A Love to Discover (Loving in the Highlands 2)

Skena brings our food, happily humming a tune under her nose, and then goes to have some dinner with the warriors.

'All this journey seems like a fairy tale,' I say, eating the delicious dinner. 'Everything is so peaceful, so beautiful, and so joyful. I could spend my life in this journey, you know, Calem.'

He chuckles. 'In fact, you are going to spend your life in a fairy tale, a better one than this.'

His words make me happier. I close my eyes and enjoy the fresh air, the tasty food, and his pleasant voice, as he keeps on talking.

'And we shall go on journeys rather often, if you like it so,' he says. 'We can arrange journeys whenever you want. We can come and visit Sloan and Megan however often we want to. And every time the journey will be exactly like this, and even better.'

'I am looking forward to it, Calem,' I say gently, while he slowly runs his hand through my hair, making my body shiver with thrilling pleasure.

I wrap around myself a warm quilt that Skena brings, recline to Calem and try to fall asleep. He embraces me, giving me the sense of security once again. I close my eyes and dream about the future.

It turns out that I have slept the whole night, and Calem has been there with me the entire time. I smile, taking in the fresh crisp air of the morning and look at Calem.

'Did you get some sleep?' I ask him. He nods, but I can tell that he has been watching me the entire night.

'Good morning, my dear Elsie, Calem,' Skena's voice is heard, as she sees that we are awake now.

'Good morning, Skena.'

'We have almost no food,' she says. 'Only for breakfast.'

'It is all right, I will go hunting with Achaius, Baigh, and Camron after breakfast,' Calem says at once. 'Do not worry, Dalziel, Gawen, and Kinney will stay with you.'

'Yes, why not? It will be interesting to eat the game that you have hunted,' I say, and he laughs.

After breakfast, he leaves with the three warriors, leaving me and Skena with Dalziel, Gawen, and Kinney, who sit on the grass and talk about the horses that are around us, taking a rest. I and Skena sit a bit far from them, looking at the flowing river. It is a peaceful morning.

'Do you think they have gone far?' Skena asks me.

'They went with their horses, into the wild, they need to hunt, so I guess yes, they have gone far,' I nod, already missing Calem. The fact that he is away from me, makes me feel sad. I think that I am falling in love with him. I can't imagine my days without him.

'I hope I will find a good husband,' Skena says, mostly to herself. 'My life will be totally changed then.'

I hear a noise and turn around. A group of people with bare swords are running towards us.

'Skena!' I shout and hold her hand, while Dalziel, Gawen, and Kinney jump up, ready to fight. I shake my head in disbelief – our warriors are too few, compared with the group of the armed people attacking us.

Skena wraps her arms around me. 'What shall we do now, Elsie?!'

I have no idea. I can only see the attackers swinging swords, and hear the noise of the swords banging together. A few of them separate from the fight and run towards me and Skena.

'Run, Skena!' I shout, trying to run away myself, but it is obvious that it will be impossible to escape them – there are many of them and they are fast. The brutal attackers separate me and Skena by force and push me to the ground. I hit the ground facedown, screaming, and hear Skena's loud shouts. I feel my hands taken to my back roughly, and tied tightly with a rope. I scream so hard that my throat starts aching.

I manage to turn my head to see Skena fighting with those men, but then a blade of the sword shines in the sun and I hear Skena's horrified cry of pain.

'No!' I scream, 'why are you killing us!'

Everywhere is blood. Our warriors are dead, lying in pools of blood by the river. Skena is lying facedown and barely moving her hand. She is silent. The only person who is not seriously injured is me.

'Please, please, let me help this woman,' I beg the attackers, 'she is going to die in a few minutes if I do not save her.'

'Shut up and come with us,' one of them says, roughly pulling me to my feet and pushing me forward.

'Calem! Calem!' I scream, but my voice comes out like a deep moan, as my vocal cords are injured from so much screaming.

'Shut her up with a piece of cloth,' one of the attackers says to the other.