Page 18 of Highlander’s Protector

There was the handprint, and he sank to his knees and slammed his hand into it. Nothing happened. With desperation eating his heart, he slammed it again. And again. And again. His palm stung and burned.

“What are ye doing?” called Iàcob.

“Are ye David?” Anna asked.

He looked up at her. She wasn’t shielding her face anymore, but looking at him with big, dark eyes. Under the smudges of dirt and grime, her features were sharp and elegant, like a fox’s. Large, slightly slanted eyes with long eyelashes were open wide, in shock or in fear. She had full lips and a sensual mouth. High cheekbones protruded from under her pale skin, and her thin nose was turned up slightly at the tip, just enough to give the impression of an innocent girl.

He stood up, the turmoil in his chest raging between yet another disappointment and feeling sorry for her. And he was embarrassed he’d been screaming like an idiot when this girl clearly had been traumatized, mistreated, and hurt.

He looked at the rock for the last time. It wasn’t his chance this time. Then he stretched out his hand to her. “I’m David. Come with me, we must hurry.”

Anna grinned the most gorgeous smile and came to him. “David?” she asked with a chuckle.

As he wrapped his hand around her thin waist, he frowned. “Yes, David. How did you know that, by the way?”

Holding her tightly, he grabbed the chain with his other hand. She wrapped her arms around his neck. As Colum raised the chain up, Anna repeated “David?” and laughed.

And laughed.

And laughed.

It was a hysterical laughter. Insane. She sounded like a madwoman. Through the giggles, she was saying something about the river of time and Sìneag, and she kept laughing, snorting, crying.

With every word that came out of her mouth like sobs, “David… River of time… Tunnel… Sìneag…” frost formed around David’s vertebrae.

“What do you mean?” he kept asking.

But she didn’t reply. The girl had probably lost her mind after ten days in the oubliette. When he and she stood on the floor of the room, Colum briefly hugged her and pressed his hand against her mouth to shut her up. Surprisingly, she did. Only, as she looked around, a haze clouded her eyes, and it was as though the life had been blown out of her. She began shaking and almost fell, but David picked her up.

“We must run,” Colum said.

David nodded, hauled her over his shoulder, and with swords unsheathed, they ran through the corridor and up the stairs and from building to building of the inner bailey. By some miracle, they managed to get to the gates and open them and run to their horses.

But as they reached their horses, their luck ran out.

“Stop!” someone cried from above. David boosted Anna into a sitting position on his horse and climbed up behind her. Once Colum and Iàcob had climbed onto their own horses, they galloped.

More angry yells and cries followed, and David looked back. Not thirty feet away, at least ten horsemen pursued them, death in their eyes.

CHAPTER 5

They galloped through the dark town, winding through narrow streets. Anna was like a limp sack of potatoes in front of him, but at least she was alive.

He forced himself to stop wondering how she knew about Sìneag, and what chance there was that he’d been sent to rescue a princess who sat right on top of one of the time travel rocks.

And that the way home for him was still closed.

He needed to stop thinking about that. It was all about survival now. About escaping the enemy and saving the girl.

As they galloped into a small square, horsemen spilled into it from all four directions, blocking any way out. One- and two-story timber-framed houses surrounded them. David’s, Colum’s, and Iàcob’s horses crowded together in the center and a dozen warriors surrounded them, going in circles. Based on the red surcoats with three golden lions, they were English. More men must have been sent to cut them off, to trap them neatly in this exact spot. His palms covered in icy, slick sweat. The warriors all unsheathed their swords, and David did so, too, although he held Daisy’s reins with one hand, his arm encircling Anna.

Colum, never taking his eyes off the Englishmen, leaned closer to David. “Iàcob and I will give ye an opening. Ride for yer life, for the life of my cousin and for Scotland, do ye hear me? Ride to where we met and wait for us.”

“I will.”

“If we dinna arrive by morning, ye must take Anna to Bruce. To Stirling.”

“No! I can’t take her—”