Page 65 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

Had she had a weapon in her hands, she would have won, that much Marion knew. She had seen the commander train with his men, and he was a sloppy and overconfident fighter. Now, though, that he was using brute force, Marion knew that she stood no chance against him. He was much bigger than her, his strength coming not from his technique or quick wit, but from his muscles.

Her vision began to tunnel, going dark around the edges. Her lungs were on fire, and though she thought she was screaming for help, no sound came out of her lips. Soon enough, her arms and legs felt like lead, heavy and immovable, and along with her breath, she lost her will to fight.

It was too late, she thought. There was nothing that she could do in a fight that wasn’t fair, and Eiric was too far away to save her. No one would be coming for her. She would die alone in that tent, at the hands of the man she despised the most in the world.

And then, just as suddenly as her breath had gone, it returned. And Marion thought she must have finally died.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Eiric had been following the path that Commander Forbes and his men had left behind for longer than he cared to count. He, Edan, and the rest of his men had been on the road for what seemed to him an eternity, and he was beginning to think that it didn’t matter how fast they moved, how much they rushed on their way to Marion. He feared that they would never find her.

Every day, Edan would assure him that they were getting closer and closer, and that they were making good time. We’ll reach her soon, Edan would say, but with every passing day, it seemed to Eiric as though they would never find her.

A part of him was terrified that it was already too late, and that all of his efforts were in vain, but he couldn’t lose hope, not when he didn’t know anything for certain. He would continue to chase after the commander until he either found Marion or had definitive proof that she was already gone.

Either way, he would get to Commander Forbes.

It was late that day when Eiric’s scouts brought the news that they had finally reached the English, and Eiric could hardly believe that they were as close as the scouts claimed. And not only were they close, but they had also set up camp, which meant that they had their guard down. If they could catch them in their sleep, then they would give the English no chance to defeat them.

“We’re lucky,” Eiric told Edan, as they advanced, along with the rest of the men, towards the camp. “I thought that we would never reach them.”

“Aye, me neither,” Edan said.

Eiric shot him a curious look, raising an eyebrow at the other man. “Ye were the one who kept tellin’ me that we’ll find them,” he reminded him.

“Aye,” Edan agreed. “I wanted to keep yer spirits up. I never thought we’d actually find them. They had such a head start!”

Eiric looked at Edan in disbelief, shaking his head at him. “Are ye serious? All this time, ye thought that we were roamin’ around the woods for nay reason?”

“What did ye want me to do?” Edan asked. “Ye wouldna listen to me if I told ye we should turn around, and I thought that, eventually, we would make it to England, and ye’d find her there. I never gave up hope on findin’ Marion. Just the commander and his men.”

Eiric couldn’t argue with Edan’s claim that he wouldn’t have listened to him. He had a tendency to listen to no one, and it came as no surprise that Edan not only knew that, but he was also used to it. Eiric wondered how many times he had gone along with his plan simply because he knew he wouldn’t win by arguing.

Once they reached the camp of the English, Eiric and Edan moved to the front of their group, watching carefully. There were dozens of men there, it seemed to Eiric, and Marion was nowhere to be seen.

She must be in one of the tents.

“Many men, but nae many guards,” Edan said, whispering to Eiric to ensure that they wouldn’t alert the English to their presence. “Killin’ them will be a big victory for all of Scotland, Eiric. Commander Forbes hates us as much as Lynton. We kill the two of them, and the revolution will be on a good path.”

The revolution.

Eiric had forgotten all about that, about their great plans to rebel against the English. Marion had been the one thing on his mind, and in the back of it all, there was Lynton, leaving no space for the revolution. But now, hearing that the death of Forbes and Lynton would be a significant first win for Scotland, Eiric couldn’t help but grin to himself.

“Ye’re right,” he told Edan. “And perhaps this win will convince the lairds who are nae on our side to join us. They’ll ken that there’s hope.”

“Aye. There is hope, Eiric,” Edan said. “For as long as I breathe, trust me, there will be hope yet.”

Eiric looked at Edan, his earnest expression igniting a desire in him to protect his friend from any and all harm. Edan was like his brother, and in that moment, Eiric was prepared to kill any Englishman who dared to threaten him.

With a pat on Edan’s back, Eiric turned to his men, and though he couldn’t yell out a speech like he wanted to do, he could still give them a few words of encouragement.

“Lads,” he said, keeping his voice low, even though most of them would struggle to hear him, and others wouldn’t hear him at all. “This is what we’ve been trainin’ for all this time. This is where Scotland’s rebellion begins. This is nae only about Marion, though remember that she is a Scot as much as ye and I. It is also about Scotland, about our land, our home. We defeat the English here, and they will ken that our strength is nae a joke. They will ken that Scotland is strong, that we are strong, and they will ken that they canna defeat us.”

There were murmurs of agreement around Eiric. He looked at his men, at all those who were so willing to put their lives in his hands, trusting him to lead them into battle, and for a moment, he was too overwhelmed to speak. Those men knew that there was a good chance they would end up dead or that they would lose a loved one, and yet they were still there, eager to fight side by side with Eiric.

With a decisive nod, Eiric and his men stormed the camp of the English, surrounding them and taking them by surprise. None of them was prepared to deal with so many opponents. Some of them were not even armed, and the panic that gripped their entire camp made it even harder for them to defend themselves.

“Go find Marion!” Edan shouted at Eiric, as he lunged at an Englishman. “We’ll take care of this!”