Page 52 of The Chief's Wild Promise
Dizziness swept over Makenna. She applauded her father’s response, but she couldn’t help but believe that he’d just played into Black Duncan’s hands. The man wanted a spectacle—and he’d just given him the opportunity to put one on for his warriors.
Tutting, Campbell glanced over at where a serving lad stood to his right. “Fetch fresh parchment, ink, pounce, and a quill from my solar.”
The youth nodded and took off like a hare out of the hall.
“Ye are wasting yer time,” Makenna’s father snarled. “Take the wool out of yer ears. I said—”
Campbell silenced him with a wave. “Ye’re all bluster, Bruce … but ye won’t be for much longer.” He shifted his gaze to where a group of his warriors stood a few yards away, clearly awaiting his command. “Haul Captain Walker out of the pit.”
A short while later, the Captain of the Meggernie Guard stood, bloodied yet defiant, in the middle of the hall. He’d fought the warriors who’d retrieved him, but in the end, they’d bested him.
“A loyal man, Walker,” Campbell drawled. He looked on, amused, as Walker was finally subdued. “Buthowloyal?” He leaned forward, his gaze spearing the tall, rawboned man. “Would ye die for yer clan-chief?”
“Ye filthy maggot,” the MacGregor rasped. His face reddened then as he realized the game his enemy was now playing. “How dare ye—”
“Cede nothing, Bruce,” Walker cut him off. His grey eyes were as hard as flint. “No matter what he does, don’t give him what he wants.”
“Brave words,” Campbell replied smoothly. “But ye’ll lose yer head nonetheless.”
Makenna gasped. “No!”
All gazes cut to her, but she barely noticed. Instead, she lurched to her feet. “Cease this wickedness!”
The chieftain snorted. “I’m just getting started, lass.” He nodded to the men flanking her, and they grabbed hold of Makenna’s arms, yanking her back down onto the bench seat. Campbell then gestured to the men who restrained Walker. Wordlessly, they dragged him over to the shallow stone-lined pit.
They pushed him down so he knelt in the center of it, so that his throat pressed against the smooth, curved stone.
An executioner’s block.
Fury splintered within her. “Barbarians!” she shouted. “I’ll gut the lot of ye if ye touch him!”
The men on either side of her increased their grip on her arms. A warning. Meanwhile, mocking laughter rang in her ears. Robbie Campbell was now grinning like a wolf, while his father—of a more cunning disposition—wore an enigmatic half-smile. “She’s got a sharp tongue this one, Robbie … are ye sure ye can handle her?”
“Oh, aye,” his son assured him. He then looked over at Makenna and licked his lips.
A strangled noise erupted through the hall, and Makenna jerked her head toward it. Tormod was on his feet now, his hands clenched by his side. His face was twisted. “Ye promised her to me, Campbell,” he ground out—each word biting. “Or do ye forget?”
Makenna’s heart kicked like a wild pony.What?
The chieftain favored him with a veiled look. “I told ye I’dthinkon it, lad … and I have. MacGregor’s daughter is too valuable to give to the likes of ye.”
Tormod rasped a curse, yet Black Duncan merely smirked. “I’ll give ye Rae Maclean though … I don’t care what ye do to him.”
“That’s not—”
“Enough,” Campbell cut him off sharply. “I have spoken.” Shifting his attention from the warrior—whose face was now pinched with rage—the chieftain took the parchment, ink pot, bag of pounce, and quill from the out-of-breath servant who’d just rushed upstairs to do his bidding.
He then refocused on Makenna’s father. “I will write out the agreement again, MacGregor. Will ye sign it?”
Makenna’s father was sweating now, his green eyes tormented.
“Don’t agree!” Walker called out from where the Campbell warriors held him down. One of them had taken a polearm from the wall. Its whetted ax blade gleamed in the torchlight. “Make my end worth something.” There was no fear in his voice now, only outrage.
“No, Lloyd!” Makenna cried out, panicked. “We can’t—”
“Quiet, Makenna!” her father cut her off sharply, even as his voice faltered. “Ye aren’t helping, lass.”
Her pulse started thudding wildly in her ears. “No,” she whispered, the sound broken. She couldn’t lose Lloyd. He’d trained her, encouraged her, and given her gentle support when she needed it. He was a good man—one of the best. They couldn’t just stand by and watch him be executed.