My arms were exhausted from parrying blow after blow, and Ivren’s back quivered against my own as he kicked at two men trying to wrangle his sword out of his hands. I’d lost track of Viljan in the chaos, but based on the screams from our attackers, he was close, killing as many as he could.
“They fucking lied.” Ivren panted as he shoved back another man before slicing open his gut, making a fourth man slip on its contents as it spilled onto the ground. “There are so many of them! Why wouldn’t the king allow us reinforcements?”
“I—” I ducked beneath a sword, driving my own up and through the man’s chest with a crack that resounded in my bones.
The man’s eyes filled with fear as he fell, and I held them until he left for the afterlife, wondering the entire time if his people had their own version of Valhalla to retreat to or if he’d go to some glacial, barren realm like Hel.
“I don’t know,” I said in a brief moment of respite. “Perhaps he wasn’t aware?”
I didn’t need Ivren’s scoff to hear the skepticism in my words.
Of course the king had known. This was another display of ownership—a reminder that we might be heirs to our chiefdoms,but he still controlled us, and our lives were his to lead wherever he saw fit.
My hand brushed my throat.
We might not wear the collar Darcke did, but we had to submit to Gustief anyway.
Another attacker lunged at me, and when I was forced backward by the power with which he swung his wooden shield, Ivren’s back was no longer at my own.
“Ivren?” I shouted as I thrust with my sword, only managing to break off a small portion of the wood and making the shield even more deadly. The man jabbed the jagged edges at me, succeeding in ripping open my jacket’s shoulder and scratching my skin.
“Over here!” He was being forced back by five hooded people, pushed through the thick trunks and wild bushes, disappearing from view as I ducked under another blow.
“Elvara!” Viljan’s voice was also farther away, and I swore loudly when the man coming for me was joined by three others, their smiles grim through the shadows of their cloaks as they separated us.
“They’re doing it on purpose!” I screamed as I slapped away a dagger aimed straight at my face. “They’re trying to get us alone!”
This time there was no answer, only more sounds of metal hitting wood and low groans of pain. Worry flitted over my skin, coating it with sweat as I stumbled when another dagger barely missed my cheek.
There was no way I could take them all down.
I shot a look over my shoulder when a fifth person joined my assailants.
The woods seemed empty enough. While I could feel Darcke fighting for his life to get back to me, his fury only fueled by the men and women he was forced to cut down, I spun on my heel and started running.
I needed to come up with a plan, and I couldn’t do that if I didn’t get a second’s break.
I’d moved fast enough to get a small head start, but soon heavy breaths and predatory steps surrounded me, joining the birdsong in an upbeat melody of death. A chill northern wind whipped my hair around my face, and I tried not to panic as I glimpsed cliffs through the trees on my left.
The thick forest made a sprint near impossible on my right. I bowed my head when I heard something whistling through the air, but the dagger still nicked my scalp, and a stream of warmth joined the sweat trickling down my back.
I felt Darcke’s roar in my blood when I jerked in pain, and everything in me wanted to turn around. But there were too many men behind me.
It felt like blood fought its way up my throat, as well, as I continued running. I needed to find somewhere to gather myself—to come up with a plan or something. Anything!
Thick, thorny bushes appeared ahead, and when the animal-trampled path swerved left, toward the cliffs, I closed my eyes.
It was my only option. It would have to work.
I repeated the words to myself as I dove into the overgrown vegetation. My stomach surged when the bristling scrub didn’t stop my speed, the harsh landing I’d expected turning into a near free fall. The bushes had covered a drop impossible to make out from where I’d been running. I bit down on my arm not to scream. Not only did thorns and branches bite into my skin, but roots winding down the hill slammed into me.
My nose was struck, then my shoulder. My gut. My head again. My rib cage, where something cracked. My vision swam with tears as I tumbled down the hill’s edge, unable to do anything but hold on to my sword and fold my body to protect whatever I could from the vicious undergrowth ripping into me.
I almost laughed when I thought I might slow down but only sped up, my body tumbling into nothing when the ground disappeared.
Maybe I was heading straight down into Hel.
Darcke’s agony was the only thing stopping me from laughing.I couldn’t tell if he was hurting because I was, or if one or more of those people had gotten to him. Then I struck the ground, and my vision went dark and hazy.
