Read Online Insurrection: Renegade [02] by Robyn Young - Free Book Online Page B

Spurring at Fleet’s sides for all he was worth, he aimed at the fallen tree, hoping against hope he could make it over the top of the flailing horse on the other side.
    Fleet saw the danger and tried to veer in mid-flight to avoid the wounded palfrey. He might have made it, but the palfrey twisted instinctively away, sensing the animal bearing down on it. Fleet’s hoof landed between its front legs. Robert was flung violently from the saddle as the courser buckled on top of the palfrey. The world spun, treetops wheeling in his vision, before he crashed into the mud, the breath knocked from him. His sword sailed from his grasp into the undergrowth.
    Robert lay motionless, heaving the air back into his lungs, before pushing himself up. Fleet was trying to stand, the palfrey struggling beneath. Murtough was still in the saddle, being ground into the mud by the weight of both horses. The monk’s scarred face was just visible. It was covered in blood. One arm was flung above his head, switching this way and that with the horse’s frantic movements. Hearing hoof-beats, Robert turned to see Niall riding back.
    ‘Hurry!’ Niall drew to a skidding halt, holding out a hand. ‘They’re coming!’
    As Robert staggered to his feet, he saw their pursuers racing towards them beyond the fallen bough. Some of the riders broke away, clearly meaning to ride around the obstacle and outflank them. He wrenched the staff from his belt, the cloth falling away as he thrust the relic at his brother’s outstretched hand. ‘Take it!’
    Niall Bruce grasped the gem-encrusted crosier, but his youthful face filled with shock. ‘No, Robert! Get up behind me!’
    ‘Your horse cannot carry us both.’ Robert glanced back. A man in a sky-blue cloak was leading the charge, his face determined. ‘Go! Get it to Scotland. To James Stewart. Go! ’ He roared the last word, striking Niall’s courser on the rump and sending the animal charging away.
    Robert lunged for the bushes where his weapon had landed. His fingers curled around the hilt as the thunder of hooves filled the forest. He turned, swinging the blade round to defend himself as the man in the blue cloak came hurtling towards him. There was a fierce shout and a rush of limbs and red hair as Cormac swept in from the side. He lashed out with his sword, catching the man in blue in the back. It was a glancing blow that was deflected by mail, but the man had been leaning in to tackle Robert and the attack caught him by surprise. He fell forward in his stirrup and crashed against the pommel. While he was off-balance, Robert crouched and swung his broadsword, two-handed, into the front leg of the man’s horse. As the animal and its rider smashed into the mud, Robert swooped.
    The man reacted quickly, rolling to avoid Robert’s first strike, then bringing up his sword to deflect the second. The blades clashed, the man snarling with the effort as Robert pressed down on top of him. He kicked out, catching Robert in the knee with his mailed boot. Robert staggered back, his sword going wide, giving his opponent the chance to haul himself to his feet. The man’s blue cloak was streaked with mud and there was a gash down the side of his face. His black hair was matted with blood, but his gaze was focused as he came in for the attack, thrusting at Robert’s side.
    Robert battered his sword away, then switched back and lunged with the pommel, aiming to break his enemy’s nose. The man flung his head to one side and reeled out of reach, then came in hard and fast, with a brutal cut to the shoulder. As Robert deflected it, grunting at the vicious concussion of steel, he dimly heard the squeal of a horse and Cormac’s yell, but he didn’t have a chance to see what had happened to his foster-brother before his opponent struck again.
    Robert ducked under one blow, blocked the second, then caught the third in the shoulder. His hauberk and the padded gambeson beneath protected him from any cut, but the