Priestess

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ara lay with her eyes closed, listening as the wind twirled and danced with the leaves. She didn’t want to wake to the reality of another long day, filled with fear and bony weary riding. But the rock digging into her hip and her half healed hurts wouldn’t let her alone.

With a sigh, she sat up. Grey light sifted through the leaves. She couldn’t see Lodan. He and Gyniv were probably off grazing. She shivered as she reached beyond the warmth of her blankets to toss another log on the fire. The one below it popped and then let out a dry hiss.

Coen jerked to his feet, hand on his hilt.

She “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” No sooner had the words left her mouth than her Gift whispered, Danger.

If Coen started to reply, Ara didn’t hear him. Her head tipped to the side, she Fragmented as much as she could manage. She followed her instincts over rock and around tree. And then she saw them. Four Kanovians sneaking toward their camp. The landscape flying by, she hurled back to her body. Her eyes flew open. “Assassins,” she hissed. “Lodan!” she called with her mind.

Coen’s drew his sword, his eyes searching. “Where?”

Pointing, Ara scrambled for her bow and strung it.

“How many?”

Hauling her quiver over her back, she fitted an arrow. “Four.”

“They must have followed us.” Without taking his eyes from the trees, Coen whispered, “Run.”

Ara hesitated.

He turned his steel gaze to her. “I can’t Shield us both and fight. You’re more of a liability for me here. Run.”

Even in the face of this, Coen remained steady, strong, in control, while she felt as if the ground beneath her spouted fire.

Lodan burst through the trees. She leapt onto his back. He dove into the thick grove. She glanced back. A branch slapped her cheek. Coen stood between her and her attackers. The trees swallowed him, but not before the clang of swords echoed toward her. “We can’t just abandon him to fight four Assassins alone!”

“Coen said to run!”

“Run where?” She didn’t know how to get to the Blood Mountains, and no one knew how to get inside the Miners’ stronghold. Anyone else who might have aided her was fighting the Kanovians in Bondell. “Lodan stop!”

Hesitantly, Lodan slowed.

“I’ll jump,” she threatened.

Reluctantly, he halted.

Bringing her leg up, she dropped down. “I have to help him.”

Rounding, Lodan blocked her. “Your bow is no use against them.”

“What else can I do?” she cried. “I have nowhere else to go! I’m defenseless against them!”

“I can outrun them.”

“I have to sleep sometime! And neither of us knows where to go! We can’t do this without Coen.”

Lodan rolled his massive neck in frustration. Finally, he lowered his head, his beautiful horn nearly touching the ground. “I cannot go with you.” He gestured to the brittle undergrowth that would announce his arrival to the Kanovians.

“I’ll go alone.”

He nodded towards camp. “Go. But come back to me.”

Ara settled her hand on the star just under his horn. “I will.” She turned and jogged back. The clanging of swords resounded eerily through the forest.