He looked over his shoulder at her. “When I tell ye to go, ye go. Ye promised me. Aye?”
Kate nodded solemnly, hurt and fear in her eyes. He nodded back. Then he turned to his attackers, unsheathed his claymore and went.
He didn’t even have time for a prayer. Just the war cry must do. “Cruachan!”
They looked surprised as he launched at them, probably because he attacked them alone instead of running. Ian used that surprise to his advantage. He slid to the left, slicing the outermost man’s side, then ran farther behind them, making them turn around away from Kate.
Five.
The bowman shot, his arrow missing Ian by an inch. One of the swordsmen came at him. They clashed together in a scrape of iron against iron. The man attacked swiftly, but he wasn’t experienced. Ian slashed him in the chest, and he fell. Two more came.
They were different. Heavy bangs met Ian’s sword from both sides, and he barely jumped back in time to avoid the soldiers’ following thrusts.
It was when the third man joined, and arrows continued to fly at him, barely missing him, that he knew that he was finished.
“Goooooo!” he yelled as he danced with death.
A flash of gold and gray in his side vision told him Kate ran. Iron-hot pain burst in his side—he’d missed the thrust of a sword as he’d allowed himself one look at her.
She was on Thor, staring at him.
“Go, my love,” he mouthed, and resumed the fight with double the strength. He couldn’t let them see her.
“Ye bastarts!” he cried, calling on the reserves of his strength.
And with the sound of hooves fading away, he sank into the bloody sea of battle rage.
Chapter 29
Kate let Thor lead the way down the path. Her eyes burning, she swallowed the tears as the woods around her blurred in flashes of dark green and brown.
Ye are a burden to me, rang in her head. Relieve me of yer burden.
And then, Gooooooo!
Her chest was on fire. Her stomach a bottomless pit. Her worst fear had come true—he’d said she was a burden. Before, he’d said he loved her. He’d said she was a treasure, making her whole world light up like fireworks.
No one had ever said they loved her before.
Not her parents. Not her sister. Not a man.
No one.
Hearing those words, it had felt as though he’d been saying them to someone else. Like he looked at her, but he actually meant another person.
As it turned out, she had been right about that all along. He didn’t love her. He only needed a clear conscience, only wanted to be kind to her. Because he was a kind man. A strong, wonderful, kind man. Bigger than life. Stronger than death. Greater than slavery.
Unbreakable.
Until now.
She’d left him to fight four people. Four! He was already wounded. What chance did he have?
In her mind’s eye, Kate saw Ian lying on the ground, blood on his face and a gaping wound in his chest. Dead.
Pain tore her apart at the image, like a bomb exploding, shredding her to pieces. A world without Ian wasn’t a world worth living in. She loved him. Even if he didn’t—even if he’d never—love her.
She loved him.
Love unraveled in her heart, a mixture of unearthly lightness and wrenching pain. There was nothing more important than keeping him alive. Not that he’d hate her if she came back. Not that she had any idea what she’d actually be able to do against warriors. Not that she might get hurt herself.
All that mattered was that Ian survive.
“Thor, stop!” she commanded.
But he continued his stride. Remembering what Ian had taught her to do when driving the cart, Kate pulled on the reins—lightly at first, then stronger. Thor slowed down, then stopped.
“Good boy,” she said and patted him on the neck. “Now, let’s go back.”
She pulled the reins all the way to the left. Thor turned his head left but didn’t walk.
“Left, Thor!” Kate cried desperately.
She had no idea how long they had ridden, but she knew they were losing precious time.
“Your master needs you, Thor,” she whispered. She kept holding the left rein, and Thor kept looking left. Then he took one tentative step.
“Yes, good boy. Keep going!”
She pressed her left leg to his side.
He walked left!
“Oh, yes!” Kate exclaimed.
She released her pull and her leg when Thor turned and faced the way they had come from. She squeezed his sides with her legs, and made a “tsk, tsk” sound, something she’d seen and heard Ian do. Thor was a good horse—he obeyed her signal and sped up a little.
“Oh, Thor, well done!” Kate kept saying under her breath, amazed she had any control over him.
They strode for a while, Kate shivering from the images of Ian being hurt that flashed through her mind from time to time, blinding her. She tried to concentrate on the road, on not falling from Thor’s back. Thankfully, he didn’t need much direction and followed the path.
What felt like an eternity later, she heard them. Screams, groans of pain, and iron clashing against iron. Her pulse accelerated. He was still fighting. He was still alive!
She stopped Thor, who obeyed her at once, luckily, and jumped down rather awkwardly, twisting her ankle a little. Pain stabbed her, but she could still walk, and she limped as silently as she could towards the sounds of a fight.
She removed the dagger from her belt and held it like Ian had taught her—easily but securely. She breathed. There was no doubt in her mind that she’d use the dagger if she had to protect Ian or herself.
There he was, Ian. He waved his sword before just one opponent. Five men lay on the ground, not moving.
Ian had his sword in his hands and danced a slow circle with his opponent. It was the archer, Kate thought, who also had an ax. Ian had a big gash on his shoulder and a slice
