Page 9 of The Path of Blood and Betrayals
I don’t think, jumping into the fray, my sword blocking the attack. The force of the hit vibrates up my forearm, chattering my teeth.
Locking my elbow, I dig my heel into the mud, knee bent. I’m not going to fall now.
“Go,” I command the older Witch. He claws at the grass, scurrying to safety without a backwards glance. Not that I expected one.
The raider pulls back, allowing me enough time to dart right, then left, far from the tip of his blade as he swings. Thank the Gods for my speed—it’s the only real skill I possess.
Gripping the sword with both hands, I try to think back to my lessons with Tay and swing. The tip grazes the soldier’s leather-clad shoulder and I curse.On Ger’s brow, I’m terrible at this.
Sparks fly as we parry our blades. I misstep and the soldier strikes my hip as I shout, the gash long but thin. Turning with him, I strike out with my elbow, catching his nose and raising my sword to pierce the sensitive spot between his armor and chest.
He yowls, the sound animalistic, before fury coats his movements. The cut is enough to infuriate him, not kill.Lucky me.
The raider slashes as pain paints his movements chaotic, sword going from left to right and I barely hang on. A quick block results in a nick on my arm, a jab cuts into my thigh.
Growling, he swings again and I block but he kicks out my knee. I tumble forward, pain exploding and something cracks with the impact. I ignore it, trying to blink away the pain. I can’t think about how my body aches, how everything hurts—I just need to survive.
Swiping out with my sword blindly, I slice his middle as his sword stabs my shoulder.
He shoves forward, intent to run me through and I scream, twisting my blade into his gut. My blood calls to me as it soaks through my charred nightgown but I spin, pulling free. Blood sizzles under my foot against the scorched dirt, but I don’t stay to watch the raider drop. Instead, I glance to a young child who screams, fire raging toward her small body.
My stomach churns in fear as my feet propel mecloser. I’m too close to the fire, the heat searing my forehead, but I can’t let the child get hurt.
I was once her, stuck in this nightmare. If I can save her from the same fate, I will.
Skidding to a halt, I grab the child into my arms, her mother frozen next to me as another daughter pulls on her hand.
“Are you hurt?” I ask, looking from her ash covered face, to her wide eyes.Shock. She’s in shock, stuck, unable to flee.
I don’t have time for this.Shaking her, I snap my fingers in her face.
She blinks and I don’t have the patience to wait for her to understand. There isn’t time.
Shoving her shoulder, I hoist her daughter on my hip and point to a path to our left. Through the thick trees, the Witches are escaping, hidden under big leaves and shadows.
“Let’s move,” I direct, pausing for a spilt second as the mother grabs her other child.
Her older daughter wraps her legs around her waist and we take off into the brush. With stumbling feet, we hurl ourselves into the fringes of the forest, seeing Nafre there, holding back branches to a path cut into the woods, frowning.
She catches my eye. “Did you see Tay?”
Shaking my head, I cough, tongue dry from the smog. “No. He’s not here?”
“No, he went to help put out the fires.” Her silver eyes look back into the fray, searching for her brother. “I don’t know what happened to him.”
Biting my lip, I drop the child to the ground beside her mother. She gives me a small smile, and it’s more than I thought I’d get.
“What do we do?” I ask, clearing my throat. “We’re not big enough to fight back.”
“No, but we can survive,” Nafre nods, directing me to the same path. “We get as many of our people out of here and get them to safety. We survive to fight a new day.”
“That’s not surviving,” I argue, running a hand over my brow. Myfingers come back sticky with ash and blood. “That’s retreating.”
“You said it yourself Max,” she counters, helping a few more Witches onto the hidden path. “We cannot fight them. We don’t have an army. And our wards have failed. The only course now, is to retreat.”
“Then we need to go back and get our people.”
Nafre’s eyes scan me and she sighs. “They aremypeople, Max. Not yours.”
