We slept on rotation, half of the men resting while the others remained prepared for an assault. I’d never wanted to a battle with the Knives, but I hoped for this one. The only way to know we were safe was to see their dead bodies in a pile.
My eyes were on the extinguished bonfire in the center, the blanket removed once the fire had been put out. It was ready to be relit when we needed it, needing the light to fight our foes who could see in the dark better than we could.
Then I heard a scream.
“Ah!” Just as quickly as it sounded into the night, it disappeared.
My heart dropped, knowing that my scout was dead. They must have built a boat or swum in the dark, following the scent even without dirt or trees. They’d been determined to find us, and Caius had had no choice but to come here or let himself be killed. “Light the bonfire. Tell the guards to seal the Hall of Elders. Wake the others.”
Men ran to follow my orders.
I unsheathed my blade and watched the bonfire slowly come back alive and light our island. “They’ll come from the path and the trees.” The tables in the center had been moved aside for the battle. The men held their ranks beside me. “Remember, there are more of us than them. We fight for our elders. We fight for our women and the children they carry. We fight and die so they may live on.” I banged the hilt of my sword against the armor of my chest and made a distinct thud that echoed off the trees and the cabins. “They’ve failed to kill us before. They’ll fail to kill us again.”
I listened to the silence, strained to hear the movement of a branch, a kicked rock. My eyes stared without blinking, searching for a sign of their black hides. Then I heard movement, the shake of a branch, the snap of a twig from a heavy boot, the progression of an army that walked in a horizontal line. “They approach.” I stepped forward, putting myself in position to face them first, to give confidence to the men who stood behind me.
I saw the black hides glow in the fire as they broke through the edge of the forest, seven feet tall and heavier than a mightytree. Their arms were like trunks underneath their armor. They had large faces, beady black eyes, and mouths with sharp teeth, along with a pair of long tusks that protruded down to curved tips.
I gripped my sword and stared them down, a beast a foot taller than me with more muscle than I could ever gain. But I knew how to fight them, had learned the sluggishness of their body when they tried to change their position, knew their instincts weren’t as sharp as ours.
But if they landed one hit—you were gone.
They released an earsplitting roar together, a sound so powerful that every creature in the Depths must have heard it. The women must have heard it in the Hall of Elders, and they were probably terrified.
“Rooooaaaaaarrrrrrrr!”
I knew Hanne was a lot more scared now than she’d been a moment ago.
They pulled out their long blades in a synchronized move, their tusks dripping with the saliva they’d produced in their roar. Then they moved, twelve Knives that looked like an army of one hundred men, and they came toward us.
The one directly before me lunged at me hard, knowing exactly who I was. He swung his blade left and right, trying to catch me off guard with his unpredictability, and then he roared in my face before he slammed his blade down on me.
I dodged it then struck my blade down on his arm. It wasn’t enough to break the armor away from his flesh, but it was enough to dent it and cause pressure. He swung at me again,and I rolled out of the way, then dodged left and right, the Knife coming at me with a blood lust as if I were the one who had ripped his mother’s eyes from her head.
I heard some of my men scream before they were killed. Heard some call for help. It was chaos, but I couldn’t focus on anyone but the Knife that had decided today was my day to die. When I felt the flames of the fire behind me, I realized that had been his goal, to corner me against the bonfire and push me on top of it.
He struck his sword at me, and I blocked it with mine. His fists hit me square in the face, and I tumbled back, almost hitting the fire, dazed by the power of his blow. I felt a bone in my face break, but I didn’t let the pain distract me for a second. I pulled out my dagger and rolled away from his attack, and I stabbed him through the opening in his armor.
He roared in anguish then came at me with his sword.
I dodged it and backed up again, against the flames.
Then I saw something fly through the air, whiz past the Knife and impale the dirt ten feet away from me.
His eyes followed it, and then a brief look of confusion came over his ugly face. He jerked and swayed, his hand reaching for his neck, where another arrow had landed.
I took advantage of the opening and struck my blade against his neck, slicing deep into the flesh and releasing a geyser of black blood.
He crumpled to the ground, his hand still on the arrow, and after enough blood poured from his wound, he went still.
The chaos of battle still surrounded me, but my eyes searched for the person who had fired the arrows. I scanned the ground andthe path between the cabins, and then movement caught my eye on the roof of Hanne’s cabin.
There she stood, out of danger from everyone else on the rooftop, her bow lowered to her side, her eyes emotional even at this distance. She looked at me as I looked at her, her hair blond in the light of the bonfire, looking like a goddess in the flowing smoke.
I was angry enough to breathe fire, but fuck, I’d never been prouder to call a woman mine. I gave her a slight nod in gratitude.
She nodded back then turned her attention elsewhere. She put an arrow to the string and pulled back until the string was packed with tension. Then she fired, aiming for a Knife that Caius and Liam tried to fight together. The arrow missed, so she put another to the string and fired again.
This time, the arrow hit its mark—right in the side of his head.
