Nearby, Tiponi bit into a man’s jugular?—
His scream cut short as she came back with his throat between her teeth.
Pamuy buried an axe in a man’s collarbone. It struck with a wet, crackingthud. When she yanked it free, she painted the snow red.
Kai, sword and obsidian knife in hand, gave over to her training. Shewasher blade. She was death as much as she could be life. Her Stormguard was relentless in their assault, splitting the line of enemy forces.
Poloma moved like a deadly wind, her poisoned spear dancing forward,up in a spin, and back. Her spear darted left, pierced leather. Right, caught a throat. Spin. Stab. Spin. Stab.
Niabi and her oxbeast circled the males and cast a deadly net from behind, picking off men one by one with her bow and arrow. Otekah, standing atop her beast, intersected paths with Niabi and laughed like thunder on a cliffside, loosing arrows with every breath.
The invaders stumbled through their fight, tripping across the frozen terrain. Ice and snow thickened around their shields, and their movements turned slow and laborious.
As their numbers thinned, Silver Wolf warriors joined the Stormguard on the ground to take out their would-be invaders by hand.
All the while, the commander of these men watched from horseback near the tree line, a hulking figure in bronze armor. Almost begging to taste her blade.
Kai whistled a single, sharp signal, eyes locked on her target.
Dryja bounded up, blood dripping from her horns and barbs.
Kai climbed atop and dug in her heels, aiming her sword.
The blond male caught sight of her inbound sprint and unsheathed his sword. From atop his mount, out of the snow, his movements were much smoother than those of his men. He hopped down and swung off his thick himation.
Kai slid from Dryja’s back to meet the man on the ground. He swung his sword in a wide arc?—
Kai ducked beneath. Turned. Thrust toward his exposed side?—
He deflected her blow, and their swords gave a sharp clang.
Kai circled him, sword and knife poised. “You don’t look like a soldier. You look like a butcher playing dress-up.”
“Should I look more like you?” The commander bared his teeth. “A child swinging tiny blades like toys?”
He struck from up high and came down on her with a flurry of strikes, each one heavier than the last.
She blocked the third—barely—her arms shuddering beneath the impact. “I’ve killed better men than you in dark rooms.”
He grunted.
Kai ducked the next blow. Slashed for his thigh?—
He twisted, metal singing as their blades scraped?—
Her boot slipped on a patch of ice.
He kicked out andsent her sprawling.
Kai hit the frozen ground, and pain erupted across her ribs. Snow exploded around her in a blinding cloud. She rolled before his next strike could land, the sword biting into nothing but her trailing braid.
She rolled to her feet, hair coming loose from her shortened braid. She stared across the feet separating them, through loose tendrils of brown hair. Circling him, chest heaving.
“Where’s your husband, girl?” he asked. “Shouldn’t he be out here fighting your battles? Or are you too proud to kneel to anyone?”
Atsadi’s face flashed through her mind. His smile. His sadness. His longing.
Her refusal to let him in.
