Branded By a Warrior (17 page)

Stringing a second arrow she took aim once again, survival outweighed her pain, behind her Kendrix’s shoulder
poured blood as he struggled to stand.
Letting her second arrow fly, it found
its
mark in t
he neck of the second warrior.
The last two men were upon them in seconds, on the ground Kendrix and Elisabeth stood beside each other as the Douglas men came into view.

“Look at that Ian, a redheaded lass who can use a bow! Looks like we found the m
issing Drummond wench after all!” T
he fat Douglas warri
or sneered as he dismounted and brandished his deadly blade at her.

The bow and arrow where useless with the men this close, gripping the golden dagger Broderick had given her, she held it tightly in her hand in the folds of her skirts.

Kendrix
held his broadsword out to the men and warned, “Get off MacMillan lands now or you will die!”

“We’ll just be taking Laird Douglas’s betrothed with us and we’
ll have no problems, will we?” T
he tall redheaded warrior said, the warning in his tone wasn’t lost upon Kendrix and Elisabeth.

“We have no such betrothed on our lands
, this is
my wife
! B
e go
ne before my patience wears off.
” Kendrix ordered as the men continued to gain ground.

“
If you won’t give her over, th
en
we will just take her.” T
he fat warrior said as he rushed towards Kendrix
. The
other Douglas eyed Elisabeth, his sword pointed at her
as he grinned at her, licking his lips
.
Beside her
Kendrix clashed swords with the plump Douglas warrior as the taller warrior approached her with caution
.

Since she only had a dagger, she needed him to be close, allowing him to get within
arm’s reach
she moved like a viper, sending her long golden dagger up through his chin into his brain. Pulling out her blade quickly, he dropped at her feet.

Spinning around, she saw that
Kendrix was slowly losing his battle against the large warrior; his good arm was
too damaged from the arrow
. Running to fetch
an
arrow
from the quiver
, she dropped to a knee on the
ground as
she watched
the large warrior b
ring up
his broadsword up to deliver a fatal blow across Kendrix’s neck.

Pulling the longbow back one more time she fired her last arrow as the Douglas warrior’s arms were high in the air, directly to his heart.

Before her
,
she saw
the
last remaining Douglas warrior drop dead.
Kendrix
looked back at her, locking eyes one last time
before he dropped to the snowy forest floor.

Screaming his name she crossed the blood covered snow and slid next to him, cradling his head, “Please hang on, p
lease don’t die Kendrix, please stay with me
.
”

Pushing on his wound to control the bleeding, she prayed
for Broderick to find them soon. L
ooking around
,
she saw the bodies of four fallen Douglas warriors, their blood splattered all around her
in the white snow
as she held onto the shallow breathing MacMillan warrior.

Cradling Kendrix, she begged him to stay with her as the sun fell behind a cloud and snow began to fall. In the silence of the forest, she sat on the ground praying for Kendrix’s survival, the arrow
had been so close to his heart, with every beat of his heart he lost more blood.
Covered in blood, she prayed for him and prayed help was on the way.

***

At the castle,
Broderick was in the stable saddling his stallion; they had been gone too long. Something was wrong; he could feel it when he heard the tower guard calling his name.

“Laird Brod
erick, Isobel returns alone
, on Lady Elisabeth’s stallion
!” H
is guard
cried out from the tower.

“Lower the drawbridge m
an!” R
unning back to his horse he jumped into the saddle, his heart was pounding.
What the hell had happened?

When Broderick saw Isobel come riding over the drawbridge crying, saddled upon Elisabeth’s stallion, his heart sank.
There was no good explanatio
n for what he was seeing, his heart fell.

“Uncle Broderic
k! You have to save
them;
Douglas warriors are after them by the creek
!
Da was shot!” S
he cried as he rode up to her.

Ordering a guard to take her up to O
ld Rhona, Broderick kicked his s
tallion and followed the tracks. Galloping as fast as his warhorse would go
,
his wolfhounds trailed close behind
.
Why hadn’t he given her a sword or bow?

Urging his stallion into a full gallop he followed the horse tracks to the creek where Isobel had just fled.
Never had such a short distance felt
so long
, he rode hard, listening for signs of a fight or screams. Dea
d silence was all he could hear as he approached the creek.

In the bright snow, he saw the stain of blood far before he saw the bodies. Riding up to the scene he scanned the bodies
from afar.

Ordering his wolfhounds to find her,
he watched as
they ran over to a body by the creek and sat down.
Turning his horse, he
quickly he saw his sable fur sloped ov
er a body, “Elisabeth?”
H
e shouted,
his heart had stopped.

As he rode towards his sable fur, he saw her beautiful face peer up at him, tears running down her ivory face, holding his brother in her arms.

Jumping off his horse he ran towards her, “No
.” H
e whispered as he slid next to her in the snow, blood soaked the ground around them.

Tears fell from her eyes, “He lives
Broderick, just barely. We need to get him back to the castle, his
wound in his shoulder is grave and
he
willnae wake up
.
”

Looking at her, he saw no wound on her,
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” H
e asked as he grabbed his brother
and threw him over his shoulder.

“I am fine,
Isobel
?
” S
he asked as she held the rei
ns to his horse s
o he could get into the saddle, she watched as he easily mounted his stallion cradling his brother.

“Aye, scared, but okay,” nodding to Kendrix’s mount, “
Bring
his horse back Elisabeth, we must
hurry
.
”

Jumping into Kendrix’s
saddle, she followed Broderick back to the castle.
The two of them galloped through the woods, the hounds following behind Elisabeth. Not another word was spoken as they rushed towards the castle.

The drawbridge was lowered by the time they came up to the castle, storming over the bridge
they rode
directly to the castle. Broderick shouted o
rders to those around him as Elisabeth
opened the castle door for him; he took Kendrix to get help, and asked h
er to find Isobel. Elisabeth nodded, and did as requested and
went in search of his niece
without another word
.

Arriving at Kendrix’s room, Broderick booted the door open and carried his large brother directly to the bed. Setting him gently down, Broderick leaned down and ripped his brother’s shirt off in one movement. He needed to see the wound. Walking over to the fire, he grabbed the kettle of hot water and poured it in a basin. Carrying it over to the table beside
the bed, he eyed the arrow woun
d low on Kendrix’s left shoulder, just above his heart. It was still bleeding profusely.
Dunking a clean linen
strip
in the hot water he squeezed the water over the wound so he could clear away the blood.

As soon as the hot water hit Kendrix’s skin
his eyes flashed open, a scowl upon his face,
“Je
su Broderick! I’m alive stop ye
r
damn
meddling! Is my daughter okay?
Elisabeth?” He
asked as he
struggled to sit
up
in
bed, swatting at Broderick’s hand.

“Yes
she made it back to the castle unscathed.
Elisabeth went
in search of her
, she too is unhurt
. What the hell happened
out there
Kendrix
?”
H
e
asked as he got
up from the side of the bed and sat in the chair beside the fire, giving Kendrix space.

Broderick watched as Kendrix ran his
hand
s
over his face and through his hair before he answered
, “We had arrived at the creek when it began to rain
arrows
on
us;
I took one directly to the shoulder and was thrown off my horse along with Isobel.
I ordered Elisabeth to see to Isobel, assuming she would grab my daughter and flee back to the castle. Instead, she sat little Isobel on her war
horse and sent her back to you then came to protect my sorry hide. Elisabeth
ran to my side
dispatched two
Douglas warriors with my bow
and one with her golden dagger. I was losing the battle with the final Douglas warrior
, he went for the fatal blow
and
Elisabeth sunk
an arrow
right into his heart. She was strong enough to pull
my
longbow back Broderick, what woman can do that?
She killed all of them, she saved my life Brother, and Isobel’s. When I told her she wasn’t strong enough to pull back my bow she told me to bugger off, and proved me wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to have a woman show me up.” Taking a
drink of cool water,
Kendrix added,
“
She
asked me for a sword before we lef
t and I refused to give her one. I told her I would not overrule your decision.
Isobel and I are alive because of her Broderick. Give the woman her damn sword back!
If it wasn’t for Elisabeth, Isobel and I would be dead
.
I saw your warrior queen in action, she is flawless Broderick, arm her or I will.
”

Sitting back in the chair Broderick
closed his eyes and thanked his stars that she had mana
ged to fend off the warriors, when
he appr
oached the creek and saw
blood he was sure he’d find her dead.
In that moment, in his heart, he had no doubt what he felt for his lady. He had been a fool to delay arming her, a fool.

Behind them, they heard the door open
, Old Rhona and Caitriona shuffled in with herbs and bandages to clean up
Kendrix
.

Locking eyes with his little brother,
“Aye Kendrix
, ye have my word, I’ll see her armed immediately.
I’ll check on you later Brother, I’ll send Isobel up to see you h
erself,
she’s worried about you
.” N
odding
,
he left
Kendrix
in the capable hands of the elder women and went in search of his future bride.
He had so many unanswered questions, everything had happened so fast. He knew Elisabeth hadn’t healed enough to pull a bow back, especially Kendrix’s extremely
tightly strung bow without hurting her existing injury.
He knew she had to be in pain, praying she had reopened her wound he went in search of the woman who saved his family’s life.

He
searched the kitchen first knowing it
had fast become one of her favorite spots, not finding her there he went upstairs to their room to find that empty also.
Growing frustrated he went in search of little Isobel, knocking on her door he heard her sweet voice bid him entrance.

Walking in, he saw his beautiful niece cuddled up in her bed,
“Isobel, your father is doing great love, come here and give Uncle Broderick a hug!
You were very brave today lass, I am proud of you,
” kneeling he opened his arms and watched her run to him with tears still in her eyes.