Laura jumped to her feet. In the distance, the others were now riding toward them, but they were too far away to be there quickly enough. The highwayman reached for the pistol that had been knocked to the ground and picked it up again, pointing it at Erskine’s face.
No! He cannot die!
“I reckon I’m going to enjoy this,” the highwayman smiled, about to pull the trigger. Erskine was winded on the floor, his eyes on the barrel of the gun he could not escape.
Laura didn’t think through her actions. She reached beneath Erskine’s coat that she had borrowed and grabbed the pistol from her new belt, remembering everything both Erskine and Tam had taught her, then fired.
* * *
Erskine heard the shot and flinched, expecting the ricocheting pain of a bullet wound, but there was no pain. He turned his eyes from the pistol pointing at him to the highwayman holding it.
There was blood on the highwayman’s arm, his face turned slack, the pallor pale as he dropped the pistol, clearly in too much pain to hold onto it. He stumbled back from Erskine, giving him enough time to leap to his feet again.
Their assailant was injured, but he could recover any moment. Erskine jumped into action. With two hefty blows to the man’s face, he sank to his knees, breathing heavily and still clutching the bullet wound on his arm. Erskine was about to strike again when he caught sight of the man’s eyes; they were vacant.
Erskine stepped away as the man fell forward, face-first into the muddy road beneath their feet. He prodded the man with his foot, but he did not stir. He had fainted.
Erskine was aware the horses of the others were now nearby.
“Billie! Excellent shot,” Tam’s voice called Erskine’s attention, and he turned to see Billie standing with the pistol still in his hand, the barrel smoking. “See? We told ye there was nay reason to fear the highwaymen.”
“Gullible lot,” Erskine agreed aloud, though inside, he was shaken as he returned his gaze to Billie. The highwayman had gotten the upper hand on him, being faster. With the barrel pointed at his face, Erskine could not see a way out.
Billie saved me life.
“For a minute there, Erskine,” Dearg’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “I thought ye would be food for the worms.”
“Aye, so did I,” Erskine turned to his horse and fetched some rope from the saddle before returning to the highwayman. Tam jumped down from his horse and helped to tie up the criminal. “We’ll drop this bastard off at the next town.” Together, he and Tam tossed the man over the back of Tam’s saddle, just as Erskine retrieved the bag of food that had been taken and the wallet from its position on the floor.
“Well done, Billie,” Camden said. Erskine turned to see Camden clapping Billie on the shoulder. Despite the genuine compliment, Erskine thought Billie looked rather unsettled.
“Thanks,” he said tightly as he placed the pistol back in his belt.
“We need to get goin’,” Dearg called loudly. “Come on, nay dallyin’. We daenae want Billie to shoot any more highwaymen, or we’ll be arrested for bein’ the criminals.”
Erskine shot a dark glare Dearg’s way, but it did little use. The others climbed quickly back into their saddles and set off again. Erskine waited for Billie to mount the saddle first, but his hands were shaking slightly.
“Ye all right?” he asked under his breath, just as Billie’s bright blue eyes turned to him.
“I’ll be all right,” Billie said simply.
“That really isnae the same thing,” Erskine shook his head as he too climbed into the saddle.
“Thank you,” Billie’s words took him by surprise. He turned in the saddle to look at the lad, his eyes wide. “For drawing him away.”
“I am the one who should be thankin’ ye, Billie,” he said with sternness. “Had ye nay shot that man, I could be lyin’ dead in a muddy road by now.” Billie flinched at his words. “So, thank ye.”
The boy nodded, but he said nothing more.
“Aye, we best hurry and get this filth to the next town goal,” Erskine urged the horse forward again. He was aware on their journey every now and then that Billie was still trembling, unsettled. The boy had shot a man, something he clearly never thought he would do, in order to save Erskine.
Aye, I am completely indebted to the lad now.
* * *
“Scotland! Ah, to be home at last,” Tam said as they sat down at the table of the first coaching inn they had found on the road into Scotland.
“How far until we reach your clan?” Billie asked as he sat beside Tam.
