The Recruit Read online

  Maneuvering her horse through the wall of English soldiers, she passed by Sir John without a glance. Catching sight of Kenneth, their eyes met for the first time. Her heart lurched. She had to fight the urge to run to him. “Go,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  Their eyes held. He seemed to be asking her to trust him.

  She did. But she dearly hoped his plan included more than surrendering himself for her.

  Nodding, she gave him one long last look and steered her horse toward the bridge. The sound of hooves clopping over the wooden planks brought back memories of the last time she’d tried to flee England.

  Her heart squeezed. Please let this turn out differently.

  She was surprised to be surrounded not by Kenneth’s men, but by Sir Adam’s.

  “Come,” Sir Adam said. “We don’t have much time.”

  “Wait,” Mary said. “We can’t just leave him. Where are we going?”

  “To the coast. Don’t worry. He will catch up with us.”

  It took every ounce of her faith in him to force herself to agree. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for helping us.”

  Her old friend nodded. “I hope this time turns out better than the last.”

  So did she.

  They took off at a much faster pace, her discomfort temporarily pushed aside. The bridge was not yet out of view behind them when Mary heard a sound that shook her to her core: a loud boom, followed by a crack of lightning. The memories came back to her. It was just like before, except this time there was no storm to explain the strange sounds.

  She glanced around behind her and cried out when she saw a burst of flames in the distance. The bridge was burning. “Wait! We have to go back. We have to help him.”

  Sir Adam reached over to grab her reins, preventing her from doing just that.

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  She stilled at the sound of the disembodied voice coming from the darkness ahead of them. She looked to Sir Adam, but he seemed just as confused as she did. The half-dozen men he’d brought with him fanned out around her.

  She kept her gaze fixed in the direction of the voice. A few moments later, one of the most terrifying-looking warriors she’d ever seen stepped into a beam of moonlight. She shivered, instantly recoiling in fear.

  Good God, he was even more heavily muscled than her husband! Four additional impressively tall and muscular warriors came out behind him. All wore blackened nasal helms, black war coats, and oddly fashioned plaids around their shoulders. Even their skin appeared to be darkened with something. They seemed to blend into the night like phantoms. Bruce’s phantoms! she realized. Could these men be the phantom warriors who’d struck terror in the hearts of the English?

  She was so scared, it took her a moment to recognize the smile beneath the helm. “My lady,” he said with a bow. “We meet again.”

  His face half hidden beneath a ghastly looking steel nasal helm, Mary found herself staring into the eyes of the fearsome warrior Robert had introduced her to last summer: Magnus MacKay, Kenneth’s brother by marriage.

  Twenty-six

  Sir Adam’s torches were still visible when Felton spoke. “She’s gone. Now you will surrender.”

  “I said I would come to you, and I shall,” Kenneth responded. He hadn’t said anything about surrendering. If Felton wanted him, he was going to have to take him.

  But first, Kenneth was going to ensure Felton didn’t change his mind and go after Mary.

  Holding the torch in front of him so they could see him, Kenneth walked toward Felton. He stopped about ten feet away, making sure he was between Felton’s men and the bridge. He glanced down, seeing the thin line of black powder between his feet—unnoticeable, unless you were looking for it.

  He sure as hell hoped this worked. He wouldn’t have long once he lit the fuse, so to speak.

  “Toss down the torch,” Felton ordered.

  Kenneth did as he ordered, making sure the torch was close enough to his feet to maneuver toward the powder when he was ready.

  “Seize him,” Felton ordered the two men closest to him. Kenneth let them approach, then grab him from either side. “You five,” he pointed to a group of men at his right, “go after the lady.”

  David gasped behind him. “But you gave your word to let her go.”

  Felton’s gaze turned to the young earl’s. “This man is under arrest; he is in no position to bargain.”

  Fortunately, Kenneth had expected Felton’s breach, even if young Atholl had not. With a roar, he attempted to break free of his captors, lifting and wrenching his arms at the same time that he kicked the torch across the line of powder.

  It didn’t catch.

  “Hold him!” Felton yelled. “Quick, get something to secure him with.”

  A few more men rushed forward to do his bidding.

  Kenneth knew he was going to have to improvise. He needed to get that powder lit, but the two men holding him were strong and proving surprisingly capable. With his arms secured, he had to use his feet—and quickly, before the other men were able to restrain him with the chains.

  He used the heel of his boot to kick one of the men’s legs, and then immediately moved that foot behind the weakened leg to knock him completely off balance. The soldier went down, dragging Kenneth and the other soldier along with him. Taking advantage of their surprise, he wrenched his arms free before he hit the ground. His gauntleted fists wouldn’t do much lasting injury to the mail-clad soldiers, but a few well-placed blows and kicks kept them out of his way for now.

  He needed his sword. But first he reached for the torch, still near his feet, and set the flame directly to the line of powder. This time, it took.

  A ball of bright yellowish-orange fire and billowing smoke started to race toward the bridge. He tried to follow it, but Felton’s men anticipated him.

  There were enough of them to slow him down, especially since he was unarmed. He dodged more than one deadly swing of a sword.

  He wasn’t able to reach his sword before the night exploded—or more accurately, the half-dozen bags of Sir Adam’s black powder that Kenneth had packed under the bridge exploded. The blast of the fire pushed them all back.

  His plan had worked exactly as he’d hoped, except for one thing: he was supposed to be on the other side of the bridge. The powder had exploded too quickly.

  Bloody hell, he couldn’t have actually expected this to be easy!

  It appeared he was going to have to fight his way out. Him against … he counted eighteen men. Unfortunately, his sword was now out of reach, engulfed in smoke. A problem he was able to rectify when one of Sir John’s men came rushing toward him, sword high above his head. Kenneth kept his eye on the blade, waiting until the man was fully committed, before spinning out of the way at the last minute. The momentum of the soldier’s blow swung him around and Kenneth took advantage of his unprotected side, pummeling him in the lower back, kicking his feet out from under him, and then stomping on the wrist that held the sword to free it.

  Armed and better able to defend himself, he took position near the burning bridge and let Sir John’s men come. At first, it was one at a time, but with one after another of the men ending up at his feet, they increased their numbers, sending two, three, and then four at once against him. Yet with smoke and fire at his back, they could not circle around him.

  Kenneth fought like a man possessed. His sole focus was ridding himself of these men, getting on the other side of the river, and catching his wife before she sailed away without him.

  He was well on his way to joining her. There were only a half-dozen men remaining, not including Felton and young David.

  Felton was furious. Kenneth could hear him screaming at his men, ordering them to keep attacking, to take him, to kill him.

  Felton must have saved his best men for last. The six came at him at once—as a unit. Kenneth tried to fight them off, but they were pushing him back. He was getting closer and closer to th