Page 72 of A Constant Blaze

Muiredach all but threw Mairead into the saddle, then mounted behind her. Over the heads of the avid, yelling crowd, he saw that Malcolm was giving ground, only just fending off a relentless series of bone-jarring blows. In this fight, it was Fergus who undoubtedly had the stamina. He was playing with Malcolm, knocking him down again with a brutal blow to the head with his sword hilt.

With a silent prayer, Muiredach turned the horse and rode away, leaving his lady to her fate.

*

Mairead, her headresting back on Muiredach’s chest as they rode around the side of the hill out of sight of whatever mayhem was being committed, said, “I never imagined, when we freed him and Donald, that it would end like this.”

Muiredach’s heart ached for her. “It needn’t be the end. People have been expecting Malcolm MacHeth to die for more than twenty-five years. Yet there he still is.”

“You’re being kind to me,” Mairead said as if it surprised her. She twisted around to see his face. “We left your lady, too.”

Muiredach’s throat closed up. He urged the horse to climb.

“What now?” Tomas asked when they eventually arrived at the hollow dip in the hill where they’d left Astrid and the Grizel with the other guard and Fergus’s two captured scouts.

“Watch and wait as we agreed,” Muiredach said, his eyes straying below. The fight was still going on. At least Malcolm was still alive and Halla free. So far.

“He should just have ridden away when he had the chance,” Mairead said furiously. “What was he thinking of?”

“All of us,” Bernard de Brus snapped quite unexpectedly. “It’s doubtful we would all have got out of there alive if he hadn’t been given and accepted the challenge. Malcolm and I had to face him, to show him he was thwarted and force him back to Galloway. And of course, there was the matter of Malcolm’s son. But what in God’s name possessed you to follow us?”

“The lady,” Muiredach said wryly. “She didn’t believe Fergus would let you both live, so when we captured the scouts, she decided to even the odds. We couldn’t let her go alone.”

“And now we’ve left thembothdown there alone,” Mairead said in a small, hard voice.

“As it should be,” Astrid said harshly, wiping her eyes with a violent sweep of her arm. “I always knew they would die together.”

“But Adam mac Malcolm never told you so, did he?” Muiredach retorted. “It’s hardly written in stone. Nothing is.”

“Sh-sh.” Bernard lifted his hand and lowered it hastily, palm downward in a hushing gesture.

They stilled, and Muiredach heard at last what the Norman had. Soft hoof falls, the snort of horses too close for comfort.

“Wait,” Bernard commanded, already crawling around the side of the hill toward the track they’d taken barely an hour before. Without a word, Muiredach followed him.

Through the cover of scruffy bushes, Muiredach glimpsed the approaching horsemen, heavily armed and armored and bearing the lion insignia of the King of Scots.

“Yours,” Muiredach breathed.

“Mine,” Bernard agreed, beginning to rise, his mouth already open to call to his men.

Muiredach yanked him back down. “Wait, what do you intend to do?”

“Ride down there and save your friend Malcolm MacHeth and his lady.”

“Then your men will know Malcolm MacHeth is here and not in Ross as he should be.” Muiredach thought the words aloud, debating with himself what was best.

Bernard grinned. “He came in search of his wife. Trust me, the young king’s chivalrous soul will understand.” He shook off Muiredach’s detaining hand. “We don’t have a choice, harper. Not if we wish to save them.”

Muiredach stood up with him. “The lady will annihilate me for disobeying her.”

*

Although physically smallerthan some, Fergus of Galloway had never been an easy opponent. Even as boys, Malcolm had to work for his victories. Then, of course, they’d been playing for nothing but honor and their own self-importance. Today, Fergus fought desperately to save all his hopes and plans from collapse. Malcolm knew he was fighting for his life, and Halla’s. Not that he believed Fergus would harm her. But Malcolm understood now what his absence had done to her life. He desired, overpoweringly, not to do it again.

“You cheated,” Fergus panted, pounding him. “You sent them away.”

“Halla sent them,” Malcolm got out. “What did you expect? She’s been their lady in fact, not just name, for twenty years. They obey her.” He didn’t bother pointing out that none of Fergus’s men had tried to stop them going.

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