Highland Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

Lucais, never taking his eyes from the dog, tensed for the moment when the animal would spring, for that would be when he would order the attack. “Howbeit, better a dog than a woman and a child. Now, ready, lads, for the moment that beast lunges I will give the battle cry. All eyes will turn to the dog and whatever hapless soul he chooses to sink those teeth into, and that is when we will attack.”
     
    Edina felt the sweat soak her back as Simon just studied her. There was a chance that he was trying to put her off her guard and then he would attack. She decided she had a better chance if she tried to grasp some control, if she could somehow choose the time he charged her. The easiest way to do that, she decided, was to anger him. He had already shown her how easy that could be. It was a weakness she could have used well at some other time, but now it could at least serve to ensure that she was not cut down too easily. If she could make him attack, she could at least take a few of Simon’s men with her, perhaps even Simon himself.
    “Why do ye hesitate? Do ye fear a wee bairn and a woman?” she asked.
    “I but wonder what ye are doing here and why ye are ready to die for that child,” Simon said in a tight voice, revealing that her words had already stirred his anger.
    “Not everyone can kill a bairn or leave them to rot in the wood.”
    “Ah, so that is how he has returned to Dunmor. Ye had the misfortune to find the bastard.”
    “ ’Tis your misfortune. Come, let us dance. I grow weary of waiting for you. I cannae understand why any mon would be so cowardly as to slay a child, but, mayhap, ’tis that verra cowardice that causes ye to hesitate now.”
    Simon edged closer, his thin face white with fury. “Ye sorely beg to die, wench. Mayhap I but do the lad a kindness. A bairn should be with its parents, should it not? I mean to take him there.”
    Just as Edina was sure he was about to lunge at her, a gray shape hurled itself at the man on Simon’s right. She gaped along with Simon and his men as Gar’s attack sent the man tumbling off his horse, screaming with pain as Gar savaged his sword arm. A heartbeat later a deep, fierce battle cry rent the air. Edina had no idea whose battle cry it was, but she did not hesitate to take advantage of this further distraction. She grabbed Malcolm by the back of his gown and ran toward Dunmor.
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw three familiar figures race from the trees straight toward Simon and his men. The moment they were between her and Simon she paused, sheathed her sword, and pulled a crying Malcolm into her arms. She rubbed his back, calming him as she waited for Gar to trot up to her. Lucais, Ian, Andrew, and three other men from Dunmor were pressing Simon and his men hard. It was tempting to stay and see how the battle went, but she had to think of Malcolm’s safety. At least now she was certain who the enemy was. After giving Gar a rewarding pat for his bravery, she trotted back toward Dunmor, praying every step of the way that Lucais would win, that he would kill Simon and put an end to the threat to Malcolm’s life.
     
    “Curse it a thousand times,” yelled Lucais as he stopped, bent over slightly, and tried to catch his breath. “We will never catch the bastard.”
    After a moment, Lucais straightened and looked at his men collapsed around him. Somehow Simon and one of his men had escaped. Desperate to get the man, he and his men had tried to chase him down, but they were no match for men on horseback. This time he would have to be satisfied that only Simon and his men suffered in the attack. Malcolm and Edina were undoubtedly safely behind the walls of Dunmor now, and none of his men had suffered any more than a few cuts and bruises.
    “Weel, we had best get back to Dunmor,” he finally said, smiling slightly when he saw that three of the men had already begun to walk back, leaving him and his cousins behind.
    Andrew stood up from where he had