“Are we ready to go, Lux?” Marten called back to me.
“As ready as we’ll ever be. The crates are packed and loaded, and your girls are safe,” I answered. Staring off through the wall of the barn, I watched Marin as she reached the Third Company vanguard. “When I give you the signal, start driving, and don’t stop for any reason.” I started to move back to enter the wagon and begin the trip, but I froze in place as the scene in my mind unfolded.
Marin stood in the center of the road with her hand outstretched towards the front line of guards. The men stopped and glanced back and forth in confusion, then looked back to their commander as he rode his way to the front of the formation. He stared Marin down with harsh eyes as she waved and began to speak. After she said her piece, he leaned down and whispered into the ear of the closest guard, then turned and rode away without further acknowledgement. Marin’s face flushed as she realized she had been snubbed, and she shouted enthusiastically at Savitz’s back as the two leading guards slowly shouldered their crossbows.
I was already sprinting down the road by the time her scream rang out across the countryside. Both of the fired bolts had found their target: the first had torn through the side of her bicep, while the second lodged itself deep into her chest, just below her left collarbone. She fell to the ground as she scrabbled desperately at the wounds and writhed in pain. Two guards pushed through the front lines and stalked forward, drawing their swords as they moved to put a permanent end to her suffering.
The clouds of dust that kicked up from beneath my pounding feet gave away my position, and I saw the advancing guards falter in their approach. The slight hesitation was all I needed to close the remaining distance between us before they could reach Marin, and I launched toward the closest guard with a fully powered uppercut. His torso gave way beneath my fist as his bones shattered, and his lifeless body sailed over the assembled column of guards ahead of me. I spun sideways and caught the second guard in the temple with such extreme force that his head separated from his shoulders and flew across the road, where it smashed against a tree like an overripe melon.
With the initial threats thoroughly eliminated and any potential new combatants stunned by the bloody massacre that had taken place before them, I knelt to the ground and scooped Marin gently into my arms. She flailed wildly until her eyes found my face, after which she immediately buried her head in my chest and sobbed, clinging desperately to my neck with her good arm. Blood continued to spill from the bolt that impaled her chest, soaking her neck and dress with an expanding crimson stain.
I left as quickly as I had arrived, sprinting back down the road to the Corells’ barn with overly enhanced speed. My mind raced three steps ahead, already formulating a new plan for dealing with Savitz’s men; I had initially hoped we would be able to avoid an encounter altogether by leaving before they arrived, but the assault on Marin changed things. I just wanted to run. They’ve lost that mercy now.
Marten jumped to his feet when he saw Marin’s condition, but my focus was too deep to hear what he shouted as I passed him by. I raced to the back of the cart and carefully climbed inside, where I found Lia and Hana already kneeling beside a prepared bedroll. She nodded to me as I laid Marin out on the thin cushion. “You know how these work,” I stated confidently, pulling the needle and two silver orbs from my bandolier and setting them on the nearest crate. “She’s already lost a lot of blood. You’ll have to work quickly.”
I turned to leave, but Lia caught my arm and held me insistently in place. “Are you going to be okay?” Although they were well out of sight, her eyes stared directly at the jagged black scars that covered my right hand, and I understood the true cause of her worry.
“I’ll be fine,” I answered, managing to put on a small smile. “Compared to Attetsia, this will be a walk in the park. Nobody gets in the way of our adventures anymore.” I leaned in and kissed her forehead, then nodded to Marin. “Now, you have a job to do, too. Best get to it.” She released her grip on my arm to pick up the mana needle, and I left her to her work. Marten was still shouting at me as I returned to the front of the wagon.
“Damnit, Lux, I told you that was too dangerous!” he yelled angrily. “I told you she—”
“You were right, Marten,” I shouted over him, “but that’s not important right now. It’s time to go. Drive as fast as you can, and don’t stop for any reason. I’ll explain everything when I catch up to you.”
He sat dumbfounded for a moment, trying to puzzle out my instructions. “When you catch up?! By the Primes, Lux, what are you talking about?”
“Just GO!” I yelled, dashing out of the barn before he could protest any further. To my great relief, I heard him spur his horse a moment later, and the wagon rumbled its way to the road and took off in the opposite direction of the Third Company. The head of the column of soldiers had just come into view around the bend as the wagon raced away, and I heard their cries of alarm as they tried to mobilize a response.
I stood in
