by Alisa Adams
“Shh!” she hissed at him. “We have to have a plan. We cannae just go rushing in there. Did ye not see that they have pistols?”
“Sards!” growled Keir under his breath. “I have gotten so used to not carrying them here in the Highlands since the Disarming Act. Only when I am traveling with the Black Watch do I carry them noo,” he said angrily.
“Those men shouldnae be carrying them either! Who are they, Uncle?” Cat whispered as she peeked over the fallen tree.
Keir raised up just enough to look over the tree again. “Do ye see the white cockade in their tams? ’Tis a sign that they are Jacobites. They are breaking the law by carrying those pistols.” He studied them again. “That tall one appears to be the leader, but he wears no tam…” he whispered thoughtfully.
Cat knocked him on his arm. “He just called Kaithria a changeling. And Kaithria just said he was her brother!”
Keir’s jaw tightened as he watched. “Did ye bring a weapon?” he asked his niece.
Cat pushed aside her tartan cape. “Of course.” She smiled grimly, showing the ancient, heavy basket sword she had used at Brough Castle.
“Ye cannae even lift that thing!” he hissed at her. “I wish we had—”
“Us?” Lady Gillis crept softly forward, ducking down, with Lady Jane and Lady Ina behind her. They bent low behind the tree, joining Cat and Keir.
Keir stared at them with his jaw working furiously. “Whot are ye thinking? All we need now is Aggie and Hexy!”
“Back there,” Gillis said without looking behind her, she just motioned over her shoulder as she watched the men surrounding Kaithria.
Keir looked further back into the woods. He could just make out Aggie on her mule and Hexy on her little Highlander pony making their way through all the thick branches. They smiled and waved their battle-axes at him.
He scowled and motioned with his arm for them to move back.
He turned around with a groan. Where are my men when I need them? He looked at the women who were kneeling behind the tree with him. These were his warriors now. He shook his head and moaned. “Mhac na galla!” he said under his breath.
Cat turned to him. “What was that, Uncle? Did ye say son of a bi—”
“Nothing,” he growled hastily. Then he shook his head angrily. “Kaithria is the only woman I have ever loved and want to keep with me for the rest of me life as me wife and I dinnae have me army to go save her!”
The women stared at him, mouths open.
Cat closed her mouth. She said firmly, “Ye dinnae need an army. Ye have us.”
“Aye!” the others whispered as they gripped their weapons.
“Four men without pistols I could take by meself. The pistols change everything, ladies!” he said in a hoarse whisper. “Kaithria could be shot, or one of ye. The chances of being killed are far greater here! Do ye ken? I cannae risk any of ye!”
Cat grabbed his arm as she peered over the fallen tree again, nodding to Kaithria. “Ye dinnae have a choice, Uncle.”
Kaithria stared up into the face of her brother, Caden Zahrah Keith.
“Caden, what are ye doing?” she said in a low voice.
“What am I doing?” he shouted down at her where she was leaning back on her elbows staring up at him. “I have been looking for ye a long time, little sister!”
Kaithria tried to sit up again but he shoved her roughly back down. “We thought ye were dead,” he roared. “But the curse came back! Our sheep are dying again.” He put his hands around her neck. “And then we got word that there was a nun who escaped one of the villages that Father cleared. A nun that was guarding the king’s son who was amongst the orphans she fled with. A nun who looked foreign. A nun with black hair and golden eyes.” He sneered at her, his hands tightening on her throat. “Father knew it had to be you!” He took a breath and squeezed tighter. “Ye didnae die with our mother! Ye killed her! Father told me it was ye!”
“Caden, stop!” Kaithria said hoarsely as she clawed at his hands on her throat. Her mind was reeling. It was her own father that had attacked the convent, clearing out the orphanage, and most of the village!
“Ye have to die!” Caden said in roar.
The three other men came in closer. Their pistols aimed at Kaithria’s head as she looked up at all of them. Terrified.
“Ye are a changeling that brought the curse to the Keith lands!” one of the men yelled. “Ye must die!”
A figure came flying out from the side of her vision, launching itself on the man who had just said she must die.
“Keir!” Kaithria cried out.
The two men rolled on the ground.
Four more figures charged into the clearing towards the three men, all in skirts. Kaithria’s eyes widened as she realized it was Cat, Gillis, Jane, and Ina.
She clawed at her brother’s hands again, trying to see Keir and her friends. But Caden kept his hands wrapped around her neck. He had eyes only for her. He did not seem to even be aware of the fight that was happening around them.
“Caden! I didnae kill Mother!” she managed to say.
Kaithria saw Cat come running towards her, swinging her sword in readiness at Caden, but at a shout from one of the other ladies, she swung it at one of the other men before he could aim his pistol at Keir, who was on the ground wrestling a pistol away from one of the men.
As Gillis came running into the clearing, she flung her targe at the man that Cat had just hit with her sword. The targe flew at him with such speed it whistled in the air. It flew into his wrist, sending his pistol flying in the air and into the woods. His wrist hung limply at an odd angle as he screamed and bent over.
Ina was throwing her knives in a blur of flashing steel at the other man. The knives slammed into his arm, impaling their points straight through his shirt and arm and into the tree, pinning his arm to the tree. He fired one shot that went awry. He was unable to reload the pistol with one arm pinned to the tree. He growled and shouted and roared, hurling terrible words at them.
Jane rushed towards the man pinned to the tree. He was struggling to free himself. Jane hit him with the broadside of her claymore, striking his kneecaps. The men let out a blood-curdling scream. She could not lift the massive sword, but she could swing it! Jane grabbed the pistol out of his hand and turned around, holding it up for the other ladies with a proud smile on her face.
Keir did not see her; he was still trying to wrestle the gun from the third man.
The man pinned to the tree roared and with a mighty pull, yanked his pinned arm away from the tree with his free hand. He lunged at Jane, but Cat came running, screaming loudly as she held her basket sword in both hands. She swung it at the man as hard as she could but he sneered at her and ducked out of the way before falling awkwardly on his hurt knees. He stood back up with another sneer as he cradled his hurt arm.
Jane widened her stance, gripping her heavy claymore in both hands as she narrowed her eyes, watching the man closely. She glanced over and saw that Ina was out of knives. Jane and Cat circled the man, both holding their heavy swords low to the ground.
The man eyed them cautiously; he had already learned a lesson through his kneecaps. He was having trouble, hobbling in a circle as he watched them warily.
Gillis had the man with the broken wrist on the ground. She had thrown herself on top of him. He was lying on the ground, under her, crying for his “mither.”
Lady Ina mounted Dummernech. She had a huge grin on her face as she danced the big, black horse threateningly around the two men.
Caden was watching the chaos around him. His mouth was open in shock.
“Who are these women?” he shouted down at Kaithria.
Kaithria still had her hands on his where they were on her throat. She had been watching everything around her as well.
“They are me friends,” she said huskily with a small smile.
Caden started squeezing her neck again.
A pistol shot cracked through the air.
Ka
ithria tried desperately to look over at Keir.
“Keir!” she screamed as she pulled at Caden’s hands and kicked her feet and legs to try to get up. “Keir!”
“Just...just a scratch, my jewel,” Keir called back in a breathless voice.
Kaithria heard Cat cry out. “Uncle! Ye are bleeding!”
“Keir!” Kaithria struggled again against Caden. “Cat? Is he hurt?”
“Wheesht, ye changeling!” Caden shouted at her as he looked around the clearing at his men.
“I am nae a changeling! Ronan Keith is mad!” Kaithria said, staring hard into his eyes.
“He isnae. Ye cursed us!”
“I didnae. Mother’s father cursed Ronan for stealing her. That is why he said his sheep are cursed! But curses are not real, Caden!” she said on a gasp. “It could just as easily have been yer birth that cursed him, but he was pleased with ye. Ye were the son he wished for, and I was just a useless girl. And I looked too different! Dinnae ye see?” she pleaded with him as her eyes filled with tears.
When he just stared angrily at her, his face hard and cold, she tried again.
“He kidnapped her! Did ye know that?” Kaithria said through gritted teeth as she gasped for breath and sobbed. “He beat her! She stayed as long as she could stand to!”
“Lies!” Caden yelled, slamming her head into the ground.
Kaithria heard Keir shout her name, weakly.
“It is the truth!” Kaithria cried out louder, more desperately. “He killed her. She tried to protect me from him. He wanted me dead from the day I was born!” she said, as tears poured down her face. “She ran, taking me away from him. She ran and he put an arrow in her back!” she said on a sob as she clawed at his hands.
“If ye hurt her…” Keir’s voice came from the other side of the clearing. “I will...hunt ye down... ’til the day I die...Keith,” Keir snarled weakly.
“Yer sheep have scrapie, ye glaikit fool!” Gillis yelled.
“Let her up,” Lady Ina called out, “or I will let Kaithria’s horse beat ye into the ground!” Dummernech stood up, his hooves pawing the air as he let out a high pitched, angry whinny.
“’Tis nae a curse, ye bampot!” Cat shouted at him. “Let her up! Or I’ll kill ye meself. Now.”
Caden looked up at the blonde woman standing over the one called Keir that his sister seemed to care for. The man was bleeding badly. His eyes went back to the blonde. She had short, curling, blond hair and bright, alluring, green eyes that were wide and tilted up slightly at the ends. He was fascinated, for she looked like she was smiling with those eyes, even though she was furious with him.
Caden let go of Kaithria’s neck and stood up. He looked around at his men. One was laying next to Keir. He was unconscious but breathing. The other two were incapacitated by the women.
He looked back down at Kaithria. “Ye ran towards the sea cliff. Mither ran to save ye, but she fell, and ye with her.” Caden slashed his hand in the air to stop Kaithria from speaking. “I am telling ye what he told me,” he said, suddenly exhausted.
Kaithria stood up slowly. She glanced over at Keir and saw blood running down his arm.
Before Caden could stop her, she was running to him, tears pouring down her face. She fell to her knees beside him, cradling his head in her lap.
“Keir,” she cried. “Open yer eyes, please?” She looked over his body. He’d been shot in the arm! It appeared the bullet went straight through the outer side of his arm.
Keir’s eyelids fluttered open. He moved his lips, but no sound came out. He tried again. “Dinnae leave me again, me jewel,” he whispered.
“Dinnae ye leave me, Keir,” Kaithria whispered huskily as she sobbed his name.
Caden came over. “Who is he?” he demanded.
Kaithria looked up at him with tears streaming down her face.
Cat stepped in front of Caden, blocking him from her uncle and her friend.
“That man is Laird Keir Maxwell Gunn, and that woman is me friend, and his future wife!” she gritted out in fury.
Caden looked stunned. “A Gunn?” he spat out.
“Aye,” Cat said. “And I am Laird Wolf McKay’s sister.” She smiled cynically at him. “I am nae pleased to meet ye.”
“I have no fight with the McKays or ye...lassie? Laddie?” Caden said with a crooked smile.
“I could kill ye where ye stand,” Cat said, lifting her sword slightly up at him.
Kaithria stood up, putting her hand on Cat’s shoulder.
“Cat, ’tis fine,” Kaithria said soothingly.
“I could kill him Kaithria, I really could!” Cat said through her teeth.
“Aye, I am sure ye could. But no need. And he is me brother, after all,” Kaithria said quietly.
“Ye have Mither’s voice,” Caden said haltingly. “And her face, and hair. Ye look just like her.” He swallowed as if in pain.
Kaithria stilled, looking into his eyes. They were so sad.
“I cried for ye,” Kaithria said in a husky whisper. “I didnae want to leave ye. I was afraid of Ronan, but not me big brother,” she said as the tears continued down her face. “Mither hated leaving ye. She died for both of us, Caden…”
“I missed her. I couldnae believe when father said that she was gone, and ye too.”
Kaithria stepped up to him. “He killed her, Caden. She was running for the cliffs, aye. But I was hiding at the kirk where she told me to stay. I dinnae know if she was going to jump or not. But he shot an arrow into her back and she went over.”
Caden swallowed tightly, looking away from Kaithria, off into the distance. Into the past. He turned his head back to stare at Kaithria. His face was full of pain.
“He wants ye dead, Kaithria. He’s been looking for ye, and sent me to look for ye too.” He paused. Swallowing again. “And to kill ye,” Caden added as his voice dropped into a deep tone.
Cat stepped forward again. “Ye dare?” she said as she lifted her sword up...as much as she could.
“Will ye be stabbing me toes then?” Caden asked her wryly.
“Maybe I will!” Cat fumed as she stepped up to him, looking up into his face.
“Cat,” Kaithria said softly as she pushed her sword to the side.
Cat looked around Kaithria’s shoulder. “Ye have been following us all the way from the McKay lands. Go home!”
“What?” Caden said as he narrowed his eyes on the blonde.
A groan came from the ground. Kaithria fell back to her knees beside Keir.
“Cat! We need to get Keir back to Kinbrace and see to this wound,” Kaithria said worriedly.
“Kaithria, ye will come back with me. We will talk to Father together,” Caden demanded.
“She stays...with me!” Keir managed to ground out.
“She is a Keith!” Caden said harshly.
“She will be a Gunn,” Keir growled as he slowly got to his feet.
Caden stood nose to nose with the broad-chested, narrow-hipped warrior before him.
The two men stared, both of their jaws going hard, their eyes narrowed.
“Enough! Kaithria stays with the Gunns, young man! Just as me nephew told ye!” It was Agnes Gunn on her mule. She rode across the clearing to stare down at Caden.
Caden looked up at the huge woman in shock.
“Take yer men and get off Gunn lands,” she said. “Ye can come back for the wedding. If ye are invited, that is.”
Caden recovered his voice at the sight of the huge woman on the enormous mule.
“We cannae return,” Caden said as he raised his chin and looked at her. He stood with shoulders back, straight and tall. Refusing to back down.
“Because ye didnae kill me?” Kaithria asked quietly.
“Aye,” Caden said as he turned to her, “and I willnae. For what ye say makes more sense than what Father has been telling me for years.” He swallowed and looked down at the ground for a moment. He looked at his sister with great sadness in his eyes. “She said goodbye to me.
I remember it, I remember so much. Seeing your face...it is like seeing hers all over again. I remember so much now...” Caden turned his face away, not wanting to show his pain and sadness. His foolishness.
Kaithria stepped forward and grasped his hand in her own.
Caden looked down at her hand, then at her face.
“I would like to hear everything, Kaithria. Please?” Caden said solemnly.
“Come back to Kinbrace,” Keir said gruffly. “Ye and yer men. They must understand the truth as well. No more hunting of Kaithria.”
Caden looked at the big warrior. “Ye would welcome Keiths into yer home?”
“Aye,” Keir growled as he looked at Kaithria.
“Good! That’s all settled,” Aunt Agnes said loudly. “Noo then, do ye think ye can ride a mule, Nephew? Or would it be too insulting for ye?” Agnes asked with a smile and a challenge in her eyes.
Hexy rode forward on her pony and looked up at Agnes. “It may be easier to get him on me pony.” She cackled and winked at Agnes.
Keir groaned.
Kaithria stepped forward to put her arm around Keir to support him.
He looked down at her where she fit so perfectly by his side. He gently wiped the tears on her face as she smiled up at him. The tears kept coming, however.
“Ye are crying, Kaithria!” Cat said in awe.
Kaithria let out a small sob. “I cannae seem to help it.” She sniffed and smiled.
“Ye are also touching a mon,” Cat whispered on a giggle.
Kaithria froze, but Keir pulled her tighter against him.
Kaithria looked up at him. “Ye realize that I am a Keith?” she asked him softly.
“Aye, I heard what ye told yer brother. Ye will be a Gunn soon enough,” he whispered against her hair. “If ye will have me, that is?”
“If I will have ye? I thought ye said ye were keeping me. I have a choice?” she smiled and asked him through the tears in her eyes.
“I am asking ye to keep me, my jewel,” Keir said gruffly. “Asking, not demanding.”
Kaithria looked up at him and smiled fully as more tears ran down her face. She reached up and lightly touched the cleft in his chin with her finger.