Page 75 of Peregrine's Call
Pierce countered the attacks against him with an agility that surprised her. He always seemed so idle, but now he stepped nimbly, parrying thrusts with both his sword and his dagger.
She drew another arrow and aimed once more, this time at the man who’d yelled out the orders. She shot and caught the man’s upper arm. He howled in pain, and Pierce seized the opportunity to strike, a deadly hit to the throat.
Meanwhile, the men engaged with Octavian were quickly realizing that he was not just a common soldier, but rather a highly trained knight. Even fighting on foot, he outmaneuvered them and struck out whenever he saw an opening. One man fell, then another.
“Retreat!” a man fighting Pierce shrieked out. But since everyone was engaged, a coordinated retreat wasn’t possible, and each man was scared of giving an opening to his opponent.
Just then, Robin saw one of Tav’s attackers shift, getting behind him. She didn’t even think. She simply stepped forward and loosed the arrow. The short distance was a hindrance for her longbow, but this time the arrow flew true, and the man took the hit in his eye.
The gruesome image made Robin lose her breath, but Tav just dispatched his last opponent with a heavy blow from the flat of his blade. The shorter man staggered backward, moaning.
Tav announced, “Half of you are dead. The rest of you can run or die.”
His booming voice actually halted the fight for a moment. The attackers froze, and Robin saw frightened, furious eyes in the light of the fire.
Most of them took a half step back. Pierce slid into position next to Tav, ready to fight again as a unit.
That did it. The remaining men wanted nothing to do with two better equipped warriors. One said, “Please let us go! It was his idea!” He gestured to a fallen body. “Just let us leave.”
“Go.” Octavian’s voice was deadly calm. “Drop the weapons. Walk away. One step toward any of us and that’s the end.”
They let the weapons fall and began to back up, but Robin caught one man whose gaze was fixed on Tav. As if he couldn’t stop himself, when he drew level with Tav, he lunged, his hands curled like claws.
“No!” she shouted, her unexpectedly feminine voice startling everyone else. The man going to Tav was already in motion though, his face a mask of rage and fear.
She shot one last time. The man stumbled, the arrow jutting out from his shoulder.
“Devil take him,” someone said in the darkness, pronouncing the man’s fate as if he were dead already.
“You take him,” Tav said. “Grab him and get out of here.”
“Don’t touch the swords,” Pierce added, seeing another man reaching down to the ground. “Take your comrade and go.”
Robin said nothing more as the group of would-be brigands took their wounded friends and vanished into the darkness. The sounds of a few horses echoed through the woods, and then the hoofbeats faded into nothing.
She still clutched the bow, an arrow tight against the string.
“Robin. Robin.” It was Tav’s voice. He must have said her name several times.
“What?”
“You can put that down now.” He pointed to the bow. “You did your part.”
“Where the hell did they come from?” Pierce asked, crouching near the fire, only to spring up again, clearly still feeling the tension of the fight in his veins.
“They were the men from before,” she said dully. “The ones in that clearing. We thought they didn’t see us, but they did.”
“I should have guessed,” Tav said. “Probably a scouting party. They thought they could follow us and take down a few travelers without the larger group knowing or caring. Then they’d take our horses and split the loot equally.”
Pierce nodded slowly, thinking it over. “Ten to three…the odds sounded good.”
“Not against Octavian,” Robin said.
“Or you,” Pierce said with an expression unlike his usual assurance. She looked away.
“Let’s move these away,” Tav said to Pierce, gesturing to the bodies. “Robin, pile up the dropped weapons.”
She did, her limbs heavy with the rush of blood that surged through her before, and now lingered even after it was all over.
