“Why? Where are ye going?” Greer couldn’t help the panic in her voice. She’d watched the battle end, but she wasn’t confident that the threat was gone.
“We are going to make sure the English understand what awaits them if they persist. Grandda already has men sailing to Dornoch Firth to see if the Sassenachs have come ashore. If—”
“Wait. There are more coming?” Greer looked toward the North Sea, and Thor felt her tremble.
“It’s likely, but we dinna ken for sure. Whether they’re here already or nae, we will make sure that any who arrive understand their fate if they come here.”
“What are ye going to do?”
Thor glanced around. “We’re taking the bodies with us. We’ll put them on pikes as markers along the road. We’ll cluster a few by the shore, then spread them out aboot a mile apart all the way here.”
“So, the new arrivals can find the dead ones staring at them as they ride to us.”
Thor paused for a moment before he nodded.
“Thor? Tell me. What am I missing?”
Thor debated what to say, but he wouldn’t start keeping secrets from his wife. One day they would lead together, so she would need to know everything that happened within the clan once she became its lady. He wanted her to trust him now, so they would have as strong a relationship as his parents did. Despite suggesting that none of the men tell the women the second half of his plan, he knew no husband would keep it from his wife. He wouldn’t be the only one.
“We will behead them and tie their heads around their hips, so their mouths are against their own cocks.”
Greer stifled her laugh. “I ken I shouldnae find that funny, but it is. I’d say do away with their hose first.”
“Greer!” Thor stared, open mouthed, at his bride. He’d feared his idea would scandalize her and even disappoint her in his behavior. He never imagined she’d have a dirtier imagination than him.
“Thor, I spent a lot of years plotting many men’s demises in the most painful or humiliating ways I could conceive. Believe me, what ye suggested is naught compared to a few I came up with.” Greer leaned forward and whispered in Thor’s ear. “If ye really wish to make a statement, take a different mon’s head and tie it to an arse. Pull their tongues out now and keep their mouths open before their bodies go rigid. Then it’ll look like they really are arse lickers. Or tie them to look like they're sucking each other’s…” Greer leaned back and shrugged.
Thor could only blink dumbly as he pictured what Greer suggested. Then his chest burned, and tears pricked the back of his eyes when he realized what she’d said at the beginning. She’d spent years plotting. Eight years all because he hadn’t believed her. It was his fault that she’d ever had a single one of those thoughts.
“Thor, stop.” Greer kept her voice soft. “It’s nae yer fault. Whether ye believed me or nae, Edgar chose what happened. Ye didna.”
“Ye would have been here and safe if I’d believed ye. He never would have touched ye.”
“He could have married me off to someone else. Locked me in the dungeon to die. He could have pushed me off a cliff. There were plenty of other ways he could have dealt with me. He chose what happened, and nay one forced him. Ye didna do it. He did. Dinna put this obstacle back in front of us. Neither of us will forget what happened or pretend like it didna. But dinna make it the center of our lives. I willna let him destroy us again.”
Thor pulled Greer against him, burying his nose in her clean hair as they clung to each other. “Ye’re right. I willna let him destroy us again, and it willna be an obstacle all the time. But I canna promise there willna be times when ma guilt overwhelms me. I dinna think it will ever go away completely. I’ll try nae to worry ye with it.”
“Nay. Dinna hide it from me. That willna solve aught. We deal with yer guilt and ma memories together.”
“Always together, wee one.”
“Always.”
Greer and Thor walked arm-in-arm to their family, and Thor accepted Siùsan’s embrace, receiving a different type of succor from his mother than he did from Greer. But it was just as fortifying. The couples made their way to their chambers, and the unwed men headed to the loch. The warriors would bathe, then the family would plan what came next—retribution and a wedding.
CHAPTER25
Thor and his cousins watched from the crest of a hill as the English reached the twentieth body on a pike. They’d seen the men come ashore and chuckled at the knights’ horror when they found the first five bodies, including Sir Richard’s, on the posts. Thor and the others placed them where they knew the English would begin their journey on the road north. They’d remained a few miles ahead of them as the shocked Englishmen rode toward Dunbeath. Now they were halfway home, and Thor couldn’t stop grinning.
The knights stopped at each body, and the Sinclairs could tell they argued each time. Many gestured wildly in the direction whence they came. Their leader insisted they push forward, but with each mile, even that man’s resolve floundered.
“I say they turn back after the next body.” Wee Liam sat with his arms crossed casually over his saddle’s pummel. He jerked his chin. “That one’s already thrown up three times.”
“I dinna even think they’re that gruesome,” Tate mused. “I mean, it’s nae like we brought their shite with them. We left that on the battlefield. The grass’ll be nice and tall by autumn.”
“We ken they’ve seen us. I think Wee Liam’s right. They willna last beyond one more body. Between us watching them and what they’ve found, they’re ready to run.” Thor turned his mount and nudged him forward once he saw the Englishmen steering their steeds back onto the road. He and his cousins continued north for another ten minutes before they came to the next corpse. He twisted in the saddle but could barely see their shadows since they were on a flat stretch. “This time we stay close enough that they can tell us apart, but we dinna engage.”
The nine young men trotted their horses half a league, then stopped once more. At almost two miles away from those they taunted, the Highlanders fanned out once more. They rode with a score of Sinclair warriors and a dozen Mackays. As the knights came into view, Thor drew his sword. The others followed suit before adjusting their targes on their left forearms. Thor began the steady cadence as he banged his sword’s hilt against his shield. The noise filled the air and surely carried to the unnerved knights.
