Highlander Avenged by Laurin Wittig - Guardians Of The Targe 02 - Highlander Avenged Read Free Book Online Page A

any word from my da?” Jeanette asked. Her father, the previous chief, had been sent to ask for help from their allies.
    “Nay,” Uilliam said, moving from his spot by the door to her side. He frowned down at her, which might have scared some people, but he was like an uncle to her, her father’s best friend, and champion when her father had been chief. “But he would want to know why you left the castle this morn when you knew ’twas dangerous. I could have expected as much from Scotia”—a gasp burst from her sister—“but not from you. Your da would have my hide if anything happened to you while he was away.”
    Jeanette looked at Rowan, the row between them this morning still humming in the air. “Rowan and I had been working and I needed to get some air. We had no reason to believe there were any English vermin lurking so near.” ’Twas the truth.
    “And where did you come to meet this Malcolm Mackenzie?” Nicholas took over the questions.
    “I found Malcolm at the wellspring trying to heal a wound on his arm.”
    The room filled with voices but Rowan, bless her, quieted them with a glare.
    “Go on,” she said.
    “I bathed his arm at the wellspring—”
    Uilliam started to object but Rowan once more silenced him with a look.
    “I am a healer. ’Twas nothing more than that. When that was done, we had started down the ben to return to the castle when Malcolm heard something. He handed me his claymore—he cannot wield it until his arm is better—and I went to hide in the trees. An English soldier stood in the trail. Malcolm started to fight him off with a branch, but ’twas clear he could not keep that up for long, so I came up behind the soldier—” More spluttering from Uilliam. Another glare from Rowan. “—I came up behind him and swung the sword handle at his head. I hit him so hard, he collapsed to the ground and moved no more.”
    Scotia gave a raucous whoop but quickly quieted, folding her hands in front of her as if she were a demure young lass, but the feral look in her eye told the truth of her feelings.
    “The rest I have told you. We returned to the castle as quickly as possible. And we dare not linger here any longer unless Rowan will let me teach her how to raise a barrier,” Jeanette said, looking her cousin square in the face now.
    A heavy silence fell over the gathering.
    “You ken well that I cannot do that yet,” Rowan said, her voice low and tight.
    Nicholas reached out and touched Rowan’s elbow for just a moment. “You will, love, soon.”
    “Or not,” Rowan said, her glare now targeted at Jeanette. “So far I can only reliably call upon my gift defensively.”
    “Which is why, for now, we must move everyone to a safer place. I want Rowan and the Targe stone with the warriors. She is”—he made a point of looking at Jeanette—“our best weapon. Jeanette, you and Scotia will go with the rest of the women and the weans to the caves.”
    Scotia started to complain but stopped when Uilliam cleared his throat and put his large hand on her shoulder.
    “So I am not to continue her training,” Jeanette said, not bothering to make it a question.
    “Not for now,” Nicholas said, but he looked at his wife. “Not for now.”
    “And what of Malcolm MacKenzie?” Jeanette asked. “If he goes with the warriors, I will not be able to take care of his wound. I gave him my word I would see to its healing.”
    Nicholas pondered her question, then pushed out of his chair with a sigh. “I will go and speak with him, and then I shall decide if he will be of better use to us as one of the warriors, or as one of the men assigned to the caves.”
    It was not the answer Jeanette wanted. Regardless of his decision about Malcolm, she would not be allowed to train Rowan.

    M ALCOLM SAT IN the bailey on a large stone that had clearly once been part of the demolished side of the curtain wall. He’d eaten, had the tea Jeanette had made up for him, then sat, keeping his eyes on the