Highland Hero by Hannah Howell Page B

that madmon.”
    Following close behind him, Edina nodded and idly patted Gar’s head as the dog finally caught up to her. As they crept toward the churchyard, she prayed that little Malcolm was unhurt. Despite Lucais’s assertions that she had nothing to feel guilty about, she could not stop blaming herself for the danger the child was in. If anything happened to Malcolm, she was not sure she could forgive herself.
    When Lucais stopped and crouched down, she silently edged up next to him. It took all her willpower not to race out into the churchyard they looked out on. Simon stood before two graves, Malcolm crying at his feet. He held a sword in his hand and six mounted men watched the wood that surrounded them. At any moment Simon could cease talking to the grave and kill the child, and there would be nothing they could do but watch.
    “Ye cannae reach him,” she whispered.
    Lucais cursed softly, for it did look bad. He suddenly turned and looked at Gar. The dog had worked to divert the men before, but he was not sure it would work a second time. Simon was a lot closer to Malcolm than he had been to Edina and the child that day at the brook.
    Edina saw the direction of his stare and also looked at her dog. “If he is seen, Simon can kill Malcolm ere any of us can reach him.”
    “I ken it. Do ye think he can get near one of the men without being seen?”
    “Simon has himself weel encircled with watchful eyes this time. I cannae be sure.”
    She looked at the men in the churchyard, then back at her dog. The idea forming in her mind could easily mean Gar’s death. Edina patted his big shaggy head and felt like weeping. It was a horrible choice to make, but the child’s life was more important. She briefly hugged the dog, then looked at Lucais.
    “There is something he can do that might at least give ye the chance to save Malcolm. Gar can put himself between Simon and the bairn.”
    Lucais clasped her hand, squeezing it in sympathy, for he knew how much she loved her dog and she could be sending the animal to its death. “How?”
    “I will tell him to go and fetch Malcolm. I will get him to race into the churchyard and try to grab the child and run with him.”
    “Would it be better to tell him to attack Simon?”
    “Nay, for all Simon needs to do is cut him down as he runs at him. One of those men will see him. If Gar runs for the child instead, it might confuse them, giving ye that brief opening needed to pull Simon away from the bairn so that poor wee Malcolm can be pulled out of harm’s reach. Simon may still kill Gar, but my dog’s body will then be between Simon’s sword and Malcolm for one brief moment.”
    “Tell Gar what he needs to do and I will pass along the word to my men.”
    Lucais disappeared into the underbrush for a moment and Edina hugged her dog again. Softly she told him what he had to do, finding his eagerness painful. He trusted her completely and could not know that she was asking him to risk death. Even as Lucais reappeared, he nodded, and she sent Gar on his way.
    Her heart pounding, Edina clasped her hands tightly together as she watched. It surprised her a little when Gar approached slowly, as if stalking an animal. When one of Simon’s men cried out a warning and everyone looked toward Gar, the dog lunged. He ran straight for Simon, who readied himself to cut the dog down as soon as he was in sword’s reach. For one brief moment Edina thought Gar had misunderstood her command, then he veered. She gaped in wonder even as Lucais cursed when Gar darted around a screaming Simon, grabbed Malcolm by his little nightshirt, and kept on running. Simon and his men moved frantically to catch the dog, and that was when Lucais and his men attacked.
    When Simon and his men turned to protect their own lives, Gar trotted back to her, little Malcolm swinging from his mouth. Edina quickly took the baby in her arms and hugged her dog. Following Lucais’s orders to go to the horses and wait if she