Page 31 of Highlander’s Lesser Evil

“Yes, darling.”

And when she found David, she was going to wring his neck for putting her through this.

Elizabeth looked at her curiously, but Gemma didn’t stick around as she picked up her skirts again and fled out the house and down toward the fires. Tears gathered in her eyes. Was David all right?

Was her husband?

Smoke was filling the air; her eyes burned. Armed only with her wit, she prayed no one would take notice of her as she hedged closer to the wood and searched the fighting below the hills. While the MacDougal guards were dressed in their colors, the invaders weren’t wearing any colors at all.

Mercenaries! Who would hire an army of mercenaries to fight their battles for them?

She gasped when she caught sight of a small figure running awkwardly from the armory with a heavy sword dragging on the ground.

“David!” Heart in her throat, she hurried his way. One of the mercenaries were bound to see him any minute. They would take him down with a single arrow. They may not even realize he was a child or worse, they may not care.

By the time she got to him, her lungs were burning. With little thought to her surroundings, she grabbed hold of his arm. Lucky for her, the weapon was weighing him down. Yanking the heavy sword from him, she pulled him up against her.

“David, stop struggling! It’s me. It’s Gemma.”

“Let me go!” he yelled as he tried to pull away. “I haftae avenge my parents!”

“This is not how you do it. You do not leave your baby brother behind. What if the mercenaries aren’t contained here? What if they reach the village? What of Cameron?”

Shame filled his small face, and tears gathered in his eyes, but he still held his chin out in defiance. “I am the man of the family.”

“Yes, you are, and you have a responsibility to see to it that your brother grows up just as strong and brave as you.” Hoping that she’d gotten through to him, she released her hold just as a shadow, cast by the fires burning around them, crossed over him.

“Well, well, well. Didnae expect to see a bonnie lass here,” a gravelly voice wheezed.

Horror filled her, and the world slowed as she turned. Gemma saw the flash of the sword in the firelight just before it swung down on David. Grabbing him, she pushed him to the ground and covered his body with hers, barely managing to deflect the sword with an awkward swing of her own.

“Gemma!” Theo’s panicked voice bellowed, but it was too far away. He would never get there in time.

Gritting her teeth, she struggled to stand again, to lift the sword. She had absolutely no training with a weapon and would no doubt survive the encounter, but if she could just buy young David a little more time, he might get away.

Briefly, she thought of all the things she would never be able to do. She and Theo could have had a life if they were both given a chance to overcome their fears. He might have been Loch Moran’s savior, but what would he become if he didn’t have someone to anchor him to reality? He’d just be a shadow of fear formed by his father.

She could not let that happen.

Gritting her teeth, she found the strength to raise the sword, but before the man could attack again, he let out a guttural moan and fell to his knees, a sword buried in his back.

“Only cowards attack women and children,” Graeme sneered as he pulled the sword out. “Lady Gemma, are ye all right?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Swallowing hard, she looked at the sword. Her hand shook so badly that she wasn’t sure how she was still holding on to it, but she knew that she couldn’t rest. David, still on the field, stared at them in fear, and Gemma forced herself to meet Graeme’s gaze.

If there was one person here who might be responsible for mercenaries taking over Loch Moran, it would be a MacSeaver, but he had just saved her life.

“Take the boy and go back to the village. They wilnae get that far. I promise ye,” Graeme said, a darkness veiling his face as he seemed to realize what she’d been thinking.

“Theo.” She searched desperately in the thick of the fighting.

“Yer husband is a survivor, Lady Gemma. I doonae think that is going to stop now. Come, I will look after ye ’til ye get to safety.”

Poor David was frightened into silence. He was not so small that she could gather him into her arms, like she could Cameron, but Graeme quickly saw the problem and hoisted him over his shoulder.

With one last glance over her shoulder, she searched for Theo, but there was too much smoke. Had she only imagined his shout?

Hoping she would see him again, she turned and followed Graeme to safety.