She lifted her fingers while Holger said the number. “Four warriors.” The Northman leaned forward then pressed her harshly. “Tellus where they are, my lady?”
Callum clenched his jaw. She’d just alerted them to a trap and the cocksman was demanding an answer! Sir Brayden didn’t take to it either as he said dryly, “Perhaps we should send the lady out into the night to hunt them as well.”
Holger glared at Sir Brayden.
“Nella, are you able to point the direction they are hiding?” Callumasked.
The three of them focused as she raised two fingers then pointed southeast from her. “Two warriors are southeast, have it, Nella.” She made a motion like walking with her fingers then flashed five fingers then a zero. “Walking paces, they are fifty paces from you that direction?”
She nodded and Holger emanated a grunt like a mate who had grasped a lover’s hips before he murmured, “Fuking flawless, the lady is a find unlike any.”
Callum ground his teeth. Now was not the time to challenge the Northman. He had to find then slay these traitors before dawn. He would see about reiterating his claim regarding Nella washisor he’d challenge the Northman to a forbidden Viking tradition of a “holmgang” where warriors would battle till death.
Nella made the snake motion with her hand and wrist again then pointed another direction with the hand gestures following as Callum interpreted them out loud. “Sèidrich and the fourth warrior are nearly sixty paces northeast from you.” She bowed her head. “We shall see to them, Nella. Please go back inside and bar the door on your and Lady Dagny’s chamber.”
She lifted her hand to her lips, kissed them then pressed them onto her heart before standing a moment in the torchlight. If his love for her could cause the night to turn into day, the sun would be beaming overhead directly.
“My heart is yours as well, Nella,” he vowed. “Ishallreturn for you.” She pulled the cloak closed before the door shuttered behind her.
“The kiss gesture was meant for me, Scotsman,” Holger taunted, adjusting his sword in the scabbard while they sought the ladder.
“Halt your tangents and see to the traitors,” Callum ordered darkly. “You take the first pair with Sir Brayden.” He tore his bow from his shoulder. “Sèidrich and the second present are mine.”
Moments later, the bramble pulling at his ankles, Callum maneuvered his path through the darkness. As his eyes adjusted more into the murky surroundings, he searched the terrains. With a glance back at the abbey’s stoop as reference in navigation, his feet found their way silently. An inward grin curved his lips. Nella always said he moved like a phantom; now was the time to use this skill.
Stepping left at the large shadowy outline, most likely a boulder, he heard a tiny rustle ahead in the night’s darkness. Two figures shone by the tiniest silhouette from the sliver of a moon above after the clouds fell away by a stern gust before stillness claimed the winds once more.
There. The tall lean one on the left had to be Sèidrich… What was he doing leaned over?Click. Placing a bolt on the crossbow. The other shadow was squattier, on the move, and headed this way!
It must be a silent kill. Should these foes holler, this may place the second concealed charge by Brayden and Holger at risk.Put an arrow in that thick throat of the approaching warrior.The bow string pulled his fingers as he lifted it, as if eager to deliver the arrow on the target. Wait… let the foe take two more steps this way… Release now!
The silent iron killer flew the air; the warrior emanated a small wheeze with his neck twisting at an unnatural angle after the arrow pierced.Don’t let him collapse or this will alert Sèidrich!Callum leapt forward, like a stag crossing an ocean, catching the dead warrior before a thump could hit the ground. Laying him silently onto the terrain, Callum immediately nocked the next arrow from the quiver hung across his back.
Was Sèidrich’s only weapon in hand the crossbow? He narrowed his eyes as he stepped over a fallen branch. His lips curved. Aye, it was poor choice for the fight to come. A hare hopped in the bramble near him, cracking a twig. Sèidrich’s head snapped up his direction.
Sèidrich. Will. Remain. Silent. Setting his jaw, Callum charged the snake like mercenary who began raising his crossbow the same moment.
“The distance is too short for the bolt to inflict damage,” Callum snarled. “My arrow is not.”
Sèidrich knew it and his mouth began to open wide to yell a warning at the other warriors.Now!Callum’s fingers released, and the arrow flew true and quick and landed right into the open hollow of Sèidrich’s mouth before he could spout a sound. The evil foe gave a tiny gurgle noise before meeting the ground on his way back toward hell’s gate. Wiping his brow, Callum looked at the peaceful abbey.
“Nella,” he whispered, knowing she would hear, “Sèidrich has re-joined his underground maker.”And will threaten you no more.
Chapter 40
“Nella, Sèidrich has re-joined his underground maker.”
Nella heard the words from her knight while she remained concealed in a nook beneath the monk’s night stairs. She had ducked under when a pair of northern men-at-arms approached on a parallel passage. Inwardly she gave a sigh from relief Callum was safe; outwardly, she froze when the guard’s steps changed course and came in her direction! Brazen brimstone!
Should she make herself known? It was two men-at-arms with the Northern delegation. No, without Holger present she didn’t know who was a possible friend for Sir James.
Her fingers pressed her heart once again under the cloak as she remained hidden when one of the guards continued speaking in a heavy accent born from the Kingdom of Norway. “Have you seen Sir James?”
“No.”
Was Holger close? She began a heavier chronicle when she slipped out from under the stairs after their shadows cast by torchlight vanished around the corner. Pulling the cloak’s hood back up higher, she ventured the opposite way, headed back for Lady Dagny’s chambers.
Thump. Thump.“Well done, Lord Kolson,” Sir Brayden declared in the far distance. The thump had to be the fallen enemies.
