Page 56 of Highlander's Sinless Nymph
The blade flashed white as it caught the sun, scything across to meet the oncoming Englishman. There was a cry of pain from the man as he was caught in midstride by Edward’s sword, a brief spray of blood and he spun away, falling with a crash into the lake.
Edward stood panting, his sword still in his hand, alert and ready. He was not sure where he had struck Hirst. He had been aiming for his neck, but he had a feeling that the slippery tracker might have moved aside at the last second. His eyes moved over the ceaseless water of the lake, but he saw no sign of the man.
The current might have got him. Living or dead, he might have been washed down the lake. The river leads out of it at the lower end.
He stood staring out over the water until a touch on his back made him whirl, a snarl on his lips.
It was Charlotte and she was staring in horror at Edward’s arm––the one that was not holding the sword. Edward followed her gaze.
Hirst’s dagger was sticking out of the meat of his bicep. In all the excitement and the anxiety, Edward had not even felt the knife strike home.
“Bugger,” Edward grunted, keeping an eye on the river. He did not trust the Hirst man an inch, did not even trust him to stay dead if he had killed him.
Charlotte’s hand was fluttering around the knife embedded in his arm.
“We do not have time fer this, Sassenach,” Edward growled at her. He took the slim knife by its handle and, with low moan of agony, pulled it from his flesh. Blood welled out, but Edward scooped up Hirst’s coat and pressed it to the wound. He tossed the knife into the lake.
“Gather yer things, Sassenach,” he ordered her, his face grim. “We’ve got to bloody well get out of here. Now!”
19
Charlotte wept as they galloped along, the wind rushing over them. She clung onto Edward, careful to try and not nudge his wounded arm. She could not believe that he had justpulledthe knife out like that. The sight of it had turned her stomach, but she had not had time to dwell on things.
Edward’s arm was wrapped crudely in a bandage that he had made out of the severed sleeves of that despicable man’s, Hirst, coat.
“Are ye all right back there, Sassenach?” Edward yelled over the thunder of Cogar’s hooves on the turf.
Am I all right? He is the one who has just pulled a four-inch slither of steel out of his own arm…
“Yes, I––” she began to say, and then she found that she was sobbing uncontrollably.
“I k-killed that man!” she managed after a moment. “I killed him, I––”
“Did what ye had to do to survive, Sassenach,” Edward said, his tone harsh and unsympathetic. “Ye killed a man who would have done ye harm––ye heard ‘em talkin’ to one another. They might nae have killed ye, but they would nae have left ye alone fer four days, I’d be willin’ to bet all the MacQuarrie lands on that.”
Charlotte shivered at the memory of the feeling of the sword going into the man––Sheppard.
Surprisingly, terrifyingly easy to push that razor-sharp point into him. His body offered so little resistance to it...
She shuddered and forced her mind to stop replaying the scene again and again.
“Now, listen to me, lass,” Edward said sternly, dragging her from her painful introspection, “we must make sure that ye are protected from yer faither.”
“What do you mean?” Charlotte asked. “He’ll not know that I––he won’t hear of what occurred back there, will he?”
Edward shrugged and Charlotte heard him hiss with pain. “I hope nae,” he said, “but I’ve a feelin’ in me guts that that Hirst creature might have survived and made good his escape. If he did, the first thing he’s sure to do is to get back to yer faither and tell him what happened.”
“So?” Charlotte said.
“So, I’ve nay doubt that he kens well enough that we were on MacQuarrie lands and headin’ fer the only place fer miles that might provide two fugitives with succor, MacQuarrie Castle.”
Charlotte realized what Edward was telling her. “And my father will head straight there…”
“Aye,” Edward said, his voice drawn with pain, “and I doubt he’ll be comin’ alone.”
Cogar hammered across the rolling grasslands that showed that they were fast approaching MacQuarrie Castle. Charlotte noticed that Edward did not even have to guide his steed any longer. It was apparent that Cogar could smell her home.
“What in Heaven’s name do you propose we do about my father?” Charlotte asked. “If he does indeed hear that we are heading to your family home, he will stop at nothing until he has me back. He will tear MacQuarrie Castle to the ground in his quest to have me returned to him.”
