Highlander's Lionheart (Beasts 0f The Highlands Book 1)

by Alisa Adams

  Brigda quickly grabbed her Lochaber ax from under her cloak as well where it had been attached to her saddle. Both weapons were pointed at the man in the dirt.

  Godet called to Bluebell, “Up!” The huge draft horse reared up and spun toward the man on the ground. His gigantic hooves coming down perilously close to Mungan’s chest as dirt and dust billowed up around them from the heavy impact of those immense hooves. Godet lowered her sword to his neck.

  “Ye willnae touch any women ever again,” she said sharply.

  Mungan leered at her. “Ye!” he spat out. “I knew it! I saw those horses and I knew it!” Spit flew from his lips as he spoke. He made as if to stand up, but Godet pushed the tip of her claymore into his neck. A drop of blood trickled down his neck.

  “Stay in the dirt where ye belong!” Godet said, her voice vibrating with wrath. “Fionnaghall is not yours, it never was and it never will be, ye evil man!”

  “Godet,” whispered Brigda.

  Mungan slowly placed his hand on the side of her sword as he arched his neck away from its tip. “Noo, noo, womon. Calm yerself. As the Laird of Fionnaghall, ye can be the lady of Fionnaghall as me wife. That’s all I ever wanted,” he said in a plaintive voice.

  “Niece,” Aunt Hextilda said tremulously to Godet.

  “I will be the Laird of Fionnaghall or one of me sisters will be. Not ye. Never ye.” Godet glared at him. “Fionnaghall belongs to the Ross’, not the Munroe’s!”

  “Godet!” Brigda whispered more urgently.

  Godet spared Brigda a quick glance. She noted Brigda’s white face and saw that she was staring beyond Mungan. She looked quickly looked beyond Mungan and saw his men standing around the courtyard with all their weapons aimed at the three women.

  Mungan quickly slapped her sword away from his neck and stood up. He laughed at her. It was a loud cackling harsh sound. “Ye stoopid womon! Ye had yer chance to merrit me! But ye stole those horses and ran. All that is left fer ye is death!” he spat at her. “Ye think ye can come riding back in to this castle and put yer sword to me throat and demand it back?” He lifted his face to the sky and whooped out a sharp, cackling laugh like a wolf howling at the moon. Then he lowered his chin, looking up at her through those horrible, crawling, bushy brows. His expression deadly serious, his eyes blazing with a crazed, unbalanced light, he hissed at her, “I will enjoy killing ye, verra, verra slowly.” His voice was menacing as he slithered toward her.

  Godet quickly backed Bluebell up. Brigda on Avens did the same. King Bobby started to prance nervously, picking up the tension in his rider’s hands. The little pony turned and scuttled behind the big horses who were still backing up.

  “Out!” hissed Godet to her aunt. “Through the gates, now!”

  Aunt Hextilda spun the pony and trotted out the gates.

  “Brigda, keep backing!” Godet said under her breath to Brigda.

  Mungan laughed his evil laugh again. “Running away again, girlie?” He continued to walk toward her with his men advancing as well. “There is no safety fer ye out there. In the gates or outside of them, ye are dead either way!”

  Mungan held out his hand to one of his men. A sword was tossed to him and he deftly caught it. He gave Godet a fiendish smile and kept advancing as the two women backed away from him on their big horses. As Godet and Brigda cleared the gates of Fionnaghall, Mungan and his men kept coming until they were all outside of the castle.

  Godet watched as a group of Ross men ran, keeping their bodies close to the castle wall. They creeped inside the gates, ready if Mungan or his men tried to turn back and take refuge inside the castle.

  “I dinnae think we will be the ones to die today,” Godet proclaimed loudly, “I think ‘tis ye, Mungan Munroe and yer men, that will be dying this day and I, Godet Ross, say it is deservedly so for taking Fionnaghall and killing me da and me mither. Shame on ye and yer men with ye!” Her voice shouted loud and clear to all the men who stood in front of the castle, armed and ready, wearing the plaids of the Munroe and MacKenzie.

  “And to ye MacKenzie men standing with the Munroes,” Brigda called out, adding her voice to Godet’s. “I am Brigda MacKenzie and I command ye to drop yer weapons! My father has no right to this place!” She pushed her cloak back to reveal her plaid, her MacKenzie plaid.

  There came loud murmurings and grumblings from the men in the line facing them. The Munroe men looked doubtful while the MacKenzie warriors were clearly unsettled, immediately lowering their weapons.

  Mungan stared at Brigda. His eyes narrowed as he looked her up and down. Then he smiled. “Yer da has promised ye to me, did ye know this? After I merrit this one and tire of her and kill her.” He laughed sharply and turned on the MacKenzie men, screeching in disdain. “Pick up those weapons.” He raised his sword and added threateningly, “Or I’ll kill ye meself!”

  “Mungan!” Godet called to him. When he turned his baleful stare back to her, she said, “Drop yer weapons, each and every one of ye! For ‘tis not just three women that have come to take back Fionnaghall!”

  As she spoke hundreds of warriors came forward.

  They were Ross warriors.

  And MacDonell warriors.

  And MacKenzie warriors.

  And three more women came forward on three big draft horses. They halted their horses beside Godet. One girl had dark hair, another had light brown, and the youngest girl had pale blonde hair.

  They came forward from the sides of the castle, up from the edges of the sea cliff, and from the line of trees just down from the castle. Mungan stared at them all with hatred blazing in his eyes.

  “Ye Ross sisters! All of ye, I curse ye!” he spat out.

  “This is yer last chance,” Godet called out. “Drop yer weapons now!”

  Mungan turned to his men and said something in a harsh, coarse tone. The warriors surged forward with their weapons ready. The MacKenzie warriors that had joined him hesitated then dropped their weapons and backed up toward the gates to the castle. They would not fight their own clansmen.

  Godet reared her horse up and called to her warriors. As one, they all came forward and met the Munroe warriors. She swung her claymore to the left and right, watching for her sisters and Brigda. Aunt Hextilda had ridden King Bobby safely out of the fray into the trees. Godet saw Brigda to her left lifting her Lochaber ax high as she charged forward on Avens.

  The field in front of Fionnaghall rang with swords clashing and the screaming of men. Godet was tiring, but she fought on. Swinging her sword from her advantageous height on Bluebell. As the fight wore on, she found herself looking for her sisters. She saw the group of MacDonell warriors, broad shoulders towering over the others, making quick work of the Munroe warriors around them. She saw Brigda near the sea cliff. Mungan was there, swinging his sword at Brigda. Godet could tell that she was exhausted. Godet dug her heels into Bluebell charging him over to aid her friend. She passed Ceena, Flori, and Ina where they were fighting a group of Munroe warriors.

  Godet called to them and nodded her head toward Brigda. “She needs help!” Godet screamed.

  The sisters all put their horses into a gallop toward Brigda. They could see that Mungan was playing with her, toying with her, torturing her. She was tiring from swinging her ax as Mungan took swipes at her with his claymore.

  Godet and her sisters rode right up and cut off Mungan from Brigda. They circled him with their huge horses, slowly tightening the circle around the shocked and furious man on the ground. They were giving Brigda a chance to catch her breath and let her arm rest from swinging her lochaber. She and Avens were not as fit or battle trained as the other drafts or the sisters, But Brigda would not be left out and squeezed Avens into their circle.

  Mungan started taking enraged and out of control broad swipes at the girls. Little by little, the sisters pressed their horses into him, pushing him until he had no choice but to back away from them. They opened their circle into a semi-circle as he backed away, screaming in rage as spittle flew fr
om his lips. His dark eyes were glaring with hatred as he swung out of control at the girls and their horses. They pressed him back, back toward the edge of the sea cliff.

  Mungan stopped on the very edge, looking with horror over his shoulder. He looked down to a drop of several hundred feet onto ragged rocks that was sure death. Before him in a half circle stood five of the huge horses with the women looking down at him.

  Godet asked Bluebell to take a step forward so that her claymore came right up against Mungan’s chest. “Either way, tis death for ye,” she said quietly. “Dinnae force me to kill ye. Come quietly now and ye will be escorted to the Black Watch Headquarters to be judged for yer crimes and hung for sure.”

  Mungan stared at her. His face was furious, rabid, and apoplectic. His chest was heaving with his angry breaths as he looked up at her. “Ye dinnae have the courage!” he spat at her.

  “The real question is dae ye?” she asked softly with her sword pressing against him. ”Dae ye have the courage to stand before yer fellow man and answer for yer crimes?”

  Before she could even take a breath, Mungan gave her a grim smile and stepped backward, off the sea cliff. She felt a painful, sharp tug on her leg and hip.

  Mungan had hold of Godet’s ankle.

  Her sisters let out shrieking, high-pitched, and panicked screams as they watched Godet being pulled off her horse toward the edge of the cliff. Mungan stared up at her with a maniacal grin as his legs hung off the cliff face.

  “I’ll be taking ye with me!” Mungan shrieked at her. His eyes were glazed with an unstable light as he looked up at Godet.

  Brigda was screaming and yelling instructions at the other girls. “Hold onto her!” she yelled as the big horses started to move nervously with all the commotion and fear coming from their mistresses.

  Godet clung to her horse and her saddle with all her might, her sword forgotten, fallen to the ground. She couldn’t move her leg to loosen Mungan’s tight grip, he was far too heavy. She was desperately trying not to let Bluebell walk forward anymore, he was already perilously close to the cliff edge. The huge horse sat back, leaning back against the extra weight that was unbalancing his mistress.

  Brigda screamed to Godet’s sisters to grab her arms, her waist, any part of her they could hold. Brigda grabbed a giant wad of Godet’s gown that was trailing over Bluebell’s rump.

  “I cannae get a hold of her!” cried Flori as she tried to get an arm around Godets waist.

  “Grab her arm!” Ceena ordered anxiously as her mare, Whins, snorted fearfully and threw her head up in alarm at her rider’s tense voice.

  “Ina, her hand!” Brigda cried fearfully, trying to control her own horse. “Take her hand!”

  Ina grabbed Godet’s hand and clung to it tightly, tears coursing down her face as she fretted. She was holding mightily to her sister’s hand and then her wrist as she wrestled with her mare to keep her ground.

  Flori managed to lock her arms around Godets waist, her legs were tight around her own horse. “I’ve got ye Godet!” Flori cried out with her eyes closed. Her lips were pursed as she tried with all her strength to hold her sister.

  “Someone grab Bluebell’s reins and back him up!” Ceena ordered again, her voice terrified as she tried to reach the horse’s reins and hold Godet’s other arm with her other hand.

  “Dinnae dae that! Ye will drag the lunatic back over the cliff!” Godet said with alarm.

  “Ask Bluebell to stand up, it may shake Mungan off ye!” Ceena called anxiously.

  “No!” Godet screamed in alarm. “He is too close to the cliff edge!”

  Mungan was laughing hysterically, spittle drooling from his lips. His laugh was pitched oddly high, sounding discordant and eerie. The girl’s horses were getting more agitated as the girls continued their frantic calling out to each other. The fear and anxiousness in their mistresses’ voices making the horses roll their eyes in fear and prance in place. They moved and shuffled back and forth and sideways nervously as the girls tried to control them while not giving up their hold on their sister.

  Mungan clung tenaciously to Godets ankle as she groaned and whimpered at the pulling weight on her entire leg. Her sisters had her arms, Flori was wrapped around her waist and she could feel the tight hold that Brigda had on her cloak as she was being held taunt by Brigda’s arm wrapped up tightly in the fabric.

  “Bluebell,” Godet said hoarsely. “Easy, boyo, easy!” She tried to croon to him as the huge horse continued his agitated prancing.

  Bluebell’s head was up as his eyes rolled down to look at the strange creature dragging at him and making the unpleasant sound. He did not like the uneven weight any more than the eerie sound the thing was making for the horse did not register it as a man, he only registered the fear in his mistress’ voice. The giant stallion tossed his head in anger as he stomped his huge hooves toward the thing. He raised his hoof, striking out at the thing once, twice, three times. The thing let out a piercing scream and tried to strike back at him. The horse heard his mistress shout in fear and he bent his big body around and struck the thing, hard, tossing his head threateningly at it.

  Mungan let out a painful scream, clutching desperately to Godet’s ankle. Godet threw her head back in a painful grimace as she groaned at the weight of him. He was winning! He was slowly dragging her off her horse. Her sisters hold on her was not enough. Godet let out a long drawn out groan that was as much a scream as she tried with all her might to stay on her horse.

  “No!” she screamed in anguish.

  Just as she was about to take another deep groaning breath, she saw a flash of plaid running to the cliff. It was one of the huge MacDonell warriors that had arrived with Liam. He was running to the cliff side. She thought he would not be able to stop in time, but he skidded to a stop at the very edge with his arm up and his sword flashing in the sunlight. He swung his arm in a mighty arc, coming down on Mungan.

  The girls heard Mungan’s screams all the way down the cliff face until there was naught but silence. They slowly and tremulously let out their breaths and stared at each other, not believing what had happened. Bluebell had tried to defend Godet, but it was the warrior coming just in time, striking Mungan with his sword that had saved Godet.

  The girls sat on their horses stunned. They were still holding tight to Godet when a group of warriors came to stand beside the huge warrior that had struck Mungan. They looked over the cliff.

  Godet recognized the plaid. They were all MacDonell’s. They were big men, broad-shouldered, and they had their long hair tied back behind their heads with a leather thong. They turned and looked up at the women on the draft horses.

  Godet stared, wide-eyed, frozen.

  Gordon stared back at her. His claymore sword was forgotten in his hand. Noise erupted around them, but they were still, staring at one another.

  Ceena looked at Tristan standing beside his brother. “I told ye,” she yelled, taking a shuddering breath. “I told ye to leave me alone!”

  Loughlin looked at Tristan’s stunned face and laughed a short laugh. “Flori, let go of yer sister and I will get ye down from there.”

  “I will not!” Flori said emphatically.

  Loughlin scratched his chin as he stared at the women all clinging tightly to their sister. Then he looked over at Tristan and Gordon and shrugged his shoulders.

  Tristan looked at Gordon for help, but Gordon had eyes only for Godet. Gordon had a gentle smile on his face as did Godet, though her lips were trembling.

  “Ina, Brigda,” Tristan said gently, “ye can let go of Godet now. Mungan is dead.” Tristan paused and looked back at Ceena and then Flori. “He’s gone. Ye are safe.”

  “Safe?” Ceena said, straightening up a bit. “We knew we were safe!”

  “Aye,” Brigda said, “we had a good hold on Godet. We weren’t about to let her go!”

  Ina was nodding her head enthusiastically in agreement.

  “We would never have let her go,” Flori said with great seri
ousness.

  Tristan sighed and looked at Gordon. He still had no help from his brother. He looked back at the girls and tried again. “Mungan is dead. He cannae hurt ye now.”

  “Och, he wasnae going to hurt us just now!” Ceena cried indignantly while still clutching her sister.

  “Godet had her sword in his chest,” Ina said proudly. She still held steadfast to Godet’s arm. “She could have run him through like a fish on a hook and hung him over the sea cliff as nasty bait for the crabs to nibble on,” she declared with a sharp nod of her head.

  “Or I could have used my ax on him. He’d be in little pieces if he had tried to harm a hair on Godet’s head,” Brigda boasted.

  “We had it all under control, Tristan,” Ceena said firmly.

  Tristan looked up at her and just raised an eyebrow.

  Loughlin stepped forward again. “Flori,” he said quietly, “Let her go, lass.”

  Flori stared at Loughlin, blinking, then looked down and realized her arms were still wrapped tightly around Godet’s waist. “Oh dear,” she whispered. She dropped her head on Godet’s shoulder and started crying softly. The other girls looked at her in alarm and realized they too were still clutching tightly to Godet. One by one, they started crying quietly.

  “We almost lost ye, Godet,” Ceena said,

  “Oh dear, I was so terrified ye were going over the cliff with him,” Flori whispered.

  “I thought for sure he would pull ye with him and we’d be picking up yer pieces before the sea took ye and all the fish nibbled away on ye and... and...” Ina said on a soft sob.

  “I couldn’t possibly face losing ye now, not now,” Brigda whispered as tears coursed down her face.

  Gordon walked silently up to Bluebell’s side and stopped. His eyes never left Godet’s as he gave the big horse’s thick neck a pat then reached his arms up to Godet and held them there, waiting, open.