by Jarecki, Amy
Sean clenched his teeth. Alan was arguing with none other than that festering-pustule, Brus. Sean would recognize that backstabber’s grating voice anywhere. Brus had always followed MacCoul around like a leech—had laughed in Sean’s face before they’d left him to die.
Take your last breath, for hell is about to unleash its vengeance.
Sean silently lifted the latch and peered inside. Alan sat in the king’s chair, with Brus leaning against the sideboard, arms and ankles crossed as if he owned the castle. Sean fingered the dagger up his left sleeve. In one fluid motion, he pushed through the door, flung the blade, hitting Brus in the neck, then drew his sword.
Thus far, not a shout had been uttered. Staring MacCoul in the eye, Sean closed the door behind him and bolted it.
Alan shoved back his chair and drew their father’s sword. “You,” he growled unable to hide the surprise in his voice.
Gurgling empty curses, Brus clutched at the knife and fell face first on the table.
Alan sidestepped, his eyes wide with fear. “Get thee from me, ghost. I left you for dead—no man could have lived this long.”
“You are quite mistaken.” Sean leveled his sword with Alan’s heart. “Had you been honest with me from the outset, our feud wouldn’t have ended this way.”
“Oh?” he continued to circle around the table. “And I would have survived in my little brother’s shadow?”
“You’ve lost that chance. Now you will die in it.”
Alan lunged. “I think not.”
Sean skittered aside, a chair toppling over. He nearly lost his balance as he deflected Alan’s attack.
Alan advanced with relentless hacks of his blade. He’d grown stronger since Beltane.
And Sean had grown weaker.
Backing around the room, it was all he could do to deflect the onslaught of vicious strikes. Sean’s muscles burned, barely able to wield the sword in his hands. Duncan had been right. Everyone had been right. Sean’s strength was half what it should be, his movement slowed by sluggishness.
Gnashing his teeth, Alan lunged in for the kill. Sean raised his blade for the deflection, a hair’s breadth before the sword sliced him across the neck. His helm flew from his head and clattered to the floor. Iron screeched with iron as their blades locked until they met at the cross guards. In a battle of strength, Sean could no longer control his muscles and he quaked mercilessly. Planting his left foot, he used his right to push MacCoul away and gain enough space to run.
He sped around the table to put some distance between them. Panting, he watched Alan swing his sword in an arc. The bastard laughed—taunted Sean. “I see my hospitality has turned you into a milksop.”
Sean said nothing, sucking in deep breaths, willing the air to revive him.
Alan sauntered around the table. “After I kill you, I’ll be Chieftain of Dunollie and I’ll marry that Campbell bitch—something you never had the cods to do.”
“You bleeding bastard. You’ll not touch her!” Sean went on the attack, swinging his sword like a madman. He never allowed himself to lose control when in a fight, but rage gripped his chest like a vise. He couldn’t stop. The thought of Alan claiming Gyllis for his own drove him to the brink of insanity.
A picture of Fraser’s mutilated body sent him into a raving frenzy. “I will avenge Fraser’s death.”
“That spineless maggot?” MacCoul blocked Sean’s strike and the next. On and on Sean advanced while the blackguard continued to back around the table. “I took great pleasure in gutting your asp-biting spy.”
Rage infusing him with strength, Sean used both hands, spinning, aiming for the braggart’s head. MacCoul ducked and came up, jabbing the pommel of his sword into Sean’s gut. Wind whooshed from Sean’s lungs. He gasped for air and steadied himself.
Never had he tired this easily.
A blast came from beyond the walls. The cannon’s warning had been fired. MacCoul was already supposed to be dead.
Alan advanced. Sean deflected. Iron clanged. Sean erred with slips of the wrist and deadly mistakes. But he wasn’t about to give up. Spinning, he hurled his blade. MacCoul met his strike with equal force. With jarring power reverberating up his arms, the sword flew from Sean’s grip.
Before he could reach for his dirk, Alan slipped his blade against Sean’s neck and laughed like Satan himself. “I should have cut your throat at the cave and been done with it.”
Sean spat. “You’ll never succeed. The king will not recognize your claim.”
Alan’s eyes flashed wide and he pressed the blade harder. “I will be Chieftain of Dunollie and Lord of Lorn. It is my rightful place. My inheritance.” The man’s face grew red. Clearly, he couldn’t bear to think he could possibly fail.
Pride is a great sin.
“What about Dugald?” Sean purchased time. “He’s Lorn’s heir.”
“I killed Lorn,” Alan gloated.
“But he didn’t die before he took his vows.” Sean dropped his arm and slid the dagger from his hose. “And our father only claimed one son. The king signed your death warrant.”
Alan bellowed like a caged lion. “You lie! You’ll not be here to see the riches I am granted. All of the Highlands will fear me. I will cut off your head and impale it on a pike above the gate as a testament as to who is the better son.” Baring his teeth, he grasped Sean’s hair, swinging his blade back.
Time slowed.
The cannon boomed with a long drawn-out blast.
Sean watched the blade rise then focused on the pulsing vein in Alan’s exposed neck. He could hear the thump of his brother’s heart. A drop of Alan’s sweat splattered on his cheek. He will never touch Gyllis.
Before their father’s sword began its downward momentum, Sean sprang up and sliced his dagger across MacCoul’s throat.
In mid-swing, the sword’s edge embedded deep into Sean’s shoulder, but he didn’t feel a thing.
Stunned and grasping at his throat, Alan fell onto Sean. “I am the eldest son,” he croaked.
Sean wrapped him in his arms. “I wish it had been different between us, brother.”
Alan let out a long hissing breath. His last.
Sean rested his brother’s body on the floor and passed a hand over his face to close Alan’s vacant eyes. Aye, he’d done what he must, but this was not victorious.
When he started to stand, Sean’s head spun. He glanced down at the gash in his shoulder. Thick blood oozed down his hauberk. He reached for the chair to steady himself, but it was just beyond his grasp. Grunting, Sean fell forward and collapsed atop Alan’s body.
Chapter Thirty-One
Gyllis and Meg clung to each other in Duncan’s tent while the battle raged. Every blast from the cannons made Gyllis quake in the oversized kirtle Meg had borrowed for her. “When will it be over?”
“I know not,” Meg’s voice trembled every bit as much as Gyllis’s did. “But we will be victorious. There is no other option.”
A man screamed, followed by a bone-crunching thud. Gyllis didn’t want to think—but her mind’s eye still pictured a warrior falling from the battlements.
She forced herself not to scream. “What if Sean or Duncan is hurt?”
Meg grasped her shoulders firmly and looked Gyllis in the eye. “We will not think on it.”
“I hate hiding in this tent. What more can we do to help?”
“Pray.”
Meg had always been pious and Gyllis grew inordinately guilty about having cursed at God the day before. She cringed. “I yelled at the heavens when I couldn’t find Sean. God could be very upset with me this day.”
Meg clasped her hands, squeezing tighter with her claw. Meg only used that hand when she was dead serious. “Did you find Sean?”
“Aye,” Gyllis whispered—of course Meg knew she had.
“Well then, sometimes you might need to yell to be heard.” She closed her eyes and recited the twenty-third psalm. Gyllis followed along, mouthing the words. Evidently Meg didn’t feel it ne
cessary to yell, because she kept her tone even and somber.
When Meg finished, an eerie hush hung over the encampment. Gyllis stood and turned full circle, hearing not a single scrape of a sword.
“The siege is over, long live the king!” someone bellowed.
A roar of triumphant voices rose around them.
Gyllis grinned at Meg and pulled her hand. “Come.” Together they made their way over the barbican bridge and into the inner bailey as fast as Gyllis could manage. Men were celebrating, running past them with their weapons held high, but the women fought through the crowd. When they reached the donjon, Gyllis clapped a hand to her chest and caught her breath. “Have you seen them?”
Meg turned full circle. “Not yet.”
A fallen man clutched at his stomach, lying in a pool of blood. “Help. Someone, please help me.”
Meg pointed to the doors. “You go—I cannot leave him.”
Gyllis needed no more encouragement. For all she knew, Sean could be laying in his own pool of blood. When she pushed into the great hall, all she saw was madness. Duncan’s men were rounding up the usurpers and had them lying on the floor with their hands behind their heads. But the King’s solar was above stairs. Pushing through the crowd, she made her way to the stairwell.
As she climbed, pounding grew louder. When she reached the landing, Duncan and Mevan were chopping the solar door with a battleax. She didn’t need to ask. Sean was in there, and so was Alan MacCoul.
Dread iced through her veins while she watched them beat down the door. When they finally had it clear, she rushed in. “Sean!” Her heart stopped. Sean didn’t move. Slumped over the body of MacCoul, all color had drained from his face.
Blood pooled thickly on the floor. Splatters covered everything.
“No!” He cannot be dead.
Tears stinging her eyes, she threw herself over him. “Sean. ’Tis me. We’ve won!” She shook his shoulders. “Sean. Wake up. Please. Wake.”
Duncan grasped her shoulder. “Our dear friend is gone, lass.”
Ice coursed across her skin. “No,” she cried through her tears. “I do not believe it.”
Duncan again tugged, but Gyllis clamped her arms around Sean. “I will not leave him.” She turned and glared at her brother. “Carry him to a chamber.”
“But—”
“Do it.” She pointed. “Now!”
Duncan nodded his head once and beckoned Mevan. “There’s a bedchamber next door. The women will be able to prepare his body there.”
Gyllis grasped Sean’s hand. His fingers were frigid—and there was a deep gash on his shoulder.
“Stand aside,” Duncan said.
Sucking in her tears, she allowed the men to lift Sean’s body. His head flopped back and his arms and legs hung limp as they hauled him into the next room and placed him on the bed. “Send for Lady Meg,” she snapped.
Duncan hesitated for a moment, but he didn’t say a word.
They left her alone, holding Sean’s hand.
Chapter Thirty-Two
In the dimly lit room, Gyllis threw herself over Sean’s lifeless body, a wail erupting from her throat. “Please God, no.” She could scarcely utter the words through her fitful sobbing. She held up her blistered palms, still so painful from rowing to Kerrera. “You did not guide me to Kerrera only to see him killed here!”
She prostrated herself atop him.
“I do not believe it.”
“I do not believe it.”
“I. Do. Not!”
Reaching down, she threaded her fingers through his and kissed them. “You told me you would be careful.”
A pained cry caught in the back of her throat.
“Why did I allow Meg to talk me into letting you fight? I knew you were weakened, yet I trusted everyone and ignored my own heart.”
Spittle leaked from the corner of her mouth. “Please, God. D-do not take him from me.”
She scooted up and cupped his face with her palm. He seemed so peaceful—not dead, but in a deep sleep. How a man could be so beautiful, she could not fathom. And this man had loved her in spite of all her adversity, in spite of her limp, in spite of her every weakness.
“I will always love you.” She pressed her lips to his and closed her eyes, praying all the while. His lips were far warmer than his fingers—warmer than the chill within the chamber.
Sean’s chest rose and fell.
Gyllis jolted up. “Sean?”
He didn’t move.
She held a finger beneath his nose. A faint puff of warm air caressed her finger.
Clapping a hand over her mouth, she gasped. “Oh, thank God.” She limped to the door as fast as she could and swung it open. “Fetch Lady Meg. Sir Sean is alive!” Gyllis latched on to an arm of a passing guard. “Did you hear me? Fetch Lady Meg at once.”
She must have been assertive or half-crazed, because the guard saluted. “Yes, m’lady. Straight away.”
Swiping away her tears, Gyllis hastened back to the bed. “Lady Meg is coming. We must see to this horrible gash on your shoulder.” Her heart fluttered. “You will be fine. I know it.”
There wasn’t much left of his sleeve, so she tore it away and pushed the remaining cloth aside to inspect the wound. It was deep, but she couldn’t see bone. That had to be a good sign.
Meg rushed inside. “I’ve sent Mevan to fetch my basket.”
“His chest heaved and I felt warm air from his nose.”
“Thank heavens.” Meg inspected Sean’s arm. “I’ll need to stitch this straight away.” She grimaced. “But ’tis so deep, he could lose the arm.”
“What’s an arm compared to a life?”
“Let us pray we can save both.” Meg faced her. “Regardless, I’ll need your help. The injuries out there are horrendous. You’ll have to tend him all night—keep a cool cloth on his forehead, spoon willow tea into his mouth. Can you do that?”
“Of course. I will do anything.”
“I’ve your basket, m’lady,” Mevan said from the doorway.
Meg beckoned him. “Bring it here, then go help the others. I’ll head to the hospital tent as soon as I stitch up this wound.”
Mevan set the basket on the bedside table and hissed. “Bloody hell, MacCoul nearly took his arm off.”
“’Tis none too pretty.” Meg fished for a whalebone needle and thread. “Gyllis, you’ll need both hands to hold Sir Sean’s flesh together.”
“I’ll do anything you need.”
“Good.” Meg smiled. “I hope you have a strong stomach.”
Gyllis would have a strong anything if it meant Sean would live. When she moved to Sean’s shoulder, she ignored the pain in her palms and bore down with all her strength, matching the two sides of his skin. She watched Meg’s every stitch until the last one was tied off.
Meg swiped off the blood with a cloth and secured her needle in the basket. “Remember what I said. Keep his forehead cool. Keep the wound doused with avens oil. Have the chambermaid bring you willow bark tea and ale. Keep spooning it into his mouth until he wakes.”
He wakes. Those words were like angel’s bells. “I’ll keep a vigil for a month if I must.”
“If things grow worse, send someone to fetch me.” She put the basket over her arm. “I fear this will be a long night for us all.”
***
As she’d promised, Gyllis maintained a vigil at Sean’s side. Blood seeped from his wound, but she saw that as a good sign—God’s own form of cleansing. The past few days had sped past in such a blur. She sat beside him on the bed, allowing herself to doze only for brief moments in between dousing the cloth in cool water. She hummed and talked as she worked—partly for her sake and partly for Sean’s. If he could hear her, she wanted him to know she was there—would always be beside him.
The witching hour must have come because Gyllis’s eyelids refused to stay open. Sleep kept trying to claim her mind. Her head continuously bobbed. She got up and paced the floor, but her toe stubbed repeatedly
, making her stumble. Walking, exhaustion and the latent effects of paralysis did not go well together.
She pulled a wooden chair beside the bed and sat, realizing the hour glass had run its course. Once she turned it over, she picked up the tankard with the tea and a spoon. “Time for another tincture, my love.” She ladled a few drops in Sean’s mouth—his lips were still so chapped. “Did I ever tell you about the time Helen and I were spying on you and Sir Eoin MacGregor?”
“Nay,” a raspy voice answered.
She held the spoon completely still, her gaze shooting to Sean’s face. His eyes were still closed. “Nay?” she asked, wondering if her mind was playing tricks.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “N-nay,” he said.
“My goodness, you heard me?”
He nodded slightly.
“Are you in pain?”
“Aye.” His eyes opened a wee bit. “Come here.”
She set down her things and nestled beside him, careful not to disturb his wound. “They thought you were dead, but I wouldn’t believe it.”
A chuckle caught in his throat. “I’m glad you did not.” He licked his lips. “But I’d expect no less from my woman.”
Her heart squeezed. “I’ll take care of you, Sean MacDougall. I shall care for you until I draw my last breath.”
“I’m the one who should be uttering such words of chivalry.” He blinked then widened his eyes. “You have my vow, I will protect you forever. You will always be the keeper of my heart. Never again will I be so foolish as to walk into battle when I ken I am weak. That bastard nearly killed me.”
“Hush.” Gyllis placed her finger to his lips. “You did what you must. Now let us spoon some willow tea in your belly. It will help keep the fever at bay.”
“Nay. All I need is you beside me. A wee bit of sleep and I’ll be right.”
“You’re a rugged man, Sean MacDougall.” She snuggled into him and pulled the bedclothes around their shoulders. “Everything will be better on the morrow.”
***
Her mind was in a fog when the door burst open.
“Heaven help us, you are ruined.” Mother rushed inside, slamming the door behind her.