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You killed him.
Though he’d always hated it, he’d learned to live with killing during battles, knowing he had no choice if he wanted Rogene and other Mackenzies to survive. But he hadn’t killed anyone for over two years now, and the weight of it was a shock.
After a while, he thought he heard a distant rumble of horses somewhere far behind. But when he looked back, there was nothing but darkness.
He hoped he was imagining it.
After a long, hard gallop, David felt that Daisy was getting tired. She was slowing down and beginning to stumble a bit, the steady rhythm of her gallop broken.
He looked back again and listened. But he heard nothing and saw no one chasing them.
“We need to stop,” he called to Anna’s dark shadow ahead of him through the drum of hooves.
“Aye,” she responded, “my horse is tired. I think we lost them.”
He brought Daisy to a halt. The poor thing was shaking her head, snorting. She needed a drink, some food, and rest.
They dismounted, and the ground swayed for a moment under David’s feet. As he took Daisy’s reins and walked with her into the darkness of the woods, away from the path, the night air cooled his sweaty body through his wet tunic.
“You promised,” he said to Anna as she walked her own horse by his side. “You should have left.”
Anna scoffed. “How about a thank ye, David? Didna I just save yer life?”
“But you should have left. We agreed if they get me, you run.”
No response came from her. “I ken, aye. Ye’re right. I agreed to it. But once they got ye, I just couldna. When I saw that man holding ye, when he called for more men to come, I…I guess I didna want ye to be captive like I was. I wouldna have wished it on anyone.”
He shook his head and sighed. Somewhere deep in the woods, an owl hooted. “You’re a stubborn Highlander, aren’t you?” he asked and chuckled.
She chuckled in return. “I’m the daughter of my clan. The daughter of my father.”
“A Scottish princess.” David felt his grin return, the same grin that he’d had for the past three days. “I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
A soft gurgling of water in the distance reached his ears, and Daisy raised her head, ears perked, sniffing the air.
“I hear water,” Anna said.
“Yeah, me, too.”
“I must say, David, I didna think ye’d come out of that fight alive. That man… Forgive me, but ye didna stand a chance against his sword. I thought surely I’d lose ye…” Her voice broke. “And I didna want to lose ye.”
There was warmth in her voice that soothed David and made him breathe easier.
“I couldna watch. I went and freed the horses and took Daisy and another one. I was ready to run into the crowd and hit the bastart and get ye and then get the hell out. But when ye hit him with a rock and killed him…” Her voice was awed. “Ye killed him with a rock! I…where did ye learn to throw like that?”
“Um…football. I was the team captain, and the coach always said I had the best arm.”
They came to the brook now, the scent of water and mud strong. Anna and David tethered the horses to the bushes growing at the side of the brook and the animals sank their muzzles and drank. Moonlight seeped through the canopy opening above the brook, making the water glisten like polished silver.
“I dinna ken what that means. Is that like the Highland games?”
Clan Mackenzie had organized the Highland games three years ago and invited different ally clans. There was tug-of-war and stone put and caber toss. David had enjoyed himself there—it was the first time he’d forgotten he wanted to leave the Middle Ages. Until clan Ross had ambushed them right in the middle of the games and almost burned pregnant Rogene to death.
“Yeah. It’s…a bit like the Highland games,” he said. “Minus clan feuds and bloodshed. I’ll start the fire. There’s a good place for a camp.” He pointed at a flat meadow surrounded by the trees five steps away from the brook.
Anna and he walked around gathering dry branches for the fire. “I was terrified for ye,” Anna said. “But once we got away, I dinna think I’ve felt alive like this since…since before my father arrived in Islay seven years ago.”
He picked up another branch and added it to the heap that he held against his body. “Why?”
