Page 3 of Highland Warlord
And yet more men fell before him. But his movements began to slow. Blood flowed from his back and thigh with startling speed.
Hot tears branded Morgana’s cheeks, and she couldn’t reach up to wipe at them. Didn’t understand why she already mourned for this lone, violent beast. A strangled gasp escaped her as the spear found purchase a third time, again in his back. Shoulders heaving, the warrior’s head dropped and his magnificent body swayed before plunging over the stone wall and into the river, his blood mingling with that of the countless men he’d massacred.
Chapter 2
Saxons took the bridge and flooded the east bank. Instead of spreading and breaking upon the Viking shield wall like a wave, they pierced through like an arrow. The screams of rage and pain rose above the gentle song of the trees. The gurgles of throats filling with blood drowned out the gurgle of the river.
Morgana couldn’t bear to look. Instead, she followed the slow progress of the giant as the current carried him downstream from the bridge toward her. In moments, he would pass her and his body would be gone forever.
Not today, she decided.I need you.
Ignoring the roiling in her stomach, she inched both her feet into the freezing river and reached out with her magick.Bring him to me,she told the current.Bring me the warrior.
The river obeyed. The Viking’s body slid along the bank, magickally avoiding rocks and the water’s other gruesome occupants, until the current deposited his impressive weight in the mud at her feet. Most of his thick frame remained submerged, the water not strong or fast enough to propel him with any force.
His features, all but an obstinate jaw and lips too full to be concealed by his few days growth of beard, were hidden from herby his fearsome bone and iron helm. The water leached blood away from hair the color of volcanic stone.
Gods but he was massive.
She needed to touch him in order to know where to send her magick. How could she possibly do it with her wrists bound behind her? Healing magick was intimate, internal. Generally she had to lay her hands on a wound, on a body, to diagnose and provide a cure.
She cursed her bonds once again, futilely testing their strength, and winced as the leather bit into her skin.
Damn.That left her only one choice. Trying not to think of what polluted the river, Morgana dropped to her knees beside his alarmingly still frame, grateful that the water had lifted much of the blood from his skin.
Willing her heart to slow, she pressed her ear to a chest the texture of firm Highland stone and almost as deep as it was wide. No breath lifted his ribs. No pulse moved the blood through his veins.
But life still flowed within him.
So did magick.
Alarmed, Morgana fought to remain calm as she closed her eyes and used her ear and cheek to connect with what blood was left in his body.Where are your wounds?She knew he’d been stabbed three times, but she needed to assess what damage had been done on the inside, and she doubted her ability to roll him over even if she had the use of her hands. He was simply too heavy.
His blood connected to hers as no other patient had before. A clear and instant knowledge of the damage seared her mind. The wound in his thigh was mostly meat and vein. But blood leaked from both of his lungs, and would prove fatal any moment.
This mythical savage needed breath. He needed the punctures in his lungs healed. Since she couldn’t reach his back, she’d have to do it a different way.
Taking strength from the water flowing around her knees, Morgana chanted a spell of healing against his chest. Willing his wounds to mend like she never had hoped before.
Nothing changed. In fact, she could feel his life draining out of him with every moment that passed. A frantic panic welled within her.
“Stay with me, warrior,” she implored, moving to kneel at his shoulder. “Do not cross to the Otherworld just yet. I need you.” Taking the loamy air deep into her chest, she brought her lips close to his and breathed her healing spell against his mouth.
“Earth is our body.
Fire, our soul.
Air, our breath.
Water, our blood.
Flesh knit to flesh.
Vein to vein.
The Goddess blesses you.
Be whole again.”
