She and her bow had made easy enough work of that one. But Halldor remained on his knees, slumped to the ground.
No, no, no!If he thought he could simply up and die on her, after she’d gone to all this trouble to find him, he’d better just think again. She was having none of that.
Brie jumped from her horse the instant she reached him and shoved the body of the man she’d shot to one side before she kneeled to capture Halldor’s cheeks in her hands.
“O’Donar? Can you hear me?”
He blinked repeatedly, as if trying to focus his vision, and grunted something she couldn’t understand.
“Where are you wounded?” she demanded, running her hands over his broad chest and down his arms.
From the looks of his condition, she didn’t have time for a guessing game, but the only thing she could find was one small scratch high on his arm where his tunic had been sliced open.
“Answer me, O’Donar! What have they done to you? Where are you hurt?”
No blood on his clothing, no blood on the ground. Well, none ofhisblood on the ground, though she couldn’t say as much for his opponents.
She grabbed his shoulders and shook until he swung his head back and forth, yet still his eyes continued their slow, confused blinking.
“Not Valkyrie,” he slurred, his voice sounding raw.
“Valkyrie? Me?” She shook her head, capturing his face with her hands again cupping his cheeks. “Hardly. It’s naught but Brie MacCulloch who sits before you now. Have you forgotten?”
What in the name of the Seven had those bastards done to him? Her great, strong warrior, reduced to a grunting half-wit.
“No,” he whispered, closing his eyes. “Not Brie.”
Whether he rejected the idea of her coming to his aid or simply didn’t recognize her, she couldn’t say. She almost hoped it was the latter.
“Look at me,” she ordered, giving him another gentle shake. “Do you no ken who I am? Surely you canna have forgotten Bridget MacCulloch so soon.”
This time when his eyes opened, recognition shone in them. “A brainless question, that,” he muttered on a deep sigh. “Help me to my feet.”
He laid an arm over her shoulder and she struggled to help him stand. How could she have forgotten what a big man he was? She towered over most men, yet next to this one, she felt almost dainty.
Together, they managed to get to a large tree where he leaned against the trunk, breathing heavily as if he’d run a great distance.
She was more than a little winded herself.
“What’s happened to you, to leave you so weak? I canna find a wound of any consequence upon yer body.”
“It’s of no matter,” he responded, scanning the area around them. “Did you see which way the lads went?”
“Lads? I saw none but the men on the ground as I approached. Them and that grinning fool who thought to take yer head.”
“Ah, yes.” He glanced toward the fallen warrior as something of a smile curved his lips. “Then it would be your arrow that brought him down. It would seem that I am in your debt, my lady.”
Staring at him, she realized with a shock that his beard was gone, his face clean-shaven and ruddy with cold. And that smile! With no whiskers to conceal it, the expression transformed him in a way that made her breath catch oddly in her chest.
“You owe me nothing,” she managed at last, clearing her throat to cover her confusion while she looked away to gather her wits. “Consider it my payment for yer help at Tordenet. We’re even now.”
He grunted and she glanced back up at him, to find him trying to push away from the tree.
“Stay where you are for a bit. Get yer legs well under you. And while yer about it, perhaps you can answer my questions. What lads were you speaking of, and what has happened to you?”
He remained where he was, his cheeks drained white from his exertion. “I found Mathew. Seems he’s joined company with another young man. One of rather ill repute, I fear. And as to what’s happened to me...” He glanced to the small cut on his shoulder, pulling aside the cloth of his tunic to inspect the wound. “The Sword of the Ancients has happened to me.”
“Mathew did this to you? He attacked you?” She could not bring herself to imagine sweet, gentle Mathew harming Halldor—or anyone else for that matter.
