Yuragwyn: Ours

---Chapter 28

₰Traugott₰

                The sun has set, and still I lie on my side in the street.  Calanthe still stands beside me, but in her sleeveless dress she shivers, for Gavril sinks its teeth more into the land with every passing night.  The town is too quiet for comfort, even in the deepening darkness.  The air lies thickly, and the whole country waits for the first pounce. 

                “Oh Traugott,” Calanthe chatters.  “I can’t feel my fingers.”

                As if materializing from the air around us, Cyneric appears beside her.   “I will escort you to Madame Kaitra’s palace immediately, Honorable Calanthe.”

                I grit my teeth against protesting his taking her.  Kaitra and Maxen can protect her much better than I can.  I too cannot feel my fingers, not because of the cold, but for loss of circulation. 

//•••//•••///•••\\\•••\\•••\\

                Morning light finds me more exhausted and sore than I was the night before, but the lack of blood in the streets reminds me the worst is yet to come. 

                After a few minutes- or an hour: I have little way to tell time- Calanthe is brought back to my side.  She says nothing but smiles, and my fears of terrible things are put to rest. 

                A bloodcurdling shriek pierces the silence and, in a street that was just a moment before deserted, hundreds upon hundreds of men, women, and centaurs, clad in Yuragwynian green, surge forward.  They raise their weapons and quickly put them to use as shocked and still sleepy Granzians stumble out of commandeered elvish homes to meet the attackers.  Lady Carys rides up to Calanthe and grips her hand.  They ride off towards the manor house together. 

                A spark of intelligence hits me, along with a clod of dirt, and I pull the trick end of the knot binding my wrists.  Shards of pain erupt in my near-dead fingers and provide no help to me as I try to scramble to my feet and, at the very least, get out of the way.  Arrows fly past my head as I run towards an alley to allow my fingers to resurrect. 

                Lord Cadfael swings through the mass of Granzians with the fury only a worried father can possess.  A dark figure sits behind him with a bow to its lips.  It shoots arrows rapidly but never uses its right hand.

                I have little time to worry about that, though, for just outside the alleyway entrance stands Cyneric calmly notching an arrow to his bow.  He raises it casually and points the deadly tip towards Lord Cadfael.

                Before taking another breath, I lunge for him.

∞Kaitra∞

The large commotion outside is all the excuse we need to grab the swords we found in the basement, throw a chair through one of the window, and burst out of the house.  Granzian soldiers scatter like leaves from the falling glass, and we take the precious seconds head start to make our way quickly across the lawn. 

A dozen soldiers cut us off at the wall, and I raise my sword to meet theirs.  I clench my teeth against the fear of dying and fight with tenacity and a desire to survive.  Maxen and I circle back to back, parring blows and stabbing at our assailants.  

A yell catches all of us off guard, and in moments arrows spill two soldiers’ lifeblood.  Both Calanthe and my mother stand just inside the wrought iron gate, and already they draw another arrow each across their bows.  I finish my man and Maxen his before we run with them back through the gate to the main street.