. But as Caelan had expected, they did not breathe a word.
“Name yer price,” he said. “I ken ye are only here because someone is payin’ ye to kill me. Tell me how much ye were paid and I will give ye more.”
