She broke a strike and kicked the wound on Rett’s thigh again. He countered by slicing one of his blades across the top of her hand. Stella’s shirt sleeve was damp with blood. Odd that the wound on her arm was still bleeding. Superficial cuts healed in moments for her thanks to the remnants of goddess magic in her blood.
She twisted away from Rett and pulled her sleeve up. The cut looked the same as when it had first been inflicted.
When she looked up, Rett was hunched, catching his breath, but he smiled smugly. “Not healing in the way you’re accustomed to, eh? Treated my blades with a little something special for you. Let’s see how you do fighting like the rest of us mere mortals.”
Stella parried him, but he was stronger, and she was tired from the hike. She managed to knock away one of his short swords, but he just drew his dagger and kept coming.
Stella ran toward him, swiping her blade across his shoulder. Rett caught her wrist and plunged his dagger into her side. Her leathers were finely made but still no match for the wickedly sharp blade.
The pain was momentarily blinding, bright and white, sparks exploding in her vision. She instinctively slammed her forehead into Rett’s nose, and he stumbled back, wrenching his blade free.
Blood poured from the wound in Stella’s side, and she stumbled.
“Stella!” Teddy’s voice was panicked, but he was still fighting Drew and Dixon, so he didn’t turn to look at her.
“It’s fine,” she said.
Rett coughed, wiped blood from his mouth, and laughed menacingly. “She’s not all right. I got your girl good. Told you I’d stick her with one tool or another. Maybe both if she’s a good girl.”
He grabbed Stella’s arm and squeezed, but she could barely feel it over the blinding pain in her side.
Teddy’s rage was like a forest fire burning through their bond.
The storm came on so fast and furiously that the wind almost knocked them both over.
“Get your fucking hands off of her.” Teddy’s voice was the ominous low rumble of thunder that came before a lightning strike. “Call a storm, Stella.”
Stella summoned her storm magic the second before a bright lightning strike slammed into the center of their fight.
Everyone went flying in different directions. Stella hit the ground hard, her side protesting the impact, blood pouring into the dirt beneath her. Summoning the magic had saved her from being killed by the shock, but it didn’t save her from the impact of being thrown ten feet from the blast. For a second, she stayed there, hugging her satchel across the front of her body and staring up at the sky.
Then she remembered the urgency. She groaned as she pressed up to her knees. She crawled to her short swords, which had landed a few feet from her, and then to her bow. She fastened her short swords at her hips and looped her bow across her chest. With great effort, she forced herself fully upright just as Teddy sprinted to her side.
“Let’s go!” he shouted.
“Are they dead?” Stella asked.
“Probably not all of them, but you know the first rule of elemental combat. Don’t burn through all your magic when you don’t know what else you might face. Better to retreat.”
“To the bridge?” she asked.
“To the bridge.” He grasped her arm and tugged her down the trail.
They ran for a few minutes until Stella needed to stop. Her entire side was covered in blood, her wound still bleeding profusely. An arrow whistled past her head and Stella took off running down the trail again.
The sound of her heartbeat in her ears was nearly drowned out by the sound of the rushing river. Every deep breath was agony, her side screaming for her to stop, but the arrows still flying around them were a clear sign that they couldn’t. They rounded a bend, and she unhooked her bow and drew an arrow from her quiver.
Shooting was an instinct. She had a goddess-blessed gift for it from her Aunt Sayla, the goddess of the hunt, but Stella had beenshooting a bow since she was old enough to hold one. It was one of the first and most useful things her mother had taught her and something they had bonded over.
She drew her string back, ignoring the pinch in her side, and loosed the arrow, then turned and continued to run.
A loud curse rose behind her. She knew she’d hit Drew’s shoulder, and he’d have a very hard time shooting until it was healed.
Her footsteps synced with Teddy’s as the narrow plank bridge came into sight. They ran out onto it as swiftly as they dared, but the wind whipped so high up and the bridge swayed beneath them. They slowed to a walk, holding the ropes on both sides as they hurried across.
Nearly halfway across the bridge, Teddy stopped short and Stella slammed into his back.
“What’s wrong?” Stella glanced over his shoulder and saw Christophe Wallthrew standing on the other side of the bridge, waiting for them.
