A Love to Discover (Loving in the Highlands 2)

'Those are the men who brought Elsie here,' the oldest warrior whispers. 'I recognized them from their clothes.'

The words make my insides churn with the desire to kill all of them. It was them who killed my warriors, who wounded poor Skena, and it was them who tied Elsie's hands and took her forcibly to her despised uncle.

Noiselessly, I approach one of the men from behind and strangle him without much effort. He falls down onto the ground, as we continue to the next one. After strangling a couple of Murgan's men, we start fighting with the rest, as they have already noticed us.

I pull out my sword from my belt and go against them who start coming towards us. The sounds of the swords clashing together fill the surroundings. I and my warriors are fast to finish all of this – we do not need others to hear the noise and to join in the fight. I need to go to the dungeon to save Elsie as soon as possible and to take her away from here.

In a matter of minutes, all the men that were standing around the castle are lying down, dead. Luckily, the noise was not much, so the sleeping people inside the castle did not wake up, specifically; Murgan is probably fast asleep right now and will not hinder my plans to go to the dungeon. Even if he woke up and decided to hinder my plans, he would die in less than a second by my own hands.

'All is clear now,' the oldest warrior tells me, and I nod. We move towards the entrance of the dungeon. The more we approach the dungeon, the harder my heart is beating. I cannot wait to see the ray of my sun, the smile of my angel.

I open the heavy door of the dungeon and look inside. One of my warriors brings a lantern for me to see the inside. There is a spiral staircase that goes down. I run down the steps and see another door that is locked. With one hard kick of my leg, the door is broken. I get inside and shiver: it is dark and damp inside. Rotten smell of moist catches my nostrils. The cold goes through my skin right to my bones.

My eyes get used to the dark, which is not helped at all by the dim light of the small lantern, and I see a shadow in the far corner. I approach and see Elsie huddled against the wall, lying on the floor, shivering from the cold.

'Elsie!' I shout, as I run and embrace her in my warm hands. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at me faintly. Her fiery nature is gone. She is barely moving. Her entire body is as cold as that of a corpse. Her lips shiver when she tries to tell me something.

'C… C… Calem,' she manages to whisper. 'T… take me … out.'

I hug her tightly and stand up, holding her in my arms. I am glad to carry my sunshine out of that dark and cold place, to carry her out to fresh air and gentle moonlight. Elsie slowly puts her arms around my neck and closes her eyes, as I carry her up the spiral staircase. I can feel her tiny body slowly coming back to life and getting warmer as I hold her and breathe on her face, while climbing up the steps. My warriors follow us upstairs.

'I will take you to safety, Elsie, my love,' I tell her, when we reach the top. One of my warriors opens the door of the dungeon and we get out, only to find six people standing in front of us.

'Murgan!' My oldest warrior says to the person who is standing in the middle.

So, that is Murgan. He is a chubby man, not very tall, with a mustache and red cheeks. His ugly eyes are shining in the dim moonlight. Elsie cringes, hugging me tightly. I hold her, wanting to make her feel sure that she will not see him soon any more.

Murgan and five of his men standing in front of us, their swords ready, blocking our way. There are five of them, plus Murgan, while there are three of my warriors, plus me and Elsie. I need to think fast.

'You are not taking her anywhere,' Murgan says, with a disgusting smirk on his face. 'Only over my dead body.'

'I will take her away over your dead body,' I say sternly.

'Let my niece go,' he growls. 'She belongs to me, and you are nobody to touch what is my property.'

I can feel fury starting to boil inside of me. I can barely keep myself from shaking with rage – I do not want to scare Elsie in my arms.

'She is my fiancée,' I say angrily, and my voice sounds like a thunder, going deeper and louder by each word. 'And I am going to kill you for what you have done to her.'