She froze in place, his hand still covering her face. She watched with wide eyes as Skye’s demeanor turned menacing. His muscles flexed and contracted as he waited for the unknown intruder. His eyes on the trees to her right, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back into the shadows behind them. Lara didn’t need any further direction. As stealthy as possible, she entered the brush, ignoring the stings on her arms from the twigs and thorns around her.
Expecting him to join her in the shelter of the tree’s deep shadows, Lara made room for him. But when she looked up, she realized Skye stood guard in front of her. She frowned, shaking her head.
Not again. She wouldn’t let someone fight her battles for her. Not anymore. Lara started back toward him, but her eyes rolled back in fear before she could move more than a couple inches.
She could feel him, the intruder. The cold logic of a murderer. Ice cold intent pulsed into her mind, terrifying her with its strength. She must have made a sound, because without turning his attention from the person approaching, Skye pushed his left hand back toward her, silently telling her to stay put. Quivering all over at the emotion beating through her, Lara pinched her lips together and dropped her hand to her sword.
Lara forgot about the image of water, the safety it provided. She’d later remember she could have fought the emotion that came toward her like cold, dense metal. She screamed her fear in her mind, trying to fight back at the encroaching cold that found its way into her heart. She watched as Skye dropped all semblance of warmth, becoming the warrior she had first met. He didn’t have any trouble following the sounds made by the unknown enemy, though she couldn’t pick out a single sound from the surrounding forest.
It was eerie how Lara knew the man was creeping toward them, but she couldn’t see or hear him. She felt the exact moment when the man located them. Out of the corner of her eye, a small movement caused a ripple in the shrubs. Skye was already looking that direction. The dark shadow metamorphosed into a large, muscular man who stopped just before he was uncovered by the pale sliver of light in front of him.
He growled, “You are far from home, Pyranni.”
As the man took refuge within the shadows, Lara noticed he wore all black. It was an outfit that reminded her of ancient assassins and spies. The man held a sword in his grip, but the steel didn’t reflect the light as it swept out from the shadows. It caught her attention, making her stare at the blade in consternation until she realized why. The blade was forged from black steel.
She gasped, a whispered intake of breath. The man flicked a glance toward her, and Skye shifted his stance, moving so the intruder couldn’t see past him.
When silence met his statement, the man’s grim smile appeared and then disappeared. The expression sent shards of glass through her body, cutting through both tendons and organs. It took her a moment, but Lara realized the smile had come with an emotion. She gritted her teeth, focusing on the emotion instead of the pain, but it eluded her senses. She’d never felt it before, and her brain balked at the alien feeling trying to encase her physical senses.
Another emotion entered the mix, and she wanted to vomit. This one she recognized for what it was. The man’s cunning was apparent in his next words. “I have walked the streets of Pyran.” He pointed to her where she hid behind Skye’s legs. “I’ve never seen a woman that looks like her anywhere in your kingdom. Me thinks that you are willing to share the rewards you’ve sampled yourself. She’s ripe for the taking.”
Skye didn’t deign to respond to such an absurd suggestion. After a short pause, the man again took up the conversation. “I will bargain with you. If you share the woman, I’ll let you live.”
Hearing the man’s confidence, Skye lowered his sword an inch. Lara lifted her eyes to stare at his back, shocked. He couldn’t be considering the man’s offer. Skye wouldn’t let the man take her, would he? She hated the doubt that plagued her. The man’s dark emotions pummeled her, making it more and more difficult to think through the situation.
In a voice Lara had never heard before, Skye said with off-hand condescension, speaking to the man as if he’d found a new friend who understood his aggravation. “She is yours if you can get her to be quiet. The woman never stops talking.”
She stopped breathing at hearing those words. The man raised his sword in a haphazard salute. “I love me a difficult woman. Fighters make the reward so much sweeter.”
The tension building between the two men dissipated with the soft breeze that fluttered the leaves. Skye sniffed and said, “Then you have not had this woman, my friend.”
She swallowed in fear, indecision holding her hostage. What was she supposed to do? Skye was speaking of the man’s intent to rape her as an everyday occurrence, as if it was merely a bad storm or a problem with some household pest. How was she supposed to fight both of them?
The man loosed a deep, male laugh as he stared at her. Until then, she hadn’t notice Skye’s small sidestep, giving the black figure an unobstructed view of the merchandise. Lara glared daggers at the man, silently warning him to stay away. She started when Skye leaned over and yanked her from her hiding place.
She screeched and dug her feet into the ground, but the dry dirt held no traction. She didn’t stand a chance against someone as strong as Skye, but she instinctively fought anyway.
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The man chuckled with glee, “Aye, me thinks I know what you mean.” He stepped into the dim light with the obvious intent to look her over. His gaze traveled from her head down to her feet and back up. He scratched his face with a filthy, cracked fingernail. “And her with a sword, too.”
Skye pushed her forward, making her stumble two steps forward. Lara was close enough she smelled the stench of the man. He was filthy, rank with the need for a week-long bath. She cringed at the thought of him touching her.
Never. It would never happen. She straightened to her full height.
Skye said from behind, “Do we have a deal? You get time with the woman, and we go our separate ways.”
“Oh, aye. Aye.” In a move so fast it blurred, the man’s hand snaked out, grabbing the front of her shirt, pulling her to him. Lara had just enough time to put her hands out in front of her, keeping her from hitting the man’s chest with her entire front. She screamed into the man’s ear.
He roared in reaction. For a moment she felt nothing, but then his evil intent ransacked her veins, leaving them throbbing in pain even as she produced the same emotion. He swung his hand in a backhand slap. Lara grunted at the assault and saw white stars sprinkle her vision. She shook her head to clear her sight, knowing she was vulnerable blind.
But he gave her no chance. Lara was flung sideways, where she hit the ground with a loud crunch. He leapt toward her with studied menace, the emotion washed over her. When he leaned over her, she kicked out, hitting the man’s gonads.
Another roar of anger pummeled her ears. He placed one hand over himself, his pain flashing through her. He growled deep in his chest, sounding like the vocal chords came from a feral dog instead of a human.
A throat cleared nearby. In a daze, she kept her eyes on her attacker.
He stood up with an outraged roar, “What?”
With the man focused on Skye, she was able to take a step back from the situation. Feeling like a complete idiot, she remembered her weapon. Lara used her legs and feet to distance herself from her rapist. She rolled to her back, taking her weight off the sheath. With her attention on the two men, Lara rose from where she lay and unsheathed her sword—the one Chion had given her for this exact purpose. It came out of its protective cover with a soft ring, attracting both men’s attention.
“We didn’t have a deal for you to take her out of my sight.” Skye turned his eyes back to the man standing between them, and Lara saw something she was too scared to notice before. Skye’s left hand was clenched tight into a fist. She looked closer at him, scanning his face and body, and realized she’d missed it. Lara had missed Skye’s outrage.
Later, if they survived, she owed Skye an apology for thinking the worst of him. He’d put a plan in place, using her as bait.
Lara’s attacker cocked his head as if he sorted through Skye’s words, having already let fly his most primal instincts. Skye’s outrage well hidden, he said, “You take her, as agreed. But I want to move closer to watch.”
A glitter flickered in her attacker’s eyes at the demand. She quit breathing again when he crudely rolled his hips.
The man was excited. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was aroused at the thought of another watching him take her, rape her. She shivered when his twisted emotion pressed into her, heightening her senses to new levels. She leaned over and threw up. Her sensitive stomach knotted as her skin came alive with the man’s emotion. Not only did she have to fight off a man three times bigger than her, Lara had to feel his emotions, his intoxication at the power over her. In turn, she wanted to overpower someone else, to do the same to a victim.
It made everything worse. Lara vomited again, almost missing the man’s agreeing chuckle as she tried to regain her equilibrium. She edged away from the mess as Skye stalked closer. Even knowing Skye had a plan—however devious, she couldn’t help the unease sliding down her spine.
Lara brought the sword up into position as she’d been taught. She sent a small prayer to any deity who’d listen, since she wasn’t certain God was anywhere near this planet. The man hulked over to her, seething at the fight she was prepared to give him. She knew it enticed him, but she wouldn’t lie down without a fight. If she could kill him, she would. Skye could go to hell.
With her face a mask of determination, her attention narrowed to the man coming toward her. Something in his eyes gave him away, and she moved to block the attack, wincing at the power behind the strike. Her arms shook at the strength it took to keep the sword in the correct position. He feinted to the right, and as she moved to block the swipe, he twisted in the other direction. She was left open and vulnerable to his deadly blade.
As the weapon swept toward her, she jumped back on pure instinct. The tip of the blade cut her across her shoulder. Lara didn’t even notice the injury as she tried to regain her footing, but the man didn’t give her the time. Instead, he came at her in a whirl of dark metal, and she backed into a tree. She managed an inadequate parry against the thrust of his sword. With a movement too fast to follow, he kneed her in the stomach. When she curled over her stomach, he struck again, unlocking her knees with the crook of his foot. She fell to her side, unable to think beyond the pain and loss of air.
Lara heard his triumphant murmur through her struggle for air and the pounding of her heart. “Aye, this is where I like me women.”
She curled herself into a ball, trying to keep him from hurting her again. When was Skye going to help? She saw Skye edge closer. Her attacker dropped to his knees.
“Me thinks you like what you see, Pyranni,” the man huffed out, slightly out of breath.
He grabbed a handful of her shirt with one hand and flipped her over. Her mouth opened on a silent scream. With a grunt that was ripped from her gut, Lara swung the blade toward him in an awkward swipe—trying to reach his chest or neck, but he brushed her arm over her head and held her down. His breath scoured her face with its hot stench.
Lara saw Skye tense for half a second before he attacked with silent ruthlessness. During their fight, he had sheathed his sword and withdrawn his dagger, opting for the closer, more personal encounter. Skye struck the man with a solid kick to the ribs. Lara heard the crack as bones broke under the assault. When the man’s hold on Lara’s hand relaxed, Skye struck again, ramming the dagger into the man’s shoulder blade. Skye’s other arm wrapped around the man’s shoulders and pulled him back into the weapon. The tip of the dagger pierced through the man’s upper chest.
With an agonized cry, the man started to turn, though his other hand still gripped Lara’s shirt. Lara blinked at the blood that flew across her face and chest. Held down beneath the two men, her legs and arm trapped, she could only watch the fight play out above her. More blood coated her when Skye wiggled the blade in a rocking motion from the man’s back.