Page 54 of Claimed Highland Brides

“Aye weel, I willnae play his game. So let us plan how to get Daividh back and then we will deal with Padraig Hunter. By the by, I am coming wi’ ye, and I will need a weapon.”

To her surprise her uncle did not protest. “Aye. I have just the thing.”

* * *

Simon rallied the men as fast as he could. Daividh was generally well-liked and when the men learned that he was taken, they did not need much persuading to follow. In an hour the courtyard was full of warriors on their horses, awaiting the laird. There was some murmuring when he came up from the stables, riding his black mare, with Lady Fiona at his side on a brown horse. Nobody said anything to her directly as they all rode out, but there were many sidelong glances and raised eyebrows.

They rode fast, following their best trackers.

“Looks like they’re headed towards Glendale,” Simon said.

“Aye. Makes sense,” the McCormick agreed. Fiona cast him a bleak glance. Simon knew she was thinking the same thing he was. The man clearly wanted to be in his own jurisdiction so that whatever he decided to do to Daividh, nobody could challenge his authority.

“God, I hope they ride slow,” she whispered.

“Daividh will slow them down if’n he can.” Simon said it just to console her. He knew his friend had fought as they dragged him away, but it would be the matter of a moment to knock him out for the count. He had some hope that they would find him whole...but it was a small hope. He at least wanted to be able to bury his friend on Campbell land.

* * *

Daividh was tired. The wagon he was lying in seemed to aim for every pothole they passed, jarring his body from side to side. With his hands and feet tied, he could not even brace himself against the impact. His body ached as if someone had spent hours beating him up. Still, he tried his best to relax, knowing that when they stopped he would be fighting for his life. He had listened to the men talking and knew these were Hunter’s men. Whatever he meant to do with Daividh, the soldier knew he was not meant to survive it.

He could not entirely blame the man. If their places were reversed, he too would have done whatever he could to keep Lady Fiona. Somehow though, he did not think the laird was doing this out of love for her.

He felt a moment’s regret that he had not at least been able to say goodbye to her and tell her that he loved her, that he was happy to have met her and been blessed with the opportunity to feel this way. That in this world or the next, he would never forget her.

That if there was anyone worth dying for, it was her.

Suddenly the wagon came to an abrupt stop and he was thrown against the wooden side with violence. Rough hands grabbed him and pulled him out of the wagon, dragging him along with them. He fought to get loose, digging his heels in the dirt to keep them from moving him. Suddenly the covering over his head was removed and he blinked into the brightness of sunlight.

Hunter stood in front of him, a triumphant smile on his face. He inclined his head to the side, surveying Daividh from head to foot. “Ye dinnae really think ye would get awa’ wi’ deceiving me did ye?”

“Get awa’ wi’ it? That wasnae the intention.” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “Ye cannae help who ye fall in love wi’.”

The laird reached out and slapped his face, hard. Even as his cheek burned, he narrowed his eyes, glaring at Hunter. “Ye hit like a girl. Is that the best ye can do?”

Hunter growled, gesturing roughly to his men. “Take him, tie him up. Let the ants have him.”

The soldiers holding him began to drag him to a tree. He dug in his heels, trying to pull his shackled hands from their grip, but they were inexorable. They pushed him against the tree and began to bind him with thick ropes. They started with his feet, winding the rope around his ankles and then his thighs before unshackling his wrists and forcing them around the tree. They shackled his hands together at an awkward angle and then wound the rope around his neck twice. It was so tight he could hardly get a breath to pass through. He could feel himself begin to panic as the thought of strangling to death became a reality. Hunter did not mean to make it quick.

He thought about pleading but knew that the cold man before him would only relish breaking him before he killed him. There would be no mercy to be had.

So he tried to be stoic, closing his eyes and thinking of Fiona. He tried to regulate his breathing so that he could get a bit of air into his lungs. When they were finished with him, he realized with horror that if he relaxed his hands even a little bit, the rope around his neck got tighter. He was forced to hold his hands up at an awkward angle if he intended to breathe at all.

Hunter laughed. “I would say I’ll see ye in hell but I dinnae intend to see ye again.”

Daividh said nothing. He was saving his energy for keeping his hands elevated so he could breathe.