Page 68 of It’s in his Highland Kiss

“I gave ye me word,” Eiric said. “That may nae mean anythin’ to ye, but it means somethin’ to us. Let her go. Noo.”

The commander shook his head, vehemently refusing to let go of Marion, even as she struggled against him, trying to break his hold on her.

“Don’t worry,” the commander said. “I’ll leave her somewhere where you can find her. But by then, of course, you might not want her anymore. She’ll be damaged goods.”

Eiric didn’t realise at first that the growl he heard came out of him. But then, there was an equally enraged, feral sound coming from Marion, just as she snapped her head back, hitting the commander on the nose with the back of her head.

Commander Forbes stumbled backwards, groaning in pain as blood rushed out of his nose, a hand coming up to clutch onto it. Marion ran away from him and into Eiric’s arms, and Eiric had never felt such relief wash over him before.

She’s safe. She’s here, and she’s safe.

“Commander Forbes,” Eiric said, as he tightened his arm around Marion, holding her close to his chest. “Ye will be taken to Laird MacLeod to answer for yer crimes and, if found guilty, ye will hang.”

“Coward!” the commander shouted. “If you were a man, you would fight me right here, right now.”

“Are ye certain that’s what ye want?” Eiric asked.

The commander didn’t respond, but the look that he gave Eiric was enough for him to know that his answer was affirmative. With a last look at Marion, Eiric pulled away from her, but he didn’t manage to get too far before she grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“You don’t have to do this, Eiric,” she told him, eyes wide and pleading. “You don’t have to fight him.”

“I will if he wants me to,” Eiric said. “Every man deserves to die the way he wishes, and if he wishes to die by my hand, then so be it.”

By the time Eiric had approached the commander, the rest of the camp was quiet. The battle between their men was over, with most of the commander’s men dead and the rest too injured to fight.

“Only ye and I, Commander,” Eiric said, pointing the tip of his sword at the other man. “Let’s put an end to this.”

Commander Forbes charged at Eiric, but Eiric remained still, waiting for him. Parrying the commander’s first blow, Eiric moved to the side, only to have the commander follow him. The other man swung his blade again, and Eiric parried his attack just like before, the two of them dancing around each other as they attacked each other and defended themselves.

The commander was growing desperate, and Eiric could see it in his hurried, sloppy attacks. He wondered if the other man truly thought that he could make an escape, or if his instinct of self-preservation was so strong that he couldn’t simply give up.

Or perhaps he didn’t want to seem like a coward. Eiric couldn’t blame him. He would have done the same.

When the next blow came, Eiric had already calculated the commander’s next move, and so he swung his sword with such might that he forced the commander to stumble back, leaving his chest unprotected for a single moment.

It was all that Eiric needed to push his blade through his heart.

The commander gasped when Eiric’s sword pierced him, both hands coming to clutch at the blade, not caring about the pain that it caused him. Or perhaps it didn’t cause him any pain, Eiric thought; perhaps his body had already shut down such functions.

The commander fell to his knees as Eiric pulled his sword out of him. He didn’t make a sound; he didn’t have any last words. His last breath was a rattling one, and it echoed around the camp, breaking the silence.

Eiric let his sword clatter onto the ground and, after another moment of silence, the camp erupted in cheers. He was quickly surrounded by men, one of them being none other than Edan.

“We did it!” Edan shouted over the cheers. “We did it, Eiric! This is Scotland’s first victory!”

In the heat of the battle, Eiric had forgotten the importance of it. He had forgotten that their victory against the English would be a monumental one, one that could convince the rest of Scotland to join the cause.

But what he couldn’t forget about was Marion. Even as his men cheered around him, celebrating, his gaze searched for her and her only, eager to have her in his arms once more.

He pushed his way through the crowd and found her at the edge of the circle that his men had formed, arms wrapped around herself protectively. When she saw him, the smile that she gave him was enough to make that dark night bright as day.

“I worried about ye,” Eiric said, as he pulled her into a tight embrace, never wanting to let go. He wanted to keep her there, safe in his arms. “I worried about ye so much, Marion, ye dinna even ken. I thought I would never see ye again.”

“Well . . . here I am,” Marion said, pulling back just enough to look up at Eiric. “I am here, and I am safe. All thanks to you. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t come here, Eiric. That man, he . . .”

Marion’s voice trailed off, but Eiric didn’t need her to finish her sentence for him to understand.

“Aye,” he said. “I ken. I ken just the kind of man that he was. But he’s gone noo, and he’ll never hurt ye again. Nay one will. I’ll make sure of that meself.”