Page 28 of Edge of Yesterday

“Do not be a fool.” She leaned toward him. “They will kill ye.”

“Come on, then.” Lennox hurried to his sister and grasped her arm.

“This way!” one of the approaching men yelled.

Lennox strode past Cailean with Julianna and the other men close behind. Cailean hurried after them. They neared the lane at the end of the alley when quick bootsteps echoed behind them and someone shouted, “Here. They are down here.”

Lennox, Julianna and the other men broke into a run. Cailean followed and when they spilled out onto the street, the group turned right. Cailean ran beside Lennox and Julianna.

Lennox glanced at him as they sprinted along a low drystone wall toward a byre. “Ye are to go your own way.”

“Hush, Lennox.” Julianna flung a hand in Lennox’s direction. “Voices carry,” she warned, her own pitched low.

“By God, Julianna—”

Ahead, four men burst past the byre. Everyone skidded to a halt. Lennox pushed his sister behind him and the men formed a line in front of her. The men chasing them spilled out onto the lane and Cailean whirled as he drew Triumph from her sheath. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Julianna, a dirk in her right hand. He grinned. Here is where the fun really began. With a shout, the men on both sides attacked. The biggest man angled toward Cailean, and Cailean leapt forward, blade swinging in an arc the other swordsman blocked. Swords clashed in a chorus of metal that sent adrenaline pumping through Cailean’s veins.

His opponent pressed his attack, clearly intending to separate Cailean from the men surrounding Julianna. He lunged, forcing the man on the defensive. The man to Julianna’s left brought a heavy blow down on his opponent’s arm, which severed the arm at the elbow. Blood spurted in unison with the wounded man’s animal-like howl and Cailean faltered.

“Nae” Julianna cried.

Cailean jerked back in time to miss the dirk that whizzed past his face by scant inches. The knife lodged in his assailant’s chest as Cailean swung his sword up and blocked the blow the man had been about to bring down upon his head. Cailean shoved with all his might. The man stumbled backwards, then dropped onto his back and lay motionless. Cailean stared. The knife protruding from his chest looked so real, and the other man—he yanked his gaze onto the man whose arm had been severed. He lay face down on the ground, the arm flung out like a half-eaten chicken wing.

Julianna appeared in Cailean’s line of sight when she bent and seized the amputee’s sword from the ground. She spun to face the melee. Her attention fixed on the combatants closest to Cailean. One of her comrades retreated under the onslaught of his attacker. Cailean couldn’t discern the men’s expressions, but he recognized the halting withdrawal as fear. These actors rivaled the best Hollywood stars.

Julianna leapt forward with a warrior’s cry and thrust her sword into the attacker’s lower back. The man screamed, his knees buckled and he hit the ground with a thud. Julianna whirled.

“Behind ye!” she shouted.

Cailean whipped about. He registered the sword thrust, twisted to miss the point, and heard the rip of fabric as the blade sliced through his left sleeve. He jabbed, nicking his opponent’s arm below his leather armband. The man cursed, then lunged. A wave of dizziness caught Cailean off guard. His surroundings blurred, but he parried.

His left arm suddenly felt like lead. He slashed with his sword, and his ears rang with the resounding clash of metal. A shout startled him. Another figure appeared at his side, but Cailean couldn’t see who it was. The man lunged at Cailean’s attacker. In the instant before his opponent dropped to the ground it looked like Cailean’s companion had run his sword through the assailant’s belly.

“By God, he’s bleeding like a stuck pig.”

Cailean recognized Lennox’s voice. Lennox seized Cailean’s left wrist. Searing pain flashed through him.

He yanked his arm free of Lennox’s hold. “What the bloody hell did you do to me?” Cailean became aware of the cold sweat that broke out across his forehead.

“Saved your life, is what I did,” Lennox shot back.

“We must go,” Julianna said in a low voice. “Someone is sure to have heard the fight.”

“Come,” Lennox said.

Julianna gripped Cailean’s forearm. “He isnae well.”

“You wouldn’t be well if you’d fought four battles in a single evening,” Cailean grumbled. “Not to mention riding in the procession and the jousting. I think I’ll call it a night.” He lifted his sword to her sheath and slid the blade inside. A wave of fatigue rolled over him. He took a step forward and listed.

Julianna shoved his shoulder in an obvious attempt to keep him standing and he stumbled.

“Christ.” Lennox grabbed Cailean’s arm and dragged it over his shoulder. “Gregory, grab his other side.”

The other man grasped Cailean’s free arm and drew it over his shoulder.

“This is ridiculous.” Cailean attempted to pull free, but when they started forward his knees buckled, and their support was all that kept him upright.

“He weighs as much as a cow,” Lennox muttered.

“Pure muscle,” Cailean said with a hoarse laugh.

Julianna hurried ahead of them. She reached the end of the lane and nipped out of sight.

“Julianna,” Lennox hissed. “Damn her.”

They turned the same way and Cailean saw her farther up the road.

“Stop,” Lennox called in a loud whisper.

She glanced over her shoulder but didn’t slow. An ache built in Cailean’s arm. By the time they left the last cottage behind, the ache had turned into a burn that made him grit his teeth. When they reached the hospital, he intended to fall into bed and sleep for a week.