“Keegan!” Rodrick called out, and he looked back over his shoulder at his man-at-arms, who was pointing to the east side of the castle.
Enemy warriors were scrambling to the bolted doors, trying to break their way inside. He hadn’t deployed all his men to his location, and Keegan ground his teeth.
“We cannae divert. We must find and take down Magnus. It is our best option.”
Rodrick nodded, understanding flashing over his face. They would lose some in the castle. There was no way around it. Because if they split up, if they let Magnus push forward through this line, it would be the end of the entire Brahanne clan.
Refocusing, Keegan turned his attention to the encroaching soldiers rushing down from the tree line ahead. At the front, he could see one very particular man astride a horse. He sprinted forward along with a handful of other cavalry fighters, and Keegan glared, his stomach clenching down hard.
“There!” The laird pointed. “Magnus! Prepare for riders!”
The men next to him stepped a ways back, but not without tossing the spears strapped to their backs into the ground at sharp angles. The horses would not see them until it was too late. Or at least, that is what they all hoped.
Booming blows struck the earth as the horses’ hooves smashed into the dirt and brought them closer. Keegan and the others needed to wait to see if they would stumble over the trap.
“Wait, men. Hold this line until they tumble.” He did not shout, and the tension in Keegan’s spine bit down. “Ye will hold this line. Ye will nae allow them any closer. This is our home. Our castle. And ye will defend it.”
An eerie silence—the calm before a lightning strike—gripped the men. Keegan watched intently, gripping his sword so that the edges of the wrappings dug into his hand.
Closer. Just a bit closer now.
The calvary hit the line of spears, and the leading horse—Magnus’s man-at-arms—hit the spears first. It buckled as the point jabbed into its shoulder, and then it was up arse over head. The spill was enough to trip up some of the other riders as well, and those who did not hit the spears were forced off course to divert out of the way of the falling horses.
“Now!”
They all dove into the chaotic mess of limbs and whinnies, striking down the fallen soldiers and weeding through the McCallum calvary until they reached the heart of his men. The battle was brutal in moments; ferocious attacks and gruesome deaths dealt in seconds as the fight between the two clans came to a head.
But there simply weren’t enough of Keegan’s men.
Still, more warriors poured down from the treeline, and Keegan feared for the worst. He would go out on his feet, as any Laird and warrior wishes, but he couldn’t deny how he already ached for missing Willow.
Be safe, lass. Please, God, let her be safe.
“Ye think ye can stop me, ye bastard whelp!”
Keegan turned over his shoulder to see the mad frenzy in Magnus’s stare. He rushed toward him, his blade raised high over his head. Facing the man, Keegan prepared to stand off against his lifelong foe, but another warrior from his left jumped into his peripheral vision, slicing his dirk through Keegan’s bicep.
He hissed, swinging a fist into the man’s face as he blocked the strike of his sword with his strong arm. The warrior’s head jacked back only a bit as Keegan punched him. He could still hear Magnus running toward him from his other side. It was an unlucky situation. Defending himself would be all the harder, and even a tiny opening would be enough for Magnus to end him now.
Dammit. Think Keegan!
The flaring noise of a horn burst through the night from just to the west of the tree line. Momentum froze, and all eyes looked to the source of the sound. Cresting over the other side of the hill, several riders funneled into the battlefield, heading straight toward Keegan’s location.
“Buaidh no Bàs!”
His heart surged, leaping into his throat. Keegan knew that voice so very well.
“Damon!” he called out, and a relief potent enough to gift the laird with a second wind, a renewed resolve, took hold of him.
His brother and the scouts he’d sent had arrived just in the nick of time. They must have noticed the moving forces and rode wide to get around them and meet Magnus’s warrior at the battleground before the castle.
The horses smashed through the unprotected side of the warriors facing off at the castle, and once through, they slid down from their mounts and charged into the fight alongside the others.
His brother was near enough to call out in just moments. “I’m sorry we couldnae make it back faster! Terrible floodin' of the river near the main crossin'!”
Keegan shook off the man who had locked blades with him, tossing the man in Damon’s direction.
Chuckling, he called back. “Och, of course, ye blame the weather for yer atrocious timin'!”