“Learned something new then?” the warrior taunted him, his lips lifted in a slight smile.
Kaiden rotated his neck, popping the muscles and bone there. “Ye are going tae die here.”
The man chuckled. “We shall see then. If mah memory serves me right, ’twas ye on yer knees last time, ready tae join the great Scots, not me.”
Kaiden tightened his grip on the sword—his father’s sword—and charged forward. Their swords clanged together in the midst of the bloody battle, and Kaiden felt the beginnings of a familiar friend threading through his veins.
It was the excitement of battle, one he thought he would never see again.
Kaiden’s aching leg faded into the background as he and the other warrior locked swords, so close he could see the murderous intent in his eyes. This warrior thought that he would be easy to kill and move on, but Kaiden was about to show him that it wasn’t the case today.
Because of his wife, he was fighting now, and he would continue to fight until his last breath.
Pushing away from the warrior, he rolled his shoulders as the man came at him again, getting a blow to his midsection as a result. The man stumbled back, surprise filtering through his expression as he gripped the injured side, and Kaiden smiled.
“Didnae see that either, did ye?”
The answer was a growl before Kaiden was raising his sword once more, blocking what would have been a death blow had his reflexes not been fast enough. “McGregor bastard!” the warrior roared, striking at Kaiden repeatedly with his sword. Kaiden defended each one, grunting as his limbs started to tremble. He had trained every day for the past week for this, but still felt the pain of the last four months ravaging his body.
He would not fail.
With a roar, he came at the enemy, barely feeling the blow to his temple as his sword sliced through the warrior’s arm, drawing blood. His own blood dripped from numerous cuts where his leather braces didn’t cover, but he barely felt them.
Kaiden’s entire focus was on destroying the Scot who had nearly ended his life.
“Tell me, warrior,” the enemy growled. “Tell me ye yield, and I will spare yer life once more.”
“Nay,” Kaiden gasped, gathering all his strength to continue on, his arms trembling under the weight of his sword. “I will never.”
“Then ye will die,” he grunted, coming at Kaiden once more.
Kaiden blocked his thrust, and his fist connected with the warrior’s injured side, their swords coming together in a dizzying array of parries and thrusts that a lesser Scot would fail to block. His heart raced wildly in his chest as he spun and ducked, grunting when the Scot got a lucky hit to his midsection that nearly brought Kaiden to his knees.
No, he couldn’t go to the ground. The moment he did, he would be as good as dead.
His hand holding his sword took a hard hit, and the sword that had been with his clan for generations went clattering in the dirt, the once gleaming metal now dulled by blood. “Ye were some great warrior,” the man boasted with a grin as Kaiden fumbled to remove one of his daggers. “I think ye’re weak.”
He kicked at Kaiden’s knee on the injured leg, and Kaiden screamed in pain as the knee buckled, sending him sprawling into the dirt.
Not again! I cannae be going through this again!
He should have listened to his wife. Now, because of his stubbornness, he might never lay eyes on her lovely face again.
The enemy’s sword ran clean through his shoulder, and Kaiden swore he heard Ferra scream. Now his mind was playing tricks on him. Was this a sign of death?
Was he about to enter the afterlife?
Kaiden waited until the warrior drew close, the look on his face telling him that his enemy thought he had won. “Yer clan is ours,” he seethed, grasping the hilt of the sword still lodged in Kaiden’s shoulder. “The mighty McGregor clan has fallen.”
Kaiden slowly smiled. “Fallen, but not dead,” he said in a deadly calm voice as he buried the dagger into the man’s exposed midsection, slicing across to ensure that no one would be able to stitch him back together.
“Ye bastard!” the warrior yelled, his hands dropping to his stomach to staunch the blood flowing out of his body. “Wot have ye done!”
Kaiden spit in the dirt, resting his hands on his knees as he watched his enemy fall into the dirt before him.
“I’ve won this battle.”
18
