He approached Ena and Ty, clearly believing them to still be sleeping. With her hood up, Ena was certain she appeared that way, and Ty’s face was hidden, buried in the back of her neck.
Ena saw the man turn slightly to one of the others, gesturing toward the large saddlebag that lay next to Ty. It was filled not just with food and supplies, but some of the metal goods they pretended to trade in. And next to it lay his axe. Ena had admired it several times; it was elegantly designed and expertly made.
Was that what they were after? Were they thieves? All at once, Ena remembered what Perse had said in the days leading up to Samhain, about the group of bandits that had formed, and how they were terrorizing the region north of their village. Had they made their way south now?
The man drew closer to them and mimed dragging the knife across his throat to one of the other men. She saw the white of the other’s teeth flash as he smiled in reply.
Ena started to panic. Why wasn’t Ty doing anything? Shouldn’t they be running? He’d told her not to move, but maybe she should call on the wind and knock them back? Or start a fire to distract them? Ena was keenly aware that she was not a trained fighter, and she’d never used her magic against a mortal before. She’d never had to.
Then the man holding the knife began to lean over her, and everything happened fast.
Ty’s arm shot up and grabbed the man’s wrist, pushing the knife up and away from her. Simultaneously, Ty sat up and must’ve pulled his own dagger out, because he shoved it under the man’s rib cage, pushing up towards his heart.
The other man closest to them saw this. “Son of a bitch!” he shouted. Then he threw himself at Ty.
Ena scrambled away on all fours as Ty stood up and slashed out at him with his dagger faster than Ena could register. He must’ve picked up his axe, too, because all of a sudden, it was in his hand and there was a loud thunk as he spun and embedded it into the skull of someone approaching them from behind.
He kicked the man back, pulling his axe from his head, and Ena stared dumbfounded at the rush of blood and gore that came pouring down the man’s slack face. She was only broken from her stupor when she heard another attacker come at her from behind. Ty threw his dagger, embedding it in the man’s eye just as he was about to grab her.
Ty whirled to face her and pulled Ena to her feet. “There’s too many of them,” he said quickly. “You have to run.”
Ena tried, but her feet didn’t move.
Sensing her hesitation, Ty gripped the sides of her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll find you. Go!”
Ena did as he commanded and stumbled blindly into the dark. Behind her, she heard Ty immediately engage with another attacker, the sound of his axe slicing into flesh followed by a scream of pain.
Ena ran, stumbling over roots, too terrified to move silently. Her Knowing screamed at her again and she sensed the man right before he came at her from behind a tree. Ena didn’t even have to think about it; her body thrummed with adrenaline and all of her magic was right there. She spoke her spellword.
{Aeris}
A huge gust of wind shoved the man back into a tree so hard it nearly split. He was knocked unconscious instantly and slumped to the forest floor.
She didn’t pause to contemplate what she’d just done; Ena continued to run. She heard shouts coming from her left and saw through the darkness that there were three more men running, heading for the conflict.
How many more men were out there?
She needed to hide.
She looked around and saw a dense thicket of thorny blackberry bushes and ran behind it, crouching down so she couldn’t be seen.
She tried to force aside the panic that was flooding her. Her heart pounded and her mind was frantic. She tried to get a hold of a logical thought, but they kept slipping from her. She took one breath. Then two.
The rest of the men hadn’t followed her; they were clearly too focused on Ty.
Ty, who had told her to run and now was fighting against Gaia-knew-how-many men. Could he take them all alone?
No, she finally realized with a bone-deep fear. No, he couldn’t take them all. Ty would be killed.
Ena was shaking and she was so, so afraid. But the thought of Ty being killed terrified her even more.
Before she could think about why that was, she forced her body to move and ran at a full sprint back the way she’d come.
Back at the campsite, Ena saw five men already dead or unconscious scattered on the ground, while Ty engaged two more. He dodged the point of a deadly sharp sickle wielded by one of the men. The man’s face was screwed up in rage, and he lashed out blindly with his weapon, clearly overexerting himself. Ty dodged him easily, then ducked as another one of them swung a fist at his face. Ty struck out again with his dagger, which he’d somehow retrieved, hitting the man in the gut, then spinning around to slit the throat of the other. Ena realized then that he must have been using his Power on them, making them careless with rage to gain an advantage.
But he didn’t see the three men who had arrived from the woods approaching him too. They were just running past the dying embers of their campfire when Ena spoke again.
{Ignis}
