She pushed the agonizing thought aside. She had to get her da help. Had to make sure he survived. She made her way back around the keep and through the kitchen to the Great Hall.
“Hurry,” she urged the women. “I’ll get you to safety.”
The women gathered the few children there and eagerly followed her. Raven paused at the door at the back of the kitchen and seeing no one there rushed the women and children out and into the woods.
“You will help Purity get my da safely away from here,” Raven said, looking to her da, the torn piece of cloth she had wrapped around him covered in blood.
“Where is anyplace safe?” Flora asked.
“The woods will shelter us for now,” Purity said.
“You don’t come with us?” another woman asked Raven.
“I must see about my brothers,” Raven said.
“We will wait,” Purity was quick to say. “In case you find others in need.”
“No, you must go now. The longer you wait, the more you chance being captured,” Raven said. “I will join you if I can.”
“When you can,” Purity corrected and gave her a hug.
Raven knelt down beside her da and placed a hand to his cheek. “Purity is going to get you help da. You’re going to be fine. All will be good. You’ll see.” She kissed his cheek.
“We need to get him deeper into the woods then we’ll fashion a carrier from thick branches to transport him the rest of the way,” Purity said.
Hearing Purity take charge, Raven felt hopeful that her da might live.
“Stay strong,” she said to all of them and left the safety of the woods.
Once again she made her way to the side of the keep, the sound of battle tolling like an endless bell in her head. She wanted to cover her ears and beg it to stop, but it would do no good. She had lost count of how many times she had peered around the corner to see if it was safe for her to continue. This time when she did, shock turned her eyes as wide as full moons.
Bayne sat braced against the stone wall bleeding from his chest and mouth. Not even the slightest hesitation hampered her steps to him.
She squatted down in front of him. “Bayne.”
His eyes fluttered open and he struggled to talk. “Purity. I saw Purity. Get her to safety,” he pleaded.
“She’s safe. I can take you to her.”
He shook his head. “Won’t make it.”
“I’ll help you,” Raven said and moved to his side to slip her arm around his back. He fell against her, his weight sending her to land on her bottom and she cradled him in her arms.
More blood flowed from his mouth, running down the corner, and he fought to speak. “You’re a courageous woman, Raven, you would have made a good wife.”
Raven stared in disbelief as Bayne took his last breath in her arms. A tear slipped from her eye. She didn’t like Bayne, but she didn’t hate him. And in the end, though wounded badly, he still tried to get to his sister and see her safe. It was something her brothers would do and it made her all the more determined to find and help them in any way she could.
She left Bayne, not able to do anything more for him, but see him buried when this was done, if that was even possible. Would she even have a home when this was done? A family? A clan?
She went in search of her brothers, praying neither of them would die in her arms as Bayne had done. If they were wounded, she could get them to safety like she did her da. She couldn’t lose her family. She couldn’t. Besides, she had given her promise—though her da and brothers hadn’t heard it—along with the one they had made, to do whatever was necessary to keep her safe. She’d do whatever was necessary to keep her brothers and da safe.
With having viewed the battle from both sides of the keep and having no luck seeing her brothers, she made her way into the woods. Her best line of sight, without taking the chance of being caught and becoming useless to her brothers, was the trees. She’d been scolded enough times for climbing the trees, but had paid no heed to her da and brothers’ warnings. And now she was glad she hadn’t.
She hurried to her favorite and easiest tree to climb and one that afforded her a good view of the keep and village. She climbed high and positioned herself on a branch, glad that it was summer and the tree leaves concealed her. She pushed aside a small branch that obscured her view and watched as her clansmen fought valiantly. She didn’t need anyone to tell her what she saw with her own eyes—her clan was being defeated. Some chieftains had already been taken captive and hoarded into a group with some of the villagers.
Bodies lie on the ground, clansmen and foe alike, some moving, some not. The last warriors left to fight were slowly dwindling and she easily spotted her brothers and what she saw had her rushing her hand to her mouth to stop from screaming.
Royden was defending himself against two warriors and a third was coming up behind him. Arran had spotted the warrior and was running toward him to prevent his brother from being struck from behind.
It happened so fast and yet it seemed so slow as Raven watched Arran, battle grime covering just about all of him, raise his sword and scream out to his brother in fear he wouldn’t reach him in time.
Royden turned slightly, hearing Arran’s shout, as he swung his sword and took down the last of the two warriors he’d been fighting before he turned all the way around, raising his left arm as he did.
The man behind him brought his raised sword down, catching Royden on the wrist and slicing it clear through. Royden’s left hand fell to the ground and he roared with a fury that Raven felt tremble the trees.
Royden’s sword came down on the man the same time Arran’s sword did and the warrior dropped to the ground dead. Arran hurried to slice cloth off a length of plaid from one of the dead warriors on the ground and wrapped it tightly around the stump that Royden was left with, to stop the bleeding.
Raven didn’t know how Royden remained on his feet, though his large body swayed as if he fought to remain standing.
“Drop your swords! It’s done!” a man commanded.
Raven watched in disbelief. Today was to be a day of celebration, a day of festivities, a day that marked a bright future for the clan with Royden and Oria marrying. Soon there would have been bairns who would continue to keep the Clan MacKinnon name strong and the clan prosperous. Instead, it was a day the Clan Mackinnon was ravaged and nearly destroyed.
Her brothers had no choice but to obey the command, not if they wanted to live and fight another day.
Fear gripped Raven like a hand to her throat, squeezing as she watched Royden lean against his brother. Arran’s muscled arm grew taut as it went around Royden’s waist, his strength helping him remain on his feet.
“His wrist needs searing,” Arran called out.
The man who had ordered swords to be dropped approached. He wasn’t a tall man, barely reaching her brothers’ shoulders, but he was bulky and from the bulge of his arms, he was strong. His dark hair was streaked with gray and his features difficult to see through the heavy battle grime clinging to his face like a mask.
“Tell me where your sister is and it will be done,” the man ordered with a shout.
“We don’t know,” Arran shouted back.
The man stepped back from her brothers and looked around, then roared out, “If you want your brothers to live, surrender, Raven of the Clan MacKinnon.”