Page 21 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“Now, we will have a battle,” he murmured, and others nodded in agreement.

“Time tae fight me, Captain,” Laird Shay threatened, a wicked glint in his eyes. “Dinnae think I am nae going fer blood.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The sword thrust harder against Gilchrist, and he backed up his rear foot, widening his stance to absorb the blow.

I quelled once under this man in battle. It willnae happen again.

With one firm blow, Gilchrist forced Laird Shay’s sword off him. There was a cheer from the soldiers and a small clap, as they clearly wanted more. There was a momentary glint of fear in Laird Shay’s eyes, but then it was gone as he reset himself, widening his own stance and raising his blade again.

The next blows came fast.

Gilchrist was forced into battle. He knew anything he said now could not stop this. Laird Shay wanted his fight, and he was determined to get it.

Gilchrist raised the broadsword as if it was a lighter blade, such as a foil. Repeatedly he drove it against Laird Shay’s, making him back up across the grass. In the end, Laird Shay had no choice. He kept backing up, his feet moving quickly beneath him. The circle of soldiers had to move and part, allowing them to keep going in that direction.

Gilchrist drove near Laird Shay’s head, but the blow was blocked, then he drove the sword near Shay’s hip, but that was blocked too. Laird Shay was faster than he had been all those years ago, but it was Gilchrist who was now the stronger of the two of them. Despite the blocks Shay made, it was not enough.

His feet fumbled beneath him, and he leaned too far back. He tripped over the molehills in the grass and landed flat on his back. He dropped his sword, the blade going flying, and Gilchrist drove the sword he had been using down into the grass, close to Shay’s head.

Shay’s cheeks flushed the color of a beetroot, his teeth bared like a snarling wolf.

“How long was that?” Gilchrist called back to his men.

“Nae even two minutes, I would think” Aaden said, with laughter shortly following these words.

Gilchrist smiled in victory then turned his back on the fallen figure of Shay.

“Let us get back tae our training. Myers, this way, Aaden, take the other recruits and run drills with them, over there.” Gilchrist swept his hand across the ground when he heard a sudden intake of breath from his men.

He ducked down.

The sword swept through the air above him.

Dropping to his knees, he then rolled across the ground, avoiding further blows.

“Me laird!” Aaden bellowed. “This is a training ground. We dinnae fight when a soldier’s back is turned.”

Shay carried on as if Aaden hadn’t spoken at all.

He drove the sword at the ground and Gilchrist rolled out of the way again.

Snatching a dirk from his belt, Gilchrist reached up and sliced it across the back of Laird Shay’s sword hand, determined to put an end to this fight. Shay roared in pain, but he didn’t let up. He came at Gilchrist again, just as he leapt to his feet, ready to fight. Unsheathing the sword from his belt, Gilchrist met him in the middle of the clearing for the fight.

Swords clattered, and once more, Gilchrist being the stronger and taller, was able to push Shay back again and again. The wildness in Shay’s eyes grew greater. Those eyes grew so wide, that Gilchrist could see the whites around his irises.

Shay kicked out at Gilchrist’s shin. It was a brief pain, but enough to make Gilchrist pull back and reset his stance, then he saw Shay had pulled another weapon from his belt.

This was no sword or dirk, but a pistol.

“Me laird!”

“Nay!”

Men bellowed from the crowd. Some even advanced forward, but Gilchrist would not risk their lives by allowing them near Shay.

“Get back, all of ye,” Gilchrist bellowed as he swiped his sword at the pistol. It collided with the metal just as it went off.