Avenge My Kin - Book 2

Left alone again for a few minutes on the stern of the pirate's vessel, Morag’s weary brain continued to dream of the meeting with Ingrid and Lynn in the Orkney Isles.

. “The bad ones came back,” Ingrid said with dread. “They laughed when the children threw rocks, but when Brutus stood up and joined with them and struck several with his rocks, the evil ones retreated. But I distinctly heard their leader yell, tell the Priestess we’ll be back.”

Morag was horrified. “Were they after another female child?”

“They could be; they know we don’t have men in the village to protect us; we were so fortunate Brutus was here.”

Linn gripped her short sword. “Then we three will search the beach and look for any signs that they’ve come back?”

But it was a plan that went amiss. The rogue pirates attacked without warning, and came as a determined group with a structured plan. They emerged at the run from behind sand dunes and were nine in number and each had the lower half of their faces concealed by a red scarf; a red bandana covered their head and hair. It quickly became obvious Morag was their target.

Linn freed her sword and tossed the spear to Brutus in time to face the challenge from four of the group of nine. The pirates split off into pairs and engaged Linn and Brutus with a controlled display of aggression.

Morag surprised two of her assailants with body wounds from her dagger, but a solid blow to the back of the head felled her to the sand. From there she was quickly grabbed by two of her attackers and dragged through the shallow waters to the corsair vessel. It was the signal to retreat, and those on the beach formed a defensive wall to deflect the fury of Brutus and Linn as Morag was hauled over the side of the twenty-foot lapstrake.

An archer appeared at the bow and loosed an arrow that narrowly missed the head of Brutus; the closeness of the projectile forced he and Linn to halt momentarily, and their delay allowed the oppressors to scramble up the sides of the vessel, where it headed for the open sea.

Linn dropped her sword from a bloodied arm, and knelt to bow her forehead to the wet sand, and voluminous tears flowed in frustration.

Brutus was stunned, the impossible had happened, his Morag had been taken from him - and he had been unable to prevent it from happening.

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“Where did you get that?” Baron St.Clair asked in a hushed voice as he viewed the crystal skull.

Andrew’s reply was indignant. “I told him it was a Templar treasure and should be left where he found it?"