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Autumn quickly finished the wolf she had fired at, never one for leaving an animal to suffer—even a wolf from the Underworld. As I contested with the nearest wolf, I could no longer watch her.
“Make a defensive triangle,” I shouted, understanding the wolves' predatory hunting tactics.
Autumn quickly moved at my back, and the dwarf moved to the side, his back to both of ours. We made an impenetrable trio once we’d found a rhythm and put aside prejudices.
I heard Autumn intake a pained breath as a wolf snagged her arm and shook. I twisted, but before I could get to her, the dwarf twirled and sliced the wolf’s neck, ending its attack. Its black blood sprayed us in a visceral splatter.
Autumn gave him a grateful nod, but there was a pain in her eyes. My gut clenched, but the injury wasn’t grave unless it had broken bones. Autumn,being Autumn, continued to hold her sword and tensed for another fight.
“Autumn, are you—”
“Eyes on the wolves, Huntsman. Your reputation can't afford to let alittle girlsave youagain.”
The dwarf choked on a laugh. Autumn cut him a glare, but her bright golden eyes met mine. I grinned like an absolute fool, and her glorious mouth quirked at the sides, but her dignity didn’t let her smile. Instead, she twisted her sword into a better grip and took on the last wolf as if a powerful animal that outweighed her by a hundred pounds hadn’t just assaulted her.
We let her end this wolf. I know my admiration and pride in her showed on my face as she glanced at us after finishing the wolf. I smiled tentatively, and she matched it. The girl was a damn vision with a weapon. Every lithe muscle in her body made for it, and it was magnificent to watch her in action. This girl was a warrior. I didn’t even deserve to be in the shadow of her brilliance.
Autumn cocked a hip, rested her hand on it, then glared at the dwarf. “What do you say about that, dwarf? Still consider me alittlegirl?”
The dwarf stared at her, stricken for a second before he laughed. Full, deep, belly laughter echoed in the dark wood.
Autumn straightened from her cocky stance and wiped the black blood from her blade.
“Ye as brave, orn’ry, and skilled as any dwarf me ever met, girlie.”
Autumn grinned at him, but her mouth twisted in pain shortly after.
I tore a piece from my tunic and stepped up to her. “We need to wrap this, love.”
Love?Why the fuck did I just say that? Idiot.
Her brow lifted, but she said nothing as she held her arm out. The blood had leaked through her tunic and cloak, but the layers helped lessen the damage from the wolf's teeth. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to inspect the full injury, so I tied it off and prayed the blood wouldn’t attract every predator in the vicinity.
“Let’s get movin’. With ye injuries, this wood is nay the place fer us to be.”
We both nodded. Autumn gathered her bow, we retrieved whatever arrows were close by, and then we followed the dwarf.
Cliffside
The pain in my arm had dulled to a throbbing ache. The dwarf, Argen, as he had introduced himself, said the end of the forest wasn’t far now. We’d been walking all day and half the night. I could tell Sahlyn was getting nervous. I tried to keep calm but being in the Winterwood at night was eerie. Little light filtered in during the daylight hours, but at night shadows seemed to gain shape and jump out at us.
We all tensed and gripped our weapons tighter more often than we would ever admit.
“Jus’ a wee bit farther, and we'll be out,” Argen stated.
Then we could see a flicker of light. Moonlight, like a tunnel, beamed in front of us, and I felt a rush of something exhilarating and foreign course through my veins.
We stepped out of the forest and onto… a cliff.
With the dense wood at our back, and a sheer drop in front of us, I should have felt anxiety, but I didn't. I felt liberated.
“We’ll camp fer the night. Too dangerous a journey to make at nightfall.”
I sucked the crisp mountain air into my lungs and closed my eyes to the feelings of freedom that sang against my soul.
If Argen felt confident being here for the remainder of the night, we could do nothing but take his word. I glanced at Sahlyn, who looked back and shrugged. He then went off to collect firewood with Argen. I stood at the cliff's edge, letting the gentle wind wash over me. It stung my face and neck, but it felt so wonderful I didn’t put my hood up. Instead, I sucked in another deep breath as the others started a fire.
When I finally glanced back at them, Argen was dragging over another log to sit on, and Sahlyn was staring at me expectantly. I winced as the pain in my arm threaded back into my awareness.
