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“Walsh’s men have captured two mercenaries. They bring them here now,” Kinnell said, once reaching him.

Torin signaled to one of his warriors nearby and he hurried over. “Take Lady Flora to the keep and stay with her until I say otherwise.”

“Nay!” Flora protested. “I am going with you. I want to hear what these men have to say.”

“Neither will be forthcoming with answers and you, wife, will not like what must be done to get those answers.”

“It matters not, I go with you,” she insisted, folding her arms across her chest to show she would not budge on this. Though, worry of what the men may suffer turning her stomach.

Torin glared at her, annoyed at her stubbornness. “You have seen the beauty of the Highlands, perhaps it is time for you to see its dark side.”

Flora followed behind her husband since he was busy speaking with Kinnell walking alongside him. She had to hurry her steps to keep pace with the two men, their strides far more powerful than usual. Once again, she was reminded of the strength it took to live here in a land that demanded much to survive.

Walsh’s men were just finished securing the captured mercenaries to stakes that had been pounded into the ground. Flora had passed by them often and wondered over their use and now she knew. The men’s arms had been drawn behind their backs and tied at the wrists while more rope secured their ankles to the stake and still more rope was wound around their waist.

Flora realized at first glance that they were seasoned mercenaries, scars marring their faces, and showing not a bit of fear. They glared brazenly at Torin, who stared at them with a coldness that made Flora look twice at him since for a moment he appeared unrecognizable to her. She realized that she was seeing the warrior in her husband. The man who faced possible death every time he entered battle. The man who had to push fear aside to survive.

That was the man these two men needed to see. A man who would do anything to get what he wanted.

“You two know how this goes,” Torin said. “You tell me, or you suffer until you finally break and tell me anyway.”

“And then you kill us,” the man with a front tooth missing said.

Flora stepped forward. “You would rather face death than tell my husband what he asks? Why?”

All eyes turned to her, including her husband’s, whose dark scowl so intimidated that it caused her legs to tremble. But her curious nature was what it was, and she went right on talking.

“What sense would your death make? The man who sent you here does not care what happens to you. He will send another and another after that one, leaving all to die, while expecting one to eventually succeed. Your lives mean little to him and if that is so, what makes you think he will share the generous bounty with you? So why surrender your life for someone who no doubt will end it anyway?”

Both men stared at her a bit bewildered.

“He wouldn’t do that,” the man with sparse red hair said.

“You know that for sure?” Flora asked. “You truly trust him? Can you honestly say he has shared all bounty with you equally? Did you know only the top mercenaries were approached for this task? What reason would the man do that? Perhaps he knows that the leaders of the most successful mercenaries will do anything to complete the task and collect the bounty, even kill the one who completed the task so he could not boast about it.”

“You talk too much. You try to confuse us. He told us to kill you before you could utter a word, then cut your head off or you would talk endlessly even while we cut off your head,” the toothless man said with a chuckle.

Torin sped past his wife and delivered a powerful blow with his fist to the man’s jaw that had blood spewing from his mouth as his head flew to the side.

“Talk about cutting my wife’s head off again and the next time you’ll get a knife to your gut that will leave you to die slowly while the birds pick at your innards.”

The other man paled as he stared at the toothless man who was busy spitting blood that would not stop spilling from his mouth.

“Thank you for that bit of information,” Flora said. “I am sure your leader will be happy to know you shared it with us.”

“What information?” the red-haired man asked, bewildered. “Gordy didn’t give you any information.

“Thank you for his name. It will make it easier to identify him when word is sent to his leader that he has spoken with us,” Flora said.

“Keep your mouth shut, Lester,” Gordy ordered and spit out another mouthful of blood. “She’s trying to trick us. I told her nothing.”

“You just told me your friend’s name,” Flora said with a smile.

“Damn!” Gordy mumbled and sneered at those laughing around him.

“You also told me that your leader warned you about talking with me which tells me that the man who placed the bounty on my head is familiar with me, most likely a friend of my family since I chattered endlessly at home but never when I was out with my parents. I am sure your leader will be thrilled to learn that you passed information on to us that will help us locate the man.”

“Bloody hell, Gordy, if Lord Torin doesn’t kill us, Mordred will.” Lester’s eyes widened when he realized that he had revealed their leader’s name.


Tags: Donna Fletcher Historical