Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

“ H e’s takin’ her tae a birlinn that’s waitin’ in Moonlight Cove. It looks like they’re goin’ tae sail down the bleedin’ river and make their escape,” Kai said, out of breath.

Magnus and Domhnall stood with Kai in the castle yard. After discovering the incursion, Kai and his scouts had fanned out, reasoning the men who’d taken Ciara couldn’t have gotten far since she hadn’t been out of Magnus’ sight for very long.

“Is she all right?” Magnus asked, his voice choked with emotion.

“Aye. From what I could see,” he replied. “She was bound and gagged, but upright and awake. She looked like she was still fightin’.”

“Sounds like her.”

“How did they get tae her though?” Domhnall asked.

“If I had tae wager, I’d say the last attack on the castle was a scoutin’ mission,” Magnus said. “That was why it was only a few of them. While we were fightin’, I’d say there were others we didnae see who were scopin’ Dunvegan, findin’ the ways in and out and who then reported back tae Fairfax and MacDougal.”

“Makes sense,” Kai said.

“’Tis the only way they could’ve slipped in, grabbed Ciara, then slipped out without bein’ seen,” Magnus growled. “I cannae believe I dinnae see it.”

“Easy, braither,” Domhnall said. “Ye cannae see the future.”

“But Thora can,” he growled. “Why didnae she see it?”

“Dinnae blame her. Ye ken her gift daesnae work like that.”

Magnus frowned and kicked at the ground feeling regret for saying it. “Aye. I ken.”

“The good news is that we ken where she is,” Domhnall said. “Let’s rally some men?—"

“We ain’t got much time tae get tae the cove,” Kai said.

“We need tae go now,” Magnus said. “We need tae move light and fast.”

“Magnus, I ken what she means tae ye, but we cannae?—”

“Dinnae tell me we cannae. I’ll take Kai, Calum, and a couple of men with me,” he said, his voice cold and tight. “We’re goin’ tae get her back.”

“A bit more good news is me scouts are sayin’ the army is still in the valley,” Kai said. “They’ve nae moved yet. Probably waitin’ fer them tae get Ciara clear of the fightin’ before they launch their attack.”

Domhnall nodded. “All right then. We’ll dae it yer way, Magnus,” he said. “I’ll stay here and ready Dunvegan fer an assault.”

Magnus nodded and called for his horse to be brought to him. Domhnall grabbed him by the arm before he could climb into his saddle.

“Be careful, braither. We cannae afford tae lose any of ye,” Domhnall said solemnly then offered him a tender smile. “And bring yer girl back.”

“Aye. We will,” he replied and turned to Kai. “I’m goin’ ahead. Ye, Calum and the others can catch up with me.”

Kai nodded. “We’ll see ya at the cove.”

Magnus mounted up and spurred his horse out of the yard, getting on the road to Moonlight Cove. It wasn’t a far ride, but Fairfax’s men had had a sizeable head start. He just hoped that Ciara fought them enough to slow them down, to keep them from casting off and getting downriver. If that happened, Magnus wasn’t sure how he was going to find her again. While she could be bound for her ancestral lands, Fairfax might be taking her somewhere else. Perhaps one of his estates in England. If they got her away from the Isle of Skye, she would be lost forever.

Lowering his head and gritting his teeth, the cold wind lashing his face, Magnus spurred his horse on, determined to get to the cove before they cast off.

“What dae ye see?” Kai asked.

Magnus knelt behind a screen of bushes on the shore of the cove watching the birlinn. The wooden vessel had short sidings, a shallow draft, locks for twelve oars and a tall mast with a square sail that was currently furled. The deck of the small ship was abuzz with activity, but they had not launched yet.

“Seems like they’re waitin’ fer somebody,” Magnus said. “Ciara is onboard though. I arrived just as they were gettin’ her on deck. She’s up near the bow.”

“Looks like two dozen men on the shore,” Kai noted. “Nae good odds fer us.”

Between the dozen on the vessel and the two dozen more on shore, Magnus nodded. “Aye. the odds are bad. But I’m nae goin’ tae give up.”

“Nae sayin’ ye should. Just sayin’ ye need tae come up with a plan.”

Magnus scanned the shoreline, searching for an approach to the birlinn that would not attract the attention of the soldiers but found none. If they tried to get to the vessel from the land, they would be cut down before they ever reached it. But when his eyes moved from the land to the water, he knew he had his answer.

“We’ll approach the birlinn by water,” he said. “They’ll never see us comin’.”

Kai pursed his lips then shrugged. “Could work I suppose.”

“Be a lot easier than approachin’ by land,” Calum said.

“Then let’s go,” Magnus said. “I dinnae ken who they’re waitin’ fer, but I want tae be done with them by the time he arrives.”

They stripped off their cloaks and secured their weapons, then quietly made their way around the screen of bushes and slipped into the water. Magnus sucked in a breath and gritted his teeth as the shock of the cold water gripped his body. But he pushed on. He swam quietly from the shore and approached the side of the birlinn. As he drew near, he could hear voices on the deck.

“If Laird MacDougal is not here soon, we will leave without him.”

Adrenaline shot through Magnus’ body. That was Fairfax. Magnus and his men were in position and moving as one unit, they reached up, hauling themselves out of the water and over the railing of the vessel. For a moment, Fairfax and his soldiers didn’t move, staring at Magnus and his men in disbelief. He caught sight of Ciara bound and gagged at the bow of the vessel. She had a bloodied nose and bruises on her cheeks, which filled him with the darkest rage he’d ever known.

“Kill them!” Fairfax shouted.

All at once, the deck of the vessel exploded in activity as Magnus and his men clashed with the English soldiers. Steel rang against steel. Magnus parried the thrust of the soldier who ran up on him, turning his blade aside with ease, then drove his elbow backward. He felt the man’s nose give way beneath his blow, the sound of its crunch satisfying. The man howled as blood flowed down his face. Spinning gracefully, Magnus drove the point of his blade through the man’s back, then yanked it free as he fell.

The quarters were close, all was chaos, and Magnus saw both of Calum’s men fall beneath the blades of the English soldiers. Calum dispatched a pair with ease, spinning and flowing between them before rounding and slashing them both across the necks. The deck was slick with blood and the air reverberated with the shrieking of the wounded and dying.

Kai, Magnus, and Calum stood back-to-back-to-back, parrying blows in dizzying flash of steel. But one of the blades got through, sinking deep into Magnus’ arm. He grunted in pain but stepped back, pulling the attacker’s blade from his arm and knocked it aside before lunging forward, driving the point of his blade into the man’s throat. He fell to the deck with a wet gurgle.

The men on shore, finally realizing what was happening aboard the birlinn, rushed toward the water, shouting strings of curses. Those curses though, turned to screams of agony as a dozen riders on horseback emerged from the trees behind them, firing volleys of arrows into the men. The water churned as they fell, their bodies feathered with arrows, turning the water around the birlinn scarlet. Thora, who led the charge of riders, gave him a wave when the last of the men had fallen.

“Magnus!”

His sword at the ready, Magnus whirled around at the sound of Ciara’s scream. Fairfax stood behind her, the edge of his dagger pressed to the soft flesh of her throat.

“Let her go,” Magnus growled.

“Never.”

“Ye’re done, Fairfax,” Magnus said as he stepped forward. “All yer men are dead. Ye’re alone now. Let her go.”

“I’ll kill her,” he said.

“Let her go and ye can go on yer way,” Magnus said. “Dae we have terms?”

Fairfax eyed Magnus then turned and looked at the riders on the shoreline, all of them with arrows nocked, just waiting for the command to fire. He licked his lips, fear flashing across his face as he tasted defeat, perhaps for the first time in his life. His grip on Ciara loosened and Magnus thought he was going to agree to his terms. But when he did, Ciara drove her head back with all the strength she could muster. From where he stood, Magnus heard a sharp crack and when Ciara threw herself to the deck, he saw that she’d broken his nose and shattered his teeth. Blood flowed down his face, his appearance like something from a nightmare.

“Bloody whore!” Fairfax screamed.

The English Lord lunged for Ciara, intent on gutting her with his dagger. Magnus moved quickly though, intercepting the man as drove himself downward with a knee to the face that snapped his head backward. Fairfax grunted and staggered backward. He glared at Magnus with pure hate in his eyes and launched himself forward. Flowing like water, as Calum had taught him, Magnus spun around the advancing man’s blade and slashed backward with his sword. The edge of his blade slid along Fairfax’s ribs, rending the man’s flesh.

“Bloody savage!” he cried.

Magnus spun back around and lunged forward, the point of his sword leading the way. Fairfax’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open when the blade pierced his chest. Magnus drove it deeper, going harder, until it burst out of the man’s back. He stood with his nose inches from Fairfax’s, staring deep into the man’s eyes as he gurgled and coughed, spraying bloody spittle all over Magnus’ face. A cruel grin touched Magnus’ lips.

“Ye’ll never have her,” he growled. “She belongs tae me.”

With a vicious growl, Magnus yanked the blade free and watched the man’s lifeless body fall to the deck, a scarlet pool growing beneath him. He had just turned around when Ciara, freed from her bonds by Kai, ran to him. She threw herself into him so hard, he almost lost his footing on the blood-slicked deck of the birlinn. But he caught himself and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

“Oy, Magnus, look what we found.”

Recognizing Enya’s voice from the shore, Magnus turned to see his sister with half a dozen more men on horseback marching a man whose hands were bound in front of them. His gaze was on the ground, his expression one of defeat and quiet rage.

“Faither,” Ciara said, pain lancing her voice.

Taking Ciara’s hand, he led her from the birlinn onto the shore, where Enya and the other riders had dismounted and stood in a half-circle behind the bound man. Magnus could see the emotions, thick and complicated scrolling across Ciara’s face. Her eyes shimmered with tears while at the same time burning with anger.

“What should we dae with him, Magnus?” Enya asked.

Magnus glanced at Ciara. Her body trembled, her lips quivered, and the tracks of the tears that spilled down her cheeks gleamed in the dim light of the night. Her eyes flicked to him and her mouth opened but her words seemed to fall away as she shook her head. Magnus turned back to his sister.

“Put him tae the sword,” Magnus growled.

As Enya stepped forward, Ciara put her hand on Magnus’ arm. “Wait. Please. Wait.”

“Hold,” Magnus said.

He turned to Ciara and could see her confusion, the mix of emotions on her face. As he looked at her, Magnus realized this decision was not his to make, no matter how much he wanted to end the man for all the misery he’d caused Ciara.

“What dae ye think, lass?” he asked gently.

Ciara’s eyes flitted from him, to her father, then back again as she swallowed hard and tried to gather herself. Magnus gave her a moment to weigh the fate of her father. Eventually, she took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

“I ken he’s evil. He’s cruel and nae deserving of life for all he’s done,” she said softly. “But he’s me faither. Please. Spare his life.”

A brief frown touched Magnus’ lips but he swallowed down his anger, reminding himself that the man’s life was in Ciara’s hands. He was her kin. Despite all he’d done, he was her blood and his fate was hers to decide. Turning away from her, he stepped closer to MacDougal and glowered at him darkly. The man raised his eyes, meeting Magnus’ with a gleam of defiance in them. It was the first time he’d looked at any of them. Magnus’ lips curled back in a sneer. Everything in him wanted to draw his blade and run the man through. But Ciara’s wishes stayed his hand.

“It seems me daughter doesnae have the will tae dae what she should dae,” MacDougal said. “She’s too weak, even now. Too weak tae lead the clan too. Dae ye hear me, Ciara? Ye’re too weak. ‘Tis only a matter of time before another man like Fairfax comes along and takes everythin’ from ye.”

A cruel grin curled the corners of Magnus’ mouth. “Her kindness and compassion are strengths. She’s stronger than ye could ever dream of bein’.”

“Keep tellin’ yerself that. Ye’ll see,” MacDougal sneered. “Ye’ll see. She’s just like her mother—a damned witch, she is. Did ye ken that? That yer mother had some strange power of protection? Protecting herself from other freaks like her invading her mind,” he spat on the ground with disgust. “If I’d kent I married a witch, I would’ve at least chosen one whose gift I could use fer the clan.”

Magnus frowned again, the realization dawning on him as MacDougal’s words sank in. That was why Ciara was immune to their gifts—it was actually a gift of her own, inherited from her mother. Ciara was like them, like him . As he glared at the man, he thought of everything he’d done to Ciara. Her voice echoed through his mind, listing every cruelty, slight, and degradation her father had inflicted upon her, igniting a black rage in his heart that threatened to consume him. Ciara deserved better. She deserved to live a life free and in peace, never having to worry about this man returning to her life. His fate should be the same as Fairfax’s.

But her compassion and kindness stopped him from driving a dagger into the man’s chest. Instead, he balled his hand into a fist and delivered a punch to MacDougal’s midsection with all the strength he could muster. MacDougal’s breath burst from his mouth as he doubled over, falling to his knees, wheezing and coughing, gasping for air. Magnus glanced at Ciara and saw the clear shock on her face from what she had just heard. Swallowing her confusion, she offered him a sad smile and a grateful nod. She didn’t say a word to her father, and Magnus could only admire her for it. He didn’t deserve even a sound from her.

“We’ll take him back tae Dunvegan,” Magnus said to Enya. “We’ll throw him in the dark cells fer now and let the king decide what tae dae with the traitor.”

“Aye,” Enya called. “’Tis fitting.”

Ciara put her hand to his cheek and turned his face to hers. “Thank ye.”

“He’s yer faither.”

“Nae fer that,” she said. “Fer comin’ fer me.”

A gentle smile touched Magnus’ lips. “I’ll always come fer ye. Ye’re mine.”

“And ye’re mine.”

“Aye. I am,” he said softly. “I love ye.”

She laid her head against his chest as he pulled her even tighter to him. “And I love ye.”