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But every tool has its place, and now the two of us half-crept, half-ran around the corner to move behind the barn while they were distracted.
“We’re here to help,” Damyn called quietly to the villagers, who crowded against the wooden side of the building, trying to escape the explosions and torches and flames. “But you have to back up!”
It took a moment, but everyone responded to his voice, calming down and obeying him; that seemed to be the nature of how Damyn moved through the world.
The two of us attacked the back of the barn while the villagers milled around, understandably terrified they were about to be burnt alive. My arms and shoulders ached from lifting the ax and slamming it into the wood as it splintered, but I didn’t dare stop.
Even as sounds of chaos broke out in front of the barn. Were my men in danger?
When we had chopped a big enough gap for the villagers to pour out, carrying children or helping elderly hobble along, they thanked us quickly and then raced into the forest.
Damyn and I, on the other hand, turned without needing to discuss it and ran into the chaos.
I raced around the corner to find Branok, Lynx and Arren fighting Kallus’s soldiers. I cast a quick glance around for my uncle, but it was hard for me to imagine him in this once banal setting.
Lynx was fighting one of the grey soldiers when a second attacked him from behind. I swung that heavy axe, my exhausted arms only strong enough to lift it to the opponent’s knees. The man crumpled as I cut his legs out from beneath him, his sword falling harmlessly at Lynx’s feet instead of piercing his back.
Lynx turned at the commotion and his eyes brightened when he saw me, even in the midst of all this bloodshed and chaos. Instead of thanking me, he gave me a wink and said, “Took you long enough to find us.”
“Maybe you should stop getting lost.”
He cut down another foe. I kicked one who rushed at me in the chest, then whirled to cut his head off with my sword.
Lynx turned to me, chest heaving with exertion.
“Honor, I don’t intend to ever let you far from my side again.” He lowered his bloody sword to one side so he could wrap his arm around my shoulders and hugged me tight, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
Branok bounded over, leaping over the body of an enemy and almost casually stabbing him in the kidneys. He whirled, dragging the knife with him and spraying blood over the grass. Without a backward glance, sure of his kill, he threw his arm around my waist and lifted me, squeezing me tight.
“We’re in the middle of a battle,” I reminded him. “Damyn would say that hugs can wait.”
“The battle is over now that you’re here, little warrior,” Branok told me. For once, he didn’t mean his words as mockery, judging from the affectionate shine in his eyes.
But it was hard not to hear it that way, when I knew that I had lost my powers. He must have noticed because he frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Honor was right,” Damyn shouted as he faced down three foes who edged around him, trying to find a way to strike him down. “This is not the time! Fight now, greetings later.”
Damyn started to close with his opponents, but Branok, Lynx and Arren each leapt forward to take one of them out. Damyn was left looking put out, turning in a circle as bodies fell all around him.
“Awfully proud of yourselves, aren’t you?” he asked. “My point still stands. Honor!”
The sudden sharp focus in his eyes drew my attention just as much as the called warning. I whirled to face the opponent that rushed toward me.
Damyn threw that giant axe. It slammed into his chest, fracturing him in half. The axe cleaved through flesh and bone, and the man stared us in shock for a second as he flew backwards with the force of the blow, blood gushing everywhere come up before he slammed into the ground and did not move again.
We were all a little shocked. Including the soldiers, who turned and ran, not that they got very far. Branok, Lynx and Arren took off after them, while Damyn and I regarded each other across the bloodshed.
“You know I could have taken care of that myself,” I said mildly.
“Oh, I know,” he said. “But as long as I’m around, you never have to.”
CHAPTER46
Zehr
Kallus’s guardshad bound me to a chair, at his orders.
“I want you to see what happens next,” Kallus told me with a wicked smile. “I want you to understand what’s coming for Honor.”
