Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 405(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Ready to tell me the truth, Rory or Olin or whoever you are?” Slayer asked, approaching the man sitting on the ground bent over in pain, his broken wrists resting at his sides while blood soaked his sleeve and shirt from the wound on his arm. His face was bruised and battered, his mouth bloody and one eye swollen shut. One ankle was twisted at an odd angle as were a few of his fingers. His men had made sure he would be ready to talk.
“I will tell you anything you want to know,” Olin said and spit blood along with a tooth from his mouth.
Slayer grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. “Make sure it’s the truth this time or I’ll have my men start pricking your body with their daggers.” He shoved Olin’s head as he released his hair and stepped in front of him, waiting with his arms crossed over his chest and a furious scowl on his face.
Blood dribbled from the corner of Olin’s mouth as he spoke. “I sign my fate with what I am about to tell you.” He paused for a moment as if questioning if he should continue, then shrugged and winced in pain. “It matters not. I am already a dead man.” He attempted to grin but only caused himself to wince again. “I was hired to kill your brother and father.”
Slayer took a swift step forward, keeping his hands fisted tightly.
Olin cringed waiting for the blow he was sure to come and was surprised when it didn’t.
“Who hired you?” Slayer asked, containing his anger so that he would not do anything foolish before he got what he needed from him. “Why did this person want my father and brother dead?”
“You know it does not work that way. Mercenaries are given a mission but not a reason and seldom, if ever, is the person behind the mission revealed.”
“Tell me everything,” Slayer demanded.
Olin was quick to explain, his pain worsening by the minute. “My mission was to see both your brother and father dead. The attack on your brother was swift and brief thanks to the skilled warriors I hired. Your father on the other hand presented a problem.” He paused in pain.
“You got help,” Slayer said.
“I did.”
“Verina, our clan healer.”
“Aye. Verina, but she was no healer. She posed as one, going from clan to clan. I posed as a cleric who sought shelter for a few days and spotted her when she was outside the castle walls. I saw soon enough how your father favored her.” He paused again due to the pain.
“And threatened her if she didn’t help you?”
“And chance exposing myself? Nay.”
“You promised her coins,” Slayer said, having learned most people could be bought for a price and knowing those who had coin barely parted with it which meant. “Coins you never intended to give her.”
“You are wiser than I’d been told,” Olin said with a bit of admiration.
“You had her poison my father and unwittingly poison herself,” Slayer said.
“I did. I gave her two mixtures of herbs, one to sprinkle on a favorite food of his. Wild pottage, I believe she said he favored, and another mixture for her to take in case she received the poison accidentally. I knew she would take it out of fear, not need.”
“Who approached you about this mission?” Slayer asked.
“A monk, though like me it was a disguise. I was offered far more coins than seemed reasonable, so I asked why such generosity. He only had to say one word. Gallowglass. I warned myself to refuse the mission, but I thrive on challenges, and it certainly was a challenge to go against the Gallowglass.”
“So, when you finished your task, you decided to add to your wealth by going after the coins offered for one of the Murdock sisters?” Slayer asked, assuming his greed got the best of him.
Olin looked puzzled. “Nay. The sister with the two different colored eyes was part of the task.”
That news stunned and enraged Slayer, though his expression remained unchanged. That meant Halfdan was also responsible for his father and brother’s deaths. But why?
“It would have been an easy task and a successful one if I had reached Dundren Abbey before you.”
Never. Never would he have allowed that to happen even though he had never met Sky. It was his duty. She was his wife. Besides, no one took what belonged to a Gallowglass warrior and lived. And no one, not a soul alive, would take the woman he loved from him. He would have his wife back in his arms and soon.
“Tongues carried news throughout the Highlands about you searching for any word on your brother and father’s deaths. All I needed to do was spin a tale that your men would eventually hear, and you would come to me.”