Redemption (Book Two of the Shipwrecked Series) by Jenna Stone Page A

come true.
    Adahy had come for
his daughter.

Chapter Seven
     
    Quinn’s heart
thundered in his chest as he made his final preparations.  He dismounted his
horse and removed the dagger from his belt, thinking it best to enter the
village unarmed.  He hastily stashed the dagger in his saddlebag.  The small
dirk would be of little defense if the savages decided to kill him.
    Death was a risk
that he had reconciled and was willing to take.  He would give anything to
bring Mairi back to Sarah.
    He pulled the
leather throng from his chestnut hair and ran his fingers through it roughly. 
The thick masses now fell loosely about his shoulders.  Quinn knew that this
was how the savages wore their hair, free and unbound.  Maybe it would help
    His fingers worked
quickly as they dug the leather wrapped parcel from the saddlebag and undid the
twine that held the package together.  The horse whickered nervously and
stomped his feet in protest.  The scent of coppery blood had reached his
flaring nostrils, unnerving him.
    Quinn took the
heart from its leather wrapping and looked down at it in his palm.  It was
huge.  Fresh blood still dripped from the vessels that Quinn had severed when
removing it from the bear.  Reaching with his free hands to grab the reins of
his horse, he began to walk into the village. 
    His boots made no
effort to avoid the small sticks and dried leaves that littered the path.  He no
longer worked to stay hidden in the forest.  Quinn wanted them to see him now. 
He wanted the savages to hear his movement and confront him.
    The heart was cold
in his hand, slack and lifeless in the grips of his fingers.  Blood dripped
from the large muscle and fell in small circles that splattered the forest
floor.  The contrast between the crimson splatters of blood and the bright
yellow aspen leaves that littered the autumn ground was stark.
    As Quinn
suspected, the savages noticed his presence almost immediately.  They had been
watching him.  Three men revealed themselves from the cover of the trees on the
north side of the narrow path.  They stood in a human wall before Quinn,
shoulder to shoulder.
    Quinn’s pulse
hammered in his veins.  He felt perspiration break out across his skin and
suddenly, he felt too warm.  He would not indicate any form of weakness to
them.  He stood straight and refused to show any sign of fear.
    He regarded the
men confidently, shoulders squared and spine rigid.  His face was expressionless
save for his glowering steel gray eyes. 
    The men were
dressed in buckskin clothing and each had long, straight black hair that fell
to the middle of their backs. The pitch black color of their hair reminded
Quinn of Sarah.
    Focus. Doona
think of Sarah now.
    Two of the men had
bows and complimentary quivers of feather tipped arrows slung over their
shoulders.  The third man was larger and held a single lethal looking spear in
his fist.
    Quinn knew that
they could kill him easily if he made the wrong move.  He had willingly put
himself at their mercy.
    Moving with
caution, he slowly released the reins of his horse and took a step away from
the beast.  His only weapon was in the saddlebag.  He was completely
defenseless.  Very slowly, Quinn raised his hands to show that he came unarmed.
    The men chattered
amongst themselves in their strange tongue.  They maintained their grips on
their weapons as they evaluated Quinn.
    “Adahy,” Quinn
said firmly as he slowly raised the heart that he held in his right hand. 
“Uzumati,” he added, remembering the word that Sarah had taught him for grizzly
bear.  He hoped that he had pronounced the word correctly.  He made a gesture
to indicate that the heart was a gift for Adahy.
    One of the men
smiled and nodded.  His eyebrow arched over his almond shaped brown eye.  He
looked pleased, almost friendly.
    “Uzumati?” he
asked, stepping closer and looking skeptically at the heart that Quinn held in
his blood stained hand.
    “Aye,”