"Hello there, little lady," the man says. His voice has a drawl to it and he holds a mace in his hands.I assume not many villagers would be handling one of those things but who am I to judge.
I back up. One of my hands going to my hip to grip one of my daggers.
"Ah ah ah, I would not do that." He smiles and his teeth are rotted and decayed. "Would not want to have to hurt you too soon. The king will be so happy with this find."Okay so probably not a lost villager. Why did I decide to come out here again? A stupid dream?"Now, darling. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
I take another step back, unsheathing my dagger and readying my stance, choosing not to answer the man.
"Tsk, tsk," he whispers. In the next breath, he is rushing me. His mace is held high. He swings it down and I duck out of the way. Popping up, I stab my dagger into his swinging arm. He shouts and pulls away from me and I do my best to hold the dagger as it rips through his arm, backing up swiftly. He laughs. "Someone taught the lady to fight. How sweet." Running towards me again the man tries to take another swing at me,but I once again dodge him, this time rolling to safety, before jumping to my feet.
I look towards the wood line, contemplating my chances of escape, but that is unfortunately the wrong move. A whistling sound has me diving to the left. Glancing to where the noise came from, I see the man's mace is now haphazardly laying on the floor. Before I can process that the brutefucking threw it at me,he dives into me causing me to lose grip on my dagger. The wind gets knocked from me as I watch my dagger join the man's mace, just out of my reach. I struggle against the man, kicking, screaming and punching at him. My strength is no match for his and soon he is laying on his back, his legs trapping mine as he chokes me. "Shhh, go to sleep," the man says, his tone far too joyful for the situation we are in.
Think, Alaceandra think.I scream to myself as claw at the man's arm around my throat. I feel the last bits of oxygen in my system start to vanish and my vision goes hazy.Oxygen?Something clicks in my brain.Fire, set him on fire!Using my last bit of strength, I elbow the man in the face at the same time that I cause the ground beneath us to burst into flame.
"Motherfucker!" The man yells, releasing me. His lip is bleeding profusely, and he clutches at his back, his eyes filled with excitement and rage.
I crawl away from him, coughing, trying to gain as much distance as possible.
"Lace!" I hear frantic shouting in the distance.
"Help!" My voice is raspy as I scream towards the oncoming voice.
The man wipes at his lip. Before glancing towards the tree line. "This isn't over. Oh no, it has only just begun," he says before he stands, grabbing his mace and running away.
Chapter fifty-four
Keep Watch
Alaceandra
Tears well in my eyes and I do my best to not let them fall.
"Lace!" The voice I now recognize to be Sorin's calls again.
"Over here!" I yell, cringing at the sharp pain in my throat.
He appears behind me with Baldar at his feet. When he gets a good look at the scrapes and bruises covering my body, he collapses to the ground in front of me and tenderly holdsmy face. "What the fuck happened? Why are you out here by yourself?"
I cough again. "I was ambushed," I say. "I think…" I search my memory for the any information he gave me before he attacked. "I think he wanted to take me to his king. He might have been… connected… to those men that captured us before."
His eyes widen at the sound of my voice.
I brought him to you as soon as I realized you were missing.Baldar says.I apologize it was not any sooner I was summoned this morning and by the time I got back…He curls in my lap.By the time I got back I knew you were in danger, so I grabbed the closest one I could find.
"Thank you, Baldar," I whisper.
Sorin scoops me up. "You need water, please stop talking until we get you some." He sprints through the forest and back to the cottages. When he opens the door to the kitchens, Sam is sitting at the table looking at something. At our entrance, he shoves whatever it is in his pocket.
"Why are you-" His eyes fall onto my form, and he jumps from his chair. "What the fuck happened? Why are you carrying her?"
"She was attacked," Sorin says pushing things off the table so he can set me down. Once he does, he runs to grab me some water, which I take and drink gratefully.
"How? Was no one watching her?" The room darkens slightly and my heart races.
Sorin pushes at Sam. "Apparently not. Now are you going to help or just yell?" The room brightens again.
"I am okay," I say, my voice already sounding less strained. "Maybe a couple bruises here and there, but I did not get terribly injured."Maybe if I act like if it is less of a big deal, they will not question why I was out there in the first place.
"You sound like you were choked," Sam says, his voice filled with barely veiled anger.
