“M’Laird, they must hae knawn I wis wi’ ye,” Lachie replied. He felt embarrassed, afraid, and disappointed in himself. This had been his chance to show the Laird what he was capable of, that he could be a strong man instead of a weakling, and he had made a complete mess of it. Now he had to think, and an idea flashed into his mind. Then suddenly he knew.
“I know where they are!” he cried, and whooped. He was the Laird’s man at last.
I cannot wait much longer,Fraser thought,and his mind began to go over dozens of different possibilities, each one worse than the last.It’s not too late,he told himself, till he was thinking it in time to Annie’s hoofbeats.Not too late, not too late, not too late…
12
“What is that?” Fraser asked, frowning as he saw a blaze glowing through the trees.
“That, M’Laird,” Lachie replied, “is the bandits’ camp. They think I dinnae knaw aboot it but I followed them ane day when they had just done a robbery an’ had drunk thersels senseless. There is a wee place there where they keep a’ their tools an’ things.”
“Thank you Lachie,” Fraser said gratefully. “You have done very well.”
“I am only repayin’ a debt, M’Laird,” he replied, with a note of pride in his voice.
God, I promise to be a better father from now on,he thought desperately.If you will only send her safely back to me. Give me one last chance...
They crept closer, and as they advanced they could see the scene around the fire more clearly, and it was then that they saw Abigail and Leana standing with their arms wrapped around each other. That was when he realized that not only did he love Abi, but he loved Leana too, and if she died he would be devastated. She was protecting Abi in the only way she could, shielding her with her body against the leering savages who were all around them.
As he watched, he saw one of the bandits approach Abi and grab her by the arm, dragging her away from Leana. Abi screamed and Leana reached out to pull her back, but one of the others snatched her from behind and wrenched her out of reach.
Fraser’s control suddenly snapped. He had been contemplating creeping up on the robbers and ambushing them, but now, every plan he had made had left his mind, washed away by a tide of pure rage.
Fraser did not always carry a claymore; most of the time he used an ordinary broadsword for protection, but today it was the perfect weapon for his mission. There was a demon inside him, a demon of vengeance and hate. At this moment he was not capable of rational thought; all he could see was Abi’s terrified face and it spurred him on to acts of horror of which he had never thought himself capable.
Fear gave Leana the strength to pull Abi out of the way of Annie, who was no longer the placid, gentle creature who stood in the stable munching hay. Now she was a creature of thundering hooves, flaring nostrils, and massive bulk, big enough to crush a man without pausing in her stride. In the firelight she looked like a fiend from the pits of hell, and as she and Fraser approached the outlaws she neighed furiously with an ear-splitting shriek.
Fraser roared at the top of his voice and the outlaws tried to scatter, but it was too late. Danny’s eyes were wide with horror as they met Frazer’s scorching, vengeful gaze. He was trying to run backwards out of Annie’s path, but he would have landed in the fire if Fraser’s claymore had not neatly scythed his head off first. His headless corpse was found in the embers later.
Meanwhile, the claymore, a mighty weapon five feet long and seven pounds in weight, was continuing its arc with all Fraser’s weight and strength behind it. It lost little momentum as it continued its sideways path and sliced the next bandit’s head off as if it had been a thistle.
Fraser looked around him for other victims. He was in the grip of bloodlust, a kind of madness when all reason was gone and the only aim in sight was to crush, cut, and stab till the last drop of enemy blood had been spilt.
Malky had managed to pull Lachie off his horse, who had cantered away in a panic to escape the mayhem. Now he was lying on the ground with his arms over his head while Calum had raised his sword, about to drive it into Lachie’s heart.
Fraser wheeled Annie around and whipped out his short stabbing sword, then brought it down on Calum’s back, burying it up to the hilt between his shoulder blades. His face was a savage mask of hatred as he turned around to strike at Lonnie, who had pulled a blazing branch from the fire and was holding it out in front of Annie, stopping her in her tracks. Fraser dismounted and knocked the flaming branch out of Lonnie’s hand with a blow from his claymore. He was about to swipe it sideways to lop the man’s head off when a hand gripped his arm suddenly.
“Grrr!” He whipped around, shrugged the hand off, raised his sword, then realized who it was. Leana stood there trembling with fear, tears running down her face.
“Leana!” he growled. “I could have killed you! Get out of the way!”
“Dinnae kill him, Fraser,” she begged. “There has been enough blood spilled here the night. Throw them in yer deepest dungeon instead. Please.”
Fraser stood for a moment looking down at the bandit. He was a specimen of the worst kind of humanity: dirty, dishonest, and utterly ruthless. Then he looked up at Leana’s desperate face. It was utterly beyond him how she could feel any mercy for a creature like this, especially one who was going to inflict on her the worst kind of fate to befall a woman. Fraser nodded slowly and put away his claymore, then beckoned a guard to take the outlaw away.
“You do not deserve any mercy,” Fraser spat. “Get out of my sight.”
He turned around and looked over to where Leana had gone to stand with Lachie with concern written all over her face, and Fraser knew then that she had been born to heal in every sense of the word. She and Lachie hugged each other, and Fraser realized that Leana had cured him too.
“She made some poisoned soup for them.” Abi appeared at his elbow, seeing her father looking at Leana. “She made me rub nettles on my face so they would think I had a terrible disease and leave me alone. They were going to sell us as...” Her voice faltered. “Whores.”
Fraser looked at the daughter he had almost lost forever.I owe Leana so much,he thought thankfully. He kissed his daughter and smiled at her tenderly. “You are safe now,” he whispered, then left her with Leana. “Wait for me,” he said.
Fraser strode over to the last two men who were being tied up by the guards. “It is only by Leana’s mercy that both your heads are not lying on the ground,” Fraser growled. “But neither of you is ever going to see the sun again.”
The two men looked at the ground. “Not so big and brave now, are you?” Fraser asked disgustedly. “Putting the fear of God into defenseless women is very courageous, but standing up to armed men is a different story, hmmm?” He raked them both up and down with a withering glance and beckoned a guard to take them away.
Then Fraser strode over to Leana and wrapped his arms around her in a hug so fierce that she could hardly breathe. “Thank you, Leana,” he whispered. “Thank you for saving Abigail, and from turning me from a beast back into a man again.” His dark eyes looked into hers and he smiled. “You have taught me something.”
