172

Bjarkë made a major search of the woods at dawn. Blackthorne had limited time to replace the men he'd lost in the first sweep a few hours before. All they found were a few corpses and one fellow who'd been missed in the dark. He wasn't missed this time. Bjarkë especially worked to clear the eastern side of the Keep around the meadow. If the ladies were going to be taken, it wasn't going to be until the proper time and with sufficient men. He wanted someone in charge and not some straggler.

Teárlag and Ailene left the Keep around eight, walking. They were in dresses; not their best, they were picking plants after all and wanted to look the part. When they got there, Ailene showed Teárlag what plants she needed to pick and they proceeded to gather as many as they could.

"Quit looking around, Teárlag. You look guilty and like you're expecting someone."

"I am expecting someone. Only you aren't supposed to know they're coming."

Ailene laughed. "You're right, but if I notice you looking around, wouldn't I question you about it."

"I suppose."

"It's a lovely day," Ailene said. "The kind of day I would really enjoy coming out to pick plants on. When I was almost raped by the bandits, I was daydreaming about my wedding night and touching myself, not paying attention on top of disobeying the Laird's orders. Stuart is so handsome and I'm so in love. I couldn't even think of the pleasure he gives me without pleasuring myself again. Probably gave the highwaymen ideas, watching me."

"What do you want to name your child, Ailene?"

"Màiri if it's a girl, to honor her. Probably Jamison if it's a boy, though I'll let Stuart pick the boy's name. I think he'd like naming him after his father though. What about you?"

"I've not thought of any. I have no idea what my life's going to be like. Will I be in a new country, dead, in hiding somewhere? I have a difficult time imagining a child, though I want to keep it."

"Aye. I'm sure."

"Don't look around, Ailene but there might be one or two men looking at us right now."

"I hope Blackthorne wasn't stupid enough to send only two. I'd be severely disappointed. You told them how many to use, didn't you?"

"Thirty to forty."

"That should be sufficient. Forgive me for what I'm about to say to you soon," Ailene said, a big smile splitting her face.

"Forgive me for spying on you."

"Long past forgiven. Are they still watching?"

"No, I think they're gone."

"Maybe a small scouting party to see if we're really alone or if we'd set a trap." Ailene continued to gather plants. "I must come back here and collect these if I survive. It'd be a waste to leave them rotting on the ground given I spent an hour of my life collecting them."

"How can you be so calm?" Teárlag asked. "My heart's racing."

"I'm going into battle mode, focusing on the task at hand. Worrying about what might come reduces my focus."

"Ooh, there's more; men on horseback circling around the outside of the trees."

"Don't react until they say something or enter the meadow."

"I love you, Ailene."

"I love you, too."

"Some men have dismounted and they look like they're trying to sneak up on us."

"Tell me when they're about 40 feet away."

"It won't be long now, three, two, one, now."

Ailene looked up like she was stretching and seeing the intruders, jumped to her feet and drew her rapier.

"Teárlag, run to the Keep, get help. I'll try to hold them off. Go now!" She screamed.

She looked around, evaluating, calculating. Seemed to notice Teárlag still standing there.

"Run, Teárlag. Why are you standing around?"

"There's too many, Ailene. Give yourself up. You'll get killed if you resist."

"You traitorous bitch. I'll kill you, myself."

She started approaching Teárlag as if aiming to do just that and Teárlag fled between a couple of men.

"Capture her alive, men," Teárlag said, backing. "Blackthorne wants her alive. He'll cut the balls off any man who harms her. She's ransom."

Ailene began backing, seeing the men slowly approach her. One man made a quick run at her and she ran him through, still backing.

"Why, Teárlag, why? Thorburn gave you a home, he loved you," Ailene screamed.

"Not as nice as the one Blackthorne's giving me. The Keep is old, dusty, dreary and gray. I much prefer the Manor."

Ailene noticed a couple of men carrying a net. So they hoped to keep her from fighting, huh. It would take more than that. She backed her way to the pond, kicking off her slippers before going into the water, standing about waist deep. It would prevent men from circling behind her.

"Come on, you bastards. Are you afraid of a wee lass now? Bunch of fucking cowards. Come on, try and take me. I'll carve your nuts off."

A couple more started wading into the water trying to approach. She skewered the closest one, then turned and got the farther one. Their bodies floated like lily pads in the water.

"What are you waiting for?" Ailene screamed. "A fucking army! You don't have enough men here to take a woman?"

Three more went into the water. One slipped on a stone and got stabbed in the neck. One shivered a little when the cold water hit his balls and Ailene was on him in a flash, taking him through the heart. The third one backed away, slowly.

"Run, you coward. At least your friends were willing to face a woman."

Ailene had killed five already and the fight had just begun. They weren't allowed to kill her. They could have shot her up with arrows; several men had bows, but they had to take her alive and how they were going to do that was looking more difficult by the moment.

"Bring up the net," Ian ordered. "Throw it on her."

Ailene had chosen her position well, the bottom of the pond was slick with mud. Footing was none too secure, though she could feel it better in her stockings than they could in their shoes. The depth of the water made it difficult to get a good throw for any distance with the net, and it tended to float on the water, so Ailene would duck herself in the pond when they threw it, swim under it, come up on the other side, dripping water and yell at them again. If they tried to get closer, she'd kill them. They couldn't hold their swords and the net at the same time. It was too heavy, especially wet. Three more were down. Christ, Ian thought, no wonder Thorburn was using her to help train his troops. He'd left half of his force in reserve in case once the scouts brought word it was only the two women. He hated to think he might need all eighty to take her captive.

He considered the problem.

"You five get in the water down there. You can get farther out; you're taller. You seven get in the water up there, five blades in front and the net behind. You ten, line up along the shore between them. Those in the water start coming together, squeezing her between you, forcing her towards shore. She can't go any deeper and still fight. Her arms will be underwater. Hurry. We've been here long enough."

"If you think it's so fucking easy," Ailene shouted, "why don't you come out here, you prick, and I'll gut you, too. As soon as I'm done with these bastards, I'm coming for you Teárlag."

Christ, his men were starting to look at him funny, like they wondered why he wasn't taking her up on her offer and taking the same chance they were to capture this hellcat. In the alternative, they were beginning to look at Ailene in grudging admiration. She wasn't making this easy. He decided to join the men on shore, at least look like he was willing to take risks.

Teárlag was so proud of Ailene; surrounded by bigger, stronger men and she was making fools of them, taunting them, getting their goats. They started pushing toward her and she was forced to move closer to shore. She was becoming surrounded now and there wasn't much she could do about it except swim into the deeper water. Really defeated the whole purpose if she wasn't taken. About time they figured something out, Ailene thought. She went shallower and sold herself dearly, eventually being netted and unable to use her blade. She killed or wounded several others in the process, including wounding the one in charge, getting him in the leg. As soon as they pulled the blade out of her hand, she found her horn and blew the signal Isobel was listening for.

"Flee, flee," Teárlag screamed, "she's sounded the alarm and the whole Keep will be down on us in minutes. Go, go, or we're all dead."

Teárlag clambered aboard the horse of one of the dead and started galloping down the road like she was afraid for her life. The others seemed to absorb her fear and scrambled to get their own mounts. Ian climbed on his horse stiffly, his leg killing him, and one of the others threw Ailene over the pommel in front of him and he started after Teárlag. She was still wrapped in the net, but tried to bite him. He swatted her ass.

"Stop that or I'll knock you silly," Ian said.

"You know what's going to happen to me when I get to Blackthorne Manor. I'd rather die. I'll never stop fighting; never. I'll force you to kill me." She tried to bite him again.

"Son of a Bitch!" Ian swore. "Well, it can happen gentle or it can happen hard and if you just lie back and accept it, it'll go a hell of lot easier. Sure, you'll get raped, but it's better than beaten and raped."

"Fuck you, bastard," Ailene said, and tried to bite him again. "Why don't I shove my sword up your ass and see how much you like getting raped."

Ian laughed and threw her onto the ground. He got off the horse, tore off a big piece of her dress and stuffed it down her mouth. "Bite down on that, bitch. You're a feisty one aren't you. I love to tame little fillies like you. I'll tie you to the bed and see how much you fight when I shove my cock up your cunt."

He got another rider to stop and climbed back on the horse and the rider pushed her up for Ian to take her over the pommel again. She was bouncing up and down on the horse as he galloped to the Manor. Good, might soften her up a little, Ian thought. When he turned and looked behind him, it looked like all of Cameron Keep was on his tail, but they seemed far enough away there was no chance of getting caught before he reached the safety of Blackthorne's residence. Might have started the war by accident he was hoping to avoid.