He turned his mount and shot forward, his men following behind as they all roared their bloodlust.
“Follow behind, but do not engage,” Daris said to his men. “If we get to the river and they are not there, we’ll fall back to the city.”
“And if they are?” Jason asked.
Daris looked up as the soldiers faded into the distance. He turned his mount in a tight circle. “If they are, we take out Aurora’s men.”
He didn’t bother to acknowledge the shocked looks on their faces as they glanced at him, then at each other.
Jason nudged his mount close to Daris. “What do we do with Terena and her sister after we take out Aurora’s men? They won’t come easy.”
Daris glanced at him with a frown as he tightened his grip on his reins. “We only go after Sonah. Whatever happens, she comes with us.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Their horses thundered across the snow covered plains. Terena chanced a look back and saw soldiers gaining on them. Her eyes widened as she saw a few raised bows.
“Arrows!” she screamed, urging Nyx faster. Rydon caught up to her, his body low over his mount. A second later, Cerberus, carrying Sonah and Croak, reared back and fell, two arrows lodged in his flank.
Terena screamed as her brother fell back, Sonah dropping like a stone atop him. Ahead of them, Gabriol cursed as his mount buckled and he, too, slammed to the ground. Rydon swerved toward him, stretching out low over the side with his arm out to grab him but he jerked back as an arrow pierced his shoulder.
Terena unhooked her bow and yanked on Nyx’s reins, leaping off her back. She sprinted for Croak, who had slowly gotten to his feet, but Sonah was still on her back in shock. Terena helped Croak mount Nyx, slapping her rump to take off. When they were a good distance away, Terena lunged for Sonah, wrapping her arms under the girl’s shoulders and heaving her up onto her feet.
“Please,” Terena hissed, panicked, knowing there was no way she could carry Sonah in time to outrun the soldiers. Sonah struggled andlurched forward, and Terena almost sobbed in relief as the girl regained her faculties enough to run.
Terena sprinted behind her, grabbing two arrows from her quiver and pulled the bow over her shoulder. Rydon and Gabriol had gained the river, Croak and Nyx a few steps behind. They didn’t pause as they rode full tilt onto the frozen river.
Sonah slipped and fell hard on one knee as she got to the river but sprang back up, not once looking behind her.
Terena’s feet pounded on the ice as they raced across, the sound of hooves behind her like thunder in her ears.
She dropped to her knees and slid, spinning as she brought the bow up. Terena reached back and grabbed an arrow, nocking it and pulling back on the string, releasing in one smooth motion. Another arrow nocked and fired as the first raced through the air. She fired again, bringing her right foot up and pushed up, gaining her feet as she turned and ran.
The hiss of arrows sounded on either side of her and she hunched her shoulders, hands up to her head as she ran first to the left, then cut back to the right.
Out of her peripheral, Terena saw horses on her right, and she cursed. The soldiers were trying to flank them and she’d failed to notice.
Her steps faltered as she caught sight of soldiers bearing down on Sonah.
Liodari.
Terena screamed, desperately reaching for an arrow as she veered right. Dread coursed through her. The bow shook in her grip as a Liodari grabbed Sonah and threw her over his saddle. In her haste and distraction, Terena slipped and landed hard. The Liodari pulled away, racing back toward the riverbank as Terena fired three arrows at them.
Gabriol roared from her left and Terena looked over her shoulder to see Croak drop short of the snowy bank on the other side of the river.
She stood rooted, closer to Croak and the others than the side ofthe river where the Liodari were now racing off with Sonah. Soldiers bore down on her from the right and Terena’s heart lodged in her throat. Caught between needing to go after her sister or helping her brother, Terena’s throat closed up in fear.
The world slowed.
Sound stopped.
The loud pressure of silence filled Terena’s head. She watched her brother’s body lying in the snow, Rydon down at his side, with Gabriol a step behind him. The soldiers bearing Sonah disappeared while others rode straight at Terena.
Quick as lightning, she unsheathed the Twins, flipping them once and lifting them high above her head. She brought them together and roared. Fire coursed down her arms when the swords joined, her eyes burning.
Terena slammed the swords into the ice.
For a few endless seconds, there was no sound except for an eerie silence filling her mind.
