To Love a Healer

Prologue

"Attack!" The hollered command came out as a roar. The black panther leaped away from the girl's side and flung himself into action. The girl lunged forward, swinging her sword at her adversaries. Her brown eyes held a slightly crazed look as she attacked them. The three men whom she was focused on backed away. She called to the panther again, roaring ferociously. One of the men's courage failed and he stumbled, dropping his guard. The panther was on him immediately. When the panther leaped away, the man moved no more.

Meanwhile, the other two men had set upon the girl. Their blows came fast and fell hard. She dodged and blocked them, using her speed to her advantage. She called again to her panther, and it leaped back to her. It went after the taller man, distracting him from the girl. This man did better than the first, slicing the panther twice before he was overpowered. While the panther brought him down, the girl's strength was failing. She fought viciously, but she was slowing down. The man noticed and attacked even more viciously. The panther had been distracted, and the girl was breathing too hard to call for it.

She knew that the first one to make a mistake was going to die. The first one to react too slowly. She watched his every move, looking for a weakness, a flaw in his defenses. He lunged forward and she sidestepped his attack. They circled each other for a moment, both looking for an opportunity to attack. The girl called for her panther, finally having enough breath to roar. An answering roar came from somewhere off to her left. This spurred the man into action.

He lunged forward, and the girl dodged it, sliding on the wet grass. She threw out her hands automatically to break her fall, and the sword fell from her grip. As she scrambled for her sword, something hard hit her on the side of the head. She gasped in pain, then her world went dark.