He squeezes my chest with solid, meaty arms, and my breath halts.
Olah, help me!
Numbness entombs me as I blink through the thick haze and try to break from his hold.
He’s too strong. Too deadly.
So, I react with the only thing I have left. My voice.
I scream out the ancient words of my people, the healing verses that, when shouted, sound like a spell. Louder and louder, I scream, hoping they will scare him. His arms go slack, and I crumble to the dirt floor.
My heart pounds against my chest as I continue shouting.
“Shut up!” He raises his hand and lands a mighty blow against my cheek.
Pain splits my face as dots blot my vision. I blink, desperately seeking clarity. Blood pools out of my mouth as he grabs my hair, yanking me off my feet.
Blackness fringes my vision as he shakes me. Over and over again, he shakes me until there are no words. No sounds. No screams.
Feebly, I claw at his arms, desperate for escape, for freedom, for life.
I must live.
I must survive.
Mother needs me.
“Esmund!”
The tent flap lifts, freeing the poisonous cloud and grabbing the attention of the man shaking the life from my body.
My assailant turns as another man joins us, his eyes far angrier than my attacker’s. But his anger is not focused on me. It’s focused on the man who stole into my sanctuary.
“Let her go.” The warrior rips his broad sword free and raises it to the light of the torch. “Now!”
The man drops me for a second time. I crash into the hard, unforgiving ground. Shock spears my body as my assailant draws his weapon and turns to meet Gabriel with a quick, angry strike.
Gabriel counters. Then, he attacks the taller man, his movements fast and impossible to stop. The more Gabriel strikes, the more he sends his opponent backward until he has him pinned and his sword to Esmund’s throat.
My abductor raises his chin and stares straight into Gabriel’s eyes. “Do it. Taint your hands with my blood.”
The edge of Gabriel’s blade digs deeper.
“Do it, you undeserving scum. You’re not worthy of your—”
Fierceness seethes behind Gabriel’s gaze as he rams the sword through the man’s throat. The man’s eyes widen as he chokes on his blood. Violently, Gabriel rips the blade free, and the man collapses to the ground.
I slap my hand to my mouth at the savagery. It shouldn’t shock me, shouldn’t surprise me, yet it does.
Gabriel swipes his blade across the dead man’s surcoat and straightens. I scurry to my bed and sit on the mattress as he slides his broad sword back into the scabbard.
“I won’t hurt you,” he says, his voice low, empathic. If one can imagine a man able to speak in such a way after slaughtering someone.
I draw my knees forward and clasp my arms around them. Trembling overtakes me as I try to unsee Gabriel stabbing the man in the throat.
“Come.” Gabriel holds out his hand, and I sink deeper, shrinking away from his offer. Away from the Bloodstone barbarian and that hissing serpent emblem on his surcoat.
It means death.Hemeans death.
