Page 39 of Trapped By the Exiled Bastard

“We die together,” Noah replied.

And they charged.

19

The whistle of a sword cutting through the air was the only hint they got that something was wrong before one, two, three Grant men fell dead on the grass. Nobody had noticed the shadow sneaking up and dispatching two men with knives, but they noticed when Noah swung his sword and cut down the third. The camp froze, and Elin’s heart lifted as she saw Keir, expression burning with fury, dart toward his next target.

He’d come. For the first time in her life, someone had come back.

Chaos erupted as the remaining Cameron and Grant men tried to fight back. Keir was too fast and Noah too accurate with his blows to be killed quickly, but though they were able to kill or incapacitate the first wave that approached, it was obvious to Elin that two men could not hold off thirty forever.

“Cut me loose!” Graeme urged her. “Let me join them!”

“Ye’re mad!” Elin gasped. “Ye’re dyin’. Ye cannae fight!”

Graeme stared at her, more serious than she had ever seen them. “I die here or I die there, Elin. Let it be for somethin’ useful. Let it be for what’s right, eh?”

She hesitated for only a second, then nodded. Reaching for the abandoned weapons belt of one of the soldiers, she withdrew a sharp dagger and sliced away Graeme’s bonds. He struggled to stand, and once he did he staggered, but when Elin tried to help him, he gently but firmly brushed her off.

“Be careful,” she warned, even though the advice sounded silly when death was flying all around them.

He winked. “No promises. Stay alive.”

Then he was gone, disappeared into the battle. Elin clutched her knife and screamed as a soldier approached her with his sword raised. She jerked out the knife, slashing out to protect herself. It was ineffective, but it startled him enough that he stumbled back, falling and hitting his head hard. He didn’t get back up again. Elin stared at him for a moment, then took a breath. There was no running now. It was time to remember what Graeme and Keir had taught her. It was time to defend herself.

It was time to fight.

The battle raged around her, and Elin did what she could, twisting and avoiding swings, stabbing out with her knife and avoiding deadly blows. She kept herself to the sidelines, knowing that stealth was her ally, but also knowing it was impossible on this open plane to disappear entirely. Men died, horses screamed, and the world dissolved into nothing but destruction.

From where she was, Elin could see all of them. She saw Graeme and Noah back to back, supporting each other as they fought off an impossible number of soldiers. She saw Keir, taking on two men at once, his brow furrowed in concentration. And she saw Eamon storming over to Keir from behind, his sword raised.

“Keir! Behind ye! Keir!” she shrieked, but her voice was lost in the sound of the battle. The sword swung down and Elin screamed.

Then Eamon screamed too, dropping his sword. An arrow protruded from his shoulder. Elin followed its trajectory in shock and saw Nightwind racing into the battle, Theon at the reins, Briana holding a bow in both hands.

Hope surged through her.

The Broken Blades were reunited at last.

Theon jumped down from the horse’s back and ran to his little brother’s side. There was no time for a reunion, but it caught Elin’s breath to see the way the two of them instantly fell into synchronization. They fought together with fierce certainty, each an extension of the other, and Elin wondered if this was why the alliance had so feared the strength of the MacKenzie clan.

Enemy after enemy fell to them, and Noah and Graeme seemed to surge with renewed energy at the sight.

Iain Cameron, who had until now waited on horseback to the side, had his eyes fixed upon Briana. Elin saw the moment his face changed, and she started to run. She knew she’d never reach Keir and Theon in time, and she knew that she couldn’t save them even if she did, but she ran faster than she ever had in her life, crying out their names over and over.

The men Theon was battling parted as the horse bearing Iain approached, and Iain raised his sword, ready to cut him down.

“Stop!”

Iain only barely managed to pull back his sword in time as Briana appeared, throwing herself between him and Theon. “Move,” he ordered crisply. “Now.”

Elin reached them, panting, but stood a little back from the scene, unsure what to do. The fighting around them had stilled entirely, like the whole world was holding its breath and waiting to see what happened next.

“I willnae. If ye want tae kill Theon, ye have tae kill me as well,” Briana said. She stood in front of her husband, her arms outstretched, staring at her brother. “He’s me husband, Iain. Me husband and… and the father of me unborn bairn.”

Silence greeted the announcement.

Iain’s expression paled in shock, but Elin felt a wash of warmth from head to toe.