Page 7 of Highlander’s Burning Touch

She ran her fingers along his taut physique. Every inch of him was toned and primed. And when the light caught his sculpted cheekbones, its pale gold cast his face with an athletic bent.

“Anything?” Allyth’s voice made her look up. Deva blushed. She had been so caught up in her thoughts that she had almost forgotten herself.

“N…” began Deva, then suddenly pressed in on a section of the leg that caused a steep reaction in the man. His eyes began to roll, and he murmured.

Both Deva and Allyth froze fast.

“Is he coming round?” for a moment or two they waited, as the lad groaned and then opened an eye, half laconically at her. Then he shut it again.

Shaken, Deva forced a smile. “Nae, but I think he’ll live… an’….,” she extended her fingers around to his side and stopped suddenly. Pressing her fingers down, Deva came to something that was hot, sticky, and wet.

Blood.

“Och!” she said, looking down to where she was pressing. Quickly, she rolled up the man’s léine to examine him more closely. Then, she gasped. There was blood spurting everywhere.

But that wasn’t what was causing his torpor. In fact, it was just a flesh wound. Casting around, Deva found the sword. It was strapped to him but jutted out incongruously from the lad’s belt.

Curiously, she pulled it out, inspecting its thick, black base. Then she frowned. This was not the sword she had seen him use before, which, swiftly, she found attached to his other loop. Examining the sword carefully, she noted the tip was coated in a substance. Giving a low whistle, Deva put it down abruptly.

“What is it?” said Allyth, coming over to look. She was about to pick up the sword when Deva stopped her.

“Nae,” she said, quickly, “Dinnae touch that. It’s poisoned. We need to get him away from here an’ apply a salve…”

Allyth’s eyes opened widely, but all the same, she nodded. However, she looked conflicted, glancing down at the unconscious man, she furrowed her brow.

“He needs help now, miss, it would take us too long to take him back to the keep, an’ also…” here, her voice trailed off, and Allyth’s green eyes clouded with uncertainty.

Looking at her, Deva knew what she was going to say.

“Aye, an’ if my father gets wind of it, nae doubt he’ll probably stick another poison arrow just to make sure he’s dead!” said Deva, holding the lad’s hand tight.

Her fingers pressed in on his wrists. She could feel his pulse, coming ever slower. There was no time to lose. Turning to Allyth, she looked desperately.

“There’s got to be somewhere we can take him for help?”

Allyth looked thoughtful, then nodded.

“Aye, there is, follow me.”

* * *

“He’s waking up!”

The girl’s voice carried excitably on the wind drifting in from the window above. But at that moment, Niven did not know that. In fact, he did not know where he was at all when he came around. Just that the sound of her voice was in his ears.

It had been there the whole time that he had been asleep, filling his ears with its gentle tune. The only thing was, he could not remember going to sleep.

Blinking, Niven found himself in a strange room. In front of him was the window, bringing in a cold draft. And around him, the room’s cracked walls.

Realizing that this wasn’t his bedroom, Niven pulled himself up to look closer.

Wham! Something stopped him. When he tried to move, it was like rocks being squashed in his head.

“Nae, take’ it easy now,” her voice was pressed against his head, sending a wave of dizziness all the way through him. Struggling to see, the world turned to white and span around him.

“Here. Sit yerself up,” she commanded, “But slowly…”

She pressed her hands to his head, helping prop him up against the pillows in the bed. Gradually, the world came into focus.