Forbidden Highlander

Chapter Twenty-Two

Fallon walked into the village with Lucan on his right and Larena on his left. Behind him were Galen and Logan. He stared at the destruction before him and swore he could hear the screams of the innocents who had died still ringing in the breeze.

The village had been so alive not that long ago, but Deirdre had seen it crushed in her efforts to find Cara. Now, only ghosts lingered in the empty streets and burned-down cottages.

At the far end of the village, tucked away and nestled in a grove of oak trees, was the nunnery in which Cara had been raised. Orphaned and unwanted children had found a home there with the nuns.

Fallon had often gone to the towers to watch them running through the village, their mirth reaching even the castle. There was nothing like the sound of a child’s laughter. It was pure and simple and contagious, hitting a person square in the chest.

The village was eerily quiet now, and that disturbed Fallon more than the fire marks on the castle walls.

“Deirdre did this?” Larena asked when she came upon the first burned cottage. She placed her hand on the door hanging by one hinge.

Fallon nodded. “They killed everyone.”

“Just as they did your clan,” she murmured, and turned her gaze to him.

Fallon looked at her and saw the depth of her feeling. She hadn’t known the villagers, but she felt the pain of their loss. The memories of his clan’s murder didn’t sting as badly as they used to.

He couldn’t change what had happened to his family and clan, but he could make sure Deirdre didn’t kill any more innocents.

Galen kicked at the remains of a door that lay in their path. “I wish I had been here for the first attack. Seeing this makes me want to find the Warriors and wyrran responsible and rip out their throats.”

Lucan sighed. “If we had known Deirdre had sent her army, we might have saved some of them. As it was, we were trying to save Cara.”

“Nay,” Logan said, his usually cheerful voice hard and cold as ice. “It doesna matter how you try. You can’t save them. Not when Deirdre is involved.”

Fallon and the others turned to face the Warrior. Logan’s customary smile and bright eyes were gone. He stared into the empty village as if he were seeing an image from his past, a past full of death and betrayal.

Fallon knew all the Warriors in his castle had a past. Some spoke of them, some didn’t. Logan was one that kept his past to himself, but what Fallon was seeing now worried him more than Hayden’s hatred for the droughs.

“Logan?” Fallon said carefully.

The young Warrior jerked as if slapped. His lips pulled back into a wide smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I think I want the first cottage. The thought of sharing a chamber with Hayden makes me gag.”

Everyone chuckled at the jest, but Fallon knew something dark — and dangerous — lurked inside of Logan. Fallon recognized what Logan was doing. Instead of drowning in wine as Fallon had done, Logan teased and joked his way through the day. It was Logan’s escape from his past.

Fallon was determined to pay closer attention to the young Warrior. He hadn’t asked what had happened to Logan’s family, and even if he did, he wasn’t sure Logan would give him the truth. Maybe Hayden or Ramsey knew something. Fallon made a mental note to talk to the two Warriors as soon as he could.

Lucan nudged Fallon as Logan moved past them into the village.

“I know,” Fallon said, answering his brother’s unspoken question. “We need to keep an eye on him.”

Galen stepped in front of Fallon, his gaze on Logan’s retreating back. “We’ve all got pasts we deal with. They’re like spirits that never leave. Whatever haunts Logan is his own to carry.”

“Maybe so,” Fallon said, “but I want him to know we’re here for him.”

Galen turned his head to Fallon. “Logan knows that. He wouldn’t have come if he didn’t. Right now, he wants what the rest of us want. He wants to fight Deirdre.”

Lucan grunted. “I’m sure he’ll get his wish again soon enough.”

“Aye,” Fallon said, and looked at Larena. “Deirdre willna have given up on Larena that easily.”

“Not after having lost Cara,” Lucan said. “Though I’m not sure she’s given up on having Cara either.”

Galen shook his head. “Deirdre doesn’t give up on anything. If she wants something, she’ll try again and again until she acquires it.”

“Then we have to make sure she doesn’t capture me or Cara,” Larena said, before following Logan through the village.

Fallon grinned at her confidence.

Galen chuckled. “I don’t think Deirdre would know what to do with Larena if she did capture her.”

“I don’t intend to find out,” Fallon said. “Let’s get to work.”

They moved from cottage to cottage inspecting the damages and considering what would need to be rebuilt and replaced. Larena, Logan, and Galen began to haul out debris and pile it in the center of the village to be burned.

Of the twenty cottages, only five were salvageable. The others were beyond repair, just as the nunnery was. Fallon gauged the distance from the village to the castle.

It would be a good sprint to reach the castle gates, and that was if they were Warriors. The villagers had been afraid of MacLeod Castle and that was why the community had been moved so far away.

“It needs to be closer,” Fallon murmured to himself.

Lucan came to stand beside him and dusted off his hands that were black from hauling burned wood. “I agree. The five cottages that can be restored are the farthest away from the nunnery, which helps us.”

“Aye,” Fallon said. “How many do you think we should build?”

Lucan looked over his shoulder at the remaining cottages. “Two. Maybe three. We can always build more if we need it.”

Fallon didn’t want to waste their time and resources building cottages that might not be used, but he also wanted to have them ready if they were needed.

Logan, Galen, and Larena walked up while passing a skin of water among them. Their faces and clothes were smeared black, and strands of Larena’s hair had come free and stuck to the side of her face.

“What did you decide?” Galen asked.

Fallon pointed to the five cottages. “These five are the only ones worth rebuilding. We’ll start on them first as we finish cleaning the village.”

“And after?” Logan asked.

“Lucan has suggested two or three more cottages be built.”

Logan wiped the hair that stuck to his sweat-stained face and looked about him. “Three would be good, but I think I might build a fourth. Also, when we’re building, we should think about ways to secure the cottages.”

Fallon raised a brow. “Secure?”

“Aye.” Logan shifted his stance. “I agree that the Warriors should live in the cottages. We all know that Deirdre likes to attack quickly, and we saw how the traps we set in the castle slowed the wyrran to give us time to prepare.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lucan said. “I hadn’t thought of securing the cottages.”

Fallon agreed. “Logan, can you come up with some ideas?”

Logan nodded. “I’ll see to it.”

“Good. Let’s burn the rubble.”

Lucan clapped his hands together. “I’ll start gathering the wood I need to make the furniture.”

“And I can begin reconstruction of the five cottages,” Galen said as he accepted the water from Larena.

Fallon exhaled and nodded. It was all coming together. At least he would have something to occupy him as he waited for the fake Scroll to be finished and he could free Quinn.

He turned his head to look at Larena. She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand and laughed at something Lucan said.

After seeing her at court, he hadn’t expected her to want to get dirty. But then again, she was a Highlander. He grinned. He couldn’t help it. He liked having her in his life. She brought the sunshine with her. And, there was something about her presence that made him want to be a better man, a man his father would have been proud of.

Suddenly, her smile vanished and her eyes grew round. Fallon whirled around to find the winged Warrior landing several paces away from them.

In an instant, Galen and Logan had shifted into Warrior form. Fallon held up his hand to stop them. He wanted to know what the Warrior wanted before they attacked.

The dark blue Warrior looked at each one of them before he focused his gaze on Fallon. “Fallon MacLeod, I’ve come with a message from Deirdre.”

“Who are you?” Fallon asked. The more he could find out about the Warrior the better. His father had always told him to know his enemies better than he knew his friends.

The Warrior folded his wings against his back. The tips could still be seen over his head and beside his legs and looked to be made of something that resembled leather. They were the same dark blue as his skin. “I’m Broc.”

Fallon eyed the wings. “What is her message?”

Broc cocked an eyebrow, but refused to answer. After a moment he said, “Quinn is well.”

“How can we believe you?” Lucan asked.

Broc shifted his gaze. “Ah, Lucan MacLeod. The middle brother. I know Quinn is well because I saw him before I came here.”

“What does Deirdre want?” Fallon repeated. “Surely she didn’t send you here for just a message when she knows we can kill you.”

Broc smiled, flashing his long white fangs. “You can try to kill me. Many have. None have succeeded.”

“I’ll succeed,” Galen said and started for him.

Fallon jumped in front of Galen and shoved him back. Fallon ignored Galen’s roar of anger as the green Warrior flexed his claws. “Leave it for now,” Fallon whispered.

Once Galen had fallen back, Fallon turned to Broc. “Is there more to the message?”

“Aye,” Broc said. “She knows you will come for Quinn. It was why she captured him. She wants you to know that it is her wish to have all three MacLeods under her control once more.”

“Never,” Lucan ground out between clenched teeth.

Fallon fisted his hands as rage surged through him. He could feel the tingle of his skin and knew he was transforming, but didn’t care. “We will come for Quinn. We will free him. And we will kill Deirdre in the process.”

Broc shrugged. “It’s been a long time since you were in her mountain. Do you forget the control she has over the stones? There is no way you can come into that mountain and free your brother.”

“What about a trade?” Larena asked.

When Broc’s gaze slid to her, Fallon bared his fangs and growled. Broc’s knowing grin sent Fallon’s rage soaring. The need to kill him and defend Larena made Fallon take a step toward Broc.

“I’m glad to see you have healed,” Broc said.

Larena put her hand on Fallon’s arm to halt him. “No thanks to your friend.”

Fallon didn’t want her talking to Broc. He didn’t want her anywhere near the Warrior, but Fallon wasn’t fool enough to tell her to leave. Larena was a Warrior, and Fallon needed to remember she had powers and could take care of herself.

Still, his protective instincts couldn’t be contained.

“Larena,” he growled in warning. There was only so much more he was going to listen to before he attacked Broc.

She glanced at him, her smoky-blue eyes silently beseeching him to trust her.

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her he would trust her once she began trusting him. But he kept silent.

Broc grunted at her words, drawing Fallon’s attention back to him. “James is no friend of mine. Deirdre was quite upset at what he did to you. If she didn’t need her Warriors so desperately, I do believe she would have killed him.”

Larena was thankful that Fallon had allowed her to speak to Broc. She could tell by Fallon’s tense body and the way his skin changed from normal to black every heartbeat or so that he battled his urge to release his god and attack.

Before she could ask Broc more, the winged Warrior turned his attention back to Fallon. “Attacks will begin soon.”

Fallon glared at Broc. “How do I know you speak the truth?”

“You don’t, but you’ll find out soon enough. Wyrran are on their way. Deirdre intends to keep you occupied here instead of forming a plan to free your brother.”

Larena’s stomach clenched in dread, and she looked between Lucan and Fallon. Lucan had already transformed, as had the others, and they stood waiting for Fallon to give the order to attack.

Fallon snorted and shook his head. “If that is Deirdre’s plan then she needs time with Quinn.”

“You’ve the right of it. She has plans for your brother,” Broc said.

“Just whose side are you on?”

Broc smiled. “That is a question, isn’t it?”

Then Broc’s grin faded as he lifted his face to sniff the wind. In a blink, he leaped into the air, his wings spread wide. He flipped over backward and landed on the roof of a cottage, his fangs bared.

Larena saw the dagger sail through the air toward the spot Broc had just been. She ducked and felt arms come around her and jerk her against a hard body before being pulled to the ground.

Fallon.

When she raised her head it was to find a man with long black hair, his skin, fangs, and eyes the color of darkest brown.

“Shite,” Fallon bellowed as he gained his feet. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded of the new arrival.

The newcomer turned his gaze from Broc to Fallon. “I’m Camdyn MacKenna.”