Page 133 of Claimed by a Highlander
“Aye,” she said, though not as convincingly as he would have liked.
He kissed her hard. “Do as I said.”
Rory stood before his men, raised his sword high, and gave the MacKenzie battle cry in a loud whisper.“Tùlach Àrd!”
“Tùlach Àrd!”the others said in unison, and they started through the wood.
When they reached the edge of the clearing, Rory made the sound of the morning dove,whoo-whoo whoo-whoo, and the men dipped their arrows in the tar mixture.
Whoo-whoo whoo-whoo, he signaled a second time, and they lit the ends of their arrows. All along the edge of the clearing he saw the small bursts of flame.
Whoo-whoo.He gave the final signal, took aim, and thirty flaming arrows shot through the night sky. A handful of his men ran to the door to hold it shut, while others subdued the drunken guards, and the rest of them continued shooting flaming arrows.
As he watched the roof catch fire and burn bright against the night sky, Rory was taken back to the night Killin burned. He could feel Sybil’s limp body in his arms, the floor burning his feet, and the smoke choking his lungs as he kicked at the shutters that were nailed shut.
He had vowed revenge for that night, and he would have it now.
The first shouts and cries of alarm reached him through the crackle of the fire. Men inside began pounding on the door to get out. Rory was unmoved. He remembered the heads of the Munro dead in the holy well. Hector and his men deserved their fate. When a woman’s scream pierced the night, however, he realized there were innocents inside as well.
“Send out your women and children!” he shouted up at the windows. “They will not be harmed!”
His men opened the door and stood guard on either side of the doorway with their swords drawn, ready to cut down any man who attempted to escape with the handful of terrified women who ran out, some of them holding children. When the last one escaped the fire, he signaled for the door to be closed again.
Hector’s men called out from the windows, begging for mercy. In the light of the flames, Rory could see the growing unease of the faces of his men. He reminded himself that Hector’s men had refused to pledge their loyalty to their rightful chieftain, and they were responsible for many misdeeds that endangered the clan.
“These are our clansmen,” Alex said beside him.
“They don’t deserve mercy,” Rory said.
“Mercy is for the undeserving,” Alex said.
“Our father and grandfather were great chieftains, and ye know damned well neither of them would have spared men who rebelled against them.”
He glanced at Sybil, who had come out from the woods to comfort the women and children. She wanted to tell their own children and grandchildren the story of how he had outwitted his uncle, but this was not the story she would be proud to tell them.
And in his heart, he knew she and Alex were right.
“Any man willing to swear his loyalty shall be spared!” he shouted. “Drop your weapons as you come out!”
One after another the warriors streamed out, their faces marked with soot. They dropped their weapons in the growing pile and then dropped to their knees wherever they could find a place. There were so many surrendering that they filled the clearing.
“There must be three hundred of them to our thirty,” Alex said. “You’ve humiliated Hector with such a crushing defeat. Every MacKenzie who has not yet pledged his loyalty will be as anxious to do so.”
Rory had done what he set out to do.
Sybil came to his side and hugged his arm as she looked up him. “I knew ye would succeed!”
The flow of men fleeing the house had finally stopped. He stood with Sybil on his right and his brother on his left, ready to accept the oaths from Hector’s men.
“Where is Hector?” Sybil asked in a low voice.
“He’s chosen to die in the flames rather than face execution for his treachery.” Rory’s pardon did not apply to their leader.
Rory watched the door as a last man stumbled out and fell to his knees.
“Mercy!” he croaked. “By the blood we share, mercy!”
Hector.Rory drew his sword and walked toward his uncle. The heat from the fire was so intense this close to the house that it burned his skin, but it was nothing compared to the fire exploding inside him.
