She scrambled to her feet, her skirts tripping her up, and the monster used Kaden’s brief distraction to lunge forward, his blade slicing across Kaden’s upper arm while the other sliced right across his chest.
Kaden snarled in pain and staggered back a few steps. He could hear Emily calling out his name; she was coming too close. He wanted to warn her away, to tell her to stay back, but there wasn’t a single moment of respite. There wasn’t a break or pausein the fight that he was in. He could hear Maggie barking, but he no longer had any idea where she was.
“I willnae kill ye, ye ken?” the monster snarled when he was close enough. “I’ll take ye right back where ye belong.”
Kaden’s footsteps faltered, something that hadn’t happened since he had returned home, as he imagined only for a second what it might be like to be back there.
There was no way. He would rather die. He would rather die here and now, though he wished Emily were not there to witness it.
No. He couldn’t weaken. He could feel the blood from his wounds running down his chest, and knew that he needed to move more quickly.
The monster lunged, and Kaden pivoted, their swords clashing. And then the monster’s forehead hit his own, and Kaden’s vision blurred. He ground his teeth… and then pain was all he knew.
Emily screamed.
The world tilted sideways as his knee hit the ground far too hard.
The next thing he saw was Emily throwing herself onto the back of the monster. He wanted to protest, but he couldn’t seem to get his mind to focus on where the pain was coming from in the first place. He had no idea what part of him was injured.
Emily wrapped her arms around the monster’s neck, shifting until she could lock one arm around him and the other around his forehead, like she could force him backward or divert his attention.
The monster reached behind him, grabbing her by the hair with a wicked laugh. He wrenched her upward, and her nails raked down his face, leaving grooves deep enough to draw blood. He growled in pain and loosened his grip on her, but she wouldn’t be dissuaded. He started to swing his sword wildly, not caring what or where he hit, while spewing a steady stream of nonsense that Kaden couldn’t quite understand.
Emily shrieked, and Kaden saw that her arm was bleeding. He summoned what was left of his strength and surged forward. His shoulder met the bastard’s ribs, and the three of them toppled backward.
Kaden was struggling to see straight, but he knew his fist was connecting with places that hurt, because the monster’s constant rambling had finally stopped.
“Kaden!” Emily shouted, thrusting something that he could barely see out of the corner of his eye. Just enough to realize what it was.
He snatched the knife, and in one sharp motion, it was over.
It was a cleaner and far shorter death than the monster deserved.
Kaden looked him in the eyes as the light faded from their soulless depths. Then, everything went dark.
35
It must have taken the better part of an hour to drag Kaden’s large frame into the cabin. It was far from ideal, but at least he wouldn’t be sunburnt on top of everything else.
Emily was thankful that Maggie refused to leave his side. Seeing how much blood he had lost, he needed all the warmth he could get.
Making a poultice like her mother had taught her was even more difficult due to the lack of supplies. She was certain that there was a decent amount of herbs in the surrounding woods, but she wasn’t willing to drift far enough from Kaden to find them. So, she made do with what she had.
If Kaden hadn’t shown up when he had, she didn’t know what she would have done.
The priest was being as much help as he knew how to be. At least he was, before she sent him to bring help. Healing and herbs weren’t exactly the sort of thing he was talented in, nor did she expect him to be.
As for Graham? Well, she had left him right where he lay. He didn’t deserve honor in life, and he certainly didn’t deserve any now that he was dead.
When she had finished gathering enough kindling, she headed back inside to build a fire. At least this part of the training that she had received when she was a child came in handy. Perhaps if she were lucky, she would have a big enough fire to boil some water, and she could make flower tea if nothing else to keep them warm. It had to be late afternoon now.
“It’s a good thing that ye came for me,” she said to Kaden, but she wasn’t even certain that he could hear her.
None of his wounds looked overly severe, but he had bled far more than she was comfortable with. There was a strange pallor to his otherwise tan skin that made her nervous.
She couldn’t lose her husband when they had just gotten married. She just couldn’t. It wasn’t an option that she would accept. The priest would be back with help any minute now.
She reached down to check how dry the poultices had gotten and to pet Maggie’s soft head. The wee beastie had drunk her body weight in water when Emily had offered it to her. She couldn’t imagine a better dog, no matter how small she might be.