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If they survived this battle and she left him, he would love her ’til the end of his days.
Only Rui and no other.
It was foolish, he knew. But what would one expect from a man who couldn’t even read? A bastard and a brute he might be, but he knewwhohe was.
He knew that his heart would never change.
“Incoming.”
That was all the warning Sorin uttered before the cave swarmed with armored soldiers from all directions.
They seemed to rise out of the very mist like apparitions. Eyes blank, teeth bared, weapons drawn.
Sorin cut a path for them in the front, Ere staying close behind him, out of the way. Rui protected Morgan from flank attacks. With one hand, she took out several foes at a time with well-aimed arrows from the crossbow before they could close in. With the other, she brandished a long dagger that cut down enemies who managed to get within arm’s length.
Wolfe protected their back. Wielding a sword in one hand, a dagger in the other, he fended off enemy soldiers on both sides.
Right. Left.
Right. Left.
His coordinated counter attacks pushed them back, cut them down when they got too close. Always, he stayed within ten feet of the flank, keeping himself between the danger and Morgan and Rui.
“Exit ahead!”
Sorin led them slowly but surely, forward and up an incline, toward a small opening to the cavern. Wolfe could feel a chilly breeze sifting through the tunnel.
As if the enemy soldiers knew their prey was close to freedom, they redoubled their efforts and swarmed the rear, four soldiers throwing themselves upon Wolfe all at once.
He managed to block the sharp objects from piercing his flesh, but he couldn’t avoid a few hard knocks from metal gloves and wrist guards, kicks from steel-toed boots. He grunted with the strain of defending against the bombardment, going down to one knee.
If he fell further, he wouldn’t be getting back up.
And then, one of the soldiers bearing down upon him gurgled with blood as a slim sword skewered his neck.
Just as he fell back, another soldier listed to the side with a dagger buried in his temple. A split second later, the dagger and sword were pulled free from both dead men, and swung with lethal precision at a couple more that Wolfe hadn’t even seen coming.
“Come on, Wolfie,” Rui said, her breath only slightly belabored as she slashed through one enemy soldier after another, “show me what you’ve got. Where’s the infamous monster-hunter dragon-slayer everyone talks of? I’ve already dispatched eight foes. What’s your count?”
“I didn’t realize this was a competition,” Wolfe grunted, finally freeing himself from the tangle he was in, dispatching the two soldiers who’d locked swords with him.
“’Tis not the number that counts, but the quality of the kill. Mine were bigger.”
She flashed a grin at him as she leapt off the ground and did that impossible twirl in the air she always effortlessly did, before striking down another foe.
“Bigger means slower,” she taunted. “If this is how you fight, I would have easily won our match in the end.”
Wolfe wasn’t going to admit it out loud, but Rui’s pronouncement definitely had merit.
She was a demon of a fighter. Her skill with that thin, long Asian sword was a thing of beauty. All of her moves seemed so effortless. Like a dance. She barely broke a sweat, and he was already huffing from exertion.
Wolfe struck down two more foes and pushed Rui out of the cavern exit, following close behind. Sorin was there to help him, and together, they rolled a boulder against the mouth of the cave, barring anyone else from coming through.
“That won’t hold them for long,” Ere estimated. “How many more are there? Did anyone see?”
“Impossible to tell with the fog,” Wolfe replied. “At least a half dozen by my count.”
“I can buy us a little time,” Morgan declared.
