The Saint: A Highland Guard Novel Read online

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

  A Ballantine Books eBook Edition

  Copyright © 2012 by Monica McCarty

  Excerpt from The Recruit copyright © 2012 by Monica McCarty

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  BALLANTINE and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book The Recruit by Monica McCarty. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-53211-4

  Cover illustration: Franco Accornero

  Cover lettering: Iskra Design

  www.ballantinebooks.com

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  The Highland Guard

  Foreword

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Other Books by This Author

  Excerpt from The Recruit

  THE HIGHLAND GUARD

  Tor “Chief” MacLeod: Team Leader and Expert Swordsman

  Erik “Hawk” MacSorley: Seafarer and Swimmer

  Lachlan “Viper” MacRuairi: Stealth, Infiltration, and Extraction

  Arthur “Ranger” Campbell: Scouting and Reconnaissance

  Gregor “Arrow” MacGregor: Marksman and Archer

  Magnus “Saint” MacKay: Survivalist and Weapon Forging

  William “Templar” Gordon: Alchemy and Explosives

  Eoin “Striker” MacLean: Strategist in “Pirate” Warfare

  Ewen “Hunter” Lamont: Tracker and Hunter of Men

  Robert “Raider” Boyd: Physical Strength and Hand-to-Hand Combat

  Alex “Dragon” Seton: Dirk and Close Combat

  FOREWORD

  The year of our lord thirteen hundred and eight. After two and a half years of war, Robert “the Bruce” has waged one of the greatest recoveries in history. Against nearly insurmountable odds, with the help of his secret band of elite warriors known as the Highland Guard, he has defeated both the English at Glen Trool and Loudoun Hill and the powerful Scottish barons who stood against him—namely, the Comyns, the MacDowells, and the MacDougalls. In October, the Earl of Ross is finally brought to heel, submitting to Bruce, who now holds Scotland north of the Tay.

  With England’s new king, Edward II, busy trying to rein in his troublesome barons, and his brother Edward Bruce keeping watch over the troublesome south, King Robert enjoys a well-earned reprieve from battle. But Bruce’s hold on the crown of Scotland is anything but certain, and in a realm filled with enemies both named and unnamed, peace is merely an illusion. Soon, Bruce will face the greatest threat to his life yet, and once again, he will call upon the legendary warriors of the Highland Guard to save him.

  Prologue

  Inverbreakie Castle, Ross, Scottish Highlands,

  August 1305

  Magnus MacKay caught the movement out of the corner of his swollen eye, but it was too late. He couldn’t get the studded leather targe around in time to shield himself, and the war hammer landed with full, bone-crushing force across his left side, sending him careening headfirst into the dirt. Again. And this time with at least a few broken ribs.

  Behind his own grunt of pain, he heard the collective gasp of the crowd, followed by the anxious silence as they waited for his next move. If he had one.

  A broad shadow fell across him, blocking out the bright sunlight. He gazed up into the menacing visage of his enemy.

  “Had enough?” the Sutherland henchman taunted.

  Every inch of him had had enough. Magnus hurt in places he didn’t know he could hurt. He’d been bruised, battered, and hammered to a bloody pulp, but he wouldn’t give up. Not this time. For five years he’d suffered defeat at the hands of Donald Munro, the Sutherland champion. But not today. Today the prize was too important.

  Magnus spit the dirt out of his mouth, wiped the blood and sweat from his eyes, and gritted his teeth against the pain as he dragged himself back to his feet. He wobbled, but through sheer force of will steadied and shook the stars clear from his vision. “Never.”

  A cheer went up from the crowd. Or half the crowd, that is. Like the rest of Scotland, the clans gathered to watch the Highland Games were divided. It wasn’t Robert Bruce and John Comyn that men took sides with today, however (though both of Scotland’s claimants to the throne were present), but the parties to an even older and bloodier feud: the MacKays and the Sutherlands.

  “Stubborn whelp,” the other man said.

  Magnus didn’t necessarily disagree. He lifted his targe in one hand and his hammer in the other, and prepared for the next blow.

  It came. Again and again. Like a battering ram. Munro was relentless.

  But so was Magnus. Every time the fierce warrior knocked him down, he got up. He refused to surrender. He’d be damned if he’d come in second to the braggart again.

  The Sutherland henchman had been a thorn in his side since the first Games in which Magnus had competed, five years before. Magnus had been only eight and ten, and besting the heralded champion, who was five years older and already in the prime of his manhood, had seemed an impossible task.

  Then.

  But Magnus was no longer a stripling lad. In the last year, he’d added considerable bulk and strength to his lean, muscular build. And at a handful of inches over Munro’s six feet, Magnus had the advantage in height. The scales were no longer so unbalanced.

  He’d already acquitted himself well at these Games, winning the foot race and sword challenges—although the best swordsman in the Highlands, Tor MacLeod, was absent—and placing among the top three in the other competitions with the exception of swimming, which was to be expected. Magnus hailed from the mountains of Northern Scotland, and the Islanders dominated the water events.

  But this was the challenge Magnus had to win. The hammer event belonged to Munro. He’d dominated it for nearly ten years. It was his pride and dominion. And wresting the crown from his nemesis’s head to claim victory for the MacKays would make it all the more satisfying. Hatred ran deep between the two clans, but Munro’s arrogance and disdain had made it personal.

  Still, it was far more than hatred and clan pride fueling Magnus’s determination to win. He was deeply conscious of one set of eyes on him. One big and
crystal-blue set of eyes. Helen. The girl—nay, woman—he intended to marry. The thought of losing to Munro in front of her …

  He couldn’t. Damn it. He wouldn’t. How could he ask her to marry a man who came in second?

  He blocked another powerful blow with his shield, his muscles flexing to absorb the shock. Steeling himself against the burning in his side, he took the full weight of his opponent’s momentum on the shield and managed a swing of his own hammer. Munro twisted away, but the blow that Magnus landed on his shoulder was more than glancing.

  It was the first crack. The look of fury on his opponent’s face couldn’t mask his frustration. Munro was tiring. The fierce attack and repeated swings of the heavy weapon had taken their toll.

  This was it. The opening he’d been waiting for.

  Magnus caught the scent of something that revived his aching body like nothing else: victory. With a sudden, inexplicable burst of strength from the very bowels of his determination, he took the offensive. Pummeling with his hammer and thrusting with his targe, he drove his surprised opponent back.

  Munro stumbled, and Magnus seized the advantage, wrapping his foot around the henchman’s ankle to knock him completely to the ground. Kneeling on his chest, he thrust his shield against his enemy’s throat and lifted the hammer high above his head.

  “Yield,” he bit out forcefully, his words carrying across the silent arena. The stunning reversal had struck the crowd dumb.

  Munro tried to fight back, but Magnus was in control. He dug the edge of the targe deeper, crushing his opponent’s throat and cutting off his breath.

  “Yield,” he repeated. Rage surged through his veins, the brutality of the fight having taken its toll. The urge to finish it rose up hard inside him. But these were the Highland Games, not the life-and-death Games of the Gladiator.

  For one long heartbeat, however, it might have come to that. Munro refused to yield and Magnus refused to let him go until he did. Despite the temporary truce of the Games, the hatred raging between the two proud Highlanders threatened to destroy it.

  Fortunately, the decision was taken from their hands.

  “Victory to MacKay,” a man’s voice rang out. Baron Innes. The holder of Inverbreakie Castle and the host of these games.

  A cheer rang out. Magnus lowered his hammer, pulled back his targe, and released Munro. Standing, he thrust his arms out wide, basking in the cheers and savoring the rush of victory.

  He’d done it. He’d won. Helen.

  A swarm of people gathered around him. His father, younger siblings, friends, and a fair number of pretty young lasses.

  But none was the lass he most wanted to see. Helen couldn’t come to him. And as much as he wanted to see her right now, he dared not seek out her gaze.

  For his Helen, the lass he intended to marry, was none other than Helen Sutherland of Moray, the daughter of his greatest enemy, the Earl of Sutherland.

  Thank God it was over! Helen didn’t think she could bear another minute. Sitting there, watching Magnus get beaten to within an inch of his life, and not being able to react, being forced to smother every flinch, every gasp of horror, every whispered prayer for him not to get up, as the man who was like a brother to her pummeled him to the ground, had been pure agony.

  Magnus was too tough for his own good. The stubborn ox didn’t know when to give up!

  She was going to kill him herself for putting her through that. He knew she didn’t enjoy the violent competitions in the Highland Games—why men beat each other senseless in the name of sport, she would never understand—but for some reason he’d made her promise to be here.

  “Are you all right?”

  Helen tried to force her heart back down to her chest, but it seemed lodged permanently in her throat. She turned mutely to her brother.

  Kenneth’s concerned gaze flickered over her face and down to her hands, which were still clenched in the soft wool folds of her skirts. “You seem distressed. I thought you were going to faint for a moment.”

  Her pulse quickened. He was far too observant. She was distressed, but she dared not let him suspect the reason. Her brother despised the MacKays, and Magnus most of all. The two were close in age, but Magnus had gotten the best of him in the competitions since they were lads. If Kenneth found out about them …

  He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. It would be a disaster if he discovered she was consorting with the enemy. Sutherlands hated MacKays. MacKays hated Sutherlands. That’s just the way it was. But not for her.

  “I didn’t expect it to be so … intense,” she said, which was the truth. Belatedly she recalled her family loyalty. “And of course, I’m disappointed.”

  Kenneth eyed her suspiciously, as if he didn’t quite believe that was all there was to it. He knew her too well. She held her breath, but then the crowd roared again, distracting him. His face darkened as he took in the glee of the MacKays. “I can’t believe he won.” He shook his head. “Father is going to be furious.”

  A different kind of alarm shot through her. “Perhaps it would be best if we did not tell him? Not right away, at least.”

  Kenneth’s eyes met hers, his expression instantly grave. “Is it that bad?”

  “He will be fine,” she said firmly, assuring herself as much as her brother. Of course he would. It was the only possibility she would consider. “But I do not want to distract him. He needs all his strength to fight the illness.”

  But each time the lung ailment came back it seemed worse. She probably shouldn’t have come, but Magnus had made her promise. And the thought of not seeing him for another year with the threat of war swirling all around them …

  She couldn’t stay away.

  It was only a week. Her father would be fine without her for a week. She’d left precise instructions for Beth, the serving lass who helped her care for her father, and Muriel had promised to check on him. It was she who’d taught Helen everything she knew about healing.

  Kenneth held her gaze, the concern and fear in his eyes for their father mirroring her own. “Then perhaps you are right, it’s better not to upset him.” He took her elbow and nodded in the direction of their fallen champion. “Come, you’d best see to Munro. Although it appears it’s mostly our champion’s pride that has taken a beating.” A wry smile turned his mouth. “Perhaps he will learn a little humility.”

  If her brother didn’t sound altogether displeased by Donald’s loss, Helen didn’t wonder why. He’d suffered many defeats at the hand of their champion, and Donald loved to remind him of every one. Kenneth would have his day—as Magnus had just had his. But she knew how difficult it was for her proud brother, who was itching to step out of their shadows and prove himself.

  As soon as her brother looked away, Helen stole one last glance toward Magnus. But he was surrounded, lost in the crowd of cheering admirers, his enemy’s daughter undoubtedly far from his mind.

  She sighed. Soon he’d have crowds of ladies following him about like Gregor MacGregor and Robbie Boyd. The famed archer with the face of Apollo and the strongest man in Scotland had taken on a godlike status at the Games and had their own retinues of starry-eyed young women hanging on their every move.

  She followed her brother and pretended not to let it bother her. But it did. She wasn’t jealous—not really. Well, perhaps more of the freedom the women had to talk with Magnus in public than of the women themselves. Although the curvaceous blonde attached to his arm was quite pretty, she recalled with a pang.

  Why did everything have to be so complicated?

  At first she hadn’t given a second thought about sneaking away to meet him. The feud hadn’t mattered to her. All she’d been thinking about was that she liked him. That for the first time she’d met someone who seemed to understand her.

  When she was with him she felt unique, not different. He didn’t care that she didn’t like sewing or playing the lute. That she spent more time in the barn than she did in church. That watching animals give birth held an unmaidenly fascina
tion for her. He thought it was funny when she pointed out to Father Gerald that bleeding seemed a strange way of restoring humours when all it seemed to do was make the patient weak and pale. He didn’t care that she’d rather wear a simple woolen kirtle (more often than not tied up between her legs) than a fancy court gown. He hadn’t even laughed the one spring she’d decided to cut her hair because it kept getting in her eyes.

  But the constraints of the feud had begun to chafe. Stolen moments for the week of the Highland Games every year—and if they were lucky, perhaps a council meeting or two—were no longer enough. She wanted more. She wanted to be able to stand by Magnus’s side instead of those women and have him smile down at her the way he did that made her insides melt.

  If a little voice in the back of her head that sounded like her father said, “Perhaps you should have thought of this in the beginning, Helen lass?” she quieted it. It would be fine. Somehow they would make it work.

  She loved him, and he loved her.

  She gnawed on her lower lip. She was almost certain of it. He’d kissed her, hadn’t he? It didn’t matter that barely had their lips touched, and her heart finished slamming into her chest, when he’d set her harshly away from him.

  Part of her sensed his feelings ran just as deeply and passionately as hers. And despite the danger, despite the knowledge that her family would consider her actions a betrayal, she couldn’t stay away. It was foolish—impossible. But also exciting. When she was with Magnus she felt freer than she’d ever felt in her life.

  How could she not take what they had and hold on tight? As the famous ancient Roman poet Horace said, “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.” Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future. She might not have been much of a student when her father had brought in tutors for her, but she remembered that. The words had resonated.

  It seemed to take forever to tend Donald’s wounds, if not his tattered pride, but at the first opportunity she snuck away and waited for Magnus to find her. It didn’t take him long. Usually, making him work to find her was part of the fun. But she was so anxious to see him, she made it easy on him.