Page 77 of The Highlander’s Iron Hold

He started to move forward, but Niven's iron grip stopped him.

"Six guards, Colin. Maybe more inside. We can't take them quietly."

"I don't care about quiet," Colin snarled, but even as he said it, he knew his friend was right. A direct assault would bring the entire camp down on them before they could reach Morag.

"We stick tae the plan," Niven insisted. "Create chaos, then strike in the confusion."

Frustrated, but knowing it was their only chance, Colin nodded. They began working their way back toward the supply wagons, but their luck ran out at the worst possible moment.

"Ye there! What are ye daeing?"

The challenge came from a Fraser soldier who'd emerged from behind a tent, probably relieving himself. He was too far away to reach with a blade, too close to ignore.

Colin's mind raced through options, but there was only one choice that might work. He stepped into the firelight, projecting the arrogant confidence of a man who belonged there.

"Orders from Fraser," he said curtly. "Checking the perimeter."

The soldier squinted at him suspiciously. "Dinnae recognize ye. What's yer name?"

"New recruit," Colin replied, taking a step closer. "Just arrived from the northern clans."

But the soldier's expression was already changing, suspicion turning to alarm as he took in Colin's clothes, his weapons, the way he carried himself.

"Ye're nae a Fraser⁠—"

Colin's dirk took him in the throat before he could finish the sentence, but the damage was done. His dying cry echoed across the camp, and suddenly shouts erupted from every direction.

"Intruders! Intruders in the camp!"

"Back tae the wagons!" Colin hissed, grabbing Niven's arm. "Now!"

They ran through the maze of tents as the camp erupted around them. Men poured from their shelters, weapons in hand, searching for the source of the alarm. Torches flared to life, turning night into flickering day.

Colin struck the fire steel as they reached the oil-soaked supplies, sparks catching in the spilled fuel. Flames roared to life, racing across the grain sacks and up the canvas wagon covers. Within moments, half the supply train was engulfed in a roaring inferno.

"This way!" Niven shouted over the crackling flames and shouting men.

They ran for the camp's edge as Fraser's soldiers converged on the fire, some trying to douse the flames, others searching for the saboteurs. An arrow hissed past Colin's ear, then another.

"There! The bastards are escaping!"

A squad of Fraser men broke away from the fire, pursuing them into the darkness. Colin and Niven ran with desperate speed, using every shadow and depression in the ground to mask their flight.

Behind them, the camp was in complete chaos. Flames leaped high into the night sky, ammunition began exploding in the burning wagons, and horses screamed in terror as the fire spread.

They reached their own men just as Fraser's pursuers caught up. Steel rang on steel as the two forces clashed in the darkness, and the battle for Morag's life began in earnest.

But the initial skirmish was brief and brutal. Colin's men had the advantage of position and preparation, cutting down the Fraser pursuers before they could raise a proper alarm. Within minutes, the enemy soldiers lay dead in the heather, their blood dark against the earth.

"Back!" Colin commanded urgently. "Before the main force realizes what's happened!"

His warriors melted into the darkness, retreating to their prepared position on the rocky outcrop overlooking the Fraser camp. Below them, the enemy settlement buzzed with activity as men investigated the disturbance, but the flames from the burning supply wagons created enough chaos to mask their withdrawal.

Niven was the first to speak. "What's our approach?"

"Direct assault on their main camp. Hard and fast while they're confused." Colin looked around at his men's faces, pale shadows in the darkness. "We go in like Highland warriors—screaming and wild. Make them think we're a hundred men instead of just a few."

The men nodded grimly. They'd followed Colin through worse odds before.