Highland Warrior, McCollum, Heather [carter reed .TXT] 📗

Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Glossary

Book of Revelations

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Epilogue

Historical Note

Acknowledgments

About the Author

More from Heather McCollum

The Spinster and the Rake, by Eva Devon

The Rakehell of Roth, by Amalie Howard

Hitched to the Gunslinger, by Michelle McLean

Her Wicked Marquess, by Stacy Reid

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Heather McCollum. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

10940 S Parker Road

Suite 327

Parker, CO 80134

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Alethea Spiridon

Cover design by

LJ Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

Cover art by Photographer: VJ Dunraven/Period Images and martinm303/Depositphotos

Interior design by Toni Kerr

MMP ISBN 978-1-68281-570-0

ebook ISBN 978-1-68281-592-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition May 2021

Also by Heather McCollum

Sons of Sinclair series

Highland Conquest

The Campbells series

The Scottish Rogue

The Savage Highlander

The Wicked Viscount

The Highland Outlaw

Highland Isles series

The Beast of Aros Castle

The Rogue of Islay Isle

The Wolf of Kisimul Castle

The Devil of Dunakin Castle

Highland Hearts series

Captured Heart

Tangled Hearts

Untamed Hearts

Crimson Heart

Highland Heart

To those who work to grow peace in our world… Thank you

Scots Gaelic and Old English Words Used in Highland Warrior

aàlainn—lovely

bacraut—asshole (Old Norse)

blaigeard—bastard

blide-maet—joy-food (Old Norse-Norn), served to those visiting a newly born baby

broch—halo around the moon (Old Norse—name of Kára’s horse)

cac—shite

daingead—damn it

dróttning—chief, queen (Old Norse)

fuil—blood (name of Joshua’s horse)

konungr—king (Old Norse)

magairlean—ballocks

sgian dubh—black-handled dagger

targe—shield, usually made of wood and lined with steel

tolla-thon—arsehole

Whitna whalp—What a devil (Old Norse)

Book of Revelations

1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 

2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. 

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 

4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill one another. To him was given a large sword. 

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 

6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” 

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 

8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death…

Orkney Isle off the northern coast of Scotland

20 October in The Year of Our Lord 1589

Chapter One

“A wise warrior avoids the battle.”

Sun Tzu – The Art of War

“Retreating, Sinclair?” John Dishington, the sheriff for Lord Robert Stuart, smirked from his place by the table in the receiving hall of the Earl’s Palace. Cocky, scarred, and always looking for a fight, Dishington was one warrior Joshua Sinclair certainly would not miss when he left Orkney Isle.

“I will retreat only if God calls his Horsemen back to Heaven,” Joshua said, using the legend around him being the Horseman of War. It was a familiar role and usually shut the mouths of fools. “I am journeying back home to the mainland of Scotland for Samhain, not retreating.”

Dishington laughed, pushing away from the table. “A pardon for the confusion. You retreated from the field at South Ronaldsay.” Dishington, who called himself The Brute of Orkney, had more thirst for fighting than wish to stay alive.

Joshua inhaled deeply, his nostrils opening to feed his blood with warrior energy as he turned, the promise of death cutting into the lines of his face. “Lies will see your tongue cut from your screaming mouth,” he said, his tone low. The two warriors assigned to watch the arrow slits in the interior wall backed up near the hearth as if wishing to stay out of an inevitable battle.

Dishington picked up his tankard, using it to salute Joshua. “Och now, Sinclair. I know you count the battle as a win for your side, but when that lad fell, you carried him from the field. It looked like a retreat to me.”

Adam. The boy’s face, still and pale as the blood from his wound soaked his tunic. The vision haunted Joshua like a specter stalking him everywhere. His hands fisted as if he could change the outcome of that horrible day. “The battle was over,” he said. “And despite both sides taking too many casualties, we were the victors.”

Dishington saluted him again with his tankard and took a drink. “As you say,” he said, wiping his mouth, which twisted into a wry grin.

“I should have lopped your head off at South Ronaldsay,” Joshua said, turning away to nod at the two men he had trained for the last three months. “Stay strong, Tuck, Alec.” They nodded back, and he strode out to the broad double doors of the castle that Lord Robert Stuart, the