‘Riders!’Finn drew his sword.
Finn and I backed up towards the others.Tomas rose to stand over Rhett’s lifeless body with his bow drawn.Tears streaked his face,but rage filled his eyes.Mae stood staunchly behind him, holding a dagger in front of her.
Four red-caped knights circled us on their horses.One of the knights went for Mae with his sword, assuming she was easy pickings, but he got Tomas’s arrow in the neck for it.The knight slumped forward on his horse, which took off into the trees.
‘Now!’
The remaining knights charged us as one.They had the advantage on horseback and in armour.Sword strikes came raining down on our heads.Both Finn and I were doing our best, but we were losing.I opened the door again, but the Darkness was weak.
A blade sliced into the top of my shoulder, and I berated myself for removing my armour.I dropped to my knees as it hit to avoid it going deeper.Desperate, I grabbed the rider’s leg and heard him hiss as his armour heated, but he didn’t turn to ash.I got a kick to the head for my trouble.
Blood poured down my face, obscuring my sight.
This is the end, I thought as more riders came out of the trees.I wiped the blood from my eyes, attempting to clear my vision, and straightened in shock at what I saw.
Atlas rode towards me, wielding his sword at the soldier who had just kicked me.The other riders surrounding us weren’t the king’s …They were his.I looked around, dazed, as Atlas and his men took care of the knights with little effort.Then, he was before me, pulling me into his arms.
‘Torgrin isn’t here!’I sobbed into his chest, covering him in my blood.I knew deep down that Torgrin would have caught up to us by now if he had made it out of the city.‘They have Cillian too.’
Atlas’s frown deepened.He remained silent as he walked me over to the fire to sit me down.Mae, who looked well aside from a scrape on her cheek, came to inspect my shoulder and head.‘Thehead wound isn’t life-threatening.The blood is already slowing, but her shoulder needs cauteri sing,’ Mae told Atlas.
Blood loss was not helping me think straight and I protested weakly as Atlas ripped the sleeve of my shirt, lost in my distress that I didn’t have another of Torgrin’s shirts to replace the one I was wearing.Atlas held his blade in the fire to get it hot enough to cauteri se my wound.
Tomas was safe, but it looked like Finn had taken a blow to the side, and Mae was now tending to him.There were far fewer of Atlas’s men than I first thought.
‘What are you doing here?’
Atlas was supposed to be in Murus with Ania and Wolfe, not travelling with Lord Warwick, who I had not yet seen.I searched his face for answers.
‘It’s a long story, and I think it can wait for now,’ he said gravely.
Mae gave a nod to Atlas.‘The blade is ready,’ she said.
‘This is going to hurt.’His teeth clenched in a grimace.‘A lot.’
I was a blacksmith.I knew what scorching iron did to flesh.
Atlas sat me on the ground between his knees, my back tucked into his chest.He gently pulled my head to the side, keeping my blood-soaked hair out of the way.
Mae stood above us with the red-hot blade, and the camp collectively held it’s breath.
‘Are you ready?’Mae asked, looking me dead in the eyes.
‘Do it,’ I told her as Atlas gripped me tight.
She pressed the glowing blade into my neck and shoulder, closing the vein and scorching the surrounding flesh.I couldn’t tell if shadows were enveloping our camp or if I was losing consciousness.The pain was even more intense than I’d imagined.
‘Hellfire,’ I mumbled before I fainted in Atlas’s arms.
†
When I came to, a small, warm body with curly black hair was curled up to me.Wolfe?He had his little thumb in his mouth like a toddler and was sound asleep.I looked across from me and saw Ania toying with the knife she had bought from Cillian on her first visit to the blacksmith’s shop.With her long black hair braided and dressed like me, in breeches and a shirt, she didn’t seem like a high-born lady as she sat on a log gazing into the fire.
‘Ania?’I whispered, confused.Something wasn’t right, they shouldn’t be here.Through the flickering of the flames, her usually soft jade eyes looked like Bethel’s – rigid and cold.
‘I couldn’t stop him.He was determined to be near you,’ she said tonelessly, watching her brother sleep.
‘What are you doing here?’I gently touched Wolfe’s curls.His hair had gotten longer in the month I hadn’t seen him.‘Where is your father?’Ania’s eyes closed as her lip trembled, and I wished I could take back my words.
