The Emalne healer gripped my arm and pulled me back behind the carriage, blocking my view as Kane stepped forward. I tried to move to see him as fear raked through me, but she yanked me back just in time as a man’s head came flying our direction, slamming onto the ground and rolling past us. The blonde hair a tattered mess as it came to a stop.
I yelped and started to run toward the decapitated face, the deepest of fears gripping my heart, nearly making it impossible to breath. But again, Indrell held me back, this time with Thaid’s help as he grabbed my shoulders. “It is not him.”
I was panting, eyes fixated on the dismembered head. This time, Indrell tried to shake me from my horror. “Look.” She held the carriage door open. “Look through the window. He’s fighting.”
I stumbled inside, ignoring the tears that were blurring my vision and rolling down my face. Throwing the curtains fully aside, I watched as the men clashed weapon to weapon. Some had dismounted and were fighting hand to hand. Some were up on their horses, swinging and hacking away at those around them.
Aeden and the remaining men in his infantry had pulled back. Indecision distorted Aeden’s handsome features, causing what would typically have been ethereally beautiful featured to contort.
Wulfgar and Dorian both were pressed in by two Emalne each. Wulfgar’s axe slid across one man’s armor, splitting it open before coming up the other direction, taking the foe’s arm off as the raider spun around and lodge the blade into the other man’s chest.
My eyes searched frantically over the gruesome scene.
I could not see Kane in the carnage. Dorian, I found. Wulfgar I saw. Aeden I’d spotted. But Kane was nowhere to be seen. The longer I searched, the further my heart sank.
“Where is he?” I gripped Indrell’s hand tight.
Tight enough that it caused her to wince. “He’s there. Trust me.”
“I...” Almost lost in despair, I jumped as a man flung himself on the door, trying to pry it open as both Indrell and Thaid pulled on the handle to try to keep him from gaining entrance as he yelled, “Give her to us. She must be disposed of! They must be stopped!”
The man was plucked from the door and tossed to the ground. Standing over him, Kane pressed his boot to the man’s chest, gripped both of his arms and yanked, tossing his arms each in a different direction. “You will not touch her!” His breath was ragged, blood splattering across him, hair falling into his face.
I pressed my hands to the glass. “You’re alive!”
His eyes met mine for a moment before he spun around, catching an attacker with his dagger. The blade slid all the way into the Emalne’s stomach to the hilt, but Kane didn’t stop. He lifted him off the ground, throwing him at a nearby enemy. Stalking over to them both, he pulled the dagger free and sank it into the heart of the man he’d bowled over with the now lifeless body, rendering him the same fate.
Kane turned back to me once again. He started back for the carriage, calling out. “Is she fine!”
“I’m fine!” I pushed the door open, wanting to go to him.
“No!” He held a hand out. “Stay in there!”
“But…” And my eyes widened.
The world started to spin as I saw the tip of a blade protrude out the front of Kane’s shoulder. He went to his knees with a look of rage, followed immediately with fear.
Another man came around the side of the carriage, reaching out for me. Inches from my hair, his hand flew back, pinned to the side of the caravan. My eyes went wide, and I stumbled back.
Not knowing where to look, I scrambled. Thaid was holding off someone from trying to open the door on the other side as Indrell tried to help me back inside. Once again, I found myself searching for Kane while trying to avoid the man’s other reach.
But his efforts were cut short as Aeden came through the crowd, holding a bow out and aiming it at the man. Releasing the string, the arrow flew straight into the man’s temple. Instantly, he went limp and fell, hanging from his impaled hand.
Pushing the door open again, I cried out, “Kane!”
But the noise was so loud, I couldn’t hear him.
I cried again, tears streaming down my cheeks and sobs almost choking off his name. “Kane!”
Three men, fighting two to one, shifted, and I saw him. He was leaned over a man, a short sword still affixed through his shoulder, but he wasn’t going down. He had pinned his attacker to the ground beneath him and slide the sharp edge of the blade over the man’s throat, opening the man’s airway to the world outside his body.
I sighed in relief seeing him alive still.
Kane rose, looking around. Some of Dorian’s men had fallen, but those that remained were still fighting alongside Dorian, Wulfgar and now Aeden’s men. The numbers had equaled as Kane held his arm and stumbled.
He snarled as he passed two soldiers locked in anger, swords crossed. Kane reached over and grabbed the Emalne and broke his neck, letting him drop before he continued my way.
Stumbling out of the carriage, I ripped away from Indrell. I threw myself at Kane, wrapping my arms around him. “You’re alive!”
“Of course I am.” He wound one arm around me.
I could feel him stumble slightly, and I pulled back. “You’re injured. We need to remove it and get a doctor.”
He scoffed. “Remove it. Yes. Doctor, no. I will heal on my own.”
Without warning, Wulfgar yanked the metal out of Kane’s shoulder and dropped it down next to us. “Yeah. He heals fast. Almost as fast as me.” He roared with laughter, patting Kane
