“Alrighty.” I scooted to his other side, flinging his only arm over my shoulders. “Alley-oop.Uggh, c’mon, dude.” I poked his ribs when he flopped his full weight on me. “I ain’t a pack mule.” My knees knocked together. “And you’re not a lightweight. Stand up!” I braced the end of my poleaxe against the ground. I sucked ass at using the thing as a weapon, but it made a handy walking stick.
The man groggily, laboriously, pulled his feet beneath him.
“There ya go—uh-uh, come on,” I grunted when he went limp again. “I can’t carry you. It’s not far though, I promise. A big tough guy like you can hold it together for a few more minutes, right?”
We tottered along. “That’s it,” I huffed. “One foot in front of the other. There’s a song for that. We have a Christmas movie back home…y’know what Christmas is? Ah, never mind, probably not.”
I was so busy rambling, it took me a second to notice the change in the air. A rolling echo of thunder rumbled the ground. I couldn’t turn my head, not with the man’s arm plopped over my shoulder, but my heart somersaulted as the people around me shouted.Notthe same agonized yells that had been my soundtrack for the last hour. These were joyful sounds. Cheers.
Maddox came out of the city to greet me, a wide smile stretched across his face.
“I missed something, didn’t I?” I winced and rubbed my shoulder when Maddox took the bearded man from me.
“Our riders returned,” he said, still smiling.
I whirled around.
Sure enough, a mass of horses and riders circled the remaining Wraiths and hounds. And there were atonof them (humans, not Wraiths). It made the army from Niall seem puny in comparison.
The Wraiths were outnumbered now. And they abandoned ship, scrambling to get back up the hill.
“It’s over?” I gasped.
“Not yet.” Maddox shifted the bearded man more securely over his shoulder and nudged the door open. “But it will be soon, I expect.”
My knees sagged.
This nightmare was almost over. I was still alive. Whoo-hoo! Time for shots.
Right?
But I didn’t feel relief. Or happiness. Oranything.
I stared at the bodies littered over the rocky field. The mounds of dead and dying.
How many people wouldn’t get to drink tonight? Or eat another meal? Or see their loved ones again? I’d ridden alongside most of these people. We’d commiserated about the shitty weather and slippery ground together. Had slept as a group beneath the clusters of angry storm clouds. Had risen this morning and faced the blood-red sunrise…together.And a good chunk of them hadn’t lived to see the sunset.
It was hollow, the feeling that spread inside of me. Empty.
Tears burned my eyes as I walked amongst the bodies, hoping,praying,I’d find someone still alive. But these were dead, most mangled beyond recognition.
Most. Not all.
I stopped, my fingers trembling around my poleaxe.
Moira stared up at me. Blood coated the front of her shirt and seeped lazily from the two puncture wounds on the side of her neck.
A riderless Púca stood a few feet away, its tail swishing as it smacked its blood-soaked lips. But this was not the Púca who’d saved me earlier.
That Púca had an intuitive gaze. Very human-like.
This one had dull eyes. Dumb. Hungry. Red drool dripped from its mouth as it surveyed me.
And then it pounced.
“Fuck!” I squeaked, whanging my poleaxe through the air.
The tip sliced into the crest of the Púca’s neck. The animal howled and threw itself backward.
