I stared at Roric in shock. The wolf growled menacingly at my side, and I kept my hand on his head to steady him. I needed his strength right now to face the dozen armed soldiers who seemed intent on killing me. Roric took a step forward, holding his axe ready against any sudden movement, but his eyes were firmly on mine. I shook my head.
"I can't go with you,
Roric," I told him. "I won't go back to the Huryl camp."
"Leila," Roric replied. "You have no choice. I promised to
protect you."
"Protect me?" I almost laughed. "You handed me over to your commander and the sorceress! You let them put a spell on me! Who knows what else they would have done to me if I hadn't escaped."
The expression on Roric's face was almost one of physical pain, and I immediately regretted what I had said. Clearly he had no idea what had happened to me at the Huryl camp. Still, the memory of Ellena's tent and the dizzy feeling I had experienced under her control were too fresh in my memory for forgiveness. Especially when he had twelve men ready to kill me.
"You leave me no choice," Roric said softly. He raised his axe, and the bowmen levelled their arrows at the wolf and me. I felt the wolf tense beneath my hand as we were frozen in this standstill, when suddenly an arrow embedded itself in the ground at my feet. Roric swore loudly at the man who had fired before bidden, and the wolf leapt at the man's throat.
Roric screamed at his men to control themselves as chaos erupted. More arrows were fired, the wolf moved from man to man with blood trailing off his muzzle. I tried my best to keep calm, but I was still surrounded with nowhere to hide.
"Spirits!" I cried desperately. My palm tingled, but nothing happened. I raised my hand and tried again, hoping for a wall of fire or water, but the spirits had forsaken me.
"Attack!"
Suddenly the small clearing where the wolf and I were being held was overrun with women dressed in green. They were mostly archers, and they shot at the Huryl one by one. I was still in the crossfire as the Huryl began to attack this new opponent, when I suddenly felt a stinging pain in my left shoulder. It quickly turned into a burning and I felt weak. Falling to my knees, I realized there was an arrow protruding from me, and I instantly remembered my escape with Fynn, how the arrow had nearly killed him. I thought of Fynn, still alone in the woods, probably wondering where I had run off to this time. As I toppled to the ground, I wondered if he would follow me again.
I heard the Huryl sound the retreat, Roric's voice yelling for his men to run. The wolf howled and I felt his familiar presence next to me, mingled with the scent of warm blood. There was someone else as well, a woman with copper hair and green eyes, staring down at me.
"Hang on," she said, her voice growing dimmer in my ears.
There was a snapping and crunching sound as the arrow was ripped from my shoulder. I think I screamed once before the world spun and I faded into blackness.