Page 52 of The Highlander’s Gypsy Temptation

They lunged at the guards simultaneously, punching their daggers into the windpipes of both men. Idalia watched on with silent anticipation, feeling her heart leap and jump in her chest. Dunn wiped his dagger on one of the dead guard’s sleeves, then he approached Bran.

Idalia could see Bran arguing with Dunn as he tried to cut him loose. It looked to her like he was asking why they had come for him at all. As the bonds fell from Bran, Idalia started to feel optimistic. Somehow, they were going to escape easily and without suffering any losses.

And then she noticed movement to the right side of the camp. She turned and saw a gypsy soldier holding a short bow, with an arrow nocked and pointed at Dunn. The archer drew back the string, and Idalia acted without thinking.

She jumped out of the cover of the bushes and shouted at the top of her voice, “DUNN! LOOK OUT!” Everything seemed to happen very fast to Idalia after that. Andrew jumped up and drew her back down as Dunn turned in their direction, a puzzled look on his face.

At the same moment, the arrow snapped out of the string and whizzed by, inches away from Dunn’s head as he turned around to look towards Idalia. He raised his hand belatedly to his head as the arrow clattered to the floor beside him. The two soldiers with him pivoted and, finding the guard who had fired, punched two arrows through his chest before he could knock another arrow.

All hell broke loose then. Idalia’s voice had carried loudly enough to rouse the whole camp, and soon, shouts of “intruders!” were ringing out. A warning horn blasted loudly from somewhere in the camp, and, right on cue, the camp began bubbling with activity.

As Idalia watched, gypsy soldiers flooded out of every tent, more than she could count. The soldiers who had been waiting in the trees broke cover and ran towards the rescue group inside the tent. Everywhere Idalia looked, all she saw was pandemonium.

“Well, there goes our element of surprise,” Andrew said dryly. “Men, with me.” He dashed forward towards Bran and the others, and his soldiers went with him. He had not instructed Idalia to return up the hill, and she didn’t think it was wise to remain where she was.

She chased after Andrew, covering the distance to Bran as quickly as she could. She felt responsible for blowing their cover, but she didn’t see that she’d had much of a choice. She had saved Dunn’s life, and now they had to fight their way out of a tricky situation.

When she got to the others, she saw that a rank of archers had formed a ring outside the group, waiting patiently for the coming onslaught. Dunn had started creating a defensive perimeter, and Tor assisted him in moving their few troops around.

As August’s men attacked, the archers loosened shaft after shaft endlessly into the defenders. The arrows landed with impressive precision, and Idalia wondered why none were fired against them. Then, she saw that Tor had instructed his archers to keep August’s pinned down while his other troops mobilized.

Andrew cleared a path through the men to Bran, and Idalia followed behind him. She saw Bran stagger forwards and rushed past Andrew towards him. She ignored Andrew’s call and tried to grab Bran. He was too heavy, however, and they both toppled to the floor in a heap.

“Idalia?” Bran said in confusion. “What are ye doing here?” He looked at Andrew angrily then back to Idalia.

“We came to rescue you,” Idalia replied with indignation.

“There were a hundred other people who could have come in yer stead,” Bran countered angrily. “Why did ye need tae come?”

“They would never have been able to find August without me,” Idalia retorted. “Besides, it was easier for Mahala to trust them because I was there.”

Andrew reached out a hand towards Bran, helping him back up to his feet. Idalia refused his help, and dusted her hands as she got up by herself. “Whatever yer reason for coming, it’s too dangerous here.” Bran shoved Idalia gently towards Andrew. “Go. Get out of here. Get her tae safety Andrew. I trust ye with her life.”

“Actually, I think ye need tae get her back tae safety,” Andrew said. “Ye are badly injured and weak. The last thing ye need now is combat. Let me go and fight.”

“Nay,” Bran said, shaking his head. “Ye are stronger now and in better shape than me. That makes ye more capable of protecting Idalia than me.”

Andrew glanced at Idalia and sighed deeply. “She’s nae going tae stay, though. The moment she sees ye in danger she’s going tae draw attention and endanger herself. If ye stayed back, then she would nae feel the urge tae jump into battle.” Idalia folded her hands and looked pointedly away.

Bran looked at Idalia and shook his head again.

“Nay. I’d feel more comfortable kenning ye were watching after her.” He reached out his hand and Andrew swore quietly. He handed Bran a sword from his belt, and a small dagger as well. Bran tucked in the dagger, nodded at Andrew, then charged into battle.

Idalia noticed that while she had been talking to Bran and Andrew, most of the soldiers had pushed into the camp, save for Andrew and one other man. They followed close behind but tried to stay at the fringes of the fighting, not wanting to expose Idalia to harm.

Andrew drew his blade and turned around to Idalia. “Ye stay right behind me. Ye hear?”

Idalia nodded, terrified. She watched with horror as Andrew coldly cut down two men who got through the raging battle, running towards him and Idalia. All she saw was his blade flashing in the sun, and in two heartbeats, the men were dead at his feet, dark blood staining the green grass.

The other soldier beside Andrew was an archer, and he tried to pick out targets who were not engaged with his own soldiers. Idalia watched as he punched arrows into three different men, feeling the urge to vomit at the widespread killing.

While the gypsies outnumbered Dunn’s men, the latter moved with military efficiency, attacking together in two columns, tearing through the enemy camp while suffering minimal losses. It took away the advantage of numbers, and Dunn and his men picked off the gypsies one by one.

She also noticed they were far greater fighters. She couldn’t find Bran in the fray, but she had had to look away from Tor and Dunn fighting. Both men had blood on their faces, though she had not seen either suffer a wound. They had cut through so many men, they were soaked with the blood of their kills.

Another gypsy soldier managed to get through the battle and ran towards Idalia and Andrew. The archer sent a shaft through the man’s windpipe and he drowned on his own blood. The archer picked another target in the middle of the fighting who was about to hack at Dunn from behind. Dunn raised his sword in thanks, and the archer raised his bow in reply, then he knocked another arrow.

Idalia watched Andrew; she could see how his hand twitched around the hilt of his sword. She could tell he wanted to be in the midst of the fighting. If she had stayed up the hill as he had pleaded, he would have been able to help his comrades. Unfortunately, she couldn’t have done that even if she wanted to.