Page 11 of Hold Fast

“Instinct takes over, if you’ve practiced well enough,” he’d said.

It seemed he had been right. Her hands didn’t shake and her heartbeat was steady, albeit fast. She felt in control despite her fear. Perhapsin spite ofher fear. She would never go back to the Cameron keep, would never live under Laird Cameron’s cruelty every again. And if she had to kill the laird himself to ensure that, so be it.

The horse was close, and Una could tell from the sounds that its rider had dismounted and was walking beside it. The horse and rider were alone. That fact was almost a relief. Malcolm Cameron never went anywhere without a personal guard of twenty men. Her odds of escape were as good as they could possibly be.

Perhaps it was an outlaw, one of those men who had abandoned his clan or been forced out for sins unforgiveable. A rogue man with no allegiance and a chip on his shoulder was dangerous, to be certain, but she had freedom within her sights for the first time in a year and would not let a lone man stand in her way.

The horse’s heavy footfalls closed in, just behind a large bramble and oak. Una drew back on the string, calmed by the muscle memory, just as Blair had taught her. A huge, dappled gray destrier emerged from the thicket. Its shaggy main hung long, but Una could see a bright, white blaze streaking down the length of its nose.

She did not wait for the horse’s owner to appear before she said, “Take one step further, and I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

CHAPTER5

Ewan passed the bramble and froze, following the line of the arrow shaft with his eyes, up a long arm that belonged to… a woman. She was tall, with glossy black hair plaited and draped over her shoulder. The Cameron plaid had fallen to the leaves at her feet.

With the breeze blowing the loose tendrils around her face and her eyes narrowed, Ewan couldn’t help but think of the old goddesses his gran had told him about, relics from a wilder, ancient time in the land, when there was more room for magic. Her chest rose and fell evenly with her breath, and she looked as if she feared nothing. Certainly not him. She looked as if she would have no qualms about murdering him and then stepping over his carcass to carry on her merry way.

“I mean you nae harm,” Ewan said, slowly raising his hands to show that they were empty.

She barely blinked. Her lips pressed into an even tighter line.

“I’m going to take off my belt now,” he said.Shite.She tensed and adjusted her aim. “My sword belt!” he shouted. He took a fortifying breath, feeling it shake in his chest. “I’m going to take off my sword belt now. To show my good faith. Dinnae shoot. Please.”

Saints above, he couldn’t imagine this going worse. That is, unless she actually shot him. That would be wildly inconvenient.

Ewan kept his gaze on hers as he unbuckled his sword belt, which held his sheathed claymore and a dirk. After wrapping the leather around the scabbard, he tossed it toward her, the heavy sword landing with a thud in the leaves near her feet. He wondered what she was doing out here alone. It wasn’t safe for a woman to go traipsing about the woods alone, especially not on Cameron lands.

“I am looking for the Cameron healer. Do you ken where I might find him?”

She snorted. “You dinnae look in need of healing,” she replied acidly.

Ewan’s hand shook from holding his arms up. “Aye. I dinnae need a healer for myself. And I’d like to maintain that state of nae needing a healer, if you’d be so kind.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you need to find the Cameron healer?”

He swallowed against the lump in his throat. “My brother has been gravely wounded, and our healer is gone,” Ewan said as evenly as he could, speaking in the same tone he would use with a spooked colt. “If you cannae help me, then I beg you to let me continue on my way. A boy’s life is at stake.”

She flinched, and a strange flicker of pain crossed her features.

With his hands still in the air, Ewan dropped carefully to one knee. “I’m going to remove my other dagger and throw it to you.”

She lifted her chin once, and he reached down into his boot and removed his sgian dubh, tossing the small blade next to the sword.

Never breaking eye contact, he rose back to standing. “Now. I am unarmed, as you can see. I mean you nae harm. Will you tell me where I can find the Cameron healer? Or will you at—”

“What’s his name?” she interrupted.

“I dinnae ken the healer’s name. I’ve never met the man.”

“Your brother,” she snapped with a huff. “What is his name?”

The question told Ewan all he needed to know, that the person he sought to save Connor’s life was the very same person poised to take his own. The Cameron healer was no man, but this woman, tall and solid, with chapped hands and an enraged look on her face.

“Connor,” he said quietly. “His name is Connor. He’s fifteen.”

There it was again, that slight flinch, the flicker of concern. He decided to try his advantage, to draw her out. With his hands still high overhead, he took a careful step closer.

“He was gored by a boar on a hunt. The tusk cut deeply into his thigh. His twin, my sister Catriona, stitched the wound as best as she could, but, well, I dinnae think you can expect much from a fifteen-year-old lass in the way of healing.”