Page 95 of Intrigued By A Highlander

Steel clashed before Knox’s boots hit the ground. The enemy poured from the trees like a dark tide, far more than he’d anticipated. It wasn’t a skirmish. It was a slaughter in the making.

He didn’t wait for the weight of the battle to shift. It already had.

“DRU!” he shouted over the roar of steel and shouts, his eyes cutting through the madness to find her.

She dismounted, defiance carved into her lovely features ready to fight.

“Nay,” he growled, pushing past two of Torrance’s men already locked in a desperate stand. He reached her just as a wild-eyed brute charged from the left.

Knox struck fast—blade meeting bone with a sickening crack—but the man was only the first. More were coming.

“This is a slaughter,” he said low, grabbing Dru’s arm. “We need to go. Now.”

Her mouth opened in protest, but he didn’t let her speak. Not here. Not with blood soaking into the ground and warriors falling fast.

The leader of Torrance’s warriors fell against Knox, his face bloody. “Go and let Lord Torrance know what happened here.” He turned and blocked a wild-eyed warrior from reaching Knox.

Knox yanked Dru toward the mare, pounding the earth agitated.

“Up!” he barked, shielding her as an arrow struck a tree behind them.

He slashed another attacker who managed to reach them as Dru swung up into the saddle, then he vaulted up behind her in one smooth motion.

“Hold on,” he warned, gripping the reins.

Then they were gone, hooves pounding and the shouts of battle fading behind them as the forest swallowed them whole.

Branches whipped past them, scratching Knox’s arms as he leaned low over Dru, urging Star faster. The mare responded, hooves pounding the ground, her breath loud and ragged in time with their own.

Behind them, the sounds of battle still rang out—shouts, screams, steel—but they were distant now. Not distant enough.

Knox risked a glance back.

Three riders.

No—four.

Dru twisted to look, but he growled, “Eyes forward. Hold tight.”

She obeyed without question, tucking low against the mare’s neck, her hands gripping the reins as Knox shifted his weight, pulling his blade free again.

“Faster, lass,” he murmured to Star, his voice low but firm. The mare surged forward with a burst of speed, weaving through the trees with wild grace.

A shout rang out behind them, and the thundering of hooves grew louder.

“They’re gaining!” Dru yelled.

Knox didn’t answer. There was a bend in the trail ahead, a narrow ravine just beyond it. He remembered passing it… a drop too steep for horses.

“Hang on,” he said again, and this time there was warning in his voice.

They reached the bend. Knox hauled the reins hard, jerking Star left off the trail and into the underbrush. The mare stumbled but recovered, crashing through low ferns and brambles.

The ground tilted. Dru gasped.

“Jump!” Knox shouted, and a heartbeat later, the world dropped away.

Star leapt.

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