Chapter 154

"For all the reasons I gave before," Ailene said. "Do you know how frightened I was knowing you and Thorburn were going to sneak into his tunnel, without even knowing for sure Teárlag was helping us or still working for Blackthorne. I'm sick of it. Sick to death. Thorburn told me in the cart Teárlag wants him to kill her or she'll kill herself before she goes back. Did you know that?"

"I did. I was there when she asked. I believe her."

"Yet she still volunteered to go back, to be the bait. That's how badly she wants it to end. That's how badly I want it to end as well. We're trying to have a child, Stuart. A child I would be scared to lose if we don't solve our dilemma. Every day is filled with fear and frustration, and concern. I feel responsible for everyone. I feel responsible for Màiri, for sending her out into Blackthorne's clutches, for all he did to her because of us. How many more people do we lose, Stuart? He killed your father. Every day we risk being ambushed or poisoned, betrayed by our friends and servants. How many more do we end up burying? Is this how you want to live the rest of your life, because I certainly don't. If it's you or Frang or Thorburn he takes, would he just kill you to be done with you? We know he likes to take his time with women. It's the only thing we've got, Stuart. I wouldn't suggest it if it didn't have a chance of working. I have no burning desire to be placed in his hands. Please, Stuart, give it a chance. I know you don't want to. It's like drilling the hole in my head. You want to say no despite it being my only chance to live, because we're talking about drilling a hole in my head. You want to say no because I'm placing myself in Blackthorne's possession, but it's my only chance to live, my love."

"I don't want to lose you," Stuart said, clasping her tightly.

"Then it's up to you to make sure it works, because I don't want to lose you either."

"I see you've put a lot of obstacles and devices on the practice field," Thorburn said.

"We wanted more lifelike conditions. One never fights on flat even ground. Even a house has obstacles in it; table, chairs, doorways." Bjarkë shrugged. "It's more realistic."

"What other changes were made?" Thorburn asked.

"During the practices, if you die, you leave the practice field to reinforce there's no coming back from your own death. When you die, we analyze how you died, point out if there was anything you might have been able to do to save your life, then you're done for the day. If you die early, too bad. You stay to watch the others, learn from their mistakes, but otherwise, it's over for you."

"What did you want to show me today, Bjarkë?"

"A little demonstration. Two of our best students against fifteen."

"Two against fifteen. The fifteen must not be very good?"

"On the contrary, nephew. Other than the two they're competing against, they're the best we have. Three are from the Keep. You'll recognize them," Bjarkë said.

"Who are the two?"

"Here they are now."

"Hello, Thorburn. Good to see you this morning," Ailene said. "I hope you had a good night's sleep. Teárlag, how about you." Ailene kissed her husband. "Good morning, Stuart. Come to see how our training is going?"

"Yes, Bjarkë's putting his two best students against fifteen. We're going to watch."

"I slept fine," Teárlag said. "Are you here to watch as well?"

"Nay, we're here to fight," Isobel said. "We're the two."

"Just you two?" Stuart asked.

"You're going to fight fifteen men?" Teárlag asked.

"Only fifteen, Bjarkë?" Ailene asked. "Are you taking it easy on us today because we didn't practice yesterday?"

Bjarkë laughed. "No, it's only fifteen because I think Thorburn won't believe what he sees and he may want to see it again."

"Are you ready, Isobel?" Isobel nodded and Ailene said, "Let's get this over with."

"You may want to stand up here, Thorburn. You can see more of the field due to the obstacles." Bjarke climbed to the top of a ten foot platform and Thorburn climbed up beside him.

Ailene and Isobel took up positions in the middle of the practice field and the other fifteen approached cautiously, already knowing what they faced. Twenty minutes later, all fifteen of them were dead and the two women stood at the far end of the practice field, breathing a little faster, but none the worse for wear. Teárlag and Stuart couldn't see what happened and asked how they did?

"All fifteen men are dead and the women are both fine," Thorburn said. "Bjarkë! I've entrusted you to train these people and two lasses just beat hell out of them. What the hell have you been doing?"

"They're that good," Bjarkë said. "If you don't believe me, put twenty of your best lads out there and the result will be the same."

"Why twenty? Why not fifteen?" Stuart asked.

"Because they're not used to fighting on this field. My suspicion is the fight ends sooner, despite the larger number. If you want, Thorburn, you can watch from right next to the fighting so you can see how they do it, but even watching, you'll wonder how it's done."

"Can we watch from up there, Bjarkë?" Teárlag asked.

"Aye. I'll get down too and they'll be room for the both of you. Come on Thorburn, we'll start your boys at the other side so the fighting comes this way, so Stuart and Teárlag can see more of it."

They walked to the far side where Isobel and Ailene were sitting quietly on a log, waiting for the after battle discussion.

Bjarkë said, "I was right, lasses. Thorburn thinks I've been slacking on my duties and he wants to see you fight again. I thought twenty of his, as his lads haven't practiced this type of fighting. Go easy on them, right?"

"Whatever you say, uncle," Ailene said, brushing back a lock of her hair.

"Pick whoever you want, Thorburn. I don't want to be accused of favoritism for picking your worst fighters."

Thorburn picked his best twenty men.

"Tell them the rules, Frang," Bjarkë said.

"Lads," Frang said. "These two lasses are going to go out there a ways. You're to go after them the way you normally would on the training grounds. The only difference is, if you get hit, you're dead. You stop right there. You can watch the rest of the fight if you want, but you can't join in again, because if you've died on the battlefield, there's no getting up. The same applies to them. If you get a blow on either of them, they're dead and out of the fight. Once both of them are dead, you've won. If they kill all twenty of you, they win. Those are the only rules. Oh, and I recommend you wear your helms, because anything goes out there. They will use any method they can to kill you and if that means beaning you with a rock, they'll do it."

"Lord Frang, is this some kind of a joke?" One of the twenty asked.

"No joke, I assure you."

"It's a couple of lasses."

"A couple lasses trained by me and I'm sure you remember I poked Thorburn three times without getting hit myself. But additionally, they've been fighting out there for the last ten days. They know this ground and you don't, just like a real battle."

They looked at each other, still not believing twenty of them were expected to be fighting two women.

"That's it then. Kill the two of them and we're done?"

"The twenty of you against the two of them," Frang confirmed.

"A short mornings work then," he said. "Let's get 'em, boys."

He raised his sword and started running at the two women. His closest friends started running after him, screaming their lungs out.

"Ooh, rushing in," Bjarkë said. "Bad move. They should have proceeded more cautious like."