Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

M agnus, having just witnessed the golden-haired woman beat every man in the contest with ease, was certain he’d found his quarry. Kai stepped up beside him, a large roasted turkey leg in one hand, a mug of ale in the other, and a smirk upon his lips.

“So, what are we doin’ here then?” he asked.

“I thought I told ye?—”

“I was hungry. And thirsty,” Kai cut him off. “I’ve been doin’ what ye told me tae dae and so far, I havenae seen the golden-haired woman we’re lookin’ fer. Looks like ye had better luck though”

Magnus watched the golden-haired woman talking to a larger man but kept seeing her emerald green eyes flashing in his direction. She looked pensive and her body was tauter than a bowstring. She looked like she might bolt at any second. That only added credibility to Magnus’ belief that they’d found who they were looking for.

“Did she really beat all them other lads with a bow?” Kai asked.

“She did.”

“Impressive.”

“Also makes her dangerous,” Magnus said.

“Hard tae believe somebody so fair could be so dangerous.”

“Aye. But ye better believe it or ye’ll wind up with an arrow in yer arse.”

Kae laughed. “Aye. Noted.”

The woman kept cutting glances their way, the tension in her body growing. Magnus reached out with his mind, trying to get into her head, wanting to give her a listen. But all he heard was silence. It flustered and confounded him. Magnus had never been unable to read somebody before and yet, trying to latch onto her thoughts was like trying to grab hold of a greased eel.

“Ye really think she’s our spy?” Kai asked.

“I’m nae sure what she is,” Magnus replied. “But I think she’s somebody we need tae have a conversation with.”

“Fair enough,” Kai said. “And maybe after we have this conversation with her, we can enjoy a little time at the games. Seems a shame tae be here and nae enjoy ourselves.”

Magnus chuckled and turned to his brother. “Dae ye ever think of anythin’ but havin’ a good time, little braither?”

“Aye,” Kai replied with a grin. “Sometimes.”

Shaking his head, Magnus turned back and felt his stomach lurch. The woman was gone. He swept his gaze left then right, searching for her, but didn’t see her anywhere among the crowd.

“Bleedin’ hell,” he grumbled.

“What is it then?”

“She’s gone.”

Kai turned and Magnus watched him looking around, his face tightening. “Bleedin’ hell.”

Magnus grumbled to himself. If he hadn’t been so focused on his brother, he would have been able to keep eyes on her. But he managed to hold his tongue. There would be time for that later. Right now, they needed to find the woman. Magnus searched the crowd, looking for the dark green cloak and hood moving through the crowd but didn’t see her anywhere. When he turned to the right though, he paused.

“There,” Magnus said.

“Where?”

“She’s headin’ intae the woods,” he replied. “Come on.”

Magnus started off, not waiting for Kai to respond and headed for the forest where he’d seen the woman slipping between the trees. As he moved among the wide, thick trunks, the sound of the festivities at the games behind them became softer. Muted. A cool wind stirred his cloak, the frigid air washing across his skin. He paid it no mind, though, as he searched for the spy.

“Kai,” he said softly. “Find her trail.”

“Aye,” Kai said as he stepped forward.

Thanks to his ability to track, Kai served as Domhnall’s chief scout. Although it wasn’t the gift he’d been blessed with, Kai had an otherworldly ability to track a person or an animal through even the most difficult of conditions. The forest floor beneath their boots was soft and littered with leaves, branches, and other debris, making it difficult to find a trail for Magnus. But Kai locked onto it almost immediately.

“This way,” he whispered.

With his little brother leading the way, Magnus wound through a convoluted trail that twisted and wound around the wide trunks of the trees around them, under fallen logs, and even up a large pile of stones. Kai held to the trail and never wavered. And knowing his brother’s prowess, Magnus followed behind, never questioning. Every step they took only reinforced his belief they would find the spy they sought at the end of the path. Why else would she have run from them?

The trail led them to the mouth of a small cave deep in the forest. Looking nervous, Kai turned to Magnus and licked his lips, giving him a nod.

“She’s in there,” he whispered.

Drawing the sword from the sheath on his belt, Magnus stepped forward. “All right, lass. Come on out of there.”

For a long moment, the forest around them was silent but the air crackled with tension, raising the hair on Magnus’ arms. He held his breath and waited. But the seconds ticked by without anything happening, without so much as a sound. The mouth of the cave loomed in front of them, dark and foreboding, the tension in air growing thicker.

“I’m nae goin’ in there tae fetch her,” Kai whispered.

Magnus cast an irritated look at his brother. “Come on out, lass. Let’s nae play these games. Ye dinnae want me to come in there after ye.”

Magnus heard the soft scuff of a boot on stone drift from the darkness of the cave before him. A moment later, he heard soft footsteps approaching. He tightened his grip on his sword and took up a defensive posture as he waited. The woman was small. She looked no larger than a child, truth be told, but he’d seen her skill with a bow and thought it best to assume the stories about her abilities with a blade in her hand were just as true.

Like a spirit appearing from a bank of fog, the woman emerged from the darkness within the cave. Her green eyes were narrowed to slits and she had a scowl on her face. The edge of her sword glinted in the dull light that filtered through the boughs of the trees above them. The woman raised her blade and took a fighting posture. Magnus noted that her form was good, making him believe she’d had some training—as a spy and saboteur might.

“Ye tell me faither and Fairfax that I’m nae comin’ back,” she growled. “Unless ye leave now, ye’re goin’ tae have tae to carry me dead body back to them.”

Though she tried to sound forceful and intimidating, her voice was as light and feminine as she was, which didn’t quite align with the image she wanted to portray. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Magnus might have laughed. But he was not about to underestimate her. Not after what he’d seen her do with the bow. Instead, he glanced at Kai who shook his head and shrugged. His brother seemed to have no more idea what she was talking about than he did. He turned back to the woman and shook his head.

Magnus focused and reached out, trying to listen in to her thoughts. But all he heard was silence. It was just like it had been when he’d tried to get into her head before and Magnus didn’t understand it. He had never encountered anything like it before, but it was almost as if there was a wall in her mind that was preventing him from using his gift. He didn’t have time to figure it out though. Not with the woman armed and ready to fight.

“Lass, we’ve got nae bleedin’ idea what ye’re bleatin’ about,” he said. “Why dinnae ye put that blade down and let’s talk about it.”

“Why dinnae ye put yer own blade down, turn around, and get the bleedin’ hell out of here?”

“I cannae dae that. Ye need tae come with us so we can talk.”

“I ain’t goin’ anywhere with ye.”

“I dinnae want tae fight ye,” Magnus said.

She flashed him a devilish grin. “Dinnae want tae fight a girl, eh?”

“I dinnae care if yer a lad or a lass,” Magnus replied. “I just dinnae want tae kill ye before I’ve had a chance tae talk tae ye.”

The words had barely cleared his lips when the woman waded in with a vicious slice that Magnus easily parried, but she was quicker than a cat and had the blade already in motion before he was ready. He jumped back as the tip of her blade whistled by his face. Magnus felt the wind of it passing and knew he’d just barely missed having the top of his head sliced right off. The woman’s form with the blade wasn’t for show. She knew how to fight.

Kai pulled out his own blade, but Magnus held a hand up, telling him to stay back. He genuinely didn’t want to hurt the woman. And aside from that, he had an idea and was going to need Kai’s help if it all went according to plan. Their blades up and in the ready position, Magnus and the woman circled each other, sizing each other up and looking for an opening to strike.

“Last chance,” the woman said. “Turn around and leave now. Tell me faither and Fairfax I’ll never marry that monster.”

“Lass, I dinnae ken who yer faither or this Fairfax lad is,” Magnus said.

“Then who are ye? And why are ye tryin’ tae capture me?”

“’Tis our business, lass. Let’s just say though, we’ve been told a woman who matches yer description is threatenin’ our clan.”

She gaped at him. “I dinnae ken who ye are or what clan ye belong tae. How can I be a threat tae a clan I dinnae even ken?”

“Lass, there’s a lot happenin’ right now. Just put the blade down, come talk to us, and we can get this all sorted?—”

She lunged forward, the point of her blade slicing through the air aimed straight at his heart. Magnus knew his leathers wouldn’t do much to protect him from the thrust and spun to the side as he swung his blade upward. The ring of steel echoed all around them and all at once, Magnus found himself in a fight for his life. The woman was aggressive. She hacked and slashed, lunged and thrusted with a ferocity that kept Magnus on his heels.

She was good with a blade. Excellent, really. And he had his hands full parrying every attack she launched. But he’d anticipated that and when she waded in with a thrust that would have impaled him straight through the throat, Magnus spun, the blade missing his flesh by a whisker, and drove his elbow into the woman’s face. She screeched as her head snapped back and blood began to flow from her nose. Magnus followed that up by grabbing her wrist and bending it awkwardly, drawing a pained squeal from the woman and her sword hit the forest floor with a hard thump.

She was wounded and unarmed, but far from done. As Magnus maneuvered to pin her hands behind her back, the woman squirmed out of his grasp and drove her fist straight into his face. His face exploded in pain and his eyes immediately watered as blood, thick and scarlet, flowed from his nose as heavily as it spilled from hers. The woman dove for her sword, but Magnus was quicker and landed on top of her.

Their limbs tangled as they rolled around on the forest floor. The woman was surprisingly strong and was naturally faster than he was, threatening to wriggle out of his grasp. Magnus finally managed to gain the upper hand. He sat astride the woman’s body, her hands pinned to the dirt above her head. She glowered at him with an unbridled fury as she continued trying to break his hold. She might be faster, but he was stronger than her and once he had her pinned beneath him, she wasn’t going anywhere.

She gazed up at him balefully, her emerald eyes filled with rage. And although the crimson smears across her face gave her a ghastly visage, he couldn’t deny that she was a beauty. Magnus felt the heat coming from her body and was struck by the youth and innocence in her face. There was a sweetness in her eyes that not even her fury could completely bury and something about her that made his stomach clench and put a flutter in his heart.

“Get offa me,” she screeched.

Her voice snapped him out of his stupor. He gave himself a little shake and looked over his shoulder at his brother, beckoning to him, who walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

The woman looked at him queerly and stopped struggling.

“What in the bleedin’ hell are ye doin’ then?” she asked and renewed her struggle. “Get offa me!”

Kai turned to Magnus. “What the hell?”

Magnus looked at his brother, then turned to the woman pinned beneath him. Kai’s gift was his ability to help influence a person’s emotions. He couldn’t control them, but he could help manipulate them. He could use his gift to calm down an angry man or stir the passions of the docile. At least, he usually could. Like him though, Kai’s gifts seemed to have no effect on the woman. He couldn’t hear her thoughts and Kai couldn’t influence her. She seemed… immune. It was more than a little worrisome.

Magnus stared into her rich, green eyes. “What in the hell are ye then?”