Vedikus cursed under his breath.
The centaurs remained on alert but he could easily tell they had become just as focused on Aldora as he had been, as he tried not to be now.
She was beautiful. He hadn’t realized it until he almost lost her, but seeing her again, alive, if hurt, made him want to claim her in full view of the others. Despite his rent skin, despite the pain, he would take her in the center of the bonfires where the flames would roar in his ears, her moans ringing out, and her body riding his.Let the studs see what they’ll never have.
But first, he needed a distraction or a temporary ally. He scanned the vicinity already knowing he would have no aid, and he would never be able to leave for fear Aldora would be gone or dead when he made it back. Rallying at Prayer was out of the question.
The undead that rose from the swamps would not help him due to the fires.
His axes were gone. Vedikus found thehorsethat had looted them and sneered, his nostrils flaring wide. He clenched his hands before calming himself. Even equipped with a superior weapon, the centaur would kneel before him and beg for death.
Tactics and sneak attacks were not his strength, and stealth was all but out of the question. His brother, Astegur, was the planner, the wily one of the Bathyr whose war cry was known far and wide as a signal of a trap having been sprung. Vedikus had never envied the skills of one of his brothers so much as he did now. He could not take a band of centaurs on dry, open lands. Their advantage was too great on prepared terrain.
Come darkness, I’ll use the fire.
I’ll light the reeds, and the grasses, the small critters, and set the plains on fire.He could see it in his skull and he grabbed another cluster of stalks and ripped them from the earth. He released a hot exhale of steam over them to dry them out.
Something ripe tickled his nose, just under the sea salt and smoke. It pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned his face up to catch more of the scent.
Aldora.
He caught it, knew it, just as a sudden gust of wind took it from him and blew it away. Vedikus tensed, his eyes searching for her among the camp. She had not moved but her arms shook and her body twitched. She was doing something to herself within the curtain of her hair.
Several of the studs stilled and eased up from the ground, and he knew... There would be no plan tonight.
Only death to those who have tried to come between him and Aldora.
A screeching, ear-piercing howl filled his ears and he rose to his feet, his hooves sinking deep into the mud. The smell of pure human blood on the wind was enough to wake any slumbering creature and drive them into a frenzy.
Alepos rushed toward Aldora, and it was the last clear thing he saw be a red haze descended over his mind.
Chapter Fifteen
***
Aldora was droppedviolently to the ground by the centaur as something crashed into his side. A battle roar joined the approaching barks of barghests in the distance. She scurried back on her hands and feet and moved away from the scene.
