Highlanders forbidden la.., p.49
Highlander's Forbidden Lass (Lasses 0f Tweeddale Book 3), page 49
part #3 of Lasses 0f Tweeddale Series
“We will have to go through the dungeons, but then we’ll come to the door, and then ye can go around the loch. ‘Tis no’ far to the woods from there, and ye can go through the trees without anyone seeing ye. Ye will make it out that way okay,” he told them as they hurried through the corridor into the dungeon.
“I think that’s how we came in this morning. Will ye come with us?” Fiona asked him hopefully, her eyes wide as she smiled encouragingly.
He paused in mid-step and almost tripped, he was looking back at her so intently. “I would love nothing more, truthfully, but I must go and fight at Ian’s side. He is the rightful laird, and I cannot desert him in this hour of need. Black Duncan and his followers must be stopped!”
“’Tis so brave and noble of ye!” Fiona swooned a little, beaming at him.
“Ye think so?” Colin asked, blushing in the scant light that filtered into the dungeon.
“Come!” Madeleine sighed crossly, “We dinna have time for this! We must leave at once!”
Colin’s face grew serious. “Aye, of course, we must! Quickly, through this door. We’re nearly there. I’ll go with ye as far as the edge of the wood, but then I must turn back to the battle. Ye will be safe once we are out this door and to the forest.”
“I hope that I may see ye again, when the battle is done,” Fiona intoned sweetly to Colin, weaving her fingers into his.
His breath caught and his heart skipped a few beats. “I hope the same, miss Fiona.”
“Be safe and fight bravely!” She told him, mooning at him.
Colin gave her a sure node. “I will dae it, just so that I may see ye again!” He smiled widely at them both and pulled the door open, and all three of them ran out of it and straight into the middle of the battle. Colin stopped short and gaped.
“How did they all get here?” he asked, stunned by the mass of fighting going on around them.
“’Tis no time to ask questions!” Madeleine cried as she raised her sword and blocked a swing from a man near her. He was standing just slightly downhill from her, and she lunged at him, throwing him off balance. With a swift kick to his midsection, she sent him sailing backward, into another man, who turned and buried a sword in him.
“Campbells would ne’er fight against each other this way!” She declared angrily, looking at the vicious battle going on around her. Her eyes caught sight of Ian and Duncan, and she gasped. Colin followed her gaze, and the two of them cried out as Duncan landed a punch at Ian’s head, sending him to the ground.
Duncan raised his sword and was about to send it down into Ian, when Ian’s foot flew up and caught Duncan’s groin, making him double over in pain as he rolled to the ground. Ian scrambled to his feet and went to Duncan with a kill swing, but it was blocked by one of Duncan’s men, who stepped in to fight Ian.
Just then, a scream sounded behind Madeleine and Colin, and they turned to see Patrick with his arms around Fiona, and a blade to her neck.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Fury shot through Madeleine like a flaming arrow, and she raised her sword to Patrick, as Colin did the same at her side. “Ye unhand that girl now!” Madeleine demanded viciously.
“I will no’!” Patrick replied with venom in his voice and his eyes.
“Then I will kill ye where ye stand!” Madeleine launched herself toward him, but he pushed the dagger hard against Fiona’s neck, and Fiona cried out again and sobbed as a trail of blood rolled down her throat into the swell of her bosom.
“Dinna harm her!” Madeleine stopped short, her eyes wide, her body tense. Colin was every bit as angry as she was, and ready to kill Patrick himself.
“Let her go!” Colin glared at Patrick.
Patrick raised a brow, and his chin, with defiance. “Ye want her? Dae ye want her safe? Then make a trade with me.”
Madeleine scowled at him. “What dae ye mean, a trade? What dae ye want ye bastard?”
Patrick grinned. “I want ye, wife. This bit of a girl means nothing to me. I only want ye. I will let her go, if ye drop your sword there on the ground, and come to me willingly. Take her place beneath this blade, and I will set her free right now.”
Madeleine saw the terror in her sister’s eyes and the blood on her neck, and she knew that she had no choice. Turning her head, she met Colin’s gaze with a serious look. “Ye take her the second she is free, and ye dae all ye can to keep her safe and get her out of here alive.”
Colin nodded with determination. “I will dae it.”
“Dae ye swear to me that ye will protect her with your very life?” Madeleine asked, seeing that he meant every word he said.
He spoke true. “Aye. With my life and soul. No one shall touch her this day, and even if it costs me my last breath, I will see that she is safely away from this battle, no matter what it takes.”
Madeleine was relieved. “Ye are a good man, Colin Argyll.” She turned her focus back to Patrick then, and gritted her teeth. “I will make this trade with ye, only if she is unharmed and set free.”
“As ye wish, my bride.” Patrick grinned wickedly. “Drop your sword and kick it away from ye.”
She did as he told her to, feeling as if she had lost half of her power and strength in the move, and she knew that was what he wanted her to feel. “All right, my sword ‘tis down and away. Now let her go!”
Patrick jerked his head at her. “Ye must come here to me and take her place.”
Madeleine moved swiftly, reaching Patrick and pulling her sister free from him, shoving her toward Colin as Patrick wrapped his arms around Madeleine and pressed the blade against her throat.
“Run Colin! Run with her now! I will follow later!” Madeleine insisted. Colin only hesitated a moment before taking Fiona’s hand, and Fiona gasped and cried out, reaching for Madeleine as Colin pulled her away.
“Ye will no’ follow her. In fact, ye may ne’er see her again when I get through with ye, bitch.” He pushed her back toward the doorway that they had escaped from, and then through it into the dark dungeon once more.
“Ye left this cut on my face and left me bare in our wedding chamber!” He shot at her accusatorily.
“Ye ken I dinna ever want to marry ye in the first place,” She growled at him. “Ye are a monster; repulsive and cruel!”
Patrick reached one of the cells in the dungeon and shoved her into it, where she fell on the floor. “I wanted to dae this in our wedding bed. I wanted to make it last a long while and enjoy having ye for the first time, but I have years to enjoy doing everything to ye that I want. For now, the most pressing thing is to consummate our marriage, then there will be no way out of it for ye.” He knelt over her, shoving her skirts up and then reaching for his trousers to loosen them. “Besides, taking your body will be a great pleasure, but the most important thing right now is planting my seed in ye. I want a son, and I want ye to carry him now.”
Madeleine reached for him; her fingers arched into claws as she screamed and railed against him, but he shoved her back down to the ground and brought his fist down hard against her cheek. “Dae no’ fight me, wife! Ye are mine in the eyes of God, and ye will submit to me!”
He threw himself down on her and though he looked to be a small man, the full weight of him on her was crushing, making it difficult to breath or even to move. Patrick moved between her thighs and she felt the hardness of him against her as she wriggled beneath him trying to get free. Everything in her blazed with hatred and she knew that she had to do anything that she could to stop him.
Looking around, all that she could see was straw on the dungeon floor. She reached for a fistful of it and crammed it into Patrick’s mouth as he tried to enter her. Coughing and sputtering, he choked on it and lifted himself at full arms-length above her trying to spit it all back out. As he did so, he released one of her arms. She doubled her fist tightly and rammed it into the front of his throat. His dark eyes grew wide with pain and he struggled to breath as his face turned red.
With Patrick weakened, she punched him again, slamming her fist into his temple, and Patrick was blinded for a moment as all he could see were stars. Madeleine rolled out from beneath him and in doing so, sent him to his back. With one swift movement, she was on her feet, and in the next, she bent her knee and fell with the full force of all of her weight upon his bared groin, smashing it and making Patrick inhale sharply, lodging some of the straw even further down his throat.
He coughed and hacked, wheezing for breath, but Madeleine was far from finished with him. She straddled him and began to beat him soundly, everywhere she could land her fists. He tried to fight back, but he could hardly breathe, and as she stood over him, looking at him bloodied and broken at her feet, she gave him a last kick, and then ran out of the cell, desperate to get back to her sister. She had every intention of returning with a sword to finish what she had started with him, but before she could take her revenge on the man she hated more than any other, she had to be sure that Fiona was safe.
The brilliant morning sunlight blinded her anew as she emerged like a cork from a bottle out of the dungeon door once more. It took her a moment to get her bearings, and when she did, her heart nearly flew from her chest.
The battle was raging as clansmen fought against clansmen, and men fell injured or dead amongst those who fought ferociously against each other. Not far from the loch, Ian and Duncan were dueling one another fiercely, both of them bent on killing the other, and between Ian and Madeleine, she saw Colin, somehow managing to keep Fiona behind him as he fought against two men, both of them bearing down on him. Colin was doing his best, but Madeleine wasn’t about to take a chance that he could get hurt, leaving her sister without protection. She grabbed the sword that Patrick had made her drop earlier, and rushed to Colin’s aid.
The men he was fighting never saw her coming. She slayed one of them from the back before he even knew that she was there, and when his companion turned in surprise to face her, Colin buried his sword into the man, dropping him on the spot.
“Fiona is safe?” Madeleine asked worriedly, eyeing her sister closely.
“Aye! She is.” Colin nodded and grinned, glancing over at Fiona.
“Oh Maddie!” Fiona beamed. “He’s protected me this whole time! But this battle is a nightmare!”
“Aye, sister, that ‘tis.” Madeleine agreed, and Colin’s eyes grew wide.
“Behind ye, Maddie! Quickly!” he cried out, and Madeleine turned just in time to spin out of the way of a blow headed straight for her heart. She swung her sword and began fighting a man twice her size.
Colin’s attention was turned to another man who had come for him. Both of them fought, as Fiona remained safe behind Colin, and the battle raged on around them. No sooner had Madeleine felled the behemoth of a man who had tried to plant his sword in her heart, then she saw Patrick coming for her with nothing but murder in his eyes.
“Oh, my dear Lord,” she grumbled under her breath, “I should have gone back to kill ye first.”
Patrick gritted his teeth and ran directly at her. Madeleine held her blade against his, blocking his first swing at her, and sending him stumbling off to one side. She could see that he was badly hurt, but he was as furious as she was, and she knew that that made him dangerous.
Colin was crossing swords with another man, and Fiona, bent on helping him any way that she could, began picking up rocks and throwing them at the man. She slammed one into the side of his head as he was coming for Colin, and it threw him off balance, giving Colin enough time to send his blade deep into the man’s chest.
He turned and beamed at Fiona. “Ye are my guardian angel and a fine partner!” Fiona grinned back at him and was about to reach for his hand when another sword from another fighter came upon them.
Madeleine was on a downhill slope from Patrick, as her back was to the loch, and his was to the castle that he had just come running out of. Patrick was badly injured, but he had the upper ground, giving him the best position for the fight, and they both knew it. He fought Madeleine back, edging her closer and closer to the shore of the loch, but she was swift with her sword, giving him slices anew over his body as he struggled to defend himself.
Though they were surrounded by other fighters, and he had the advantage of position, she was able to get him turned around so that his back was to the loch, and she pushed him closer to it with every swing of her sword.
She heard a familiar voice not far from her, and as she forced Patrick to his knees at one point, she glanced over and saw that she was fighting beside Ian, who had Black Duncan’s back to the loch as well. Ian was bloodied and injured, but not nearly as badly as his uncle was. One look at Black Duncan, and Madeleine knew exactly how their fight had gone.
Duncan was bleeding from several wounds, and struggling every bit as much as his son was to fight back. Ian looked over at Madeleine and they both felt their bond and connection grow strong. It felt to them both as if they were a team, defeating the evil that had come against them and tried to separate them, but which had failed. Without having to speak it, they both knew that they must drive Duncan and Patrick, father and son, into the lake. Neither of them would be able to swim with their injuries.
The electricity that moved between the lovers strengthened them, and together they cried out, their war cry as mighty as their swords, and as they dominated their opponents, the fighting around them began to cease, and the clan stopped fighting and became still, watching in awe as the end of the battle drew nigh.
Even Colin and Fiona, after overcoming their last fight, held fast to one another’s hands and drew closer, watching rapt with amazement, as Ian drove his uncle into the deep waters of the loch, and Madeleine disarmed Patrick and did the same with him. Side by side, the father and son were driven to their deaths in the dark depths of the rolling water.
Silence fell over the valley, and Ian and Madeleine realized as they stared at the still surface of the loch, that they had won. They faced each other, dropping their sword, and ran to one another, embracing and weeping for the relief and pain that overflowed from both of them.
Ian lifted her chin gently and kissed her with a tenderness that healed them both from deep within their hearts. When he lifted his mouth from hers, he exhaled, and spoke in a soft voice.
“Ye are a widow now, and I hope that ye will be mine, now and always. I love ye, Maddie Campbell, and I will ne’er, e’er let ye go.”
Chapter Sixty-Four
Madeleine laughed quietly through her tears and touched her hand to his bloody cheek. “I love ye, Ian Arthur, and I will be yours, always.”
They kissed once more, and then realized that every eye in the clan was upon them. Ian cleared his throat and they lifted their heads and looked around. Everyone around them, men and women, stared and waited. Ian knew that he was on a sharp precipice. With a glance at Colin, who nodded encouragingly to him, Ian raised his voice and spoke to his people.
“Clan Arthur!” he called out powerfully. His voice echoed off of the loch and the stone walls of the castle. “Ye are all my family and my friends. This day ne’er should have happened. There should ne’er have come a time when we drew swords against one another! We are clan! We are one, and because of the evil greed of my uncle, we were divided to the core! Now look around ye and see where that division, where that hatred and bitterness has brought us. Look at the dead around ye all. These are our own clansmen! These are the brothers with whom we have hunted, eaten and shared drink, with whom we have fought alongside, and defended against enemies. These are people who wear our same colors; our tartan. These are the people we have grown older with, and who should have lived past this day to live many more years at our sides, but we have killed them for nothing more than a disagreement over the right of the seat of laird.”
Ian began to walk toward the silent and humbled group of men, scattered around him like stones on the shore. “I was born the son of the laird, and that birth gave me the right of the lairdship, but it was taken from me. I realized today that it is more than my right; it is my duty and my responsibility. Some of you defended me and my position as laird. I thank ye. Ye fought for me, and for a future that I can provide to ye. Others of ye fought for my uncle, Black Duncan. As ye have witnessed, he is defeated in battle. I am the victor of the challenge, and that means that I have another claim to the lairdship here. If ye would no’ follow me because of my birthright, then follow me because of my triumph. I won the right of lairdship, and now it is mine to claim as the champion of the battle.”
He looked around at all of them and then raised his sword, holding it aloft over his head. “I call upon all of ye now. Yield to me, your laird, and swear fealty to me, or leave this clan forever. I swear to ye that I will be a just and wise leader to ye all of your days. I will live for this clan and for the prosperous, peaceful future that we can build together, if ye pledge yourselves to me. Choose now!”
