we try to weaken their defenses and force entry there. The other two will focus on the tower and buildings from the east and the west.
“Duncan will lead twenty men over the south wall with ropes and grappling hooks. The smoke and fire should create enough confusion to mask yer approach. Find Anna then leave the way ye came. We will avoid the back of the keep.”
Duncan felt the gaze of all three lairds.
“Five of his group will be my men,” Elliot added, his voice leaving no room for refusal.
Duncan nodded.
The plan was simple enough. Burn MacNairn to the ground and free Anna while doing so. Duncan picked a score of men to accompany him, including fifteen of the MacGregor men Anna had trained. The five Elliot men included her uncle and cousins. Now, only the torturous wait until midnight remained.
When Anna next woke, she found leather straps attached to the posts of the bed bound her wrists. Dressed only in her short shift and braies, she knew her helpless position spoke of MacNairn’s intent. Shivers of revulsion rippled down her spine to think of the man’s hands on her as he undressed her while she lay unconscious. With no soreness between her legs, or sign of blood on the bed she could see, she knew nothing carnal had happened—yet. A hasty scan of the small room showed no sign of her belongings or any other clothing.
A loud commotion echoed beyond the curtain wall, bringing shouts and clamoring from within the keep. Elliots? MacGregors? Stark fear shot through her. MacNairn will not let me leave alive—or unmolested. Her gaze cut to the door, half-expecting him to charge the room, intent on taking his anger out on her before he killed her. It was doubtful she would live long enough to be rescued. Whatever their plan of attack, she knew if she didn’t find some way to escape her current situation, the clans would be too late.
Though the night was cool, perspiration trailed down her face and her body shivered. She feared infection had set in the poorly treated wound, further limiting the amount of time she had to escape before she became disabled by weakness.
The new moon offered scant light, but provided a shadowed covering to hide her if she could escape this chamber. She shifted again on the bed and discovered she could bend enough to reach the bonds with her teeth. In a frenzy of hope, she struggled to untie the first, then used her free hand to quickly untie the other, rubbing blood and warmth back into her cut and bruised wrists. Retying the leather, she reluctantly slipped her hands into the loosened bonds and lay back on the bed, waiting for the devil or one of his lackeys to appear.
It wasn’t long before voices sounded in the corridor. The MacNairn stationed a guard at the door, then placed the key in the lock. As he entered the room, Anna closed her eyes to slits, feigning sleep. He loomed over her and she felt his presence, smelled it, suffocated in it. Every muscle in her body screamed for her to attack and it took all the discipline she possessed to remain relaxed.
Climbing onto the bed with her, MacNairn straddled her hips, crouching above her on all fours. Anna felt his hot, vile breath on her face as he leaned forward and licked her cheek. Without warning, she thrust her hips upward in a violent motion, throwing him forward into the stone wall, face first. Blood splattered warm across her skin.
He moaned, stunned from the impact. Quickly, she slipped her wrists from the loops. Bringing her legs up around his head, she trapped his neck and one of his arms in a vise-like grip. She pressed her legs tighter, the pressure on his neck cutting off the blood flowing to his brain.
Unable to utter more than a guttural protest, he flailed about, throwing them off the bed, almost dislodging her hold with the fall. Anna hit the edge of the bed frame hard, and a sharp, stabbing pain lanced through her side. She ignored the pain and flexed, squeezing tighter as his face turned a dark purple-red. His body flopped forward as he passed out, and she released him to scramble quickly onto his back. Grabbing his chin in one hand and his hair the other, she twisted his head with all the force she could muster. The resulting crack sent MacNairn to meet his son