“He kept most of the gold we all worked equally hard to get last time,” the first soldier added. “And now expects us to die for him?” He sized Alex up. “If we doona raise a weapon against ye…”
“I doona care who ye are or where yer loyalties lie,” Alex said. “I have one man on my mind. If ye leave now…”
That’s when Struan appeared on the other side of the fire, his sword at the ready. “How nice of ye to visit, Laird Alex.”
Alex gave him an evil grin. He had never met the man before, but he hated him on first sight. Despised his slithery voice, his skulking face, even the way he held a sword. The way he hid on the other side of the firepit told him all he needed to know about the man’s character. He was a coward. A true bastard in every sense of the word. So he’d die like a man without honor, not on his feet but on his back.
Alex dinna go around the fire, he ran through it like the devil himself, purposely loosing his sword on the way. He tackled Struan, who had no time to think or defend himself. The Sutherland bastard landed on his back with a loud thud and dinna move.
Instead of beating him, Alex slapped his face hard. When that dinna rouse him, he lifted one of the man’s arms—it was limp.
“Bring a torch over here,” Alex commanded whatever soldier stood closest.
“Aye, milord.”
The torch was delivered immediately.
“Hold it above his head.”
In the light, Alex found the reason Struan had been knocked unconscious. Blood stained the rock he had hit his head on when he fell.
“Is he dead?” the soldier asked.
“Nay. He still breathes. Bind his hands and bring him to his tent.”
“Aye, milord.”
Everything in the camp now belonged to Alex, including the Sutherland retainers. If they dinna swear fealty to him, he’d have every one of them executed. As he walked the distance to Struan’s tent, men on horseback swarmed the encampment.
“Where is Alex MacKay?” he heard Laird Oliphant demand.
Alex grinned as he turned around and walked back to where he’d come from. “Matthew,” he greeted his father-in-law by his Christian name.
The laird snorted. “Ye have bollocks aplenty,” he praised as he swung down from the saddle. “Sacking this camp by yerself.”
Alex lowered his head out or respect. “I had God on my side.”
“Ye’ve suddenly found the Almighty again?”
“Somewhere between my home and this place.”
“Good to know, MacKay. Bloody good to know. Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“And where is the bastard that took her?”
“Nay, no this time,” Alex said. “Struan belongs to me.”
“A kick in the ribs never killed a man.”
“Yer kick in the ribs very well could.”
His father-in-law chuckled so hard he coughed. “Best get my daughter. I wish to see her.”
Alex wanted nothing more. He walked the half mile back to where he’d left her, calling her name softly. “Keely. Ye can come out now.”
“Is it over?” she asked, creeping out from the underbrush.
