Highland Warrior by McCollum, Heather (good summer reads .txt) 📕

Calder called out as he walked up. “I will not be left behind when Brenna and my babe are on that shore.”

Joshua glanced into Kára’s anxious face. “Well then, we have an army of our own.” He smiled.

Joshua climbed aboard first, glancing up to where Kára spoke to her grandmother before stepping over and onto the slack rungs of the rope ladder. Once the five of them were onboard, he and Calder took up the oars and put their backs into rowing toward a strip of sandy shore along the crescent of Sinclair Bay. Sea spray and wind added to the cold, but all Joshua could do was smile. He was bringing home the woman he loved.

“Ugh!” Osk yelled and leaned his head over the rail.

“The waves are even more tossing in this,” Geir said, patting his uncle on his leg. “We are almost there.”

As they came level with the piers off to his left, Joshua peered over his shoulder. Waiting on the beach were his three brothers, Cain and Gideon scowling, Bàs wearing his skull mask that hid most of his face. Joshua turned back, a grin growing. Even though it looked like he might be going to war right away, it would be good to be with his family again. His smile fell as he looked to Kára. I will ask Kára to come with me. The thought eased the tightness in his chest.

The rowboat ran aground on the sand. The splashing behind him made him twist to see Gideon and Bàs grabbing the bow of the dinghy to pull it in. “Appreciated,” Joshua said, smiling broadly. He leaped out and reached back for Kára, but she had already jumped onto the sand. Osk was out and on the beach, plopping down and sucking in large gulps of air. Geir and Calder also leaped up onto the beach, their eyes wide as they stared at Bàs in his skull mask. Joshua helped his brothers haul the boat up high onto the beach.

Bàs stripped away his helmet and stepped forward to hug Joshua, slapping his back. “Good to see ye alive, brother.”

Joshua pulled back to match his brother’s smile with his own. “Ye, too, brother.”

“First Pastor John brings me this ridiculous letter,” Cain yelled as he stalked closer, his Horseman of Conquest crown on his head and his nostrils flaring. He waved a folded parchment in the air. “Saying my brother breaks all ties with his clan.”

Joshua walked toward him. “I have an expla—”

“And then…” Cain yanked out the two scraps of fabric that Joshua had knotted together. “I am delivered this by a hundred people from Orkney who say ye have gone to war against the Earl of Orkney, Robert Sinclair, uncle to King James.”

“A definite treasonous act,” Gideon added, his deadly sword strapped to his broad back, bare arms crossed. He frowned fiercely, giving him the appearance of a condemning judge. He possessed the natural ability to look condescending, irritated, and damning all at the same time.

“Are my people safe?” Kára asked, coming to stand in front of Joshua, her hands fisted and legs set as if to battle. She seemed to be protecting him. Gideon’s eyebrow rose in surprise. Joshua could not stop the grin that spread across his face as he stared out at his brothers over her head.

Gideon and Bàs both studied her, but Cain kept frowning. “Aye, they are well,” Cain said. “Odd, but well.”

“Odd?” Calder asked, his gaze lifting to the bank where the armies stood ready for war.

“Are those…green horses?” Geir asked, squinting.

Gideon looked at Calder. “One woman, with a new bairn strapped to her, wanted to know if the fae or trolls lived in trees here and stole bairns away in the night.”

Calder met his gaze. “And what was your answer?”

Cain blinked once, and Joshua swore he saw his eye twitching. “Nay, of course,” Cain roared.

“Hannah took her into Girnigoe,” Bàs said, recognizing the concern in Calder’s face. “They are both well, although she will not put the bairn in a cradle unless it has a dagger beneath it.”

“Really,” Geir said, still staring up to the bank. “You have a herd of green horses?”

“Aye,” Gideon said quickly.

“They just look green,” Bàs said.

“Are they ill?” Geir asked.

Cain waved the tied scraps again, his voice carrying over everything. “Red for ye and black for dead, and the ties mean I am to do nothing about it. Did ye really think I would do nothing about this?” He shook the tied scraps violently.

Joshua’s smile faded as he looked above at the standing armies. “Ye were planning to bring war to Orkney?”

“Bloody hell,” Geir said. “You could wipe out Robert and all his damn sons.”

Anger sparked inside Joshua. “And make all of Clan Sinclair traitors to the crown? What the fok were ye thinking?”

“We are strong enough to take on the crown,” Gideon said, his jaw firm as if he’d studied all the outcomes.

“And put all these people at risk?” Joshua threw his hand out to the armies above. “Whose stupid idea was that?”

Cain walked up to him but couldn’t get right up in his face with Kára standing between them. He looked over her head to stare Joshua in his eyes. “Mine,” he said and clenched his teeth. He held up the tied scraps. “Did ye really believe I would think ye were dead from this? Dead and gone, so we should do nothing?”

“Nay,” Joshua said. “Ye are smarter than that.”

Gideon stood beside them. “We questioned every person coming from Orkney as to what the scraps meant, and not one of them could explain the signal. Therefore, ye must have tied and sent it before ye were dead.”

Joshua kept his fierce expression. “I gave the scraps to the group fleeing so ye would know I sent them to Caithness. If I had sent my sword, ye might think they stole it from me.”

Gideon snorted. “Who could steal the sword of the Horseman of War?”

“I did,” Kára said, and