Page 153 of Ironling
With a boot, he kicked Aodhan’s horse in the neck, sending it recoiling to the side. With his paw of a hand, he reached for Aislinn, quicker than a whip, his fist closing round her forearm. He pulled her nearly out of the saddle, her feet slipping free of the stirrups.
Shouts rang out from either side, and the whiz of arrows flew through the air. Horses screamed as the arrows lodged in the soft ground near them. Both sides charged forward, shaking the earth with the pounding of hundreds of feet.
Aislinn clawed at the arm that held her, heart thudding with fear when she saw Dirk go for a knife at his belt. She had her own, but it felt so far away, so impossible to reach and react faster than this blackguard.
“Aislinn,down!”
She heard Hakon’s thunderous roar through the cacophony.
Just need a moment—buy yourself a moment!
Grabbing Dirk’s arm, she threw herself from the saddle as dead weight.
The mercenary yelped, his horse bucking and leaping with fright. It crashed into Jerrod’s mount, and together, the three of them tumbled to the ground.
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The ground punched the air from Aislinn’s lungs, and she lay in a daze on her side for a long moment, fighting to keep her vision from drowning in bright green bursts. Her head sloshed when she tried to move it, and her wrist pained her—though not enough to be broken.
With a groan, she rolled onto her front.
The sounds of male moans brought her round, and Aislinn looked up to see Dirk and Jerrod prone but both beginning to rouse.
Her arm free of Dirk’s hold, Aislinn tucked her limbs under her, lifted onto all fours, and began to crawl.
The clang of battle reverberated around her, the Dundúran and mercenary forces clashing in dueling waves of metal. Her head throbbed and her wrist complained, but she made herself keep moving. She dodged as the three horses pranced around them and whinnied, nowhere to go in the throng of bodies pressing close.
Aislinn ducked and rolled out of the way of a hoof. The horses were frightened and agitated, making a wall of flesh between herand the battle on the other side.
She heard Captain Aodhan calling her name, telling her to regain her mount, but there was no chance of that. Her horse bucked and kicked, trying to make a path through the melee without success.
A hand snatched her ankle and tugged, pulling Aislinn down.
With a yelp, she rolled onto her back, hand grasping at her belt for her dagger.
Jerrod loomed above her, his eyes darker than coals. He wrenched her by the ankle again, yanking her that much closer. In his other fist gleamed a wicked knife, pointed down and ready to strike.
Aislinn kicked and wriggled, throwing her weight into escaping. Her hand fumbled at the hilt of her own dagger, fingers cold and trembling.
Her foot connected with Jerrod’s chest, and with anoomphhe reared back.
Aislinn drew her dagger and staggered to gain her feet.
Soldiers and horses cried out as the battle raged around them, the shriek of steel disorienting her. She wanted nothing more than to hunker down and clap her hands over her ears, but the need to survive stung her skin, urging her up,away.
A body smacked into hers, and she went toppling to the ground. Her dagger flew from her hand, and it was all she could do to catch herself and not get a mouthful of dirt.
Instinct rolled her to her back, and she clawed at Jerrod’s face above her. He hissed with pain as her nails left angry red welts in their wake. He lashed out blindly with his knife, slashing the air as she struggled.
Her foot connected just below his ribs, in the soft, vulnerable side, and she kicked again, again, forcing him away.
That knife whipped through the air at the same time as her leg. Her trou and skin gave as the knife sliced across her outerthigh, and Aislinn screamed.
The bite of pain and gush of blood made her head swim, and her arms shook and nearly collapsed.
Jerrod stared at her wound, her cascading blood, his eyes full of shock. Then they shuttered, as if he meant to put away any vestigial love or care he had for her. Upper lip pulled back in a snarl, he clutched his knife and held it high.
A cry of pain, of outrage burst from her lungs as Jerrod screamed with triumph.
