AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Callista!”
I whipped around to see Bryant running towards me. A shot whizzed past my ear, and he tackled me to the wet, muddy ground, covering me with his body.
“Reminds me of our first date,” I joked anxiously.
He muttered something in Gaelic, then raised up and peered down over the edge of the hill to the Arcans scattered in every direction.
“Too many of them. We’ll have to find cover,” he said, snatching the rifle from me, then tugging me away from the edge. “Stay low.”
“Where is everyone?” I asked we commando crawled towards the first shelter, then the next.
“The warriors are gathering in the longhouse. The women and children have gone to the river falls where they should be safe. Henry?”
“He got out, plus two. They took Patty and Barlow. I didn’t see Pat. Someone must’ve taken him in the panic.”
“Damn. Callista, I need you to find a horse, any horse, and go back to town—”
“There aren’t any,” I said as we scooted behind another shelter. “Henry overheard Wilkens say that he figured out that I’m a time traveler, and that my portal must be inside the cave where his men first found me. He intends to jump himself in order to find a way to wipe your entire race from existence.”
Bryant shot me a look of dread. “We have to stop him.”
“I know.”
Grabbing my hand, he pulled me to my feet, and together we ran for the longhouse.
The warriors were armed and darting out in droves, but I knew they were grossly outmanned and outgunned. Bryant held a quick conversation with Black Crow and two other leaders, but by his tightening expression, I could tell that the warriors weren’t paying his warnings any heed and headed towards battlefield with bows, arrows and tomahawks anyhow.
“They’re still going to fight?” I remarked with astonishment.
“They’re warriors, Callista,” Bryant said, leading me away by the hand. “They’re not born to back down from a battle. I’d stay and help, but we have to get to the cave and stop Wilkens. That’s more important right now. Are there any horses left, do you think?”
I shook my head. “None. All were taken as soon as I got there with Henry. I had to fight for Patty and Barlow.”
Bryant cursed under his breath. “No choice then. I’ll have to shift, and you’ll have to ride on my back.”
“Whoa, I...I guess I could.”
We ducked into the woods, and he pulled off his shirt and dropped his breeks, handing them to me. I had seen him shift a couple of times before, but it still startled and disturbed me to watch the man’s body contort and retract and transform from man into a very large silver wolf.
My wolf, I reminded myself.
Folding his clothes into my belt for when we arrived at the cave, I climbed onto his furry back and hugged his neck, hanging on for my life. Because then he shot like a bullet from a gun, running through the forest, impossibly leaping and swerving around obstacles in our path. I bit down the scream that threatened to rip from my throat at this rocket speed, swearing every second I was about to fall off to my death.
Then the Arcan gauntlet began.
Shouting. Yelling.
Guns blasted and bullets zipped around us and sang over our heads as we raced through the forest inundated with hunters from the village to the mountain cave. Wilkens must have contacted every Arcan Hunter on the entire west coast because they were everywhere.
I clutched onto the scruff of my wolf with dear life, my legs wrapped around his belly. Another bullet came within a hairsbreadth of us. The next one ripping the hem of my flapping skirts.
We miraculously made it to the cave entrance unscathed, and Bryant’s wolf skidded to a stop. I slid off his back, and he shifted back to human form, then tugged on his breeks.
Just as two Arcans burst from the forest, training their revolvers at us.
“The boss was right,” the first yellow-toothed man said. “They did head to the cave today.”
“He always is,” the scruffy bearded one said, keeping his gun sharply trained on us. Go tell Gilman we’ve got the werewolf and witch, while I hold ‘em here.”
