Page 155 of Ironling
Aislinn felt Hakon stagger for the first time as multiple bodies rushed him. A growl, low and menacing, hit her ears, followed by the clang of steel. His calves flexed, digging his heels into the dirt, and Aislinn shifted the shield as he moved, trying not to trip him.
A grunt echoed above her, and she felt him shudder. Blood dripped down the leg of his trou, and Aislinn’s heart jumped to her throat.
No!
She clutched at his calf, his blood dribbling over her hand, as she searched frantically for an abandoned weapon. Anything!
Don’t just lay here! Help him!
But there was nothing she could grab without straying from his protection.
As if he could feel her thinking about crawling out from under him, Hakon used his heel to push her back under the shield.
Another grunt, another shudder.
“Hakon!”
But the sound of her voice only made him roar, and she felt how he threw his whole body into his next strike.
The mercenary line buckled, and at least three bodies collapsed to the ground. Aislinn thought she recognized Dirk’s dark head, turned at a wrong angle on his shoulders.
Hakon loosed a resounding roar, and all the legs around them took a hesitant step back.
“They’re down!” she heard Captain Aodhan call. “Mercenaries, your leaders are dead!”
“Dirk’s down!” the mercenaries cried through the ranks.
“Fucking shit, I’m not dying today.”
“This orc is deranged.”
The legs wavered, and something close to a silence fell around them. Then the feet were tripping over themselves, the circle around her and Hakon falling away.
The ground quaked beneath her with the surviving mercenaries retreating, and she peeked over the top of the shield to see them scattering into the trees, pursued by her forces.
Aislinn sucked in a quavering breath, not quite ready to believe it was almost over.
She stayed curled on the ground, unmoving, waiting for some sign from Hakon.
But her halfling didn’t move either, standing his ground above her, even as his trou soaked with blood.
“Hakon…” she tried, but if he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it.
Aislinn waited, holding her breath and straining her ears. Each time she tried to rise or edge out from under the shield, Hakon pushed her back. He wouldn’t relinquish his hammer or move away, making her think the threat wasn’t gone.
It was a long, painful wait. Her palm was warm and sticky with his blood, but her calls to him went unheeded.
More legs gathered around them but kept their distance.
“Aislinn!” she heard Sorcha call.
“I’m here,” she called back. “I’m all right!”
“Glad to hear it. The mercenaries are in full retreat. But…”
Orek delivered the dire news. “Hakon is in a berserker rage.”
“He won’t let us near,” said Sorcha, and Aislinn heard the deep worry in her voice.
