Page 114 of The Firebrand
He cupped a breast. “Does Rein enjoy these, female?”
“Take your hands off me, you motherfucking asshole. He’ll kill you when he catches you. And he will, you limp-dicked, cock-sucking vampire piece of shit.”
“Such language. I think you’ll change your mind about my dick, Braelyn.”
Silas held her by the throat with one hand still molded to her breast. Only her toes touched the floor.
She kicked his shins. “Over my dead body.” But his grip was unbreakable. A tremor stuttered toward her heart while she gasped for breath.
Not this way.
“You will die, though today you will live.”
The blood from her chest and arm dripped onto the rug when Silas hoisted her over a shoulder.
This will not be my last memory.
Braelyn’s head spun. She panted for oxygen before she passed out.
****
Reinswept his gaze across the battlefield. Dead berserkers, gore, dirt, discarded pelts, and the smell of death.
More combatants streamed through the fog. Instead of attacking the Firebrands, though, the charging warriors slaughtered berserkers. The mark of the Phoenix on the newcomers’ arms told Kole’s weary fighters they weren’t rampaging savages at all. They werefreronsfrom the Southern Stronghold.
One of the newly arrived males backed up Sabine. He took on a giant berserker whose weapon was a spiked glove. Another joined Kole to guard Brak. She immediately dispatched two assailants with a spear.
The others spread across the battlefield, maiming or killing the remaining frenzied berserkers.
With his current opponent distracted, Rein ripped into his neck with his fangs while plunging a stiletto into his heart. The body slid to the ground as a sudden silence returned to the Aerilon field. The enemy lay dead or mortally wounded. Galena, Ram, and Chay joined Kole to form a circle around Brak. They faced out toward the newly arrived Firebrands.
With no one left to kill or feed from, Rein snapped the warding spell on his condo again.
Kole tucked his bloody ax into the sheath on his belt, but he clung to his morning star. “Jarek, welcome. What brings you to Aerilon on such a nice day?”
“We stopped by to save your sorry asses.” Large like Kole at nearly six-foot-eight, the Encampment commander was the proverbial brick shithouse. In addition to the mark of the Phoenix, glyphs covered Jarek’s bare chest, neck, shoulders, new ones appearing after each battle as was common for a djinn. A bull’s head replete with horns rested on his hair, the pelt flowing down his back. Eleven men grouped loosely behind him.
Sheathing his scimitar, Jarek strode toward Kole, his hand outstretched.
Kole stepped away from the circle, his morning star in his fist. “I’m happy to see you.” They clasped forearms, hands to elbows. “Freron.”
“Freron,” responded Jarek. “We heard several bands of berserkers marched from their encampment in Longphort. Never a good sign. So, we tracked them here.”
“Thanks for the assist,” Kole told him.
Ram sheathed his dirk. “That whole saving-our-asses thing is bullshit. We had it under control.”
Kole held up his hand. “Still, we are grateful. What did they plan to do in Aerilon?”
“I don’t know. They were following someone’s commands. Berserkers live and die for orders.”
“Thanks again. When you’re in Covenkirk, stop by the stronghold. Drinks are on me.”
Jarek’s Firebrands lumbered back through the fog, dragging bodies with them. They slit the throats of any wounded marauders on the battlefield, meting out justice on the spot.
The Covenkirk warriors watched theirfreronsreturn to their homeland. Commander Kole let a battle-weary arm fall, his morning star resting in the dirt. Sabine sank to the ground, her staff toppling onto the grass. Ram and Thorn lifted Brak, swinging his arms over their shoulders to help him walk. Chay popped two pieces of spearmint gum into his mouth, chewing with nervous energy while Galena stood off to the side, her head bowed as she thanked her goddesses.
“I’m portaling home,” Rein lied, still jonesing from the tainted berserker blood jetting through his system. He needed to pummel more enemies, feed, rip out throats, fuck long and hard. He couldn’t return to Braelyn this way.
