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Raven rolled her eyes at me and smiled at the boy. “Ignore him. He’s grumpy because he didn’t have breakfast.”
More lies. Breakfast had nothing to do with my bitterness about the Terrans.
“I had a buttercream tart for breakfast!” the boy announced excitedly then began directing his next slew of questions at Raven.
The road narrowed and curved, twisting through the trees. A small herd of deer grazing in the distance darted back into the forest when they saw us. Overhead, a magpie’s eerie call echoed through the air like a cautionary warning.
“What’s wrong?” Raven whispered, following my gaze from the bird to the quiet forest. Her face had grown dark with concern. “Do you hear something?”
I didn’t answer, not wanting to tell her of my growing sense that we weren’t alone. I looked over at Kah, who was sniffing the air, trying to detect any threats that lay ahead.
Just then, I caught movement in the forest out of the corner of my eye. Kah had seen it, too. I turned to Merrin, who was already on alert. “Go. As fast as you can. Don’t let Raven out of your sight. We’ll catch up with you.”
As I spoke, a dozen or more men and women clad in worn leathers and furs exited the forest and surrounded the wagon. The morning sunlight gleamed on their sharpened axes and long knives.
Tribeless.
Merrin was quick to react. “Hah!” she cried, snapping the reins. The horses whined and shook their manes as they sped to a gallop, plowing through the tribeless who blocked the path. I leapt down from the wagon.
“Jeddak, no!” Raven shouted, twisting around in her seat.
Several of the tribeless ran back into the forest to mount their horses and follow the wagon. I couldn’t tell what tribes thesemen and women used to belong to before going rogue. It didn’t matter though, as long as their magic was weak and they didn’t have any surprises up their sleeves.
I raised my staff as the tribeless fighters on the ground closed in, looking none too happy their spoils had driven off. That made me smile just a bit.
“Crawl back into the hole you came from, and we won’t have to kill you,” I offered. “I’m feeling generous today.” That, and I didn’t get enough sleep to waste my energy on these delinquents. Not when the Rathalans were hunting us.
“Kill them!” the leader of the group ordered. “And bring back that wagon!”
Fine. I was done being polite anyway. “Take out the riders first,” I said to Kah, knowing we couldn’t risk them catching up with Raven on horseback.
Kah nodded. “Easy.”
Shouts rang out as they charged forward to attack.
Kah flattened his ears and bowled over three of the men, giving me an opening to take down the riders careening out of the forest. I swung my staff at the first rider, knocking the axe out of his hand. I whirled around, blocking multiple blows raining in from all sides. Skies, I hated fighting the calvary. We needed to get these guys on the ground.
As if reading my mind, Kah used his teeth to tear one of the tribeless riders from his saddle, and then threw his full weight into the next horse, bumping its rider off. Both fell to the ground, hard. Kah released a savage roar that echoed into the bare branches. The crows perched high in the trees took flight, cawing furiously.
Pivoting, I heaved my staff into the next tribeless woman’s gut, knocking her off her saddle. Two more riders to go, and we could clean this mess up.
As Kah twisted out of the way to avoid a blow to his left, I lunged at two men to the right, our weapons clashing with a deafeningsmackof metal on hardwood. One of them caught me in the stomach with his foot, knocking the air out of my lungs—and erasing my last bit of patience.
Behind me, I heard the sound of hooves and turned to see several more tribeless on horseback gallop out of the woods and speed past us.
“No!” I bellowed. They’d catch up to the wagon in minutes.Raven.
This ends now.
Moving fast, I flung my throwing knives at half of the men left standing, while Kah tackled the other half, tying up loose ends. With a growl, Kah took off after the riders, bounding up the road like thunder rumbling through the clouds.
I started sprinting after him, but there was no way I’d be able to catch up to the wagon in time. My attention landed on the tribeless’s abandoned horses. “Blazen, bloody …” I mumbled, realizing what I had to do.
Still chanting curses, I mounted one of the horses and clung to the reins with both hands as it sped into a gallop.
Kah had already reached the wagon when I caught sight of it. It had been forced halfway off the road, with stuff scattered on the ground behind it. Some of the outlaws had already been knocked off their horses. Kah was circling one of the tribeless women, who was swinging a hefty mace. Another man on horseback had cornered Merrin’s young nephew, and Tama was screaming. I saw no sign of Raven. Where was she?
I leapt off my horse before it came to an abrupt halt, stumbling to my knees when I hit the ground.Blazen horse.When I looked up, I saw one of the tribeless men behind Kah raising his axe to strike. Kah didn’t see him.
