Page 73 of The Speed of Lightning
“Freya—Maw? Where are they?”
Pain carved through his father’s face. “Your mother. S’over there…” He lifted a shaking hand toward a headless body sprawled in the grass.
A cry tore in Lightning’s throat as he recognized the familiar shape of her hands, still open and gentle, reaching toward the sky. He hauled his father tighter against him, desperate to go to her—but Beithir stepped in, massive and immovable, blocking his path.
“Dinnae go over there, Lightning. No.” With one enormous hand he seized Lightning’s shoulder and forced him down. “It’s too late.”
On the shore, the MacLean guard surged from their boats, advancing in disciplined waves into the burning wood. Around them, the last of the Wolf’s caterans began to break, retreating toward the Tarbert road.
On the verge of hysteria, Lightning clutched his father, feeling his strength drain with every labored breath. “Da—Freya? Where is Freya?”
Da shuddered in his arms, his chin trembling, a soft, wet crackle rattling from his chest. His hand lifted weakly, reaching toward the smoke-choked sky, eyes already losing their focus.
Thunder swept into the village, bow singing as he loosed arrow after arrow, holding off the last of the Wolf’s stragglers. “Where do we search for your wife, Lightning?”
Lion slid an arm under Da, bracing him. “I’ve got him,mon pote. Go—find her.”
Lightning’s voice cracked, raw and unrecognizable. “Da, hang on. You need a healer! Where’s Birdy? Get Birdy!”
Lion crouched beside him, hands moving quickly. “She’s still on the bìrlinn. We’ll get him there. Shadow—help me lift.”
But as they tried to move him, Da’s scream ripped the air, primal and final. They froze, lowering him back to the blood-soaked earth. “It’s my time, Cal. Leave me. I willnae leave your mother.”
Bog padded over as if summoned by grief itself, and with a heavy sigh, flopped beside him. The dog laid his head across Da’sthigh, panting hard. Da’s trembling hand found the thick black fur and smoothed it once, twice. “G-good boy. Good dog. Good fighter.”
They struggled with his father’s armor, cutting the ties and easing it over his head. A gush of blood released from his chest, and with it the remnants of his strength. A groan escaped Lightning as he gripped his father’s hand realizing that he would not survive. The color of his face was now as pale as snow, the clouds of breath releasing from his lips in the cold night air becoming smaller and more shallow. He was losing the fight against death.
Shadow laid down his bloodied dirk, stripping off his armor and yanking his tunic over his head. Bare-chested in the freezing night, he pressed the cloth hard against Da’s wound. “We’ve got to control the bleeding.”
Lightning shook his head, refusing to believe what his eyes saw. His father’s blood slipped fast through Shadow’s fingers, carrying his life away. “Da, just hang on. Stay with me. I need you, Da.”
Da’s translucent gray eyes found his, brimming with tears. “I was wrong. I should have stood beside you in that moment. I was a coward.”
A single tear slid down his soot-streaked cheek, the first weakness Lightning had ever seen in the man he most wanted to make proud. Clutching him close, desperate to understand, Lightning wiped it away. “What d’ye mean? You’re the strongest man I know. You are no coward, Cù Ceartas.”
Da’s head bobbed as he fought for breath. “The c-ceremony.”
Tears burned Lightning’s eyes as his father’s trembling hand found his cheek. “Och, Da. That was so long ago. None of it matters now.”
Da shook his head, his gaze beginning to fix. “Ten years gone. I never should have… should… have cast you out.”
Without thinking, Lightning pressed a kiss to his soot-stained cheek. “All is forgiven, Da. All of it.”
His father’s arm flopped heavily around him, weak but still reaching. “I know you’re ready.”
A sob tore loose. “I’ve only just gotten you back. I’m no’ ready, Da. I told you.”
Rock strode up, broadsword raised, and inclined his head toward the hill. “Lightning, some of the villagers said they saw Freya go that way.”
Da’s breathing jerked. Lightning clutched him tighter, the weight of ten lost years pressing down, desperate to hold on. “I’m sorry, Da. I should have come back sooner. I’ve failed you. I failed the promise.”
A weak chuckle escaped Da. “No. Proud. So proud.”
Another moan of grief tore from Lightning as his father went limp in his arms. He eased him to the ground. “Da?”
Da’s eyes flickered with a final, fragile blink. “Freya. Lealt. Freya. Lealt. Fort. Freya…Leal?—”
Appalled, Lightning watched as the last breath left him.
