Page 67 of Keepers of the Highland Crown
“NELLA!”
Chapter 35
“NELLA!” Callum yelled while he watched in horror as the saddle’s leather girth snapped by strain midway across the jump.
The saddle and Nella along with it fell into the rapids while the stallion landed riderless onto the far embankment. Her tawny hair appeared part whirlpool as it swirled about her before she went under from the current and the weight of her gown. He sunk his heels into Luss’s ribs. The stallion bolted alongside the embankment, following the white rapid’s direction down steam.
Where! Where was she?
Her head popped up dead center before she vanished under a fresh wave. What was the quickest way to her? Dive in? No. Jump off Luss mid-flight and land near her? Aye.
“Come on, Luss,” he murmured toward the beast, whose ears flickered back at him.
They needed to get a head start on her, then he would make the jump. He ripped the heavy MacMardan chainmail tunic off his shoulders, and it hit the ground with a thud. His gaze looked forward before ice ran his veins quick as the waters he was about to plunge into. There was a garden in boulders ahead, crisscrossing the river. No!
“Come on,” he pressed the stallion in all he had. Wind and branches and fear slapped him in the face.
He must get ahead of her then jump.Angle the stallion there. Aye, right there. He could leap off mid-flight, Luss would land on the far embankment, and he would fall into the waters before her.
Removing his feet from the stirrups, his knees became an iron vice in their place. His breath huffing, he narrowed his gaze at the lady who bobbled about on the waves, her arms flapping same as a distressed dove above the bubbly surface.
“Callum!” he heard her cry before the wind snatched it away.
Hold on, Nella! Coming! Just hold on!
Luss, now! The stallion soared above the water; he let his legs follow the natural force upward, and they cleared the stallion’s back before he released the grip on the mane. The mighty creature no longer beneath him, he fell same as the boulders threatening in the distance.
Splash!Water slammed his body and face and up his nostrils as he hit the rapid. Giving an inward growl, he kicked fiercely while reaching upward. Was it upward? Kick harder, dammit! All the years she was lost to him; he would not lose her now. Not here! Not ever again!
Gulping a deep breath as he crested above the surface, he blinked several times. Where?
“Nella?” he cried as only swirling white rapids circled him. He should be ahead of her in the river at the distance calculated!
As Callum spun about, the sight of the three onshore racing closer appeared, their mouths moving but the words were lost in the roar from the churning moveable graveyard about him. He looked upstream, his eyes darted frantically.Wave, wave, log, grab that!His arm snaked out, fetching the rough barked savior before he rose up higher. Was… was that an emerald woolen?
Wild eyes met his as she resurfaced. Kicking like a kelpie was rushing him from behind, he headed for her.Watch the damn current; if she passes by without being caught, all… all would be lost. Move it!
She was going to angle there toward that swirl pattern if the rapid held.
“Nella!” he yelled as her eyes locked on his a moment. “Give me your hand!”
With one final kick by his feet, the brush from her fingers met his. Got her! He locked an iron grip on her hand, dragging her close before he tucked her between him and the log.
Cough. Cough.“Callum,” she whimpered.
“I have you, Nella,” his raspy voice promised, but did he have a way out for them?
He spun his legs under the water, spinning them in the process. The three onshore were desperately trying to rip a branch for them to grab, but the boulders… were too close. They would never make it in time.
His heart dropped slightly when the waterway took a unique curve ahead. That was what he and Holger had argued over. A steep waterfall loomed they were about to encounter if they didn’t crash upon the rocks before the fall itself!
“Nella,” he half spat in her ear as the water engulfed them at a rise by the rapids, “a waterfall lies ahead.” He kicked harder for the embankment. “Dammit! I cannot get us to the embankment in this current.”
He looked one last time at the three shoreside who ran in vain toward the boulder landscape they currently sailed through. All eyes as wide as the falls they were about to drop off of.
The rock there – watch it!He coiled up his legs, giving a grunt when his feet slammed the projectile as the log crashed it first, taking the harder hit. Both their necks snapped back at the force in re-direction.
“Nella,” he ordered desperately, “hold on to me. We will survive the fall! I vow it!”
