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Chapter 1
CAM HEARD THE TROUBLE ON THE TRAIL AHEAD before he saw it The screams made him instinctively slow his horse as he rounded the bend, but when he saw a young boy being held by the scruff of his shirt and beaten by a big bull of a man, Cam reached for his sword and spurred his horse to move faster A heartbeat later he'd reached the pair
The thud of his boots hitting the ground lance around, just in ti oaf's head The felloent down like a stone, unfortunately falling on the boy and landing with enough weight to bring a grunt of pain from the almost senseless lad
Wincing in sympathy, Campbell used his booted foot to roll the villain off the boy The ht was re eyes and squinted up uncertainly
"Ye're safe," Cam said and bent to offer him a hand up
Instead of taking it, though, the lad glanced past hihtly with horror Cahten, but a blow to his lower backthe lad and regained his footing after a couple of steps, then whirled to confront his assailant
Assailants, Carimly as he took note of the three ed clothes None were as big as the man he'd knocked out, but they were not small either, and each had a different weapon The balddark hair on the right held a rusty old sword, and the ginger-haired one in thewith blood
His blood, Cain to trickle down his lower back and leg He hadn't been punched in the back, he'd been stabbed Mouth tightening, he raised his sword, pulled a small blade fro he wouldn't have long before the loss of blood weakened him He had to take care of the men before that happened or he and the boy would no doubt be found dead here on the side of the road by the next traveler to come by
Ca at the h to see it find a hoht
Despite his ragged clothes and filthy condition, the man handled his rusty old sword better than Ca, and that--combined with the worry that he would be clubbed from behind by the third man at any moment--affected his abilities Whatever the case, it took Cas of his sword to finally fall his combatant
Amazed that he hadn't already received half a dozen blows to his head and back, Caround The boy stood over hier-haired man's bloody blade in hand
"He was going to hit you," the lad said defensively, dropping the blade when he glanced up to see Ca at him
Mouth opening to thank the lad, Cam took a step forward, but his mouth closed when he found himself suddenly on his knees He peered doith confusion as his sword then slid froers, and turned bewildered eyes to the boy But in the nextconsciousness
Joan stared at the Scot with a and well and battling her assailants, and the next he was facedown in the road Stooping to pick up the knife again, she quickly wiped it on the dead man's back to remove the blood, and then slipped it into the belt at her waist and stepped over him to move to her savior's side
Her gaze immediately found the dark patch on the back of his plaid She didn't need to touch it to knoas blood He'd been stabbed, Joan realized, surprised at how serious the wound was She'd seen the ginger-haired man approach him from behind with the knife raised and had assumed he'd stabbed hiht perhaps it had only been a paltry wound The ah his plaid froested it had been a rather nasty one after all In fact, she was now aht at all
Sighing, Joan sat back on her heels and glanced around She was pretty sure that three of theher when her savior had arrived wasthat situation, but Joan was a healer Killing an unconscious o, went against everything she believed in
Her gaze slid back to her savior and Joan raised his plaid to see the wound She got an eyeful of his arse first, but this was not the first ti kicked in, allowing her to ignore his naked behind and instead turn her attention to his lower back
"Daed wound It looked deep and nasty The knife hadn't plunged right in and out, but Ginger had twisted it, leaving a hole rather than a slice in the skin Cursing, Joan pushed herself to her feet and rushed to grab her bag froiant had been assaulting her She was ru inside when he moaned and shifted next to her
Joan stiffened, her eyes shooting to theshe needed Mouth tightening, she glanced wildly around until her gaze settled on a good-sized rock nearby Grabbing it up, she turned to Toothless as he started to push to his feet and slaood deal of force He collapsed to the ground with a grunt of pain and lay still
Joan eyed hi a helpless ainst her nature, but she had absolutely no probleh force that it would leave hi to suffer fro Toothless had been furious when she'd refused to give up her bag and had taken out that fury on her, pu, ham sized fists As a result, Joan's face felt as if it was on fire and hurt everywhere She had no doubt it elling and bruising by the moment She was also pretty sure she hadrather than kneeling, she'd kick Toothless a couple times to ensure he suffered as much as she did when he woke up However, she had to tend to her savior, so Joan dropped the rock and continued searching her bag until she found the items she needed and then moved back to the Scot's side
Despite the need to rush, she was careful to clean the wound thoroughly before sewing hi hiain The man appeared to still be deep in unconsciousness She considered giving hiood blow to the head to ensure he stayed that way for a bit, but then turned her attention to the Scot instead Getting hi theood idea She started out trying to lift hie After a moment to inventory what she had at hand, Joan then moved to her savior's horse The mount was a beauty Only nobilit
y would own a beast as fine She murmured and cooed to the horse as she approached, caressed his nose when he let her near, and then caught his reins and urged him back to stand beside his owner
Joan next moved to each of the dead attackers and quickly removed their clothes They weren't in the best of shape, threadbare in some places, torn in others It made it easy for her to rip them into strips and quickly tie them into a cloth rope She only hoped the cloth would hold the Scot's weight
Toothless was stirring again by that point, so Joan took a ain Satisfied that he was again unconscious, she then tied the makeshift rope around the Scot's chest, under his arms She threw the free end over hisher legs, she then began to pull
The man was heavy Joan had to literally bend her knees and curl into a ball and hang all her weight from the cloth rope to accoet the Scot over his horse, ars on the other
Sighing with relief, Joan dropped the rope, then ran around to the other side of the horse, reached under its belly to catch the dangling cloth and quickly tied it to the Scot's ankles It was the only way she could think to h this again Theunder the beast's belly, but he would remain on the horse And hopefully, with herRushing to her bag, Joan scooped it up, closed it and then collected the weapons the men had used
Getting on the beast's back was a trial in itself, but she eventually ed the task Joan immediately took up the mount's reins, but then paused She was hot and sweaty, her face and head ached and she was even a little lightheaded now Rather than risk fainting and falling off the beast, Joan paused to allow her heartbeat to slon and her head to clear She watched Toothless the entire tiht He didn't, however, and still lay ed the horse tothat there was soht She'd never ridden a horse before and had no idea what she was doing Sighing, she slid off the horse again, moved around in front, and took the reins to lead it away along the path
She had no idea where they would go, but it seeood idea to put some distance between this spot and them She would walk for an hour or so and then try to find somewhere to stop, somewhere safe, where they could rest while they both healed, and where Toothless wouldn't find them when he woke After thatwell, she'd stay with the Scot until he ell enough to take care of hi her life
CAM FELT LIKE HELL THAT WAS HIS FIRST AWARENESS His back hurt, his mouth was as dry as dust, and--he suddenly realized--he was lying on his stomach with his bare arse in the air What the hell? He started to shift, intending to roll over, but a hand pressed down on his back, stopping him
"Don't move"
Calanced warily over his shoulder and let his breath out when he recognized the boy he'd saved on the road Actually, he didn't recognize hiuess it was the lad by his bruised face The poor boy had really taken a waling His face was almost deforuess that the lad was probably in asWincing in syain, this ti to his back
"What the devil are ye doin' lad?"
"Cleaning your wound again before I put a clean bandage on" The ansas a bit slurred, no doubt fros like the devil, I know, but has to be done"