The Warden only sighed. “Of course you did. There’s sixteen of us and just as many celiths making a racket, that one especially.” He pointed at Tarol with a chastising glower. “Come on, it’s—”
“No.” Yhkon shook his head, backing up a step. The muscles in his neck and jaw were rigid. “We n-need to get ou-t-out of here.”
Larak’s lack of concern became annoyance. “Listen, I get that considering our location, you would be uneasy, but that doesn’t mean there’s any real threat.”
Yhkon swore. “I said I ha-heard something!” He had grabbed Talea’s wrist, as if ready to flee with her at any moment. Her heartbeat quickened.
Grrake’s expression had all the concern Larak’s was missing. “Alright. Let’s go.” When Larak opened his mouth to object, Grrake silenced him with a hard stare. He left Larak scowling and joined her and Yhkon.
Yhkon tightened his grip on her wrist and caught Grrake’s eye, jerking his head toward Eclipse. She didn’t understand, but Grrake did. He raised his voice to address all of them. “Everyone mount up!”
She had only gotten one foot in the stirrup when the sound of footsteps and rustling underbrush enveloped them.
There wasn’t time to mount. She stepped down and instead took Eclipse’s reins as Yhkon withdrew his sword and ran to meet the attackers. But there weren’t simply a few that the Wardens could take down while she and the other wards kept the celiths from bolting. There were dozens, coming from all sides.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. The clash of iron, shouts, grunts, movement everywhere, all of it overwhelmed her senses. Making it impossible to comprehend everything that was happening around her. All she saw was four of the attackers coming straight at her. Pale skin. Long hair in dreadlocks. Heavily built, wearing rusty armor.
Asyjgon.
One of them was Farve. The man that had first seen her ability when she defended herself against them, all those months ago, and had then informed Captain Lerrip so that they could capture her. The sight of him made her throat tighten until it was hard to breathe.
He slowed his approach, smiling at her wickedly. “Hello, Talea. You should have known better than to cross through our territory again.”
She stared at him. He lunged. Heat raced down her arm into her fingertips, forming an electric blade that she swung at him as he neared. Perhaps not expecting a trained reaction, he didn’t see it in time to dodge. It sliced across his torso, burning through armor, clothing, and flesh as it went. He stumbled back with a scream, but the other three men had caught up. The first sword she ducked. The second she parried with her own, the electricity traveling through the Asyjgon’s blade and shocking him. The third she didn’t see in time. She twisted away, the tip still leaving a trail of fiery pain down her arm. Off balance, she turned back just in time to see a sword descending toward her head.
There was a flash of light, and the man swinging it crumpled to the ground. Kae stood a few yards away, eyes wide with terror, body poised for action. She ran to Talea’s side as three more Asyjgon charged them. One engaged Talea, two Kae. Instinct and muscle memory took over, directing her through the maneuvers Yhkon had drilled her on, parrying, dodging, striking. Her electrical blade plunged toward the Asyjgon’s stomach and through. There wasn’t time to feel the horror she knew was coming—another man had body-slammed Kae. She staggered into Talea and they both fell. Her hands landed in a pool of warm, red liquid. Nausea brought black dots to her vision even as she grabbed Kae’s arm and scrambled away from their assailants. She sensed rather than saw one of them advancing, about to hack down on them. Energy sprayed from her hand in a diagonal wave. She made the mistake of looking up to see the result—his arm hit the ground, then the rest of him. The other man had already collapsed.
They had just gotten to their feet when Kae screamed, at the same time as both Yhkon and Wylan shouted Talea’s name. She started to turn. There was a moment that she saw a club swinging toward her head. Impact. Everything blurred. Then black.
~♦~
Yhkon watched Talea hit the ground, her body slack. He wanted to shout, to swear or call her name or anything, but his jaw was as immobile as a rock. He was already running full-out. The man that had struck her down was about to finish the job, two other Asyjgon having occupied Kae. Instead, he heard Yhkon coming at the last second, and didn’t even have time for fear before he was dead.
Yhkon dropped to his knees, putting his fingers to Talea’s neck. There was a pulse. She would have some bruises and an awful headache, possibly a concussion, but she would live. Back on his feet, he readied his sword to guard her from the next onslaught.
Until he heard Jaylee call for help.
The adrenaline that felt like fire in his veins gave way to a chilling dread. He couldn’t see her in the chaotic battlefield swathed in mist. Her cry, however, rang in his ears.
Unable to swallow with his throat so constricted, he took a few tentative steps toward her voice. Anyone would probably take one look at Talea’s unconscious form and think her dead, meaning she was safe...unless the Asyjgon intended to capture her again, as they had last time.
Jaylee called again, her voice strained with fear.
Yhkon grit his teeth and sprinted in that direction. Wylan was fighting nearby, he would keep an eye on Talea. Jay needed him.
He was forced to take down two Asyjgon before he was finally close enough to see her. She was engaged with four men. One of her arms was bleeding heavily, dangling uselessly at her side. “Jay!” Somehow it got past his locked jaw, as he kept running. Only two strides in and movement came rushing into his peripheral vision. He swung wildly at them and kicked one down, but didn’t take the time to dispatch them. Jay was—
Pain erupted in his leg. His feet left the ground and his body hit it instead. He was already moving to regain position...except he couldn’t. His leg wouldn’t move. A glimpse of blood and a misshapen lump where there shouldn’t have been one confirmed that the limb wouldn’t be usable anytime soon.
Jay cried out in pain.
Desperation drove him on, all rationale lost. He hacked at the ankles of the nearest Asyjgon, wildly attacking anything he could reach even as he tried to get onto his good leg, aware of his movements but unable to discern them. He had to reach her. He had to save her. Some inarticulate yell of frustration or pain or fear left his gasping lungs. He was standing, hobbling to her...only to be tackled by another opponent.
Everything slowed. He watched as Jaylee’s foes knocked her down. As one of their clubs lifted. Its descent was inevitable, no matter how he struggled.
A blurred figure came into view. It happened in mere seconds, too fast to understand. One moment it was Jaylee’s name he screamed, the next it was Grrake’s. One moment it was Jaylee under the diving mace...the next it was Grrake.
Yhkon grabbed the man grappling with him by the shoulders and heaved his weight to the side. They rolled, punching and elbowing where they could...despite his effort Yhkon ended up underneath. The Asyjgon was larger, and he didn’t have a broken leg. But he also wasn’t fueled by rage. The man pulled a knife. Yhkon wrenched an arm free and grabbed it just before it would have been stuck in his chest. Yanking his knee up between the man’s legs, he used the moment’s distraction to take the knife and plunge it into his neck. A spray of blood, a gurgled cry, and the Asyjgon became dead weight.