Highland Gladiator by Kathryn Le Veque

Author:Kathryn Le Veque
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Medieval
Published: 2020-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three

The Lion of Caledonia

Chapter Eighteen

Although Lor had only been at the Ludus Caledonia a short while, leaving it felt oddly bittersweet.

He’d come to the Cal with absolutely nothing—no self-confidence, no friends, and no future. But he was leaving with all those things and more. He stood in his cottage, packing items he’d accumulated over the past couple of months and thinking about the life he was about to embark on. It hardly seemed real. He was just tying up the last of his possessions with a hemp binding when the door to his cottage opened.

“You are leaving us?” Galan said as he entered. “How is that possible? You have been here even less time than me.”

Lor smiled at the man, his one real friend. “I’m going back tae my village,” he said. “Well, not exactly my village, but near it. I’m going tae help a clan in need.”

Galan was bruised since his bout the day before, his left eye black and his lips swollen, but his injuries didn’t diminish the smile on his face. “I have heard,” he said, but his smile quickly faded. “But what about the men you wanted to exact revenge upon for your grandfather’s murder, Lor? That was why you were here, to learn to fight so that you could punish them. And now you are leaving so soon?”

Lor looked at Galan, wondering if he should tell him the truth—that he was going to destroy the clan responsible for his grandfather’s death from within. They thought that they’d bought a man to defend them, but they’d really bought their own destruction.

Even if it was the clan of the woman he loved.

In looking at Galan, he realized he couldn’t tell the man any of that. He couldn’t risk letting Galan in on his plans. At the Ludus Caledonia, everything was honor bound, and Lor had accepted an honorable offer of fealty even if he had accepted it with an ulterior motive.

Lor wouldn’t touch Galan with the stain of dishonor that he’d assumed himself. He respected Galan, and everyone else at the Cal, too much to confess that his reasons for accepting the Keith offer were subversive.

Wicked.

“It feels right,” he finally said. “The clan that offered for me is from the Highlands. That is where I’m from and where I will return. But I willna forget ye, Galan de Lara. Ye were a friend when I needed one.”

Galan’s smile returned as he reached out, taking Lor’s big hand. “I will miss you, Scotsman,” he said. “Or should I call you the Lion of Caledonia? That is all anyone can speak of today. You nearly destroyed the Beast.”

Lor lifted his eyebrows as if he, too, was surprised at his victory. “It was out of sheer terror,” he said. “But the techniques Milo has been teaching us helped. Milo is a good teacher.”

Galan nodded. “He is,” he said, letting go of Lor’s hand. “I will not keep you any longer, for I know you must depart, but I wanted to wish you well.

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